This past Sunday, August 21, an anonymous user published a post featuring the sale of a supposed PlayStation 4 Slim to the British classified ads site Gumtree. A different user has since acquired the new PS4, and a correspondent for the gaming news site Eurogamer has confirmed its legitimacy.
Eurogamer’s Wesley Yin-Poole reports that it all started on Monday night when a Twitter user first noticed the item for auction on Gumtree, a listing so suspicious that it only triggered user reactions claiming the console was a fake at first.
However, the rumors started buzzing louder when the listing hit the massive gaming forum site NeoGAF, at which point more pictures of the PS4 Slim surfaced in posts made by forum users. The pictures show the console in the box, the contents upon unboxing, and a side to side comparison next to its original brother.
Upon seeing that the online leaks could potentially be real, the UK-based site sent for first-hand confirmation of the PS4 Slim’s existence. Eurogamer then posted its photographic proof, going as far as to post a semi-unboxing video of the console that has since been removed due to legal reasons.
Like previous generations of PlayStation, the Slim version of the console only differs from the original in size, as it packs virtually the same capabilities in a smaller body.
Slimmer consoles are part of Sony’s tradition
The reveal comes as no surprise, as the Japanese video game giant has a long-standing tradition of downsizing its consoles a few years after launch in a revamped sleeker design.
The practice first started with the PlayStation 1 and has been repeated up until the infamous yet beloved “fat” original PS3, which saw not one but two downsized versions throughout its 9-year-long lifespan: the Slim and the Super Slim.
The PS4 predecessor was a widely successful video game platform that met the standards of the Tokyo-based company, selling over 80 million consoles to amount more than 300 million PlayStation consoles sold spanning all three generations. Now, Sony intends to replicate its ever-successful business model with the new PS4 Slim.
Sony will officially reveal the PS4 Slim along with the PS4 ‘Neo’
Users who have been saving to buy the latest console finally from Sony may want to wait a little bit more, as the reported launch of the PS4 Slim will see the “Neo” take the stage center-front.
The enhanced PS4 set will allegedly support 4K native output and upscale for PlayStation games. The specs on the console reportedly include a more powerful CPU and GPU, as well as expanded base storage.
Sony is expected to unveil officially the PS4 Slim and “Neo” at an event in New York City scheduled for September 7.
Source: Eurogamer