Gamescom is taking place later this month, and Sony will hold its conference on August 18th, which is when the PS3 Slim is rumored to be debuted. The rumored release date is September 2nd, but the more important thing, is that the price is allegedly going to be €299.99, which depending on what country you get it in, is €50-€100 less than the current 80gb model.
Whether the North American or Japanese release date/price would be announced as well is remain to be seen, however making an announcement for only the European region seems odd. The thing to take away from this whole deal is the fact that there will be a price cut. While sales of the PS3 in Europe and Japan have been fairly good, sales in North America have been killed by the 360 (and for some part the Wii).
Here's the deal, if the PS3 Slim gets released on September 2nd in North America for $299.99 (a $100 price cut), it would give the 360 Elite (whose price is dropping to $299.99 in, you guessed it, September) a run for its money. Dropping the price $100 would not only boost sales from gamers, but it would also boost people wanting a Blu-Ray player.
Blu-Ray players come as cheap as $150, but lack 7.1 Surround Sound, Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD, the ability to upgrade, BD Live, and the ability to play video games, all things the PS3 can do. A PS3 Slim at $299.99 would make it on par price-wise (and hard drive-wise if the Slim has a 120gb hard drive) and the addition of a Blu-Ray drive, free online gameplay, and included Wi-Fi, would make the PS3 the logical choice, however, a bigger game library, a bigger online community, and semi-backwards compatibility (but seriously who plays original xbox games still?), make it a hard decision.
Now if the PS3 were $199.99.
