Sony announces PS3 Slim

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 18th August 2009
Comments (66) Stumble
Sony announces PS3 Slim

Sony has confirmed the PlayStation 3 Slim model, as well as a price cut for existing PlayStation 3 models.

GamesCom 2009: It may be one of the most expected announcements of the year, if not ever, but taking to the stage in the official Sony press conference just before the official opening of GamesCom in Cologne, Sony boss Kazuo Hirai confirmed the PlayStation 3 Slim.

No surprises there, but what was pretty shocking was the speed with which Sony plans to have the PS3 Slim on shelves – promising global availability in the first week of September, though exact dates will vary by country.

Speaking at the show, Kazuo Hirai said that it was hugely important for Sony to not “just follow the existing patterns of the industry” and commented that the PS3 Slim indicated Sony’s attempt to set its own patterns.

We got a quick chance to have a look at the PlayStation 3 Slim and it certainly manages to live up to its name, proving a notable reduction on the monolithic PS3 original – even if most of that comes from just eliminating the curved surfaces. According to official figures the PS3 Slim will be 32 percent smaller, 36 percent lighter and use 34 percent less power than the existing PlayStation 3 models – though Sony wouldn’t stray into the specifics of the hardware. It also does away with the shiny finish, favouring a new matte feel.

Sony announces PS3 Slim
Sony announces PS3 Slim
In regards to the retail specifics, the only SKU of the PS3 Slim that was actually announced was the 120GB model that Sony had on show.

Commenting on prices, Hirai said “the number to bear in mind is 2...9...9”, later elaborating on his double-talk to reveal a launch price of 299 Euros and 299 USD. We tried to wrangle a UK price out of the PRs in the after-party, but smoother talkers than we proved an insurmountable barrier. Speaking in the official announcement however Hirai did say that the 299 figure would also be applied to other PS3 models.

Interested in the PlayStation 3 Slim? Let us know in the forums.

Update: We've added some pictures of the new PS3 Slim, side-by-side with the original PS3. You can see more of these on the Sony PlayStation Flickr account.
Quote rollo 18th August 2009, 20:20
£249 is uk price from what i read on another site
Quote Ghys 18th August 2009, 20:33
you should fix the 'let us know' link at the end :)

I think it's too early to release a slim version of this console. What are they going to do in a few years ? Release the PlayStation 3 VerySlim ?
Quote HugoB 18th August 2009, 20:45
Amazon has it up for£250.

Also: pictures.

The more I look at it, the fuglier I think it is.
Quote sandys 18th August 2009, 20:51
not very pretty is it but I suppose you only ever see the front, shame they never saw fit to add rear usb, I'd pick one up, assuming less power translates to silent.
Quote Psy-UK 18th August 2009, 20:52
Looks a hell of a lot nicer then the current SKU.
Quote Ghys 18th August 2009, 21:05
very old school look. I like it. Plus, next to a controller, it does look very small !. At least that's if you compare it to the regular model
Quote DXR_13KE 18th August 2009, 21:12
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghys
very old school look. I like it. Plus, next to a controller, it does look very small !. At least that's if you compare it to the regular model

http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblog/3833615213/sizes/l/in/set-72157621951580007/

it looks better... but i refuse to buy it, 1€!=1$
Quote bowman 18th August 2009, 21:13
Went from looking like a grill to looking like a waffle iron.
Quote SNIPERMikeUK 18th August 2009, 21:37
Spot on, and a matte finish, if it turns out to be £249.99 in a 120GB SKU, I am up for having a second PS3 slim, with GT5 in the box?.

A return to form for Sony me thinks, what with all the great games on the way.
Quote DXR_13KE 18th August 2009, 21:55
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3431/3834410088_48a94f1b44_b.jpg
Quote Mentai 18th August 2009, 22:14
I'll buy one as soon as they include backwards compatibility. Hell I'd even pay $50 extra for that option.
Quote storm20200 18th August 2009, 22:41
wow I never thought I'd say this but that;s really ugly, I'd rather have the foreman station :)
Quote l3v1ck 18th August 2009, 22:58
If it doesn't play PS2 games, then most people I know won't be interested.
Quote BioSniper 18th August 2009, 23:12
Looks like they removed the touch sensitive buttons on the console face and replaced them with mechanical ones. It really doesn't look as nice imo but the price point really is good.

Are they simply taking out the power pack and putting it on the outside like they did with the PS2 though? If so you still have to find space for a power pack which I've always found harder to make it look nice.
Quote Joeymac 18th August 2009, 23:29
It's gone from a boxers grill to a plastic case for a cheap cordless drill.
Quote Krikkit 18th August 2009, 23:31
Quote:
Originally Posted by BioSniper
Are they simply taking out the power pack and putting it on the outside like they did with the PS2 though? If so you still have to find space for a power pack which I've always found harder to make it look nice.

Nope. If you look at the back it takes a figure-8 plug. The power pack is integrated.
Quote Sifter3000 18th August 2009, 23:50
FUUUUUGLY!
Quote kenco_uk 18th August 2009, 23:59
Is the hard drive upgradeable still? It looks like the part under the slot load drive might be detachable.
Quote fathazza 19th August 2009, 00:02
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2514/3834387310_31da616aaf.jpg

from the side it looks strangely like a cheese toasty machine :)
Quote itazura 19th August 2009, 00:08
i quite like the look of it -- probably because it's not covered in fingerprint/dust attracting gloss effect.
Quote Sifter3000 19th August 2009, 00:13
Thanks for all the picture links folks, have updated the article accordingly :)
Quote devdevil85 19th August 2009, 02:55
Quote:
Originally Posted by BioSniper
Looks like they removed the touch sensitive buttons on the console face and replaced them with mechanical ones. It really doesn't look as nice imo but the price point really is good.

Are they simply taking out the power pack and putting it on the outside like they did with the PS2 though? If so you still have to find space for a power pack which I've always found harder to make it look nice.
It's an all-in-one unit based on the unboxing video I just watched. Pretty sweet. That's one thing I hate about the 360 is having the external power supply to mess with.
Quote somidiot 19th August 2009, 03:44
I think a smaller unit is a step in the right direction, allong with the price drop. I don't care what it looks like as long as the games are awesome, can't wait for GT5! why would you be worried about looks anyway? most guys I know only apply that kind of thinking to their gf/spouse, and/or cars. I've alwase been a fan of what's on the inside.
Quote somidiot 19th August 2009, 03:45
*edit* hopefully the specs are just as good, If I could wish something though I'd add more RAM to the thing.
Quote Elton 19th August 2009, 04:40
Quote:
Originally Posted by somidiot
*edit* hopefully the specs are just as good, If I could wish something though I'd add more RAM to the thing.

This, the XMB in game is painfully slow.
Quote talladega 19th August 2009, 04:57
What are you using ingame XMB so often for?

All I use it for is chatroom while playing Socom. I open the chat room and leave it open and press the PS button to switch back and forth from game and chatroom. Only time it's slow is when a game is loading, which is very understandable. It's like Alt-Tabbing out of a PC game while it's loading.
Quote Elton 19th August 2009, 05:04
Quote:
Originally Posted by talladega
What are you using ingame XMB so often for?

All I use it for is chatroom while playing Socom. I open the chat room and leave it open and press the PS button to switch back and forth from game and chatroom. Only time it's slow is when a game is loading, which is very understandable. It's like Alt-Tabbing out of a PC game while it's loading.

Messages. And when I select tracks for Burnout: Paradise.
Quote Teq 19th August 2009, 07:43
£250 is still to much imo, closer to 200 but as you can pick up Blu-ray players for 70 now (ok cheap and shoddy but when the ps3 first came out it was the cheapest player around) and I have an HTPC in the front room I still cannot justify buying one..
Quote cjoyce1980 19th August 2009, 08:37
as currently €299 pretty much equals £299, and now the 360 arcade version has had a price increase because of the strong euro against the pound, i doubt that there will be a price drop now for UK customers, but to be fair the PS3 has been at £299 in the UK for well over a year now, so its about time that the rest of the world catched up
Quote azrael- 19th August 2009, 09:15
Uglier than the "non-slim" model. Also, they seem to have removed support for installing Linux on it. Probably because they're afraid of "them piratey lot". :)
Quote talladega 19th August 2009, 09:18
Quote:
Originally Posted by azrael-
Uglier than the "non-slim" model. Also, they seem to have removed support for installing Linux on it. Probably because they're afraid of "them piratey lot". :)
or because very few people use it.
Quote sandys 19th August 2009, 09:32
I use it, its a handy feature, my brother uses the PS3 as his only computer, some companies have adopted it as part of there business model also, allowing you to offload some heavy processing to the cell CPU over a network.

This kind of stuffs them, I hope its only removed from new machines and not from all.
Quote crompers 19th August 2009, 09:35
what are you all talking about? i think it looks great, defo into the matte finish.

cant remember who said about PS2 compatibility but they're right. unless sony have added that this thing is fairly worthless.

its a nice piece of kit though. will look good under the telly
Quote mclean007 19th August 2009, 10:02
I think it looks cheap, nasty and horrible. The US pricing is fine, but at £249 it isn't enough of a discount to the original PS3 in the UK. Why they went for that awful matt plastic is anyone's guess - sure it won't scratch as easily or attract fingerprints in the way the original PS3 does, but it is inescapably cheap looking and ugly. I'm guessing it is a cost saving effort over the lustrous shiny original PS3 finish, but the savings don't really seem to be reflected in the price.

Removal of Linux support is a strange thing to do. Less power consumption is a good thing, and I read on Wikipedia that the slim supports Bravia Sync (Sony's version of HDMI-CEC), so movie playback will be controllable over HDMI via a compatible TV. This is potentially very good news for those who use it as a Blu-Ray deck, because the PS3's lack of infra-red sensor (remote is Bluetooth) renders it incompatible with most universal remotes.

@somidiot - they won't make any changes to the core hardware (e.g. adding more RAM), because the whole point of consoles is to provide a uniform hardware platform for developers. If the slim had more RAM than the 'fat', you'd have problems with some newer games being 'optimised' for the slim and either not working or not running smoothly on the fat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghys
I think it's too early to release a slim version of this console. What are they going to do in a few years ? Release the PlayStation 3 VerySlim ?
Very possibly - the slim PS3 is still a lot fatter than the slim PS2, right? And it isn't ridiculously soon - PS2 was released in 2000, with the slim version in 2004; PS3 was released in 2006, so 2009 isn't that much sooner in relative terms.
Quote sandys 19th August 2009, 10:04
The PS2 reduced in size a number of times, not just the once.
Quote mclean007 19th August 2009, 10:08
Quote:
Originally Posted by crompers
what are you all talking about? i think it looks great, defo into the matte finish.

cant remember who said about PS2 compatibility but they're right. unless sony have added that this thing is fairly worthless.

its a nice piece of kit though. will look good under the telly
Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is no chance PS2 compatibility is coming back. As far as Sony is concerned the additional cost is not justifiable for the small number of additional sales that would be generated. Anyone who wants PS2 compatibility surely has a PS2, so just keep that. The reason to buy a PS3 is surely to play new PS3 games.

Can't agree about the look. Shiny shiny is the order of the day at the moment, and that matt black will look nasty next to a glossy LCD or plasma, DVD player, etc.
Quote crompers 19th August 2009, 10:12
Quote:
Originally Posted by mclean007
As far as Sony is concerned the additional cost is not justifiable for the small number of additional sales that would be generated.

tbh i think you're underestimating how many people would like to have a blu-ray player that can play their old PS2 games on it. in fact i think the sales bump would be massive if they put backwards compatibility into the machine.
Quote Blademrk 19th August 2009, 10:13
engadget also found details of a 250gb model (sneaked in under a manufacturing pseudonym of Sand Dollar Enterprises).

Edit: actualy, I probably would buy a PS3 if it was cheap enough and had backwards compatibility (PS2 games upscaled).

I have got a PS2, but it's set up downstairs and I don't get much of a look in these days with my nephew deciding he wants to play it every time I switch it on.
Quote crompers 19th August 2009, 10:28
exactly, a lot of people have massive libraries of PS2 games and i'll bet many of them would buy a PS3 slim not to play PS3 games but because they get a blu-ray player, PS2 upscaling and the option to pick up a PS3 game should the mood take them
Quote PQuiff 19th August 2009, 10:39
LOL..Still looks like a Geroge Foreman grill.

Alot better than the old one though, If my Xbox packs in i might consider getting one.
Quote Bauul 19th August 2009, 10:50
Backwards compatibility would be a must for me. Between me and my younger brother we have a load of PS2 games and if the PS3 supported them, the tempation to replace our old PS2 would be much higher. As it is, there simply aren't enough exclusive PS3 games that interest me to make the premium over a 360 worth it in my opinion. Personally, I'm holding out for the 360 upgrade.
Quote rollo 19th August 2009, 10:50
US price of 299 is below elite in america, Will microsoft reduce elite to match i wonder.

£249 is within impulse buying teritory for most.

If your kids want a game console and you want a blue ray player. Are you gonna buy them a 360 and you a blueray player or you gonna get a ps3 for less money. Theres sonys sales. As unless your willing to pay alot of money you will struggle to get a decent blue ray player for under £300 anyway. Could this turn sonys fortunes around this gen who knows. ( who cares ) lol
Quote stewis 19th August 2009, 11:08
Looks like a cheap knock off that you would pick up at a sunday market. Maybe they got one of those fake chinese PolyStation3 designers to help out with the styling of this thing... I would even expect a small LCD screen to pop out the dvd draw like this: http://www.newlaunches.com/entry_images/0808/19/polystation-3.jpg

I dont have a PS3 but would pick up the piano black one over this any day...
Quote Bauul 19th August 2009, 11:56
The looks really seem to be deviding opinion. Personally I don't like the look of either of them, but then I rarely like the looks of any consoles (save maybe the Sega Megadrive 2, that was spot on).
Quote lacuna 19th August 2009, 12:03
That looks absolutely awful. I upgraded my standard PS2 to the slim but I certainly be doing that with my PS3.

I think the PS3 looks fantastic how it is and I have the original one so it has backward compatibility and I have upgraded to 500gb. Can't see any real reason to change to the slim version.
Quote Woodspoon 19th August 2009, 12:49
Quote:
Originally Posted by Article
– promising global availability in the first week of September, though exact dates will vary by country.

Speaking at the show, Kazuo Hirai said that it was hugely important for Sony to not “just follow the existing patterns of the industry” and commented that the PS3 Slim indicated Sony’s attempt to set its own patterns.

Attempting to set their own patterns?
So making them available from september wouldnt just be shipping early for christmas because they missed it the first time round then eh? because rather sadly christmas does seem to begin in september now.
But whatever the case , I still think it's ugly, over priced and lacking ps2 support, another fail sony.
Quote Xir 19th August 2009, 13:05
I don't get it

299$ is 212€ is 182£

Anyone fly to NY for christmas shopping?
Quote Zooter 19th August 2009, 14:14
Why is it that PS3 games are not being pirated? The people capable of hacking the device haven't had the need, they can play around with linux and the cell architecture in a nice and legal way. With this gone, they will look for alternative ways to run linux - opening doors for folks with less noble intentions. Sony is just shooting itself in the foot with this.
Quote mclean007 19th August 2009, 14:20
Quote:
Originally Posted by crompers
exactly, a lot of people have massive libraries of PS2 games and i'll bet many of them would buy a PS3 slim not to play PS3 games but because they get a blu-ray player, PS2 upscaling and the option to pick up a PS3 game should the mood take them
Which is exactly what Sony doesn't want you to do. I don't know how much the slim PS3 is costing Sony to make, but I'll be surprised if they are anywhere near breakeven price. Console hardware (Wii excepted) is almost invariably subsidised throughout a large portion of its life by game sales. If you buy a PS3 to use it as a Blu-ray / PS2 game / DVD / DLNA network media player, and don't buy any PS3 games, they're making a loss on you. So by not allowing backwards compatibility, they discourage that sort of behaviour.

Wouldn't surprise me if that's the reason for the alleged removal of Linux support as well.
Quote AWowzer 19th August 2009, 14:21
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/02/05/satin_ps3_to_launch_in_japan/

http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/01/22/sony-to-release-ceramic-white-ps3-in-the-us/

Click on these two links to see the silver and white versions available in japan. these look so much better than the black one imho. the silver one especially looks absolutely beautiful. wish these colour options were available worlwide. ps2 had these colour options and that sold "quite" well. giving people choice increases your market and outweighs the increased cost of offering different colours.

compare the look of the beautiful reflective silver ps3 to the cheap plastic kack ps3 slim. who have they got as the designer for sony computer entertainment these days? they have taken quite sleek, glossy looking pieces of hardware in the original ps3 and psp 3000 and turned them into cheap, matte plastic cut of the bottom of an argos own brand speaker pieces of kack. sorry keep using kack but that is the word that best describes them for me. and i am a sony fan
Quote AWowzer 19th August 2009, 14:24
if people who are sony fans think the slim looks cheap and awful how is it going to convinve people are not sony fans and are trying to decide between a 360 and a slim. the 360 looks much better now
Quote rollo 19th August 2009, 15:01
linux does not support 3d accelaration on ps3 so read before you spam please. As the gpu has no memory on linux to make it run. You have something like 256kb of memory in linux to play around with for 3d accelaration purposes.

You can not run pirated games via linux on the ps3. Problem to pirate for it is the cost of the blue ray media is still very high. And how many people do you know with a blue ray burner. pirates want to make money. No one would buy a pirated game at £10-15. 360 is really easy to pirate for in comparison.
Quote Edvuld 19th August 2009, 15:06
Maybe Sony believe that the matte finish is the next thing that'll be popular in a year or so, when everyone has realized that dust/fingerprint magnets are unpractical.

Personally I like gloss though.
Quote sandys 19th August 2009, 15:09
Yup, GPU is locked out via hypervisor but at least you can access the GPU memory in the PS3 to be fast swap drive.

1I think Matt is probably the next in thing, just look at the number of cars coming out in Matt Black, not a fan myself.
Quote riggs 19th August 2009, 18:02
It looks cheap...but I suppose that's the whole point; reduced production cost passed onto the consumer.
I'll be sticking with my 60GB (now 200GB) model though.

As for no BC, who cares? I've got the option to play PS2 games on my PS3, but I don't bother - they look awful! Granted, there are some great PS2 games that I probably should play (Ico, SotC etc), but there are just too many great next-gen games I need to play first. Anyhoo, I bought my 60GB purely for the memory card reader(s).

To be honest, the lack of Linux shouldn't really bother anyone either. It's always been crippled and not worth the effort (I planned on installing YDL so I could play back .mkv files, but after doing some reading I realised there was no point, what with Linux running in a virtual machine-type environment).
Quote lewchenko 19th August 2009, 21:11
Really like the new look, but the price is still too high in comparison to what the Americans are paying.

Dont care at all about backwards compatibility... PS2's new are so cheap now... Buy both if you really want to... its not like you cant find space for a PS2 as well on your TV stand.
Quote talladega 20th August 2009, 03:29
I got one of the original 60Gb PS3's. I played PS2 games for a few months till I had the money to buy PS3 games. Once I got some PS3 games I never went back. I tried once and it was awful. Don't care how good some of the PS2 games are, once I played PS3 games in HD, I can't stand the PS2 graphics. Totally unbearable.
Quote HourBeforeDawn 20th August 2009, 04:01
I wish they brought back support for ps2 games but still this could be a nice option for my car ^^
Quote Elton 20th August 2009, 05:47
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zooter
Why is it that PS3 games are not being pirated? The people capable of hacking the device haven't had the need, they can play around with linux and the cell architecture in a nice and legal way. With this gone, they will look for alternative ways to run linux - opening doors for folks with less noble intentions. Sony is just shooting itself in the foot with this.

Mainly because not many people have BD drives..

And that the cracking these aren't as easy(just a guess).
Quote LT.BEECH 20th August 2009, 16:19
the ew slim might be a little faster than the older versoins accordig to this site enjoy:D
Quote badders 20th August 2009, 16:59
What would be the technicalities involved in bringing one of these back from the US on Sept 8th when I finish my honeymoon? Anyone know if the internal transformer will handle 230V, or if the Drive or games are region-locked?
Quote LT.BEECH 20th August 2009, 17:03
i cant answer the power question but i know that ps3 games are not region locked.
Quote talladega 20th August 2009, 17:04
the system is NOT region locked as far as I know.

not sure about power..
Quote themax 20th August 2009, 17:32
Quote:
Originally Posted by badders
What would be the technicalities involved in bringing one of these back from the US on Sept 8th when I finish my honeymoon? Anyone know if the internal transformer will handle 230V, or if the Drive or games are region-locked?

Games and drive is not region locked to my knowledge. But that doesn't include the PSOne games. Any PSOne game you play is region locked so they won't work on an NTSC PS3. The PSN is also not region locked, and Sony, thus far has shown that they don't have much of a policy on creating foreign accounts (Seeing that Uncharted was immediately fixed when PAL users couldn't play the Demo downloaded from the U.S. Store).
Quote sandys 20th August 2009, 17:42
Bluray and DVD are region locked too.
Quote koola 20th August 2009, 22:31
Looks cheap, gonna hang onto my 40GB me thinks
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