Sony clarifies video downloading issue

By Ellie Gibson Published 19 November, 2009

Plus: the latest on Police Academy.

Sony has confirmed you will be able to play games while downloading content from the new Video PlayStation Network Video Delivery Service - providing you're playing offline.

"During online gameplay the background download of both games and videos may be slowed or paused. This is to ensure the user has enough bandwidth to seamlessly play online without interruption or have a poor gaming experience," a technical type explained.

"Once the gameplay doesn't require the additional bandwidth, the background download can be restarted or will continue normally."

In other words, you might struggle to download a film and play a game online at the same time - but when playing offline you won't have a problem.

Following today's earlier story regarding the PSN video service, Sony has also provided us with an update regarding whether the Police Academy series will appear in the store. European product marketing director Mark Hardy had this to say: "So far only Police Academy 3, 5 and 6 will be available in the German store."

At least that includes Assignment Miami Beach, but what about Mission to Moscow? And who cares if they're in German, apart from 82 million German people?

"If your readers really want these films as you suggest, we'll try and get them on the service," said Hardy. Come on Eurogamer readers, speak up in the comments below! YES WE CAN!

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • X201 #1 2 years ago

    "NO WE DON'T BLOODY WANT TO" more like ;)

  • wizlon #2 2 years ago

    Give me Naked Gun any day...

  • Deucalion #3 2 years ago

    Eh - sure? Although Denmark wont get the service until well into 2010, so it doesn't really matter to me just yet.

  • jonfon #4 2 years ago

    Forgive me for being thick, but where can I get the full list of releases on the Internet?

    Want to use this as ammo towards Operation "Getting myself a PS3 for Xmas" from my wife.,

  • DPRBassman #5 2 years ago

    no police academy but there is leprechaun 4 in space and leprechaun 5 in da hood

  • superjag86 #6 2 years ago

    Sorry Ellie but no!

  • Ken_Shinka #7 2 years ago

    Mission To Moscow....urghh, in a series of "so bad they're good" comedies that was the one that crossed the line. First six are top notch but I can live without MTM.

  • TravisTouchdown #8 2 years ago

    Anyone who picks a sans-Guttenberg instalment as their favourite Academy does not know a damn thing about them.

    Miami Beach, I ask you.

  • Skurmedel #9 2 years ago

    Mission to Moscow is horrible, but the others, hell yeah!

  • M_of_the_sys #10 2 years ago

    Aren't the PA films too violent for Germany?

    At what time does the video store go live?

  • jefranklin18 #11 2 years ago

    I am sorry but there must be some heavily tinted glasses involved here. None of the Police Academy films were any good, the first was a poor copy of Stripes and the rest should never have existed. I think Homer Simpson's line when berating Bart about him stealing from a store sums it up: "Didn't you learn anything from all those Police Academy movies I took you to? It wasn't for entertainment, I don't remember anyone laughing, do you?!"

    Nostalgia is dangerous :)

  • Skurmedel #12 2 years ago

    No none of them are good, that's the point :)
    Edited by 1 at 19/11/09 @ 14:56

  • wicked_uk #13 2 years ago

    why would you want to watch "Police Academy (any)"

  • brof #14 2 years ago

    is this question a joke or what?

  • TeaFiend #15 2 years ago

    I would buy a PS3 if I could download all of the Police Academy films to it legally.

  • Ryze #16 2 years ago

    So... where is this service, then?

    It's not exctly getting much promotion from Sony themselves...


    edit: I've just found it after dicking about in the PS Store. Teh interface is all over the place in typical Sony style.

    Choose 'rent' and get options for more movies to buy...
    Edited by 1 at 19/11/09 @ 15:13

  • TonyHarrison #17 2 years ago

    You should get on to them and ask if they will ever have some kind of subscription service in the future.

    Say £x per month for x number of downloads, kind of like online rental places have...

  • jonfon #18 2 years ago

    @Ryze :"edit: I've just found it after dicking about in the PS Store. Teh interface is all over the place in typical Sony style."

    Yep, it's horrendous.

    "We'll arrange the films by Studio only, that's a good idea. And the results will be a weird pseudo-random order rather than alphabetically arranged or anything remotely usable!"
    "Erm boss, shouldn't we arrange them by genre too so people can easily find them, and maybe if people type a film name into the search box we should return it as a search result?"
    "Silence you fool" *thwack*

    And it ain't available in Ireland either, but the French get it. Once more we're thwarted by our (new) nemeseses!! I'm blaming Thierry Henry.

    (Urrgh, a football joke. I feel dirty)

  • almighty-slayer #19 2 years ago

    jonfon

    Umm...They are organised by genre. And there is a search option. I don't see your point...

  • aguaporf #20 2 years ago

    I guess that films from the German store will be German only? People living abroad are already screwed like that for xbox video service (credit card needs to be issued in the same country of the store so creating multiple users does not work) :( meh...

  • jonfon #21 2 years ago

    @almighty-slayer:"Umm...Th ey are organised by genre. And there is a search option. I don't see your point..."

    Are they? Where? Cannae see genres on http://videosto re.uk.playstation.com/
    I could be blind of course.

    And the Search box, when I type in "Coraline" returns nada for me.

  • DestroyOhBoy #22 2 years ago

    I always remember an exchange that took place after a girlfriend of mine at the time made a caustic remark, we all looked at her with a mixture of dismay and dewilderment:

    Her: I just wanted to be one of the boys.
    One of the boys: Can't you be one of the boys that doesn't say a thing.

    Wise words Ellie, wise words.

  • Ellie #23 2 years ago

    TonyHarrison - I did ask them if there were any plans for a deal like the Netflix one Xbox 360 users have in the US. The answer was a pretty stock "It's something we might consider but right now we're focused on this download service." Sorry I didn't include this in the story, but I was trying to focus on the really important issues as I'm sure you can see.

  • mcwildcard #24 2 years ago

    Return of the Killer Tomatoes plz.

  • Skurmedel #25 2 years ago

    Found this gem [link url=http://videostore.uk.playstat ion.com/jonas-brothers-the-concert-experence-1563.html ]http://vi deostore.uk.playstation.com/jon...[/link]

    Just need to get some popcorn!

  • Doctor_What #26 2 years ago

    The first one's quite funny... At least, it was 20 years ago.

  • almighty-slayer #27 2 years ago

    @jonfon

    Sorry i must have misunderstood you. I thought you were talking about the store on the console, where you actually buy them from *confused*. On there you just select "Category" and you get 10 different genres to look in, and "other", and there's the usual "search" option on the top menu bar

  • jonfon #28 2 years ago

    @almighty-slayer
    No worries. Thought we might be talking about 2 different things alright. I don't have the console (yet) and was looking at the UK site mostly to get an idea of what was available (so I can use it as ammo towards being allowed to get one for Xmas from my wife).

    I've used the PSN store on my PSP and it is getting better (especially the genre page load times). But the accompanying websites are still very messy. They do have Categories associated with each move alright, but there's no way to browse by it.

  • sinelinden #29 2 years ago

    Sex & The City fans that we PS3 gamers are, don't we deserve to see Kim Cattrall (and Steve Guttenberg) in the criminally overlooked for Oscars Police Academy ?

    Currently I own it on VHS, NTSC VHS, DVD, Region A Blu-Ray and Super 8. I just need the PS download to complete my collection.

  • justsomeone #30 2 years ago

    looks like some people on this comments thread need to have their irony glands inspected. could be a blockage.

  • rprince #31 2 years ago

    That's always been the case, right? Downloads of games from PSN have always paused while playing (online) games.

  • gjgjg #32 2 years ago

    lolacoaster

    Naked gun indeed (wizlon)

  • covfan #33 2 years ago

    If Sony add the Police Academy series to the PSN VDS I will chuck out my xbox 360*!



    *possibly

  • Anslant #34 2 years ago

    Tell you what tho, I'd happily pay for a premium PSN subscription if it means I DON"T get access to the Police Academy films... actually, add the Harry Potter films to that list while we're at it.

    Yep, about £10 a month to not watch any of those films would be fine - granted I'm paying a lot less than that now, but this way I'd have the added benefit of not watching them in HD. Once you haven't seen these films in HD, there's just no turning back.

  • TRUTH #35 2 years ago

    downloading is so so sloooooooooooooooow on PS3.

  • Ornithophobe #36 2 years ago

    I may be going mad but it looks like anything I might hire is only available to buy, and most of the stuff you can hire I could get on DVD for a pound or two more.