Ideal PlayStation 2 successor would be "an OS installed in various home appliances that could run game programs", says Sony

CNN has an interesting article that suggests that Sony's PlayStation 2 successor, rumored to be coming in 2005, may not come in the form of a game console at all. Here's more:

""We're not thinking about hardware," said Kenichi Fukunaga, spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), the Sony subsidiary that develops and makes the PlayStation.

"The ideal solution would be having an operating system installed in various home appliances that could run game programs," he said."

Recall earlier when it was reported that Sony Computer Entertainment, IBM, and Toshiba were taping out a new microchip project rumored to be used in Sony's next console, code-named "cell":

"SCE said it had not decided how to integrate the cell processor into its next game console, but the general idea was to use the chip in Internet servers and home electronics to divide computing tasks among networked machines.

"We've started with boxes -- making boxes to do specific things, but if you have a chip this powerful you can add functions to any box. It's reverse thinking," said SCE's Fukunaga."

Whether or not this line of thinking will become reality remains to be seen. As always, more details as they appear in the future.