Do new PS3 bundles mean Slim is coming soon?

David Carnoy | Jul 07, 2009

Alleged spy photo of the upcoming PS3 bundle.
(Credit: Kotaku)

You could call it a sign of things to come--or just one good PS3 bundle.

According to Kotaku, next Sunday (July 12) Best Buy will begin offering an 80GB PS3 with two of the best exclusives for the system--Metal Gear Solid 4 and Killzone 2--for the price of the console alone(US$400).

How does Kotaku know this? Well, a Best Buy employee apparently sent the gaming site a photo of the bundle and other Best Buy employees have confirmed that the photo is real and the bundle is coming. (Chalk this up as a rumor, but it seems pretty legit as far as rumors go).

Recently, Best Buy had the PS3 paired with Wall-E and Little Big Planet for US$400. But the MGS 4 and Killzone 2 bundle is definitely designed to tempt more hardcore gamers who, say, might just own an XBox 360 already and are looking for a Blu-ray player.

Clearly, such bundles are designed to move systems--and they probably will move. The big question is whether this is part of a concerted effort by Sony to clear the channel of "old" consoles to make room for the potential release of the rumored PS3 Slim, which many hope will cost US$300. A recent report suggests that a new PS3 may arrive as soon as this summer.

If indeed it is clearing the channel--and if indeed this latest bundle is for real-- hand it to Sony for creating an enticing package that will lure in fence-sitters, even when faced with the possibility of a new system on the horizon. If you do the math using Best Buy's prices, you're looking at a savings of US$90 on the games (Best Buy is selling MGS 4 for US$30 and Killzone 2 for US$60).

So, is an MGS/Killzone 2 bundle at US$400 a better deal than a hypothetical PS3 Slim at $300 with no games included? That's a hard call until we know what specs we're looking at for the Slim.

But let us know what you think.

Via CNET.com

Filed under: Games and Gear, Home AV
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Devlin

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Devlin says...
Unless the PS3 slim includes Cell processor-based emulation of the Emotion Engine for PS2 backwards compatibility, then there really isn't much it has going for it. It might even lose its user-upgradeable HDD.

Only reasons that would entice first gen users to upgrade would be less power consumption, user-serviceable HDD/SSD bay, and backwards compatibility similar to having a built-in Emotion Engine. If that was the case I'd take one even if it had an unsightly power brick.

Jul 07, 2009 15:11