Skype to Unify Xbox and PlayStation Gamers?

Here's a fun notion to start the week. Microsoft is ditching its long-serving Messenger communications tool and asking PC users to switch to Skype. Skype is already big on the Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and Xbox, and therefore will likely be the messaging system used on the Xbox 720, Xbox Next, Durango or whatever it is called.

So, how much of a leap is it to make that PS Vita owners who already have Skype (don't think it ever came out on PS3) will be happily able to chat to Xbox owning friends in-between (or during gaming sessions)? While it won't be the same as cross-gaming between MS and Sony devices, it could be one way to help link gamers together across this rather feeble wall of not-playing-together.

And if an app does come out on PS3 or, more likely, PS4, then it can't be too hard for someone to create a third-party social gaming app that can blend gaming accounts, achievements and so on. But even as plain Skype, ramped up for gamers, it would provide Microsoft with a clever way to create its own cross-border Game Center-like service with ease.