Is Sony lifting its (apparent) Xbox 360 Netflix ban?

A little more than a week after Netflix video streaming—sans Sony titles—debuted for the Xbox 360, many of the blocked movies are suddenly available for Xbox playback. That said, several newer Sony movies are still MIA. What gives?

The bloggers at Engadget HD noticed last night that older (Sony-owned) Columbia Pictures movies, such as "The Karate Kid" saga, "Ghostbusters," and "Groundhog Day" are no longer getting tagged as "Not currently available on Xbox" in the Netflix "Watch Instantly" queue (and yes, they actually do play over the 360's new Netflix player).

That’s the good news. The bad news? Newer Columbia movies like "Ghost Rider," "Superbad," "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," and "Resident Evil: Extinction" are still blocked. A good clue as to what's blocked and what isn't: If it's a "Starz Play" Columbia Pictures title, chances are it won't stream via Xbox (so says Engadget HD, at least).

So, has Sony—which has neither confirmed nor denied whether its intentionally blocking its movies from the Xbox 360's Netflix player—seen the light? Hard to say. Neither Sony nor Netflix (which has been maddeningly vague about why Sony movies were blocked from Xbox in the first place) are talking, so all we can do is wait and see.

Related:
Columbia Pictures flicks -- mostly -- back on for Xbox 360 Netflix streaming [Engadget HD]