Kicking off the gamescom conference in Cologne, Sony Computer Entertainment
Europe is holding a much-hyped press conference. Even though we are not there,
we are looking closely at all the sources reporting from the floor. Of course, lots of
it won't be relevant to our site, so here you will find only Blu-ray-related stuff.
According to SCEE president Andrew House, 23.7 million PS3s have been sold
globally - 10 million of them in SCEE territories.
Firmare 3.0 for the PS3 has been announced, with animated themes, a "What's
New" section and other interface changes.
The video download service will be available in PAL territories from November. It'll
begin with films to rent and buy, but will later expand to "local content" (TV).
Kaz Hirai saved the big news for the end and announced the launch of the
PS3 Slim
, available in the first week of September. Price will be $299 in the US, €299 in
Europe, and ¥29.980 in Japan. It'll have the same features and function, with a
120GB hard drive. It'll be 33 percent smaller, and 36 percent lighter.