NowGamer prods it on your behalf...

When mysterious boxes arrive at the NowGamer offices it can mean only one thing; that there’s something in them, and in this case there dwelled a PS3 Slim. Sony hasn’t exactly done a grand job of keeping its existence a secret with an information security policy as watertight as a colander. The company’s recent announcement at gamescom then managed to surprise nobody.

The NowGamer team in its entirety has had the entire day to touch it, look at it, play with it, stroll around it, kick its tyres and generally probe its more sensitive regions like an extraterrestrial abductor. We have a number of ‘findings’ which we’re now going to share in the form of a handy FAQ with the overriding objective of asking what Sony is trying to achieve and whether the new machine is worth the outlay.

How does it look?
While we wouldn’t say that its overall visage is cheap, it definitely looks cheaper. The ‘PS3 Big’ – as henceforth in this rundown the console formerly known as PS3 shall be known – had a certain pedigree that is by degrees diminished with the Slim’s matt finish. The console is no longer capable of resting on its side tower-style, meaning the rather cheap-looking surface of its top is something that for most, will always be in plain sight. Its look is far more like the original PS2. What we mean by that is that it’s more ‘consoley’ – a fact whose reasoning we shall explore further in.

How does it feel?
Again, there is a cheaper feel to the console. A light tap anywhere on the surface provides a rather hollow-sounding plastic note that you don’t get from the seemingly more crammed PS3 Big. The console is noticeably lighter and the majority of its lost weight appears to have been taken from the console’s height with the Slim actually coming in at a couple of centimetres deeper and losing only about the same amount of width. The Slim is also devoid of any cooling vents bar those at the rear unlike the Big which has them on every side. Even with this improvement, the Slim still feels less solid, however.

What are the specs?
Let’s just stick to the basics. We’re disappointed with the inclusion of only two USB ports. Also, unlike the launch model of its big brother there’s a lack of any concession toward multimedia, meaning no SD card slots or other connective paraphernalia. The ins and outs are functional, lending further credence to the machine's apparent designation as a games console first and foremost. Sony may have come to the realisation that its initial marketing strategy back in 2006 – for the PS3 to be all things to all people – has in actual fact done more harm than good. There is a back-to-basics feel about the Slim and its 120GB hard disk could be seen as a concession to the now fully emerged trend for most games to claim their chunk via installation. Also worthy of note is that the machine’s power consumption is less than half of that of the Big; very green. The machine also uses a slimline two-pin power chord.

… continued