You might have heard about the newest, slimmest PlayStation 3 that was rumored at least a few days before a reveal at the Tokyo Game Show. Well, now Sony’s ready to talk about it.
The new PS3 comes in three types: 250 GB hard drive that comes bundled with Fifa 13, a 500 GB hard drive and one that has 12 GB of SSD memory that can be hooked up to an external hard drive. Which Sony is conveniently releasing one of at the same time as the PS3. All versions come in Charcoal and Classic White colors.
So what’s new? The 12 GB version comes with an SSD (for those who are a little less tech savvy, it's basically a very small, very fast hard drive), the weight has been cut in half compared to the original, and about 20-25% lighter than the current PS3s. Sony has also said it's "completely redesigned the internal design architecture" and added a new sliding disc cover which is supposed to save on space.
But just how much is this thing? And will it affect older models prices? The UK is getting two of the three versions: the 12GB SSD and 500 GB. The 500 GB price for Europe will be around £180 and the 12 GB SSD will be around £150 (though retailers are allowed to set their own prices).
U.S. gamers will get two versions as well, with the 12 GB SSD staying exclusive to the U.K. The cost is at $270 for the $250 GB version (that comes with a copy of Uncharted 3: Game of the Year Edition and a $300 model with a 500GB HDD and a copy of Assassin's Creed III (this version releases on October 30, the same day as the game).
The reasoning behind the U.S. not getting the 12GB SSD was explained by SCEA as follows:
"The smaller Flash drive isn't coming to North America, and a lot of that reason is the digital consumer," SCEA VP of marketing John Koller says. "We really want to make sure, out of the box, that there is an option for them to be able to download that content. That is really critical for us, very very important."
If you've been paying attention to the U.S. pricing you'll note that the cheapest of the new models is only $20 more than the 160GB version of the current model. So you'd think a price drop for the old versions are in order right? Sony says you're wrong. They supposedly feel that it's confusing.
"There's no price drop formally, but the thing that's been happening in the market over the last year or so is that there's been so many retail price promotions, and so many different gift card offers and all those things, being done by all of us (Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony), that we've heard from our consumer, 'Enough with all these weird price moves. What we really want is content and games and value."
Sure, I can totally remember a lot of people complaining every time the PlayStation 3 had a price drop, don't you?
The first of the new PlayStation 3 models (the 250 GB version) will come out Tuesday, September 25.
