There is a guy in GAF confirming the new PS3 for NA.

Not sure if this has been announced yet or anything, but the previously europe exclusive will be hitting North America for $199 before the end of the month.

I have seen it for myself but i cannot disclose a source.

No longer a rumor, this is pretty much confirmed.

This is inline with the rumors weeks ago...

If the PS3@$199 is true then you can hope that the others bundles can be true too.

Updated.

i think by now the PS3 12GB should release to the US at 149$ tbh and the 500GB should get a price cut to 199$ since the super slim hardware is cheap to produce obviously.

Can you install games on an external HDD or usb?  If not then this is useless.

You can install a HDD.

And 12GB is enough to any mandatory install game or play 99% of the downloaded games... you just have the mess to install and uninstall every time you got low space.

The guys said that the uses in GAF "would be very surprised how many people will end up buying this".

Will the pokemon 3DS cost $199?? (If the rumor is true)

Sony won't drop the price and want to earn more from PS3 since it lost them more Money at the beginning and also it can cover some PS4 R&D.

If true, I called this a while back. 12gb at $199, discontinue 250gb and drop 500gb to $249.

Those other bundles listed sound good too

Well I never used my original PS3 HDD... the first thing I did was replace it with a Hybrid SSD.

For me I prefer a cheaper console without HDD like that then one with a huge HDD (512GB) that I will changed for a better HDD, SSD or Hybrid SSD.

This new price is suppose to be reveled before Gamescom... makes sense because Gamescom is EU only.