Sony Announces PS3 Slim, Price Cut, Improvements To Home

Sony's press conference today at the Gamescom convention was full of announcements. They officially revealed the PS3 Slim, which will be 36% lighter and 33% smaller than the normal PS3. It will come with a 120 GB hard drive and list for $299 when it hits retail stores in early September. Normal PS3s will drop to that price as well starting tomorrow. (Unfortunately for Sony, their unveiling was spoiled a bit by several retailers jumping the gun on new advertisements, not to mention the rumors that had been swirling for weeks ahead of time.) Sony also announced a PS3 firmware update as well as new features and customization options for Home. In addition to that, the PS3 and PSP will be getting a digital reader service. At launch it will bring access to Marvel comic books, and will expand from there. They didn't talk much about their upcoming motion control scheme, but promised more details next month at the Tokyo Game Show.

Comments

Firmware 3.0

[CopaceticOpus]

The new firmware is designed to help Sony advertise, and does almost nothing that PS3 owners actually want.

New Features:

• "What's New" screen (ads for Sony products, links to Sony store)
• Sony store now appears in several menus instead of just one.
• New animated themes that you can buy.
• New avatars, some of which are for sale. (Yes, they're really going to charge you to put a little picture of Sonic next to your username.)

Things People Actually Want:

• PS2 Compatibility
• Better video support, especially MKV files. (Yes, you can convert MKV files to be playable. No, I don't think that's good enough.)
• Ability to play media files over a Windows/Samba share, rather than having to use media server software.
• Ability to backup the PS3 over a LAN automatically.
• Less klunky web browsing
• 1080i support for more games. (Since some TVs are 1080/480 only, and downgrade 720 down to 480.)

Thanks a bunch, Sony.