Want to know what must be keeping Sony executives awake at night? I suggest that it’s this kind of stuff – XBConnect – which is a free software utility that lets you connect your XBox up to the Internet to play games remotely with friends and strangers.

Download the software, install it on a PC which is hooked up to your XBox using a network router or hub, connect to a broadband Internet connection and bingo, an instant online gaming experience. The software supports a handful of games at the moment, including Halo, Nascar and Tony Hawke, but no doubt many more will appear in time.

It’s not just that the software exists, it’s that the developers have gone from zero to programs like this within a matter of weeks since the XBox launch, whilst the PS2 sits alone and forlorn without an online element more than a year after it was introduced to the world. This is the sort of 3rd party hack which may make the XBox a huge success over the long run, you mark my words.