With Christmas rapidly approaching (it's only three months away!), it seems the console manufacturers, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, have turned their attentions to the festive season, freshening up their console offerings in the hope of finding their way under millions of Christmas trees later this year. While Microsoft have yet to show their hand, either in the form of a redesigned Xbox, or a cut price, Nintendo have an announced an entirely new console, the Wii U will be launching on the 30th of November - and now, Sony have struck back, revealing a slimmer, cheaper version of the PS3 to compete for your hard earned geld.
It's a bit smaller than before!
The third revision of Sony's Playstation 3 will come in two flavours - one with a huge 500 GB hard drive, and the other with a much smaller 12 GB of flash storage (which for all intents and purposes, works like a hard drive). Thinner, slimmer, and with a sliding lid, rather than a slot loading disc tray, the console is, bar the new design, pretty much the same as the others feature wise - able to play all your PS3 games and Blu-Ray films, and access the internet through its built in WiFi, it's simply a PS3 in new clothing, not an entirely new console like the Wii U. In fact, the new PS3 Slim actually has one less feature than the old model, as this one requires a stand (sold separately) in order to stand up vertically. Sadly, there's nothing in the way of upgrades here, either - bar being a bit thinner, there's nothing the new slimmer model has over the older ones - it still only has 2 USB ports to the original's 4, no multi-card reader, that lets you plug an SD card directly into the console (unlike the original), and disappointingly, no HDMI cable in the box.
More confusing still is that the new console doesn't actually have a name. "PS3 Slim" has already been taken by the other Slim PS3, and retailers are currently causing a little bit of confusion by listing both the old Slim, and the new Slimmer model as "PS3 Slim" on their sites. That said, as the only real difference in features is the size of the hard drive, there shouldn't be too many people buying one console and being upset that they've ended up with another.
However, although it's available for a (sort of) cut price, the new, slimmer PS3 possibly isn't as cheap as you may have hoped. The 12 GB flash storage PS3 Slim is currently listed on retailer Game's website for £184.99, while an old style Slim with a 160 GB hard drive sells for £189.99. For the extra fiver, that's a lot more storage space you're getting - and the old style Slim can stand up on its own. The 500 GB Slim, meanwhile, weighs in at a much more reasonable £249.99 from GAME in an exclusive bundle with FIFA 13, which costs £43 on its own! As the PS3 with the largest amount of storage space, the PS3 500 GB Slim is a much more attractive offer than the 12 GB one, which makes you wonder quite what the reason for it even existing is. It's worth remembering, if you are thinking about buying the 12 GB Slim, that many PS3 games now feature mandatory installs, which force you to install files from the disc before playing. Some of these installs can be as large as five or six gigabytes, meaning, depending on your games of choice, the lack of hard drive space may end up proving more hassle than its worth...
Available in both white and black, the PS3 12 GB Slim(mer) will be available on the 12th of October, whilst the 500 GB model will be available as of next Friday, the 28th. Both are available to pre-order now, and will likely also be the subject of some juicy bundles in the run up to Christmas - so keep your eyes open for a bargain!
