PS3 Slim to cost $300 and go on sale August 24th

Posted by Katherine Hannaford on Tue 18 Aug 2009

A bundle of Sony news will break this afternoon, so keep your eyes glued to T3.com for the latest from GamesCom

US retailers Kmart and Sears are expecting strongly-worded letters from Kaz Hirai's right-hand men after today's slip 'o the pixels, which saw the two retailers' websites put the pre-order up for the new PS3 Slim...several hours before it's due to be announced at GamesCom.

The pre-order listings claim the PS3 Slim will include a Blu-ray player, 120GB hard disk, DualShock3 controller, and HDMI output with 1080p support. The price looks set to be $299.99, and if the web editors aren't making fools of us all, it suggests a UK price of £182.

Knowing Sony however, they're bound to use their own patented foreign conversion rate, so we'd expect the price to fall in somewhere between £199 - £240. Currently the 80GB PS3 sells for $399.99, and the same console here in the UK is £299.99.

Regardless of the conversion rate quibbles, if the price of the PS3 Slim is lower than the 80GB PS3, it should be a good deal for any first-time buyers of the console. You'll be getting 40GB extra storage, the new sleek design (which shouldn't make shelves groan under the weight) and hopefully a few other surprises which shall be revealed in several hours' time. We'll have our breath held for additional USB ports, inbuilt card readers and better backwards compatability with PS2 titles.

It's now expected to hit shelves on the 24th of August, which is certainly earlier than first anticipated.

In addition to the PS3 Slim, it's also rumoured Sony might pull another bunny from the top hat at today's GamesCom expo - namely, a Beatles version of SingStar, to go on sale several days after Beatles Rock Band. MCV is reporting Sony might have an instrument-free version of the Beatles' Rock Band under the SingStar name, but in their usual fashion, Sony is denying all rumours so far.

Link: Sony PlayStation (via MCV and GameSpot)