The technology is likely to interface with the PS2 'e-distribution' system which allows PS2 users to retrieve from the Internet "download-intensive computer entertainment [also known as games] to hard-disc drives to be provided by Sony Entertainment". While this new infrastructure isn't likely to be as broad as the capabilities of DVD, the highway is now in for games to be distributed and updated online.

Perhaps the most important thing to know about this technology is not that it's new and important, but that the time is right for such a standard to exist. These types of networking announcements have been rather common in the history of gaming. The 3DO and Jaguar both had similar high hopes for an all-in-one set-top box. However, this may well be the first time that such an announcement has been backed by enough funding and advanced technology powerful enough to pull the ambition off. With an Ethernet component to add to the system and an established broadband infrastructure to plug into, PlayStation2 will be the centrepiece of your entire AV system, and possibly your entire life.

"With the approaching broadband network era, we are moving in a direction that will fundamentally reshape the relationship between digital audio and video appliances, computers and the Internet," Sony President and Chief Executive Officer Nobuyuki Idei said. Sun also sees the collaboration as a great leap forwards: "The collaboration that we are announcing today with Sony will unleash the power of the Internet in networked consumer electronic devices, forever changing the way people think of them," Sun Microsystems Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Scott McNealy said.


Courtesy of IGN.com