Well, maybe not stop, postpone I guess.
Sony have announced the PS3 slim officially now. In stead of just the entire internet knowing it was on the way, we now have official confirmation and details.
It looks like this:
A bit uglier than the PS3 phat, and doesn't seem to have the nifty 'button but not really a button' thing that the phat has, but seem more than worth it for it being not such an epic monolith of a console. It is 33% smaller, 36% lighter, and consumes 34% less power than the old model. Sony says it will be on sale worldwide by the 1st of September, and that is will have all the features of the phat.
Price is a funny one. The release price of the Slim is £249.99. Right now the best deal on a 80gb Phat is £250 from Asda, with 2 games. RRP for the phat 80gb model is £299.99, but that is also being dropped to £249.99.
Which doesn't make much sense to me.
Picture the scene:
Customer: "I'd like a PS3 please?"
Salesperson: "Sure, that's £250, would you like the old 80gb phat model, or the new 120gb slim model"
Customer: "What is the advantage of the phat model?"
Salesperson: "Nothing really"
No one is going to buy the phat at the same price as the slim. I predict retailers will be wanting to clear out the old models as soon as possible.
I don't think anyone's major complaint with the PS3 was size, it was price. They are starting to do fix that (although it possibly could be too little too late for some people). Either way, don't buy a PS3 now, either wait for the Slim, or wait a little while and get a big saving on the phat. As always, I will be keeping an eye out for the best launch prices for the slim, and any good clearance prices on the Phat.
Today is official "Stop any plans to buy a PS3" day
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6 comments:
It's worth noting that you can't install linux on the Slim, for the people who do that sort of thing. 2 usb ports too.
It's also worth noting that there are also rumours (via Kotaku) that there will be a 250GB version.
I think the PS3 Slim is gonna need a price cut.
Disapointing price cut but kind of what I expect from Sony, they're obviously trying to position themselves as the premium brand in console gaming and unreasonably high prices are all part of the deal. I wonder if getting wind of this is what made Microsoft decide they could get away with raising the price of the Arcade? Still I doubt they'll be another price cut any time soon so this news has actually made me start planning on buying a PS3. I'm thinking a fat one since putting linux on a PS3 is the sort of thing I'd do hopefully with the slim on it's way they'll be some pretty sweet deals on the fat ones in the coming weeks. If it drops under £200 mark (or a bit more if there's anything worth having bundled) then I may splash out.
Also, another interesting bit I just found out: Even though it uses less power, thereby being more environmentally friendly, there is no power switch, so you need to turn it off at the mains. (Eurogamer: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/no-backwards-compatibility-for-ps3-slim )
Apparently some fat consoles have been seen in Tesco at £200. I wouldn't go out of your way driving round for one but it wouldn't hurt to call up your local.
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