Sony has revealed exciting new plans for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) games console - including one that will turn it into a digital video recorder.
The plans emerged in an interview with Warwick Light, head of marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment New Zealand . During the interview with The Press , Light said:
"We're also hoping next year - about the same time that FreeView [sic] launches its terrestrial broadcasting service [in New Zealand] - to release a digital tuner for the PS3, turning it into a programmable TV recorder." Light also revealed more home networking plans for the console, using the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) protocol:
"It means I can have my laptop, and my PS3 can wirelessly detect movies, or music, or pictures stored on it and stream it to my TV. That content will appear on the PS3's X-media bar," Light said.
PS3 is future-proof
While Light admitted that the New Zealand launch had been botched and that sales had been disappointing so far. But he towed the party line by saying that the PlayStation 3 was here for the long-haul - that it's a "next-generation" machine:
""What does next-generation mean? It means that something has to last until the next generation. The PlayStation 2 has proven that, with about seven years between the PS2 and PS3.
"It could be anywhere between seven and 10 years before the next (Sony) console comes out, and to bridge that gap you need considerable technology. The PS3 is designed to last until the next generation."
He said argued that its biggest rival - the Microsoft Xbox 360 - will have a considerably shorter lifespan than the PS3 as It's based on current generation technology:
PS3 as super computer
"Look at the tangible differences between processing power and scope for scalability between the PS3 and the Xbox 360, it is clear that the PS3 is designed to last until the next generation." He also said that Nintendo has admitted that its Wii console is current generation.
Light rounds off the interview by making the following, very bold claim:
"A lot of people think that the PS3 is just a games machine... Well it is, but it isn't. It's a future-proofed super computer."
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