I find it quite sad that the first thought on the minds of many gamers on hearing that someone has cracked the PS3 is pirate games,

My first thought was maybe with a cracked machine you can finally run Linux with the graphics chip enabled.

Imagine the quality of a PS3 acting as a fully functioning media centre with a fully enabled Web browser.

That means you don't stop at iPlayer on PS3, you have 4oD, ITV Player and Demand Five and also video and music playback of almost any format.

How about homebrew?

Not only would Flash and Java games work on a Web browser but there are already a world of Linux programs that do all manner of weird and wonderful things, not least something like ScummVM.

There has been a fuss made about getting Facebook and Twitter working on both the 360 and the PS3.

But why settle for these limited versions when you could have access to the whole site and features?

It is naive to think that people's motives for wanting the PS3 cracked are innocent and wholesome and the act of cracking the PS3 is potentially in itself illegal.

However, doing all of this opens up no more issues of piracy than buying a PC from any High Street store... and none of this even includes PS3 games.

From what I've read there is an issue with pirated games on the PS3 in that pirates would have to crack the Blu-ray drive as well as the system.

Add to that the high capacity of the Blu-ray format and I think Sony's protection against pirates is twofold.

Firstly Blu-ray burners and discs are still expensive and secondly Internet downloads would take days to download at current average speeds.

This is only a short term problem for pirates as cost will come down and Internet speeds will increase.

Hopefully though, like Microsoft, Sony will be able to hand out PlayStation Network bans for pirates if copied games ever do raise their heads.

Personally I don't care if the PS3 is ever able to play copy games.

In fact I would prefer to see a cracked system without the problem of pirated games as this would limit Sony's interest in the issue.

Some people look at this news with disdain. But I think finally realising the potential of the PS3 running Linux, as it was announced at E3 back in 2005, is something to get excited about.

Wow ,

it was only september when i bought a Wii and i'm already itching to buy a PS3 .. and i've almost done so on 3 seperate occasions ...

However it took a little history leason to remind me that i don't need a PS3 yet ( even if i do want one )

I bought my 360 for £175 with 2 controllers and 4 games

The best deal i've seen on the PS3 is £285 with Play TV and 4 games

Now , this is just for me , i would still need to buy a second controller so add £30 and it's still just over £300 to getthe Ps3 package i want.

Sorry sony .. but it's just still too expensive to buy into the PS3 ... the deals on both the Wii and the 360 are vastly better value. ( and this from someone that never touches his Wii )

So unless a super deal comes out in the last week before christmas i'm guessing it'll be a fairly long wait till i get a PS3 .. it's going to be that £200 point that tips me over the edge i think.

Ilooked at my collection and i now have over 30 games for my 360 ... surely i've got enough games to entertain me .. and in all honesty as soon as Mass effect 2 comes out all my gaming time will be spent on that ... i simply won't have time to lust for a PS3.

Ok .. i bought a Wii about 2 weeks ago.

So i now own a 360 and a Wii

But i'm looking at the PS3 with lustful eyes. Now I know that it's still about £50 too expesive in the UK and that Multiplatform games are generally better on the 360 and that Blu ray disks are overpriced. I know all these things.

But i'm a gamer at heart and none of that matters when i could once again have all three consoles ... that i could play any exclusive on any format that i could play multiplayer games for the first time since my Gold trial ran out ( even then i couldn't be bothered to play multiplayer ) and i could get new films on Bluray ... oh the dream.

Realistically i should wait till next year to get a PS3 , with another holiday season out of the way the price of Bluray films and Ps3 games should fall even further and with luck the new year should bring with it more favourable exchange rates and even a cheaper PS3 ... although sony has been quite happy to rip off the UK for the last few years i doubt they would change their ways.

So that's it .. i will wait ... wait ... wait .... wait ...

lets see how long i hold out