Star Trek, Inglourious Basterds and Harry Potter Coming to the PSN

Sony Computer Entertainment of America has announced deals with some of the biggest film studios in Hollywood, aimed at delivering their movies in High Definition format on the PlayStation Network.

The offer is available only in the United States at the moment but Sony is saying that movies through the PSN will soon be offered in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain. All the content can be bought outright or rented for a limited time.

Initial offerings include: Night at the Museum - Battle of the Smithsonian, Jennifer's Body from 20th Century Fox, with Fantastic Mr. Fox coming on March 23; Up, G-Force and Earth from Walt Disney Pictures; Star Trek, Paranormal Activity and Zoolander from Paramount; This Is It, 2012, District 9 and Zombieland from Sony itself; Inglourious Basterds, Couples Retreat and Public Enemies from Universal; The Hangover, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and The Wizard of Oz from Warner Bros.

Peter Dille, who is the senior vice president of Marketing and PlayStation Network at Sony Computer Entertainment of America stated, “Securing high definition content from these studios is another significant milestone further validating PlayStation Network as a complete entertainment network in the home. PlayStation Network is the first and only service to deliver high definition home entertainment from all six major studios, directly to consumers for download. PlayStation Network continues to offer the most comprehensive catalogue of HD movies to PlayStation Network members that realize the wide-ranging entertainment power of the PS3 system.”

It's not clear how this announcement will impact Sony's relationship with Netflix, which has recently unveiled that it is bringing its streaming service to the PlayStation 3. The move is a good one for Sony as it has managed to attract some more customers to its platform, customers who might not be initially interested in videogaming but willing to give the console a chance for its movie offerings.