Maybe Sony will help you build a supercomputer too!

I have known about using Sony PlayStation 3 platform as a supercomputer, but I still found this item over at Ars Technica interesting because it lays out the case better.

It leads me to wonder how long the business model for console gaming can last. Basically, game purchasers subsidizing unintended uses of the PS3 platform. This will produce one or more of the following consequences in the long run:

• Fewer gamers adopt the PS3 platform because the game prices are higher than on competing platforms;
  
• The profits of Sony and of game developers are lower;
  
• Sony does what Apple does and tries to "capture" the PS3 users, creating a future for people who can "jailbreak" PS3s
  
• Console manufacturers create "crippled" consoles that can't be effectively used in this way. For example, is anyone using clusters of Xbox 360s as a supercomputing platform?
  

Blu-ray recorders

This story is an interesting development in the ongoing format war. The price is steep, up to US$1752 (compared with US$199 for an upcoming HD DVD player).

How much would a 50 Gbyte hard drive cost? Are these storage media substitutable? Assuming that digital rights management (DRM) issues can be resolved, do you think that this feature will make a difference in this war? Has the market moved away from the need for high capacity, portable storage like this?

On this topic, China has announced a third format, as reported by Ars Technica. Do you think this will have an impact on the ongoing format war?