Two new PSP colors and bundles coming later this year

At GamesCom in Cologne, Germany today Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced two new colors for the PSP: Turquoise Green and Blossom Pink. These colors will be hitting Europe to join other PSP-3000 models providing a lighter touch of color for PSP owners who don’t enjoy black.

The new colors will be available on their own or packed with a game: Turquoise Green will be bundled with LittleBigPlanet along with more packs due to out later this year. But don’t just settle for two colors. There are more on the way including the DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY with Pearl White PSP bundle in Sept.; the FIFA 10 with Piano Black PSP and Gran Turismo with PSP Gran Turismo Edition bundles in Oct.; the Hannah Montana: Rock Out the Show with Lilac Purple PSP , Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines with Piano Black PSP, InviZimals with Piano Black PSP, and LittleBigPlanet with Turquoise Green PSP bundles in Nov.; and the TEKKEN 6 with Piano Black PSP bundle this winter. All the colors of the freaking rainbow, right?

Check out these full frontal shots of these new colorful PSP’s (click to enlarge):

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PSP to get digital comics reader, content from PlayStation Network

Sony Computer Entertainment announced at the Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany today that the PlayStation Portable will be getting a digital reader that will allow PSP owners to enjoy a huge library of Digital Comics from Comic book companies including Archie, Image and leading comic publisher Marvel Entertainment. The digital reader service will be launched with Digital Comics this December in select countries, the U.S, and regions in Europe with other PAL territories to follow in 2010.

The new Digital Comics service will offer hundreds of classic and new comics from PlayStation Store to your PSP GO!, which can be read page by page or frame by frame. Some of the comics and graphic novels you can expect to see at launch include Marvel Entertainment‘s Spider-Man, X-Men and the Fantastic Four, from IDW: TRANSFORMERS and Star Trek and in partnership with iVerse Media, brands like Archie Comics, and Image Comic’s Proof, while other content will include graphic novels, comics from a variety of local publishers and the latest underground hits. More titles will arrive on PlayStation Store with monthly content updates.

PS3 Slim confirmed, PS3 price cut now

Update:
According to a press release from Sony Computer Entertainment the new PlayStation 3 system will be available in stores beginning September 1, 2009, in North America, Europe/ PAL territories and Asian countries and other regions at a retail price of US$299 and €299, respectively. The system will become available in Japan on September 3, 2009, at a RRP of 29,980 yen (including tax).

The old PS3 system will have its price reduced to USD $299. That price is for the 80GB unit and won’t kick in until August 18 (starting today) in North America and August 19 in Europe. Also in North America, the price of PS3 with 160GB HDD will be reduced to a RRP of US$399 starting August 18.

Original Story:
Today at its press conference at the GamesCom event in Cologne, Germany Sony Computer Entertainment Europe finally admitted two things: the PS3 Slim is real and the long rumored price cut is coming later this week. This slimmer, streamlined SKU will launch in the first week of September on a worldwide basis for 299 Euros in Europe and $299 USD in the States. The announcement was made by Kaz Hirai, CEO and President of SCE.

The PS3 Slim will feature a 120GB hard drive, will consume 34 percent less power than its first-generation sibling and will be 32 percent smaller in size. For once, many of those leaked images of the PS3 slim that were paraded out in hundreds of rumor posts turned out to be real. Go figure. Images of the new PS3 Slim can be found below (click to enlarge):

Sony’s ‘BIG’ Announcement: PS2 Price Cut

While everyone was fantasizing about what Sony’s big announcement was today, it turned out that the most obvious answer was the right one - a PS2 price cut. Earlier this week pundits, journalists, financial analysts and every Tom, Dick and Mary were trying to guess just what wondrous announcement Sony would make today. Would it be a PS3 price cut? Perhaps they’d announce officially details on the next iteration of the PSP? Or maybe they would announce a deal with Netflix for streaming high-definition movie content to PS3 users? FAIL.

Sony announced this morning via the PlayStation Blog that it would be cutting the price of the PlayStation 2 to just under a $100 ( $99.99 MSRP). It’s not romantic, but it’s still good news for those folks that A) don’t own one B)still want one.. though I don’t know who the hell you people are!?! Oh, here’s some other news for you people that are slow on the uptake: Barack Obama won the election.

Sony Denies Major Restructuring Rumors

Sony has denied reports that it was considering additional restructuring actions beyond what it had announced in December. The speculation came from  a report over the weekend that said the company planned a big corporate upheaval. This might include more job cuts, dramatic changes to management and manufacturing processes, according to UK-based paper, the Times of London. If true, the restructuring would probably be announced after the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Naturally Sony flatly denies the report saying that it has no further beyond the job cuts and plant closures it unveiled in December. 

“We announced the restructuring of the electronics business last month,” said Sony spokesman Atsuo Omagari, speaking to Bloomberg. “We are not planning to announce further restructuring at this time.”