Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners rejoice! It appears that Netflix streaming video could soon be showing up on your consoles.

The speculation comes from a recent Netflix survey which asked, “If as part of your Netflix membership you could instantly watch movies and TV episodes on your TV with your PS/3 or XBOX 360, how likely would you/anyone in your household be to do that?”

The survey goes on to say that consoles would be able to play streaming media using a “special Netflix disk.” It gets even better! Netflix claims that there wouldn’t be any fees except for the subscription fee you are already paying and a one-time $3 charge for the disk.

Video on consoles seems to be a pretty small market for the rental giant, so we’re not quite sure if they’re ready to offer the service just yet. If the rumors are true, though, this would be a great alternative to Apple TV.

IBM has announced details of a smaller, lower-power version of their Cell BE processor. Yup, that’s the same bad boy that powers your PS3.

The current Cell is manufactured on a 65nm process but the new one will be made with a next-generation 45nm process. The new Cell will use about 40 percent less power than its big brother and have a 34 percent smaller die area. This in turn means that the chip will run cooler, which means less cooling by the console resulting in a cheaper and more reliable PS3.

Unfortunately, no one knows if Sony will decide to pass on the savings to the consumer or keep the extra profit for themselves. It could be a while before a cheaper PS3 actually hits the shelves. Hopefully, though, this is sooner than later because at current prices the PS3 is still a bit hard to afford.

Rumors are circulating that Sony is getting ready to debut a newer, slimmer, lighter, and sexier PlayStation 3.

It might be dubbed the PSThree, based on the PlayStation 2 changing its name to PSTwo after it shed some weight as well. There’s also a possibility of a hard drive upgrade to 160GB. Expect all of the other features to stay the same, including the Blu-ray player.

The illustration designed by T3 looks absolutely stunning. We expect a boost in sales if this thing gets released as there’s bound to be tons of gamers wanting to get their hands on this gorgeous console.
Image courtesy of and (c) T3.com