Rebel assault: OS X on PlayStation 3

Could Mac OS X on the PlayStation 3 be the first manoeuvre in Sony's assault on the living room? A stable, friendly operating system coupled with what is likely to be the world's most popular games console? Batton down the hatches boys, our lust meters are about to go nuclear.

Sony has casually announced that the PS3's cell processors will support a variety of operating systems "such as Linux or OS X Tiger". It's enough to give Bill Gates hives. Not only has Microsoft failed so far to set the living room on fire with its Media Center home entertainment system, but it's impossible to boot Windows XP on a PowerPC-based processor -- the type of processor both the PS3 and Xbox360 will use.

Speculation runs that Sony may use the PlayStation 3 and a stripped-down version of OS X to steal the home media centre market that Microsoft wants so badly. We've used Microsoft Media Center PCs here at Crave, and they're definitely not ready for mainstream consumers. If six hours of fiddling about with monitor settings and keeping your glorified video recorder virus-free is your idea of fun, there's some mileage in the concept -- otherwise, steer clear. It may be that a Sony-Apple venture gazumps Microsoft in the living room. We can't wait to watch this fight really kick off. -CS