In a late-night Sunday update to the Official PlayStation Blog, Netflix has announced an upcoming partnership with Sony that will bring the same Netflix streaming-functionality that Xbox 360 owners have enjoyed to the PS3.

"Coming Soon: Netflix members can instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed to TVs via the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system.

With movies streamed instantly from Netflix, Blu-ray/DVD Playback and downloadable videos via the PlayStation Network, the PlayStation 3 system offers the industry’s most comprehensive options for watching movies and TV shows.”

The service costs $8.99 a month, which includes streaming as well as DVDs delivered to user’s homes. In order to get the service into PS3 owner’s hands sooner, the service will initially be offered through a Blu-ray disk that runs a PS3 friendly Netflix application. It’s inevitable that an XMB menu application is en route, though PS3 users know the timeframe for new firmware features is a bit discouraging."

The announcement is another notch in Sony’s aggressive campaign to woo potential next generation console customers. Certainly Netflix functionality won’t convince many Xbox 360 users to make the switch but the statement definitely sweetens Sony’s “It Only Does Everything” campaign. Netflix integration isn’t a console war game-changer but Sony is piecing together a value package of the best features of the current generation. Netflix combined with Blu-ray functionality, not to mention the competitor’s Xbox Live gold membership hurdle, makes the PS3 package a very attractive SKU for parents who would like to squeeze a little non-gaming value out of their kid’s present this holiday season.

No official release date for PS3-Netflix integration has been announced.

What do you think? How much will Netflix integration on PS3 affect the current console war?

Source: Playstation.Blog