Netflix streams movies to Xbox 360

Xbox 360 users will be able to stream Netflix content straight to the console

Online movie rental service Netflix has teamed up with Microsoft to allow Xbox 360 users to stream movies and TV shows straight to the consoles.

The online movie service will be available to Xbox Live Gold members who are also Netflix subscribers, and will include a library of more than 10,000 movies and TV episodes when it launches in late autumn.

John Schappert, corporate vice president of Interactive Entertainment Live at Microsoft, claimed to be creating a "completely new social entertainment experience".

"Xbox 360 will be the only video game system where you can access your library of instantly streamable movies from Netflix and turn any room into a virtual movie theatre," he said.

Members can add movies and TV episodes to their individual instant Queues from the Netflix site. The choices will be automatically displayed on the TV screen via Xbox 360 and available to watch instantly.

Netflix claims that, once selected, the movies will begin playing in as little as 30 seconds.

Xbox 360 users can also fast-forward, pause and rewind using the Xbox 360 controller or Media Remote.

Reed Hastings, chairman and chief executive at Netflix, said: "This is an important step forward for Netflix in making instantly streaming movies on the TV more broadly available to our members."