Rumor: Pics of Alleged Slim PS3 Appear Online

Today on all gaming sites and forums, there was huge excitement and debate over a set of fuzzy pictures of the supposed outer shell of a redesigned, slimmer PS3, allegedly taken by factory workers on a cell phone and then leaked. This has reignited the speculations about a new console version coming in the near future.

Enthusiasts are now poring over the pictures for signs of a forgery, something which is not infrequent on the Internet. Among the arguments in favor of the photos being real, it is known that the main components inside the PS3 (the Cell procesor and the graphics chip) have become smaller and generate less heat, thus reducing the cooling requirements and making a more compact design possible. On the other hand, the pictures show a matte finish, whereas the PS3 has always been glossy. The typeface is also different from the "Spider-man" font used so far, and similar to that of previous Playstation consoles, and the embossed lettering on the top reads "PS3" rather than "Playstation 3."

We are not endorsing those photos, but if the pictures eventually happened to be legitimate, this new PS3 would have a much shorter height than current models. Width and depth would also be about 20% less than the existing PS3.

Sony has declined to comment on this with a terse, "We don't discuss rumors or speculations." Officially, Sony currently has no plans for a console redesign, but we all know that what is not current today may well be current some day in the future.