Sony have reported that over 30,000 users have signed up for the Folding@Home project, The intent is that gamers be able to contribute to the science project by merely "contributing electricity," leaving their Playstation 3 consoles running the client while not playing games. Why would you want to do that?

Well, Stanford University’s Folding@home program utilises distributed computing in an attempt to understand protein folding, misfolding and related diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and cancer. PS3 users now have the capability to connect their PS3 systems to the FAH network and assist in this protein folding research.

Because the protein folding process happens in about 10 one-millionths of a second, scientists must leverage computer simulations to study them. However, since a simulation and calculation this complex can take several years for one computer to observe, the FAH program sends small packets of information to millions of separate computers in the network. Once each computer tabulates its respective information, it sends it back to a central computer where all the results can be tabulated and viewed together.

In the past, the FAH program utilised primarily personal computers. However, a networked PS3, thanks to its powerful Cell Broadband Engine, is roughly 20-30 times faster than a standard PC, allowing researchers to tabulate simulations much faster. What once took 5-10 years to compute can now take a few months.

To join the program, PS3 users can simply click on the Folding@home icon within the Network menu of the XrossMediaBar . Then, when the PS3 is left on and reaches idle mode, it will automatically begin the simulations.