SONY COMPUTER Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi has suggested the upcoming Playstation 3 will come equipped with a hard disk. And the hard disk may come with Linux pre-installed.

Kutaragi is miffed that the likes of Nintendo and Microsoft won't call their consoles computers. Nintendo, he complains to Japanese site Impress PC Watch, "keeps telling the world their consoles are 'toys'," while Microsoft keeps calling the Xbox a "game machine".

"We're positioning the PS3 as a supercomputer", he says, "But people won't recognize it as a computer unless we call it a computer, so we're going to run an OS on it. In fact, the Cell can run multiple OSes. In order to run the OSes, we need a hard disk. So in order to declare that the PS3 is a computer, I think we'll have [the hard disk] preinstalled with Linux as a bonus.

Kutaragi said the PS3 will run operating systems as applications. "The kernel will be running on the Cell, and multiple OSes will be running on top of that as applications. Of course, the PS3 can run Linux. If Linux can run, so can Lindows. Other PC Operating Systems can run too, such as Windows and (Mac OS) Tiger, if the publishers want to do so. Maybe a new OS might come out," he adds.

He says that providing hard disk with the PS3 will permit the, um, console, to be used as a computer - for applications beyond gaming. Video editing and photo retouching are examples of applications that could be run on a Linux-powered PS3, he suggests.

It is not yet clear whether a hard disk will ship with the PS3 as standard or whether it will be and optional extra. "There are still some issues if the machine doesn't come with a hard disk," said Kutaragi. "We've added a 2.5-inch HDD bay so that users can add hard disks, such as 80GB and 120GB," he said.

The Xbox 360 is expected to ship with a 20GB hard drive as standard. It is not expected to be running Linux.

The Inquirer