Sony Reveal “New PS3” – UK Pricing Included

[drop2]Sony have announced the new PlayStation 3, right at the beginning of their swiftly paced TGS press conference.

As expected, the new model will come with 12GB flash storage in Europe, but will also come with two hard drive options for the hardcore gamer.

The sizes available are 250GB and 500GB, in white and black. The black PS3 will be out first – on October 4th – and the white version on November 22nd. They’re Japanese dates.

The new device was unveiled by SCE’s Andrew House, and full details are expected soon.

We’re locking down concrete pricing as soon as we can, but it looks something like this:

• 500GB version: $299 / 29,800 Yen / £240
• 250GB version: $269 / 24,900 Yen
• 12GB version: £185

The 12GB is obviously cheaper. Sounds like the Japanese release will get a pack-in with the new Everybody’s Golf (the Vita port we mentioned earlier). It’s 20% smaller and 25% lighter than the current model.

In the States, the 250GB version will include Uncharted 3 Game of the Year Edition, with the larger one being bundled with Assassin’s Creed III. In Europe, as we hinted at previously, the bigger model comes with FIFA, with the 250GB apparently absent from the line-up: it’s the 500GB or the 12GB for us here in Europe – the 250GB is missing.

The 12GB flash one should be around £185, the bigger one £240. SCEE will also re-release loads of older games at crazy cheap prices (called PS3 Essentials) – with many of them being available for digital download too.

The European 500GB model launches on the 28th of September, as we previously stated – although the 12GB version isn’t out until the 12th of October. According to the press release we just got (about an hour after the reveal) it looks like you can upgrade the 12GB version with an official 250GB (or any of your own choosing) but in doing so you can’t access the 12GB flash partition.

Sadly, there’s no spec boost to the internals, there’s still no N class wireless networking for example. Furthermore, to have the PS3 in a vertical position you’ll need to buy a dedicated stand.