Ben-DutkaGamesCom may turn out to be one hell of an event: not only might we see the unveiling of the oft-rumored PS3 Slim – which should also be cheaper than the default PS3 model – but it seems the competition wants a piece of the action as well. You knew they would.
Everything is beginning to come to a boil, as summarized by GameSpot . Firstly, and perhaps in anticipation of the long-awaited price cut, the hot rumor is that Microsoft will meet Sony's challenge by dropping $100 off the price of their 120GB Xbox 360 Elite model. This announcement should also come at GamesCom during MS's press conference, which is scheduled for the day after Sony's (August 18 and 19, respectively). Secondly, reports out of the UK say Sony will certainly confirm the European launch of the PS3 video store, although that announcement didn't exactly take the limelight when it arrived during Sony's E3 2008 presentation. So, what might take center-stage? Well, according to Hong Kong-based magazine GameWave, it's the slimmer, cheaper PS3 model everyone – absolutely everyone – keeps talking about.
Now, it appears as if Sony has been increasing PS3 hardware orders overseas, and MCV says stock of the machine has actually "dried up" in the UK. An anonymous source was quoted as saying, "We've been told not to expect any further [PS3] hardware deliveries until September." Lastly, we have the words of Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter, who offered the following to IndustryGamers :
"All of the rumors floating around suggest that a PS3 price cut and introduction of the PS3 Slim is going to happen by the end of the month, and GamesCom is the only significant event between now and then.
We have seen reports out of China about increased PS3 component orders, have seen pictures that look real of the PS3 Slim, and have seen recent reports of declining PS3 stock in Japan and Europe, with comments from retail that they have been told not to expect new supplies of PS3s until the end of August or early September. All of that points to the possibility of an announcement at GamesCom."
Oh, and let's not forget PSXE's own set of guarantees, as put forth by our latest Twitter update . All this being said, we assume it's only a matter of time and in less than a week, you'll have some huge hardware-related news…
