iPlayer could come to PS3 too

BBC technology journalist Darren Waters has explained the thinking behind the decision to bring the iPlayer to Wii - adding it's "almost inevitable" the service will also make it to PS3.

In a post on his blog Waters wrote, "How ironic that it is the Nintendo Wii, and not the PlayStation 3 nor Xbox 360, that becomes the first of the current generation of consoles to have a truly dynamic range of online video content... [The announcement] makes something of a mockery claims by Sony and Microsoft that their consoles are the true multimedia machines."

So why aren't the Wii's rival machines getting iPlayer too? Waters quotes Erik Huggers, future media and technology group controller at the BBC, as saying, "If you want to get on the PlayStation or Xbox, they want control of the look, the feel and the experience; they want it done within their shop, and their shop only."

Waters continues, "Reading between the lines it would seem Microsoft was unwilling to work with the BBC unless it was given more control over how the content was accessed and presented inside Xbox Live.

"It seems more puzzling for Sony to take this approach. It has said often that PS3 is an "open platform" and all it would take is a small update to let gamers access iPlayer in the web browser."

Such an update is likely to appear in the future, according to Waters: "I think this is almost inevitable - and so Sony gamers shouldn't be too distraught."