Rumor: 'Slim' PS3 hitting shelves this Fall?

by Nick Doerr { Feb 1st 2008 at 5:00PM }

The PlayStation 3 has undergone a lot of changes since its initial launch in November of 2006 -- price drops, backwards compatibility removal, special features and the number of memory card doohickeys all came in varying shapes and sizes. What's next?

Speculation is starting to trickle in on a tidbit of gossip help by, of course, anonymous sources who know something secret about Sony regarding a "slim" redesign of the PS3. This new design would host the same stuff we've got now, but with a bigger hard drive, Dual Shock 3 controller, and of course, a less chubby look. Like we always say, take anonymous sources with a grain of salt. It'll happen eventually, we're sure, but this Fall? Hand us our salt shaker -- we need a couple million grains to take.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Tranando @ Feb 1st 2008 5:07PM

I think we can safelty file this in thge trash, allong with the PS4 rumours a while back....

http://news.cnet.co.uk/gamesgear/0,39029682,49285857,00.htm

Jon @ Feb 1st 2008 5:09PM

I think this rumor is 3 years too early.
If ps3fanboy.com has a "duh" tag, this one would fit perfectly.

jerard @ Feb 1st 2008 7:27PM

thy will make a slim ps3 but not that soon

Brandon @ Feb 1st 2008 5:21PM

It looks like they stacked a silver PS3 top on top of a Wii. Kinda silly looking. I hope it doesn't look like this.

Ed @ Feb 1st 2008 5:21PM

At the same time I feel annoyed at the fact that this is so obviously fake, and want one so very badly.

bob @ Feb 1st 2008 5:45PM

if this was true (which it isn't) one thing is true sony has to stop re-releasing the ps3 or people will be like "i will get it when they release the next one

bs6268d @ Feb 1st 2008 5:43PM

maybe this should be 2009 or 10 news

Organic_Shadow @ Feb 1st 2008 5:45PM

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss a trimmed down version of the PS3 just yet.

-Sony's dropped the PS3's price faster than PS1/PS2/PSP.
-They have removed a lot of the internal bulk that assisted them with cost reductions, thus there aren't as many internal parts now to take up all that space.
-They're already introducing 45nm CELL's soon, or at least are at a point where they COULD potentially put them in PS3's.
-Around the time of PS3's launch, one of the biggest reasons that the Japanese gamers weren't biting was it's size and weight. This is from polls taken too.(as well as the same, and #1, reason why they didn't like the 360) So doing things to appeal to their home turf seems sensible- akin to them releasing new colors of hardware there first.

Now, I personally don't think it will be THIS soon, but I do think a trimmed down PS3 will be sooner than the PS2 received the update. I also think that it won't be QUITE as dramatic of a size difference that you saw with PS2. Keep in mind that 2.5" hard drives are the standard they're currently using, so anyone upgrading would need a 2.5" bay to slide their old HDD into with the new model.

ComicShaman @ Feb 1st 2008 5:45PM

Expect to see this towards the end of the console's life cycle, not now. They're barely getting the production costs under control for the current models.

Geez. Rumors.

Organic_Shadow @ Feb 1st 2008 5:45PM

please just post my comment blogsmith

Organic_Shadow @ Feb 1st 2008 5:46PM

wow it lets me do that but not a well thought out comment

Nick Doerr @ Feb 1st 2008 6:22PM

I gotcha covered. Apparently there's some size limit to comments that Blogsmith filters to us to activate or delete. Soooo yours will pop up in a few minutes!

Me @ Feb 1st 2008 5:59PM

I kind of like the PS3 size right now as it is supposed to be an entertainment center. If they make it smaller and lighter it would not look as robust.

Iridium @ Feb 1st 2008 6:58PM

Why did you guys post this? Really, its a rumor from T3 magazine. They always make fake mockup renderings of products.

I can do the same thing in 15 minutes on my computer. The speculation section of T3 magazine is about as news worthy as anything in the Weekly World News.

Based on the past is almost 100% certain that there will be a PS3 Slim but not for 3-4 years. Unless you guys just don't want to be the only blog related to gaming or gadgets to not have this BS story on your site I would delete it.

This is not worthy of space on PS3 Fanboy. If you post this you have to post any fantasy mockup of a future PS3. In fact maybe you should have an open invitation to post designs for a PS3 Slim, at least that would be a cool thing to do.

Nick Doerr @ Feb 1st 2008 8:21PM

The design is a mock-up done by the T3 staff. If you read the source article, you'd know they supposedly chatted with "someone" from Sony at CES last month and got on the topic of a new PS3 model.

It's a complete rumor, yeah, but still kind of interesting to see this kind of talk cropping up already.

Fraser JK @ Feb 1st 2008 7:27PM

I agree with Organic_Shadow... as for those images I think they could either be some fanboy's imagination gone wild or some early concept designs that leaked or something.

It is such a drastic change from the original, but who knows?

Nick @ Feb 1st 2008 8:25PM

These could easily be leaked shots of some concept designs of a PS3 slim. And if that is the case then its more than likely early stages of a design cycle that wouldn't be released for years. The only thing that makes it a bit suspect, is why in the world would Sony get rid of USB support? I guess it could be on the back or side panel ala a laptop, but that would sure be really inconvenient for the practicality aspect of a console.

Ruben @ Feb 1st 2008 9:42PM

They will release one, not now, but sooner than the PS2 slim, which was at the PS2's 4th year. Why? Because just like PSP 2000 did in Japan, a PS3 2000 (what?) would sell... alot.

Mog @ Feb 2nd 2008 3:44AM

Organic Shadow: Sony hasn't reduced the PS3's price much faster than the PS2. In fact, it's reduced it much more slowly: The PS2's first price drop ($100, or 33% of its price) was in the beginning of 2002 after a little over a year on the market. The PS3's first price drop (also $100 on each model, or 20%/17% of the price) was also after about a year (and with some reduced functionality in each new model).

So, the PS2 and both models of the PS3 each dropped in price $100 after a year or so on the market. The difference is that the PS3 cost up to twice as much as the PS2 when it launched. Percentage-wise, the PS3's price has dropped about half as fast.

Even if the high-end PS3 dropped in price to $399 before June, the PS3 would only be keeping up with the PS2 in price drops. It is not dropping in price "much faster."

Phil @ Feb 2nd 2008 4:23AM

Surely if it were that small (currently), wouldn't it just be a useable heatsink?

Besides, My PS3 is not that much different weight wise to Dell's super phat top-end XPS laptop.

I prefer my super-huge PS3 to a slim one anyway - I can't exactly put anything above it, so I might as well have a big one and live in greater confidence that it's not going to start to melt - as a slimline PS2 of mine started to.

ryan @ Feb 2nd 2008 10:25AM

its too soon for a slim version of the ps3 although i do expect there will be one

Urza @ Feb 2nd 2008 12:55PM

And I remember a time when Microsoft got a lot of flack for how many different 360 packages there were.

nillaP @ Feb 2nd 2008 9:57PM

if ur gonna make a fake version of a ps3 at least make it look cooler than that. plus that part sticking out would break in two seconds, plus why do we need slimmer consoles its not like we carry them around like the ds and psp and plus, jus like boobs, the bigger the better lol

Popfrogs @ Feb 3rd 2008 2:51AM

The bigger the better? So I guess the original Xbox was the perfect size then. ;)

OUCH @ Feb 14th 2008 10:25PM

Why are you guys doubting this so quickly? It actually makes sense, with all the news of shrunken processors, blu-ray lazers, ect. Why is this so obviously fake?

Duh... new PS3? *Checks watch* Uhhh, nope...

henry moore @ Feb 23rd 2008 7:55AM

a new biger harddrive ps3 is definetly coming out, it probaly will be slim to boost sales, in america the 80gb model might get discontiued leveing just the 40gb evry where, it still needs to compeat whith the xbox elite.

i think it will come out in slim whith a 80gb,120 or 160 and only retail at 250