If it is then I think they should announce two versions of PSThree. One version would be $99 with no Blu-ray and 500gb HDD and the other version would be $199 with Bu-ray and 1tb HDD. Both would be labelled PSNow ready.

PS3 12 GB Sold Out at Major Retailers Online; a Possible Sign of an E3 Announcement?

by Giuseppe Nelva (18 minutes ago) 1  @abriael

Looks like something is up with the “super slim” 12 GB PS3 model, as there has been an unusual drought at major North American online retailers. The console is currently completely out of stock at Target, GameStop, Amazon and Walmart.

This could mean several things, but the sudden drying of the stock with this kind of timing at the very least means that Sony halted or considerably slowed down shipments, and could be a sign of an announcement coming at E3, possibly about a new redesign, or maybe a price drop, especially considering the rumor appeared last year about a new model with a 22nm Cell chip. The current model could even be phased out in favor of something else.

We reached out to Sony Computer Entertainment for a comment, and we’ll let you know if we receive any relevant information on the issue, but one thing is for sure: if you’re in the market for a new PS3 you may have a harder time than usual.

http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/05/18/ps3-12-gb-sold-out-at-major-retailers-online-a-possible-sign-of-an-e3-announcement/

Stopped reading there. A 500gb hard drive on its own is worth 59.99. There is no way they can build a ps3 for that amount of money....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178252

Blu Ray is super cheap for Sony to not include it and instead put a 500GB HDD.

Why would you need PS3 hardware to play PS Now anyway? Vita Tv covers that.

Man.. I am still catching up on games from last gen. I bought a super slim last year and it's worst than the slim. The super slim makes these disc loading noise that are loud and nonexistent on the ps3 slim.

Hope they have a new ps3 model out that doesnt have this noise problem. I wouldnt mind buying a new ps3 again just to correct this problem.

Sounds much more believable, but seeing as that Sony sold the PSP Go (their last system that had no access to physical games) at $250 while selling the 3000 at $180, I doubt they bother discounting it at all really. More likely it would be $249.99 for one with no blu-ray and 500gb, and $200 for 250gb.

Sony has spent enough on PS3 R&D. 3 versions of a home console is embarrassing enough. Any more and they're getting into Genesis levels of ridiculous.

No backward compatibility with the PS4, I can see that happening.

That would be cool! The hard drives that come with the ps4 are shit anyway and not to mention hard drives are cheap... If its $200 or less, Ez buy

I don't quite follow.

For the consumer, maybe. But for Sony, they can bulk buy at a wholesaler or from Seagate themselves for a lot less than 59.99.