Report: PS3 Getting Slim and Cheaper in Fall 2009

While rumored items like the PSP Go did come to be at this past E3 2009, the PS3 Slim model that was leaked onto a Chinese message board did not materialize. According to Ars Technica, the new version of the PS3 will come later in 2009.

Citing an anonymous source (whose reports have been quite accurate several times before), the site is reporting that Sony will be looking to reduce the inventory of 80GB PS3 models on store shelves. At the same time, the company will be ramping up production of the new PS3 Slim and will drop the price of the hardware when it launches. No specific increment for the drop nor the exact date of the model's introduction was given.

At the same time, a source tells the site that Microsoft is looking to sell through its current stock of Xbox 360 Pro units with pack-in game bundles in July and August. When the stock of that hardware configuration has been burned through, Microsoft is going to drop the price on the 120GB Elite systems in early September.

Neither of these moves surprise us too much: Sony desperately needs a price cut and our sources have hinted that the PS3 Slim is real, and it makes sense for Microsoft to have some sort of counter to that on their own.