'PS3 Slim' rumor fervor hard to fathom
Is this the new PS3 Slim? Rumors have it Sony may unveil such a device at the Gamescom show in Germany Tuesday. On the other hand, it may all be fanboy-driven fervor with no substance. Either way, to CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman, the excitement is unlikely to be matched by the reality of anything Sony may introduce.
While all new technology product rumors have to be taken with a grain of salt, you can sometimes tell--often by the volume of online chatter about a particular morsel--that one is more likely to turn out to be true.
That seems to be the case with the so-called "PS3 Slim," a rumored new PlayStation 3 form factor that could well be on the horizon. And if the latest slew of blog and forum posts are right, there's a pretty good chance Sony will formally announce the new console Tuesday at the Gamescom conference in Cologne, Germany.
That may be true, and, of course, it may not. But what I want to know is why so many people seem to be so excited about this as-yet-unseen console? After all, the PS3--once thought by many to be the most likely winner of the next-generation console wars between Sony, Microsoft (with its Xbox 360), and Nintendo (with its Wii)--has lagged far behind its competitors.
In July, for example, while Nintendo moved 252,500 Wiis and Microsoft sold 202,900 Xboxes, consumers only bought 121,800 PS3s. Similarly, in June, the Wii led the pack with 361,700, while the Xbox came in second with 240,600 units sold and the PS3 again was third, with just 164,700 sales. Even when the video game industry was still roaring, last December, the PS3 (726,000 units sold) badly trailed both the Wii (2.15 million) and Xbox (1.44 million).
Those figures, of course, are for United States sales.
For some time, I argued that the PS3 would eventually win this generation of consoles. I made Sony's case that it looks at consoles as a 10-year play, and I brought up the incredible PlayStation consumer base. And Sony, I explained, had so much history with consoles that its competitors would have a hard time keeping up with its institutional memory.
Yet by all measures, Sony has come up short with the PS3.
So what is it about a new, slimmer, PS3 that has so many people champing at the bit?
"I think the reason why many people are so hyped up over the PS3 Slim is because of the fact that it is something new (and) something different," a PS3 fan named Nick Johnson wrote me in response to a thread I posted on the official PS3 forums. "And it will hopefully be at a good price like $299 (hopefully!)"
To be sure, one reason Sony has sold less next-gen consoles than either Nintendo or Microsoft is that the PS3 is the most expensive of the machines, and has been since day one. Today, the cheapest PS3 runs for $400, while it is possible to get a low-end Xbox for as little as $200 (or less) and a Wii for $250.
So for many, the prospect of a smaller, slimmer PS3 comes with the logical conclusion that the price will drop, too. And it's not just the fans who are thinking that way.
"Beyond generating consumer interest over a new hardware form factor, the most obvious reason to celebrate the arrival of a PS3 Slim is that it should allow for a lower price, through lower costs of components and production," said video game analyst Colin Sebastian, a senior vice president for equity research at Lazard Capital Markets. "I expect (Sony) to lower the price on the older versions (of the PS3), but the cost to make the new version should be lower."
A lower price, especially on a device that has at times seemed absurdly expensive--relative to its competition, and despite having a full-blown Blu-Ray player built-in--certainly seems like a good reason to look forward to the PS3 Slim, if in fact such a device exists.
But it hardly seems like enough to generate the froth that's coming from all corners of the the video game world these days. Searching for "PS3 Slim" on Google returns fully 1.85 million results. There's even a YouTube video (below) that purports to show an actual PS3 Slim. Not bad for a device that doesn't (officially) exist.
So why all the enthusiasm?
"The only real (reason) I can (think of) is 'fandom' or 'fan-boy-ness,'" Brian Champion wrote in an e-mail response to my forum post. "With all the technologies, when something faster, sleeker, and smaller comes out...for LESS...everyone wants it. Why the fanboys are foaming at the mouth is because no one really knows what it will look like, cost or have 'under the hood.'"
Sony's dark knight?
And Justin Meisinger, a Boston University journalism graduate student, added that "some users are excited over the aspect of something simply new...in the hopes it will help Sony pull out of third place in the console race. Commonly this assumption seems to come along with the Slim having a price drop, which is just as large a rumor as the Slim itself. A cheaper, smaller PS3 is seen as Sony's dark knight."
Meisinger continued, "For others, it's the simple concept of something smaller, and possibly cooler--current PS3s run pretty warm. Smaller processors and external power bricks are expected to bring the system down in size. It'd also make it more convenient for travel or just sitting in the entertainment center. There's also the rumor of the re-inclusion of backwards-compatibility with (PlayStation 2) games."
To me, those are all interesting reasons to look forward to a possible new PS3, but nothing to get as worked up as a lot of bloggers seem to be. After all, the PS3 has been on the market for almost three years, so I have to wonder whether someone who really wanted a PS3 but hasn't yet pulled the trigger would finally break down over a potential $100 price break.
More likely, slow sales aside, there are simply a ton of PlayStation fans out there, and many of them simply love the idea of Sony coming up with something that could finally help the company improve its position in the console wars. If you're not a video game player, or if you are but not a serious one, you may not realize how passionate and partisan some gamers can be. Yankees vs. Red Sox? That's peanuts compared with the fervor that a good PlayStation vs. Xbox argument can bring up.
So, given that there are millions of gamers for whom the sun rises and sets with Sony, anything that company can do to rev the console wars up is worth the energy that's been expended so far on behalf of the PS3 Slim rumor.
"You may (ask), 'why should care, I already have a PS3,'" Johnson wrote. "I am personally excited that more people will get to enjoy the PS3, including some of my friends who weren't able to afford one (previously). And this may be Sony's chance to catch up with the Xbox 360."
For me, it doesn't make sense. To be sure, I'm not one of the partisans, but I just can't help thinking that even a newer, slimmer PS3 is still going to be a PS3. Which means it'll be more expensive than its rivals, and have a games library which, while including some impressive titles, is generally seen as less impressive than what's available for Xbox.
Some may argue that a lower-priced PS3 will lead to a larger consumer base, which in turn will result in more, and better, games. But that's a lot to hope for, given the struggles going on in the video games industry right now.
And clearly, I'm not the only one who feels this way.
"I think it's an overblown waste of time," Meisinger wrote in his e-mail. "But it's nice to see Sony getting some traction on all sides of the proverbial fence, and I think it really could be a good thing for them if they did indeed release it at a lower price point. (But until) we know, it's just rumors and speculation to torment the fanboy mind."
Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between. E-mail Daniel. 
people complain about the price but i guess they havent heard that sony actually loses money on the ps3's and that it is a better value than the other two
wii has a gimmicky controller and xbox has rrod
And that is at roughly double the price of the two other consoles.
It shouldn't be surprising that the Xbox fanboys at news.com and all over the Net are peeing their panties in terror over a 399 dollar PS3.
Sony sold 10 million PS3s in 2008 at double the price of the 360 that also sold 10 million in 2008. Not hard to see how huge the sales lead will be at 300 dollars for the PS3.
The massive graphical power advantage the PS3 has over the wimpy 360.
Rock solid reliability versus the 360's RRoD and other hardware problems.
1080p lossless audio Blu-Ray movies versus sub-720p movies you are forced to download on the 360.
Sony'a massive first party developers totaling 20 versus Microsoft's tiny three Xbox developers.
And the insane Home online world with over 8 million users that all the major game developers are cranking out content for versus Microsoft''s retarded Nintendo Mii clone.
I assume you meant 299 dollar PS3.
300 dollars is the launch price of the PS2 that ended up selling over 145 million consoles worldwide. There are around 120 million Playstation owners out there just waiting for the PS3 to hit 300 and then 200 dollars.
It is interesting to see the Wii fad starting to fad rapidly. But it is really shocking to see just how badly Microsoft bungled the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 was supposed to be the console where Microsoft finally got things right after the first Xbox disaster.
Microsoft's goal was to launch first and grab a huge chunk of the 145+ million PS2 owners out there. Instead they launched a graphically gimped, aka Xbox 1.5, console that has the worst reliability problems ever seen in console by a gigantic margin.
The first Xbox sold 25 million in about 3.5 years.
The second Xbox has only sold 30 million in just under 4 years.
When you factor in the massive numbers of duplicate Xbox 360s that get sold to replace RRoD units or in the hope of getting a newer more reliable version the Xbox 360 is selling at a worse rate than the first Xbox.
After 8 years and some 7 to 8 billion wasted on the Xbox train wreck it is no wonder Microsoft is giving up on the Xbox and instead trying to recycle the console as some sort of Wii type device with Sony EyeToy style motion controls tacked on.
The only other option for Microsoft was just killing the turd of a console off and washing their hands of the mess.
The 360 can't compete with the PS3 graphically. The graphical gap PS3 exclusives have over the 360 is larger than any other console genration. Killzone 2, God of War 3, Uncharted 2, GT5, Heavy Rain, The Last Guardian are all putting out graphics that are a console generation ahead of the outdated Unreal Engine based games that dominate the 360's lineup.
The 360 can't compete with the PS3 online. Free online play for everyone. Dedicated servers for lagfree play. Insanely huge game sizes like 64 for Resistance 2 and 256 from the premier console shooter developer Zipper's MAG. Clinging to silly features like talking to someone else playing a different game on the 360 doesn't make up for the poor quality of Microsoft's 50 dollar a year online service that is gimped with laggy P2P networking for games and tiny game sizes like only 16 for Halo 3.
The 360 can't compete with the PS3 as a media device. HD BluRay movies. Downloadble movies. Cheap and easy off the shelf harddrive upgrades to enable huge media libraries. Compared to the 360's outdated DVD format and proprietary drive upgrades that cost you double the actual retail price.
And the biggest reason of all, games. All those first party developers those 145+ million PS2 owners bought their machines for has gotten even stronger this gen for Sony. Microsoft not only is no match for Sony's massive first party developer advantage, they have actually been closing down what little studios they have over the past couple of years.
The massive success of Sony's Home online world is just salt in the wounds for Microsoft. How humilating it must be to see the enormous success of the PS3 Home world with publisher after publisher filling the world with exclusive content week after week and all Microsoft was able to do with the hundreds of millions in online fees they've milked out of Xbox owners over the past few years is copy Nintendo's silly little 2D avatars.
I hate to draw your attention to it (and the people who wrote on your blog (who were likely Xbox fanboys)) but 99.99% of PS3 "fanboys" already own a PS3.
Now, at $100 less, a lot of people will purchase it not only as a game machine, but as an entertainment centre. If Sony could have sold it at this price to begin with the sales would have been right up there with the other consoles.
Oh, don't forget the PS3 came out a year after the Xbox, so if you want to compare sales figures, you have to compare PS3 sales NOW with Xbox sales from a year ago.
One last thing. The only people who believe that the PS3 games are "generally seen as less impressive than what's available for Xbox" are once again Xbox fan boys. I guess we can now include the author amongst them. The games I have been playing on the PS3 have been great. I haven't had any complaints.
Nice "source".
Not entirely true. While it doesn't help it's case, I think the PS3 as a gaming system has lagged because such a large slice of the people willing to fork out money o na console want to be able to play with thier friends, and thier friends are on the 360. MS has just done a fantastic job with live.
Where the PS3 does shine tho is as a Bluray player. I still believe it to be the best blu ray player on the market. The feature set, as a bluray player, simply can be beat, and Sony is quick to patch in the newest bluray features (mostly enhanced and expanded audio options).
I bought a PS3 simply as a bluray player, and that's a metric you're not seeing in those sales figures. I think as a gaming console it's faring even more poorly than the sales figures indicate.
A look at attachment rate would support my theories I believe, but will also show the uniqueness of the Wii anamoly, where the attach rate is like 2.3 and closer to 1 if you don't cound Wii Play or Wii Sports. Xbox was thriving with 6 or 7 and Sony has a measly 3-4. I know I only have one game (LBP) and will probably only buy one more (MGS4) when I have the time to actually play (watch :P ) it.
For this smaller unit, if they have to go with a thin (laptop form factor) bluray drive and/or a 2.5" hard drive, I think sony's going to regret it later with earlier than expected hardware failures.
I believe the PS3 already uses a 2.5" hard drive.
LOL!
Are you actually that stupid? A console that was out twice as long as when those silly fanboy numbers were spread around has TWICE the number of games sold???
SHOCKING!
Hey Einstein, guess what the attach rate of the PS2 is after 9 years on the market.
Hint: It's a really big number that is much bigger than 360's.
"MS has just done a fantastic job with live."
You're joling...right?
You can only play with people who are dumb enough to be currently paying 50 bucks a year online.
No dedicated servers like with PC and PS3 games - Xbox 360 online is lag, lag, lag due to horrible old P2P networking
Joke game sizes - only 10 for P2P based Gears of War 2 and only 16 for P2P base Halo 3
You would think that if Microsoft actually cared about online gaming like Sony and PS developers do they would have spent less on marketing and more on a decent online service for 360 games.
Microsoft even blew their ripoff of Sony's Skill Point system from the Spyro the Dragon games back in the 1990s where the Skill Points(aka Acheivements) you earned actually meant something. Microsoft's copy just lumps them all into some idiotic 'gamerscore' that no one cares about.
At least Microsoft is wising up and copying Sony's new version of Skill Points with the Silver, Gold, and Plat levels so when gamers look at your profile they can actually see what type of gamer you are - instead of just seeing a worthless single number.
"Joke game sizes" - 8-16 is fairly common on PS3... citing a single PS3 game that is being designed soley for a mass multiplayer interaction as being common place on the PS3 just doesn't work. Lets see how MAG actually turns out, then we'll talk.
On attachment rates, I did further research and finally found someone who put everything together at a similar timeframe, and admittitly I was off. http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/07/100-comments-at-least-console-attach-rates/ Tho XBox clearly holds the lead, the gap was no as broad as I thought. These can't be called "silly fanboy numbers" as it's each consoles attach rate at 23 months of life. Older data yes, but if you can find me newer composite info, I've be very interested in that... less interested in Sony fanboyisms. :)
The achievement system is nothing new... but neither is creating a multiplayer network or downloadable content... Microsoft merely implemented all of these things well, and found a way to charge for the multiplayer. Welcome to capitalism. Create a great product and charge people for it ... or fail. If it sucks, no one will buy it. I believe the number of people using the system is evidence enough that it's a good product that people are enjoying using.
"You can only play with people who are dumb enough to be currently paying 50 bucks a year online" if everyone but you is crazy...
"At least Microsoft is wising up and copying Sony's new version of Skill Points " I would be really impressed if you have a way of determining what Microsoft is wishing. A valuable skill for sure. The point here is that microsoft created an achievement system that (for the most part) people really enjoy. Sony is still struggling to really create an identity for it's system. PS3 games still list trophies as a feature. Sony needed to have the trophy system ready at launch, they could have added home at a later date, but requiring every game to have defined achievements on the 360 was a good move on MS's part.
I'm not a 360 fan boy at all (I'm a PC gamer) I was merely making an anaylsis as to why I think the PS3 continues to struggle versus the 360. I own both, and play neither very frequently. When I do buy a game, however, it's on the 360. I gladly pay $50 a year (or $37 on sale at costco!) to use a well put together multiplayer system that makes it easy for me to find and communicate with my friends, and then quickly hop into a game with them.
PS3 is a fantastic bluray player. :) And I've really enjoyed LBP.
I am very suspicious of blurry, shaky videos like these. I think they made their own mockup and they are trying to cover up the flaws by shooting really poor video. It's pathetic. Don't claim a "world exclusive" if the video is so bad as to invite accusations of a hoax.
Also devs have made it clear that they do not like coding for the PS3, that it's long and difficult compared to that of the Wii and 360.
One of my friends came over last weekend and had never played on the Wii. I had just picked up Wii Sports Resort and a couple of the Wii Motion Plus adapters to bring it up to 4. He could not believe how much fun it was. He was hardcore into the PS2 even after all of these years. But after a few hours of on Wii Sports Resort and Punch Out, he proclaimed the fun factor kills all the other systems. While I will agree with that to a certain extent... the Wii is really only fun with other people. You have several people over and it becomes a party machine. Not one person even mentioned Halo 3 on the 360. Everyone was itching for turns sword fighting or taking on King Hippo as we did shots of Jameson's ;)
The PS2 had a great advantage with console only titles like Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid, but at $400-500 for the console and $60+ for games... it's hard to justify dropping that much cash just to play the next MGS. Sorry Snake...
But now Square Enix has announced that Final Fantasy 13 & 14 will play on the PS3 rather than the now antiquated PS2. FF14 has been slated to be made for the PS3 or new super-gaming PCs (of which I own neither). With a choice between $2000 and $400 the choice is clear....That is, before I found out that Sony dropped compatibility with PS2. I had planned to sell my PS2 to mitigate a small part of the cost of the new system, but that's no longer an option. I don't find myself willing to pay for a system I think should automatically be backwards compatible with all PS1&2 games. Most of the games I will play are on PS2 and I refuse to buy a system for $400 that I will only play just 2 games on. There's also the fact that with a DVD collection of more than 100, I'm highly reluctant to buy into a PS3 just for it's blu-ray player. I don't have any reason to buy blu-ray and I refuse to replace all of my DVDs in favor of a format that in my opinion holds little advantage.
If the PS3 Slim is real, and the price drop is true, then I would be willing to pay $300 for a system as long as it will play the upcoming Final Fantasy 14 title. This is the kind of thinking I think is spurring such an interest in a smaller, less expensive system.
I just registered seconds ago to call you an idiot. The ps3 plays music cd's, dvd's, and blu ray's. No one is forcing you to repurchase all of your dvd's on blu ray's moron
Another nice feature of the PS3 is that it will up-scale the resolution of standard DVDs, so that they look better on the big screen. I would call you something unflattering for not understanding that a Blu-ray player also plays DVDs, but that has been covered by another poster.
BTW, we rarely use our PS3 to play games. But I would rather rent movies on Blu-ray than go to the theater anytime. Comparing it to a Nintendo Wii really dumbs down the added value of the PS3.
The Ps3 games library is seen as the far more impressive opf the two now, as reflected by the respective E3 lineups - Microsoft touting shared games, Sony reflecting on games that are either far better on Ps3, or exclusive.
And everyone knows that a $200 360 is completely useless for any purpose whatsoever. Meaning that the Ps3 will be the same price as the 360, but have the better games, free online, an astronomically better future lineup, and Blu-Ray.
200-250 dollars extra in online fees over 4-5 years of owning the console
50-150 dollars extra for a harddrive - you can't buy a cheap off the shelf drive
80 dollars extra for WiFi that is standard in all PS3s
300-450 extra dollars you have to spend to have a console.
200-250 dollars extra in online fees over 4-5 years of owning the console If you want a Gold membership, silver cost nothing!
50-150 dollars extra for a harddrive - you can't buy a cheap off the shelf drive. If you by an arcade sytem, all other sku have hd in them.
80 dollars extra for WiFi that is standard in all PS3s. If you want to hook up wifi, all units have ethernet built into them!
300-450 extra dollars you have to spend to have a console. And this is just childish, 199.00 for the Arcade 259.00 for the pro 359.00 for the elite. in comparison to 399. and 499.00 for the ps3 iterations.
Make no mistake though the PS3 slim if its 299.99 will help push units, but unfortunately its too little to late to change this generation.
LOL!
I can't even imagine how pathetic it must be to be sitting at home with a wimpy little Xbox 360 that you so desperately need to feel is in the same league graphically as the PS3 and look that insane PS3 exclusives that keep coming out humiliating the 360 worse and worse every time.
Uncharted
Killzone 2 - Talk about bitter and epic ownage. Shot for shot same quality graphics as what every Xbox 360 fan cried was impossible CGI level graphics that wouldn't be possible
GT5 - 1080p 60fps godlike graphics - PS3 pushing out DOUBLE the resolution the horrible looking Forza games are on the 360
God of War
The Last Guardian
Heavy Rain
All there is left for 360 fans is to cling to PC ports and pretend the 3000-4000 machines being used to demo the games will 'look just as good' on the 360. LOL! After all, those absurdly fake Gears of War marketing shots were all the 360 had to cling to for its first three years.
If the 360 is getting destroyed graphically so badly right now, just imagine the humilation in two years when it is the exact same weak graphics hardware being resold with Microsoft's EyeToy ripoff bolted on...
I suppose they should have released early like 360 with defects at the customers expense. M$ is so lucky morons like you let them get away with the crap they pulled. A failure rate like that just isn't acceptable from any product especially for something you're paying $200-$400 for. Somewhere along the line someone failed you by not showing you how to get the most for your money.
And yes, a gaming PC always beats consoles in graphical and technical aspects. Thanks for sharing common knowledge with us. Why are bring a PC into this debate? Floyd never even mentioned a PC, so I don't even know why you brought that up.
If anything, you're the one that needs to cut out the fanboy talk, making it sound like the 360 has zero faults. Both the PS3 and 360 are currently neck and neck in sales worldwide and 360 only had a 0.1million lead on the PS3 last year despite the huge price drop it had. So I don't know where all this doom and gloom is coming from some people.
And you say a price drop will be too little too late? Who are you, a prophet?
The ' My console is better than your console' argument is a bit childish, the best console is the one you play the most and enjoy the most, that's why the Wii has outsold both Sony and MS, by far.
The Wii is all about having a laugh with family and friends, playability and a different way of interacting with a game, all of which Sony and MS have learned I little too late and are now in catch up / copy mode.
Playability is why the Wii is so successful, it has nothing to do with graphics, obviously, the Wii being the weediest of the trio.
I will sell my 360 as soon as I have a PS3, the biggest reason to do so is the noise it makes.
I will using the PS3 for media streaming, something the 360 is quite good at now, but hopefully without the fan noise .
Who knows, I might even do a bit of gaming, but I can tell you one thing, I absolutely will not be buying a game because the graphics look good ...., playability all the way.
It's actually quite shameful that a quite evident microsoft fanboy is allowed to spew his hate like this and call himself a journalist.
Come on, Cnet, you can hire better brains as "staff writers", at you can hire some that aren't that much affected by their bias and ignorance.
Going all the way back to the early PS2 days sites like extremetech.com had similar Xbox fanboys spewing garbage hoping to harm Sony and the Playstation. Back then most of the Xbox fanboys were bitter ex-Dreamcast fans who were filled with rage over the PS2 destroying the Xbox.
Now the Xbox fans are even more bitter than last gen because they the console they latched on to that they thought would give them revenge over the Dreamcast got destroyed in the market.
It's that sickening Microsoft mindset that permeates the Xbox community.
You never see Nintendo fans worming their way into computing and gaming media sites like this one.
You never see Sony fans worming their way into computing and gaming media sites like this one.
It's alway Xbox fans who are trying to pass off their own vile fanboy rage as legitimate gaming news. And every Xbox fan seems to desperately want to have everyone hear their 'reviews' of Nintendo and Sony exclusives where they lamely pretend to be 'dissapointed' compared to what, shock!, Microsoft has to offer.
News.com is a particularly nasty cesspool of Xbox fans, but most of the major gaming media sites have fired and purged the hardcore Xbox fans from their staff.
Pretty much the only sites left spreading FUD for Microsoft are cnet, eurogamer, gamesradar, and some horrible Austrailian .au site.
Just like last gen, even the most hardcore Xbox fans give up when they can no longer spew their garbage no matter how hard they try to disguise it and give up and are replace by real gamers and journalists.
Still clinging to those retarded old Epic fake Unreal Engine marketing shots! How pathetic.
And what does the Xbox have to look forward to? Two F-ing PC games that will look massively better on everyone's home computer with a 100-150 dollar graphics card. LOL!
Aww, poor baby. You should be scared of GT5.
Double, DOUBLE the resolutution. The PS3 is cranking out DOUBLE the number of pixels per frame and doing so with an insanely btter lighting model and car rendering. Gotta love those insanely power SPEs cranking through lighting calcs in parallel.
Forget trying to compete with GT5 Xbox fanboys, Polyphony just dished out the ultimate humilation to the 360 and Turn 10 with GT PSP looking better than in game footage of the latest Forza...ouch!
Don't cry Xbots, your mommy will buy you PS3s when they drop down to 150-200 and you can finally play next gen games like all the rich kids already are. And you'll finally get to play on the gold standard in console online gaming with PSN. No more 50 dollar a year fees, laggy P2P junk, and retardedly smalll games sizes.
For the 2 years PS3 has been on the market they are selling more than xbox360 per year - the 1 year lead.
PS3 slim will be cheaper and will benefit people who want to play those marvelous exclusives, I won't list then but it won't remove your ignorance.
- by vehemence August 18, 2009 1:55 AM PDT
- I'm sorry but is your real name really "Terdi"man? Sorry but you just lost all your credibility
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