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250GB PS3 shows up for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk, ships on October 1
In what has become the "hip cool thing to do" for consoles these days, the 250GB version of the PS3 Slim is up for pre-order in the UK before it's been even confirmed by Sony for most of the world. Sadly, it's just the boring old black version -- so far the white PS3 Slim has only been seen making nice with Final Fantasy XIII in Japan -- but at £285 (about $455 US) it is more than double the capacity for only 40 more "quid" than the original PS3 Slim. Pre-orders are available now, and Amazon says the console will ship on October 1. So the question is, do you jump in now, or do you wait for one of the myriad 250GB bundles headed for Europe? It's the moral dilemma of our times. [Via I4U]
Video: a brief history of game console teardowns
Granted, none of these are teardowns we haven't already seen ad nauseam, but seeing every Sony and Microsoft console ripped to shreds and placed side-to-side in a series of glass cases is still a sight to behold. Peruse the display yourself, found at Tokyo Game Show and shown courtesy of the Museum of GAME Science, in a video tour after the break.
Australia to receive several 250GB PS3 bundles
Aussie reader, if you've been salivating over the prospect of owning a 250GB PS3 Slim, know your day is coming. SCE Australia has confirmed the console is headed down under and will be bundled with one of the following titles: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time Singstar Motown EyePet The bundles will go on sale starting October 15 and retail for $599.95RRP, coinciding with the release date of Uncharted 2. Perfect timing! You're going to need every last one of those gigglebytes to store the countless Machinima fan fictions you've already concocted in your head.[Thanks, Adrian]
PS3 Slim sells 1 million units in 3 weeks, chin chin!
We're not big into tracking sales figures but a million consoles sold is pretty notable. Especially when your 3 year-old console achieves that number in just 3 weeks. Of course, the sale bump is the result of the PS3 receiving a price adjustment, some minor cosmetic slimming, and internal tinkering that most notably decreased power draw (and noise). Good on ya Sony. But we'd love to see auction sales statistics for the same three weeks -- we expect there was an appreciable uptick in demand for first gen consoles with hardware-based PS2 emulation, SACD playback, and 4x USB ports immediately after the PS3 Slim was announced, and its mysteries revealed.
250GB PS3 Final Fantasy XIII bundle announced, ships December
Sony Japan just announced the very first 250GB PS3 bundle. For ¥41,600 (compared to ¥29,980 yen for the standard Japanese PS3), gamers in Japan will receive a limited edition Final Fantasy XIII rig with 250GB disk and Lightning emblazoned across the the body. The PS3 normally ships with a 120GB hard drive but the 250GB version has been rumored ever since the FCC leak. Available for purchase in Japan on 17 December.
250GB PS3 listed with FIFA 2010 bundle for October debut in Spain
We're circling in on a 250GB PS3 Slim, and this time it's made an appearance at Spanish retailer GAME with an October 8th release date and a copy of Euro-centric FIFA 2010 along for the ride. No pricetag or box shot, but we like where this is headed all the same. [Thanks, Alejandro]
250GB PlayStation 3 slim Uncharted 2 bundle leaked?
Well, what do we have here? No sooner do we get a 250GB Xbox 360 on the horizon does this image land in our tip box, showing a PlayStation 3 slim bundle for Uncharted 2 that just so happens to have that 250GB hard drive we spotted in the FCC last month. We've been able to independently confirm that it's legit, but beyond that we've got no clue when it'll be announced or any price / release date information. We wouldn't be surprised to see this hit stores in mid-October alongside Uncharted 2, but that's just a guess on our part. With any luck, SCE exec Kaz Hirai will be shedding some light at his Tokyo Game Show keynote next week -- c'mon Sony, don't keep us in the dark too long. Update: Joystiq points us to this rumor from last week that Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed II, and Gran Turismo 5 bundles are possibly slated for the UK in October for £299 ($494), just £50 more than the current 120GB model. Update 2: We just got off the line with SCEA, who has denied the photo and told us quite plainly that there's no bundles being planned for America, but that the rep can't speak for other regions (e.g. Europe, Japan) -- not surprising, of course, you can't believe everything you read on the internet, right?
Analyst suspects rising PS3 demand could incur shortages
With the revelation of the PS3 Slim and its accompanying price cut, it looks like things are really on the up and up for Sony. It seems that things are so up that many consumers may have difficulty finding a PS3 on the shelves. According to Stern Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia -- as reported on IndustryGamers -- strong "pent-up" demand may lead to PS3 shortages by the end of September. Furthermore, he expects that September sales of the console may climb as much as 75 percent over last year, possibly more if supplies hold up. Finally, Bhatia noted that strong PS3 sales could affect sales of the 360 as well. The reason, according to Bhatia, is that the 360 Arcade SKU maintained its $199 price while the Elite price drop really amounted to no more than a replacement of the Pro tier. Joystiq would be remiss not to point out that the Elite bundle even received a few downgrades in the process. Looks like Jack Tretton may have made that $1200 bet two and a half years too soon.
Brilliant PS3 Slim ad loses Nigerian scam reference, internet rumors now known to have started WWI
Turns out not everyone was amused by Sony's tongue-in-cheek PlayStation 3 Slim ad about internet rumors -- just ask the Nigerian government. The line in question, "you can't believe everything you read on the internet, otherwise I'd be a Nigerian millionaire by now," apparently caused a bit of a stir, and the local authorities demanded the company pull the commercial. It's now been replaced in the company's Viddler account with a slightly altered version that claims online FUD is "how World War One got started." Someone should tell Sony Director of Rumor Confirmation Kevin Butler that there's a certain assassinated Austrian Archduke who would beg to differ. Revised video after the break, and just for kicks, we found the old video on YouTube for comparison. [Via Joystiq]
August NPD: PS3 sales soar as gamers go batty for Arkham Asylum in a Madden world
This year's August NPD sales numbers were, as usual, dominated by EA's monolithic Madden franchise -- but who's that creeping out of the shadows? "I'm Batman." Rocksteady, Warner Bros. and Eidos officially have themselves a critical and commercial hit in Batman: Arkham Asylum, with the game having sold more than half a million copies across PS3 and 360 in its first week on sale. Even the Joker can't laugh at sales like that.Hardware saw a slight increase for the month, with the exception of PS3, which saw an impressive 72% jump in sales, no doubt due to early sales of the lower-priced 120GB slim SKU. Wii is still the best-selling home console, but its numbers are gradually dipping down into "maybe we should consider a price cut, too" territory. Here's how sales of the stuff we play are games on stacked up: -DS: 553K14K (+2%)-Wii: 277K24K (+9%)-360: 215K12K (+6%)-PS3: 210K88K (+72%)-PSP: 140K17K (+13%)-PS2: 106K2K (-2%Check out the software sales chart after the break.
PS3 sales up 300% for first week following price cut in US
Sony Computer Entertainment America has some good news and some bad news to share. The good: Sales of PS3 hardware at its "top retailers" jumped 300% for the first week of September versus the week before the system's price was cut to $299 for the 120GB "slim" unit. The bad: Um, well ... okay, we lied. Everything's pretty good for a change at SCEA HQ, considering people are actually buying its console. (Although 300% pales in comparison to Europe's totally legit 999% increase ... or Japan's 7,350% increase). The hardware maker also noted that, as of August, five of consumers' top 10 most-wanted games (as surveyed by OTX's GamePlan Insights) -- Gran Turismo 5, Final Fantasy XIII, God of War III, Assassin's Creed 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 -- are on PS3, in case you somehow didn't know this. We would like to note (mainly for Sony's information) that Modern Warfare 2 is also on Xbox 360, and that version was No. 2 in OTX's survey results, whereas the PS3 version placed 10th. (Assassin's Creed 2 for 360 is No. 3 and No. 8 for PS3.) In fact, if you calculate the "purchase intent index" for the top three (all Xbox 360 games) and the lower five (all PS3 games) they're nearly identical. But still, we'll give it to them. Maybe it's more worthwhile, though, to point out that Uncharted 2 didn't even make the top 25. What's up with that? Source -- GamePlan Insights Survey Data [PDF file]
Rumor: Three different 250GB PS3 bundles hitting the UK in October
The PS3 Slim packing a 250 gigabyte hard disk that was previously uncovered in FCC documents may be arriving as soon as next month -- in the UK. Eurogamer cites a "trusted retail source" who claims the new SKU will appear in three different bundles, each containing the system and one of three titles. The site's source – who says the details of the bundles aren't yet "in writing" – goes on to divulge the games as Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Gran Turismo 5 and Assassin's Creed II. Each bundle will supposedly retail for £299 ($494), which is a solid bargain given that the 120GB SKU (with no pack-in) runs £249 ($411). We've contacted SCEE and SCEA to try and find out if there's any more meat on this rumor's bones.
PS3 Slim's first-week UK sales around 40,000
Chart-Track reported that PlayStation 3 rose 999 percent (exclamation point!) in the week of the PS3 Slim launch, but without some actual context, that's just a crazy-sounding percentage. MCV provides us some (partial) context, estimating that 40,000 PS3 Slims were sold in that period. This also means that a paltry 4,000 (ish) were sold the previous week. MCV arrived at that number after Sony said that the Slim's launch sales were 20 percent behind those of the PS2 Slim, which sold 50,000 units in its first week in the UK. The estimated percentage of an estimated amount means that the 40,000 number isn't officially official (don't use it as the basis for a chapter in your History of Console Sales book), but it shouldn't be that far off. And that number doesn't include however many PS3 Hefties were purchased.Compare this "drastic" sales boost to the 7,350 percent bump the Slim caused in Japan. The PS3 went from selling fewer units in Japan than in the UK, to almost four times as many. Now that's a new hardware launch.
Chart Track: PS3 sales up 999% percent in UK
Yes, the 999% week-to-week sales increase that the PS3 reportedly enjoyed in the UK, after the release of the PS3 Slim, may seem a little ... astonishing, but we'd like to help you make sense of the sequence of events. 1. First, NOBODY bought a PS3. 2. Then, EVERYONE did. It's great news for Sony, but terrible for the PS3 executive who promised to come up with a way to increase PS3 sales by 1000 percent. Better luck next time, Mr. Former Director of Cross-Budgetary Marketing Promotional Strategy.
PS3 Slim sales up nearly 1000% in the UK, Noel quits Oasis (again)
It looks like Engadget editors aren't the only folk who prefer technology that's slimmer, cheaper, and better. According to an article at GamesIndustry.biz, a group that charts retail sales in the UK is saying that sales of the PS3 increased over 999 percent in the week since its British debut of the newer, slimmer form factor. And if that wasn't good news enough for Sony, the console has also outsold the DS, Wii and Xbox 360 by approximately 3:1. Although the last time it was the lead hardware format in the UK was the first week of 2008, the PS3 has never lagged as far behind the others as it has Stateside. But still -- a near 1000 percent increase? If true, that makes the States' 104 percent increase seem lackluster in comparison. Then again, maybe the Brits never realized that Disney Sing It! High School Musical 3 is available on platforms other than the PlayStation. That could explain a lot of things, actually...
PS3 hits weekly sales record in Japan
According to Enterbrain's weekly sales data, Japanese consumers purchased 152,530 PlayStation 3 units last week, which represents a 7,350 percent increase from about 2,000 units the previous week. This is the highest number of PS3 systems sold in a single week in Japan, ever. Its launch week (which was, admittedly, two days long) garnered totals of 88,000 units.We can't imagine what happened last week to spur such sudden interest. Oh, right -- Play Face. The inspiring Play Face ad campaign is the only reasonable explanation for this sales boost.[Via Andriasang]
Firmware 3.0 loading times contrasted with 2.8
Aside from sparkly background support and an expanded XMB interface, we've yet to point-2 many of the smaller differences between the PlayStation 3's 2.8-version firmware and its latest 3.0 update. Thankfully, we have the internet for that, and it's given us some new pedantic comparison videos to mull over and possibly dispute!Youtube user "PS3slimComparison" has documented console startup times, Blu-ray launch times and video game loading times on his PS3 Slim, first equipped with Firmware 2.8, and then Firmware 3.0. Waiting times appear to be shorter with 3.0 (and who doesn't want to get into Arkham Asylum as fast as possible?), but we were curious to discover if there would be a notable speed improvement on a 60GB PS3 with the latest software. Based on our informally derived test results (see them after the break), the answer appears to be a curt "no." It's possible that 3.0 is tailored to take advantage of the Slim's newer hardware, excluding longtime owners from any supposed speed gains.Speculation aside, we were shocked to find just how much quicker 3.0 is when it comes to Uncharted -- on 2.8, the game takes forever to freeze. [Via PlayStation forums; thanks, Garrett]
PlayStation 3 firmware 3.0 now available
Right on schedule, PlayStation 3 firmware 3.0 is now out and being fed directly into your console (should you opt to download it, at least), offering a number of changes to the user interface and Trophies section and animated themes with avatars. Be sure to come back and let us know what you think! Update: We're running the update now and the changelog that shows up on the PS3 has two new features we hadn't heard about: simultaneous audio output across connectors and control of video playback (slow motion, fast forward and rewind) using the right stick. Nice!
Dell coupon slims down prices on new console SKUs
Dell's website is basically always the cheapest way to get a new console, as the company frequently offers 15% off coupons that can be applied to console purchases (as well as "computers" or whatever). That discount is always wonderful, but it's particularly exciting right now, what with the launch of the new PS3 Slim. Use coupon code 6FWJ247J1P44CK and your PS3 Slim will cost just $254. The coupon code also makes for the best Xbox 360 deal yet. A post-price-drop Xbox 360 Pro sells for just $212 on the site. That's almost Arcade-price for a console that you can use! Or if you need an Arcade to replace a busted Pro or something, it's $170.[Via Slickdeals; thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Poll: Will you buy a PS3 Slim to use as a Blu-ray player?
Finally, it's official and in our hands for a review. Now you decide, with the addition of HDMI-CEC, bitstreaming for the latest codecs, and in a quieter smaller case (although it might be a little slower loading, for now) the PlayStation 3 Slim is better and cheaper than ever for your home theater. So let us know, is that enough to get you to purchase one?%Poll-33905%
