My game column: Why Sony's PlayTV looks cool and is doomed

In my column this past weekend, I looked at Sony's determination to make the PS3/PSP combo the ultimate home media device in the universe.

The latest addition to the package is the so-called PlayTV, a devices that lets you turn your PS3 into a TiVo-like device to view and record live TV, and then stream that live or recorded television over Wi-Fi to your PSP, a la Slingbox.

The BBC has a nice writeup of the PlayTV with a cool video (PlayTV is scheduled to come out in Europe first this year, with the U.S. and Japan presumably following).

I am as entranced by this tech as any of you, but I just don't see a lot of gamers shelling out the cash for an expensive peripheral that either duplicates a gadget they already own (TiVo or other DVR) or a gadget that has yet to hit mainstream success (Slingbox).

Like I said, though, I'm certainly intrigued.