Sony PS3 Slim : Official Pics with Details

Good news on the price front, but some features have felt the cut

Although we weren’t at all surprised when PlayStation boss, Kaz Hirai, took to the GamesCom stage and pulled out the brand new PS3 Slim, it’s no less of a milestone in the console’s history.

As revealed last night, the PS3 Slim is –oddly enough – slimmer and lighter than its predecessor, to the tune of 32 per cent and 36 per cent respectively. On top of that it consume 34 per cent less energy than before, which means it’s better for the environment and generates less fan noise.

As you’ll see if you cast your eyes a few centimetres to your right, the first official pics are in, showcasing the svelte new console like an adult movie star: in all its glory and from angles that you’ll probably never experience in real life.

At the rear, there’s the usual array of connections – HDMI output, power input (now a lot smaller than before), Ethernet port and IR connector, plus the old-school AV output for anyone trapped in the CRT dark ages.

You may also note the matt black finish. We must admit we’re not sure how slick this will look once it’s stacked beneath your HD TV, but it will hopefully prove more resilient to scratches than its predecessor and less of a congregation point for all the dust in your house.

At the front end, very little has changed since the 40GB revamp. Sony hasn’t brought back the original console’s card ports and there’s still just a pair of USB ports on offer. We can’t say we often use all four of our original PS3’s ports at the same time, but we would have liked to see a USB port on the rear so that we’d have somewhere more discreet to plug in controller charge cables or the PlayTV tuner. Never mind, eh

The top side sports a new PS3 logo instead of the old PlayStation 3 Spider-Man font. The power and disc eject buttons have been made a little bit more prominent, although we don’t know if the faux-touchscreen action has been changed.

Internally is where most of the real changes have been made. Hirai revealed that “The internal design architecture of the new PS3 system, from the main semiconductors and power supply unit to the cooling mechanism, has been completely redesigned.” Not that you’ll ever get to see much of it without killing your warranty. We’re also keeping our fingers crossed that replacing hard drives is just as convenient as before.

But it’s not all good news, alas. Backwards Compatibility is still out of the equation, so while you can buy PSOne games direct from the PlayStation Store, you’ll need a PS2 console if you want to play your old PS2 games collection. Whether that really makes a difference to the average PS3 buyer, especially lagards who haven’t already bought one, is pretty debatable, but more choice is always a good thing.

Another absentee is the PS3’s alternative OS option. This used to allow you to install a copy of Linux onto your system; a great way of proving how much your geek powers put other fools to shame. Again, it removes choice, but having seen precious few examples of genuinely exciting use of the feature, we can’t say we’ll miss it too much.

Some related PS3 Slim news that was not announced by Sony includes an interesting rumour sparked by an FCC filing, which cites a 250GB Slim model. That could be something to look out for in the coming months, in case you decide that 120GB isn’t enough for your tastes.

Actually, you may well be need of all the space you can get: Sony has confirmed that a PlayStation video-on-demand service will be launching in the UK in November. Deals have been signed with studios including Lionsgate, Paramount, MGM, Disney, Fox, Universal and more, and you’ll be able to rent or buy (!) movies directly through the PlayStation Store, and you’ll be able to stream them directly (with a short wait for buffering).

So that just leaves two questions for PS3 Slim - When? And how much? To that Sony says £250 and September 1^st. Enjoy.

Link: PlayStation
source: t3