It only took a year and a half, but Europe’s playing catch-up with America at long last with the arrival of the Video Store on the PlayStation Network.

Mernmernmernmernmern took bloody long enough. Details over the jump, as per.

Since the Video Store went live in the States back in summer 2008 — when it was announced and launched simultaneously at E3 — we folks in Europe have had it rough. We’ve had to stump up a ton of cash for Blu-rays packed with special features that nobody watches, unable to spend a few bucks on a simple HD rental of Watchmen. I had to spend £25 on a giant case in the shape of Doctor Manhattan’s head. This is not really something I particularly wanted.

And boy, did you lot know about it. Whether it was July, August or December, I found an excuse to moan about the lack of a video store in Europe and attach a suitable teary-eyed cartoon graphic of the European flag. A fair few of you agreed with me too. Which was nice. Even if I did get bored after a while and accepted that Sony just weren’t keen on their European consumers at all.

Over the past little while, Sony have been doing a little better in how they’ve been treating us continential types. We’ve had the PS3-friendly version of the BBC iPlayer in the UK, letting us watch telly on-demand across the internet and PSN games are generally arriving on time in Europe. And now, at long last, we’ve got an online movie store too.

So, European folks, here’s your facts for today’s already-live launch (presented in BOLDVISION):

• 2000 movies to choose from including a bunch of new stuff like Bruno, Transformers 2, Star Trek and Drag Me To Hell for download on your PS3 or PSP
• 50 new movies being added a week, minimum
• €1.99 starting price to rent, €7.99 starting price to buy
• Rented movies expire after 2 weeks, and after you start watching a movie you have 2 days to finish it
• For some reason only the UK and Germany are getting it, so everyone else can essentially go ‘eff themselves it seems

As an, um, incentive, you can get a free copy of crap movie The Da Vinci Code if you buy crapper movie Angels and Demons first. Gee Sony, thanks.

So then. I’m quite looking forward to trying this out when I get the chance, and hopefully we’ll see an introduction of TV content sometime soon too to bring the Store in line with its American cousin.

Oh, and Europeans are getting Metal Gear Solid today too. Baby steps, Sony. Baby steps.

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