Planet Sillicon

PS3 To Ship September 1st

By blog on Aug. 19, 2009.

And not only that, it’s also cheaper!

At a Gamescom press conference in Germany today, or yesterday, it’s hard to tell, Sony announced that not only where they dropping the price on their current console, but that they were also releasing the PS3 Slim. The PS3 Slim will be smaller and lighter than it’s original counterpart, plus it will draw less electricity and have a larger, 120G, hard drive. All other aspects of the console will remain the same, there are still two USB ports, Wireless, and Bluetooth.

I have to say, I’m pretty pleased that just before I was about to buy a PS3, at the end of this month, this happens. Here in the UK the original PS3 will be selling at £249.99, as will the Slim when it ships September 1st. I don’t really mind the size of the console, I didn’t have any issue with the original PS3, so I’m pleased that the console is now environmentally better, and is also more likely to net Sony some actual profit from the consoles themselves – at this time, Sony actually loses money for each console sold, they can’t put the price high enough to cover their cost and still maintain any competition with XBOX360 and Wii – but I’m not over the moon about anything save the fact that I can afford to get a few more games with my console, now.

I find it an interesting move, on Sony’s part, because they are still selling the soon-to-ship PSP Go will still retail for £214, so they obviously aren’t entering to a huge price war with the other consoles. I’ve no interest whatsoever in the PSP Go, I think Nintendo DS Lite kicks it’s ass in entertainment, so I don’t care that they are sticking to a high price for their portable console.

In the coming weeks, when I’ve picked up my brand new PS3 Slim I’ll be writing some reviews for games I’ve played on it.