Xbox, Blu-ray help hermits host online movie parties.

There was a lot of buzz this week about the fact that Netflix partnered with Microsoft so you can watch streaming movies on an XBox 360. (If you're a paying XBox Live Gold subscriber.) But one aspect was a bit overlooked, probably because it sounds a little silly at first.

Thanks to the "Live Party" feature that Microsoft recently added, you'll be able to watch the Netflix movies in real time with your online friends. Here's a nice summary from CrunchGear:

You’ll be able to stream whatever Netflix content you’re watching to the rest of the people in your Live Party group — groups can contain up to eight people, and everyone will be watching the movie or TV show at the same time, which oughta further alleviate the need to actually leave your house to interact with people face to face.

As a boring, baby-maintaining adult who needs five days to watch a two-hour movie, I personally find this to be a pretty worthless feature. But there's no denying that it could be popular with the same crowd that has made XBox Live such a massive hit. If you're already spending hours playing games online with your friends, why is it so different to watch a movie together?

And as I mentioned in the headline, Microsoft isn't alone in this idea.

Sony and Disney have partnered to create a Blu-ray DVD version of "Sleeping Beauty" that allows you to interact in several ways with others watching the movie. From The New York Times:

Viewers can watch the movie in tandem with friends in other locations and chat using a laptop, P.D.A. or cellphone. (Comments appear on the screen.) Parents who are not able to watch the film with their children can record a video message that will pop up during a designated scene as the child watches. Viewers will also be able to compete against others around the world at trivia.

All of these activities are possible because of a technology that connects Blu-ray discs with the Internet, which the entertainment industry is calling BD Live. Disney and other studios, including Lionsgate and Sony, believe that BD Live could be Blu-ray’s killer app, potentially altering the tepid response that consumers have given Blu-ray to date.

(Hat tip to Andy Dunbar at Social Media Update.)

So what do you think? Is this "virtual movie night" a sign that we're becoming less social creatures, or more?

Comments

[Andy Dunbar]

Nice post! I think it means that we are becoming more social. When we want to be alone to watch a movie, we can't. We have to talk to somebody. I think that makes sense.

[Ben Kunz]

This whole connecting-while-in-private phenomenon of social media is mesmerizing. Twitter, Facebook, gaming, and now moving watching -- we're expanding our social connections exponentially while building higher walls to who we really are.

Lately I've wondered if these types of connections are actually more personal, rather than less. Instead of using SM tools as "masks," maybe they allow us to share who we really are -- avoiding the prejudices of appearance, class, clothing, or white teeth.

No matter. Can't wait to watch flicks with my new friends in Japan.

[Tim Nudd]

They should merge the gaming and movie watching elements. Give viewers/players the ability to ambush and destroy the movie's characters. Would work particularly well with Katherine Heigl flicks.

[Lara]

I think we're always social creatures, nothing has changed except how we socialize. We use the web to keep in community where cars, travel, and other lifestyle changes have broken down the former "village" community of streets, village squares and knowing your neighbors.

As for the virtual movie night, I love this option. As a frequent traveler, I love the idea of being able to watch a movie with people I care about, even if I'm several states away.

Just like everything else about the social web, at first it's creepy (e.g., worrying it's like 2001 A Space Odyssey) -- but then you see how convenient it is. I think the web has actually allowed me to be more social, to keep in more touch, with more people -- which I love.

[Futurist]

And now, for an opposing opinion:

The unfettered speed of "social media" via the interwebz is a trend which, although seeming to be 'natural' (Sing it with me now: "People who need people are the luckiest people in the world") is ultimately going to allow commercial entities and other less-than-well-intentioned entities to instrument (track) our personal interactions at an unprecedented level.

This is not good.

Read this book: "Feed", by M.T. Anderson. Also, read (or reread) "1984"...just cuz he got the date wrong doesn't mean he's wrong. Also? "Brave New World".

In addition, "Social Media" will allow us to 'connect' with other people in a symbolic way (which is not the same as connecting in a real way. Sorry, that's my opinion), but it is ultimately realy just an act of sitting somewhere typing on a keyboard, like I'm doing now.

Typing on a keyboard for long periods of personal time already had a big group of devotees. They're called 'writers', and they almost universally refer to their need to sit alone and type on a keyboard as a negative habit with positive outcomes. It's not really good to sit and type on keyboards for large portions of a day. Sorry, again, my opinion.

Cheers.

P.S. Yes, I know what a Luddite is. No, I'm not one. See eff.org

[David Griner]

Futurist, I don't think your opinion is that contrarian. Working in marketing, I'm even more sensitive than I was before to our vulnerability in an increasingly virtual world.

Who knows? With each new case of our privacy being invaded by the government or corporations, we might become even more inclined to have face-to-face conversations than we were pre-Internet.