Sony thinking about Super PlayStation Network?

Console network systems have really taken off in the last few years and Sony is well aware of the potential they hold. Though Xbox Live is still the obvious darling of console networks, Sony is keen to see that change and, according to a new story in The Financial Times, Sony CEO Howard Stringer may want to expand the PlayStation Network in the near future.

That Stringer wants Sony to expand the PlayStation Network into a video and music download service has long been rumoured and the new report goes a little closer to confirming those rumours, but there could be still more on the horizon for PSN if Stringer gets his way.

Stringer talks in the feature about growing the network beyond the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable and moving to integrate new devices, such as Sony TVs, into the network somehow.

"[We are] trying to get our devices to talk to each other efficiently. PlayStation Network should migrate from gadget to gadget. But initially it starts with PlayStation devices and then to TV and beyond." Said Stringer in the interview, though refusing to give a time frame for the expansion.

Stringer admitted that the Sony won't be able to gauge how effective the current network has been until next year.

The idea has drawn ire from some PlayStation owners as Sony has yet to make full use the current PlayStation Network, with the oft-delayed Home still unreleased. Microsoft meanwhile is possibly closing the gap on Sony with ideas of a new virtual world for Xbox Live, while also dissing Sony's attempt.

Would you like to see the formation of a new Super PlayStation Network, or is the whole console network thing overblown and overhyped? Let us know what you think in the forums.