White PS3 Slim out in Japan this month
Plus new 160GB/320GB hard disk sizes.
Sony has announced that it will release new higher-capacity versions of the PlayStation 3 in Japan on 29th July.
The new hard disk sizes are 160GB and 320GB and the 160GB version will also be sold in white, with matching DualShock 3 and console stand peripherals.
The 160GB PS3 will retail for 29,980 yen (£225 / €271), while the 320GB version will go for 34,980 yen (£262 / €316).
Retailers will be left to flog the existing 120GB model for whatever they like, apparently, implying that the old new boy is being discontinued. Let's have a minute's silence.
Sony Europe has yet to announce any plans, but we're on at them.
There's slightly more detail on bundles (including a Japan-only DVR effort) on the Sony Japan website.
Sony has switched up hard disk capacities on PlayStation 3 several times in the past, and in a July 2007 interview then-president of SCEE David Reeves told Eurogamer that in some cases it was simply more economically efficient to change to a new capacity.
At that time Sony had announced an 80GB configuration of the old, fat PS3, and Reeves said that Europe wouldn't follow suit.
"Probably we could have gone for 80GB, but does it really make any difference? We just know that we get a better supply on the 60GB than we will on the 80GB," he explained. "So we chose to continue with the 60GB until we find that we can get something better, maybe lower cost."
We miss David. Anyway, check out shots of the white PS3 and the new packaging below.
