Sony Corp. officially announced the release of a slimmer PS3 at the Games Com convention in Cologne, Germany yesterday.

The PS3 Slim, with a 120 GB hard drive, is set to replace the current model with Sony ending production of the larger consoles. 

Sony has overhauled the internal and external design of the unit. It now sports a stylish matte black finish which should be less of a finger print magnet and have used a smaller and more energy efficient processor and improved power unit which should quieten down the fan noise. "It has the same features and functionality, but now it is 32% smaller, 36% lighter and consumes 34% less power," said Kaz Hirai, Sony Entertainment CEO reported BBC News. The one thing we are trouble by is the fact that it will lack backward compatibility with PS2 games.

Yesterday also saw the announcement of the PlayStation 3 Firmware (v3.0) Update. The update is set to improve navigation by enhancing the Xross Media Bar and will create more room for personalisation and easier communication with friends.

While we can’t confirm a price for South Africa we can confirm that we will see some kind of a cut in price. The units are due to arrive in the country in October along with the new PSP Go.

Images: PlayStation Blog