Sony Producing New PS3 Hardware, Slim Appears Likely

The Opposable Thumbs blog reports on a confluence of rumors and information leaks that suggest Sony will be unveiling a PS3 Slim sooner rather than later. Despite waning console sales, orders for PS3-related hardware have risen sharply. There's evidence to suggest that Sony is phasing out its 80GB model, which would help clear the way for a hardware revision. Some expect the official announcement to come as early as August 18th, during the gamescom expo in Germany.

Comments

Do not want!!

[Macthorpe]

Unless the price comes down to 360 levels. It's not like the PS3 has an exclusive I particularly want anyway.

Re:Do not want!!

[krou]

The summary doesn't mention it, but there are signs that they may announce a price drop for the PS3 at GamesCom as well. For example, they've doubled PS3 production since the cost of making the PS3 has dropped some 70% since launch, while Amazon reduced the cost of one of the 160GB bundles by around US$50. Probably won't be anywhere near Xbox360 levels though.

Re:Do not want!!

[Davemania]

Comparing the price of a base PS3 to XBox360 is quite frankly ridiculous. The extra features of the base machine offered is completely different, if you get the Xbox 360 with the addtional attachment cost included, comparing the cost would than be more realistic. I do think that the PS3 price need to come to but not necessarily down to 360's.

Re:Do not want!!

[Macthorpe]

The difference I see is - I can buy a 360 without the additional attachments. With the PS3 I have no choice.

Not sure why my original post is a troll though - I guess that it could offend someone, though I'm not sure who.

Re:Do not want!!

[dank zappingly]

Yeah you can buy a 360 without the additional attachments, but if you do buy them, they are going to hose you with their proprietary hard drives and wireless adapters. If you end up spending $130 for a 120gb hard drive and $77 for a wireless adapter and the PS3 isn't really more expensive, plus you get free online play. I'm sure not everyone needs a blu ray player(well aware of the people who still insist that it barely looks better than a regular dvd), or wireless, and that xbox live is superior to PSN, but I think that for the average gamer there really isn't much of a price difference once you take everything into account.

Re:Do not want!!

[Enderandrew]

I'm not a console fanboy. I buy all the consoles each generation. Let me debunk your FUD.

What do you mean by "normal software"? I agree that the PS3 can browse the Internet, but I'm not sure that's so useful. The Xbox 360 can play DVDs, too.

The PS3 can install Linux out of the box and can play BluRays. A BluRay player is still $200+, and $250+ for a decent one. Add $250 to the price of an XBox 360 and then tell me which is cheaper.

Xbox Live is far superior to the PS3 offering, and I pay only about $35/year. I don't *want* a free, crappy online experience.

XBox Live is better. I agree. But I prefer a free experience since I don't have 25+ hours a week to play my console online.

So? Why would I want to use my console controller on a PC?

I still play PC gaming, and I love the PS2/PS3 controllers. I don't have to buy separate PC controllers for PC gaming. That is nice. You can connect them with the USB cable or bluetooth, since it uses a standard USB connection. This is still a benefit of the PS3 over the 360. You said you were debunking FUD and in reality you're offering opinions, not commenting on facts.

Excuse me? Care to back that up with proof?

How about the litany of developers who claim their games won't run on the 360, or the fact that now that developers know how to code for the PS3, that 360 ports look worse, or that developers have had to lower draw distances for 360 versions, or that the cold hard facts show that the PS3 has more power? Again, you're offering opinions rather than facts.

Overall, I believe cross-platform games look worse on PS3 than they do on Xbox 360. For example, Ghostbusters. But that's just minor. I have yet to see any single PS3 game that looks superior to anything you find on an Xbox.

That was certainly the case when the PS3 first launched, and they just took 360 games and ported them poorly. That certainly isn't the case anymore.

Re:Do not want!!

[ravenshrike]

You can buy a 360 without the additional attachments sure, but only if you like playing in the same room as a jet engine.

Re:Do not want!!

[nutshell42]

I won't buy a 360 due to the way MS treats the PC. It's not so much that they no longer release anything for the PC (although it's funny that Sony seems to make more games for MS fucking Windows than MS), that's their right. It's the sheer hypocrisy. The way they tout their efforts to "enhance" PC gaming while even their head honchos admit that they want to kill it because they have more control over the 360 - not to mention that they get their cut of every game sold. (see here)

If you're a smug 360 owner and don't give a fsck about the PC then remember the fate of the original Xbox. Sony's keeping the PS2 around forever and they'll likely do the same with the PS3, you're still gonna get new games years after the PS4 launch. MS killed the Xbox immediatly after the 360 launch. Oh, they say it's gonna be different for the 360 because they don't have to pay intel and Nvidia etc etc, which brings us back to all the crap they spout about their support for PC games.

Re:Do not want!!

[Dutch Gun]

Not sure why my original post is a troll though - I guess that it could offend someone, though I'm not sure who.

Because there's way too many gamers who, for whatever reason, seem to have tied their sense of self-worth to whichever gaming platform they've chosen. I've never understood that, and likely never will.

Myself, I don't want a cheaper, slimmed down PS3. I want a deluxe mode. I would likely pick up a new console if Sony would create a new PS3 with full hardware PS2 support. Yes, I already have a PS2, but I would love to be able to get rid of it and just play on the newer system. Oddly enough, my PS2 is still getting more gameplay time than my PS3 (I currently have a 20GB model) as I plow through a lot of the great older PS2 titles I missed (some JRPGs, Tales games, Ico & Shadows of the Colossus, etc).

It feels like Sony hasn't had a clear direction with their hardware for a long time. They keep changing models and reducing features (except HD space in later models). I guess this economy is more conducive to less expensive systems, so they felt they had to cost-reduce at the expense of features.

Needs Backwards Compatibility.

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Unless it has PS2 game emulation, I have no reason whatsoever to upgrade to it from my 60GB model. A 60GB model which Yellow lighted and had to be repaired so I could save my saves. I'm still using the danm thing despite the imminent risk of another YLOD due solely to the fact that it plays PS2 games with upscaling. I don't want to go back to using a regular PS2 if I can help it. The difference is truly is like night and day.

If there's no PS2 backwards compatibility (and ffs PS1 game texture smoothing), I see no reason for prefering the model to the cheaper 80/160GBs.

Re:Needs Backwards Compatibility.

[Narishma]

The only PS3s that have full PS2 BC are the original 20GB and 60GB. Some of the early 80GB versions had partial BC (they had the GPU in hardware but the CPU was emulated in software) but they didn't last long.

He means the original 60GB one

[NotSoHeavyD3]

Which is the one I have as well. The first 2 PS3's, the 20GB and 60GB both played PS2 games and both had the complete hardware to do so. (Newer PS3 were missing one of the big chips but still could pull it off. Current systems don't have any of the old PS2 hardware which is why they arn't BC.) Anyway I hope they put BC back in. (Either that or I hope my PS3 doesn't break as much as my 360.)

What it would take

[snarfies]

1) Bring back HARDWARE emulation of the PS2. Not the software version (which isn't even offered anymore).

2) Drop the price.

That is all. Do that and I'll buy. Seriously.

Re:What it would take

[Enderandrew]

There have been reports that the software emulaation works better, so I'm not sure we need the hardware emulation.

A price drop is a must. However, what many people weren't aware of is that Sony was doing a deal if you applied for the Playstation credit card, you got $150 off a PS3. When I purchased my second PS3, I did it through that deal and paid $250 for a PS3, which is the same price as a Wii, for an 80 GB model. That was a pretty good deal.

Re:What it would take

[Enderandrew]

I checked, and Sony isn't doing the same deal anymore, but they are doing $100 off a PS3 right now.

http://www.sonyrewards.com/en/gateway/?offerlink=srnowps3

Re:They had PS2 compatibility

[Lilith's Heart-shape]

The current status is that Sony can't believe anybody actually fell for that bullshit.