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Microsoft’s continued assault to be the centre of the living went a step further today, as Amazon announced a new partnership with their Xbox 360 that will see Amazon Prime members able to stream video content on their consoles.
Amazon Prime is a paid service that the online retailer bundles with its Kindle Fire tablets – it gives subscribers access to their 17,000-strong all-you-can-eat catalogue of content, as well as paid rentals and purchases.
If you have an Xbox Live gold account, Amazon Prime memberhip and live in the US, you’ll be able to download the app and access the content from today.
At the moment the app does not support renting or buying videos on-demand, though users without an Amazon Prime membership can still purchase streaming movies and TV shows but only from the Amazon.com/instantvideo website.
Once purchased, the videos will appear on the Xbox 360 app’s Watch List. Like its competitors, Amazon is offering a one month free trial to entice new members.
The new app has been designed to work with the Xbox 360’s Kinect camera, with the sensor allowing users to control the UI by using waving their arms about.
Amazon is, of course, the parent company of LoveFilm, who announced today that they had landed a lucrative partnership with Universal Studios. They also announced that the Xbox 360 LoveFilm app would now stream in 720p HD quality – the same as Netflix.
An Amazon spokesperson also confirmed that Amazon Instant videos will stream to the Xbox 360 in HD too.
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