MICROSOFT EXPANDS XBOX LIVE'S HD MOVIE AND TV CONTENT!

Xbox LIVE Movie and TV Roster Grows as Multiple New Partners Bring Premium Content to the Online Games and Entertainment Network A&E Network, ADV Films, National Geographic and TotalVid.com sign on to hit service; Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment to offer new high-definition content.

REDMOND, Wash., March 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Xbox 360(TM) just keeps getting more entertaining. Microsoft Corp. today announced that TV series and movies from A&E Network, ADV Films, National Geographic and TotalVid.com will add to the more than 1,500 hours of downloadable entertainment content already available on Xbox LIVE(R) in the U.S.

Further capitalizing on the success it has seen with Xbox LIVE, one of the leading distributors of high-definition gaming and entertainment content in the living room, Paramount Pictures, for the first time on Xbox LIVE, will offer its feature films for download in high definition.

Available titles will include "Braveheart," "Team America: World Police," "World Trade Center" and "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut." Also, for the first time, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be releasing its direct-to-video movies exclusively in high definition on Xbox LIVE simultaneous with their availability on DVD, starting with "Sublime" and later "Babylon 5: The Lost Tales." "With more than 300 games expected by year's end, an Xbox LIVE community of more than 6 million people and a growing catalogue of premium content from some of the biggest names in entertainment today, Xbox 360 is an incredible value," said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. "Adding partners and content like this helps reinforce the console's position as the center of connected entertainment in the living room."

Downloads on Xbox LIVE have grown in double-digits, month-over-month, with a 400 percent increase since the service began offering TV shows and movies late last year. Xbox LIVE members have also enjoyed free entertainment content, which has been wildly successful. Comedy Central recently offered the first-ever high definition episode of the No. 1 show on its network, "South Park." "Good Times With Weapons," available for a limited time on Xbox LIVE, has been downloaded more than 380,000 times to date. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment offered promotional clips from the blockbuster hit movie "300" that have been downloaded more than 477,000 times. While existing partners continue to increase the amount of content they offer, the list of total partners also continues to grow.

The new partners announced today will bring an array of content to Xbox LIVE Marketplace. From a reality show about a bounty hunter named Dog or an action-heavy, retro-styled mecha series to a TV show about extreme biking in the mountains or a program detailing a war in the desert, there is something for everyone. Examples of television shows and feature films that will be coming to Xbox LIVE include these:

-- A&E Network. "Dog the Bounty Hunter," "King of Cars," "Gene Simmons Family Jewels," "Driving Force" and "Criss Angel Mindfreak"

-- ADV Films. Top offerings from the No. 1 producer-distributor of Japanese animation ("anime") outside Japan

-- National Geographic. The television series "Is It Real?" and "Taboo" as well as programs such as "21 Days to Baghdad" and "Air Force One"

-- TotalVid.com. A broad action-sports offering including extreme skiing and snowboarding, skateboarding, motocross, surfing and mountain bikini

Source: PRNEWSWIRE