Xbox Live streams first exclusive movie, British comedy Pulp

Press start to watch a new movie you can't see anywhere else: Xbox Live is showing its first exclusive feature-length film.

Pulp is a British movie -- hurrah! -- about a comic book creator roped into helping police take on a drug cartel. It's the first feature-length movie to bypass cinema and DVD release to go straight to the Xbox.

Microsoft plans to release other such movies on the console.

According to Pulp director Adam Handy, the film struggled to get into cinemas because of a lack of "bankable stars with a track record". With retailers folding and downloading -- both legal and illegal -- taking a bite out of sales, Handy told the BBC there's been "a decline in the middle- to lower-budget tier of films that used to get made."

Pulp is 'Withnail and I meet Spaced', apparently. It's about a comic creator launching a superhero called the Sodomizer, so you have been warned. You can buy it now for 1,120 Microsoft Points (about £9.50) in standard definition, or 1,420 Microsoft monies (£12) for the high-definition version.

In rather higher-budgeted movie-streaming news, Netflix is the only subscription streaming service to beam The Hunger Games directly into your online-connected device this week. The smash hit kiddy-hunting trilogy-opener, starring newly be-Oscared stair-struggler Jennifer Lawrence, is also available to rent from Blinkbox, which is owned by Tesco.

Recently it was revealed that new releases are increasingly split between rival services Lovefilm and Netflix -- so you need both to see everything. Either that or pay through the nose for Sky.

Which streaming services do you use? Is Pulp any good? What's the finest unsung gem you've discovered via streaming or online viewing? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.