Posted by: Jane Douglas

Sony has unveiled a new, slimmer PlayStation 3 at Gamescom in Cologne.

The new version of Sony’s current console, revealed by company president Kazuo Hirai, will be about a third smaller and lighter than current models and have a 120GB hard drive and lower power consumption.

The new console will go on sale for £250, €299 and $299 in the first week of September.

Sony conference highlights

The new slim PS3 announcement rounded off a conference that included:

A new SingStar space in Home, providing a virtual karaoke experience in the PlayStation 3’s virtual world. This new virtual space will be accompanied in due course by new animations, dance moves, shrinking potions and “the ability to flip a coin and roll a dice.”

Improved navigation and aesthetics from the PSN online store, including shortcuts to TV catch-up websites: meaning BBC iPlayer in the UK, formatted for the Sony console.

As of next month, PS3 voucher cards will be in retailers throughout Europe (in €20 and €50 denominations). Meaning you won’t need to use a credit card to buy downloads.

Digital Reader for the PSP, launching in December. Andrew House, European Sony chief executive says: “Digital Comics will launch with hundreds of comics available [to download direct to PSP], with more being added every month.” The initial offering will include Marvel titles such as Spiderman and The Fantastic Four.

Ira Rubenstein of Marvel Comics, in a fetching Wolverine leather jacket, came on stage to add: “We are very excited to be offering our catalogue of comics to the PlayStation community… This service could eventually become our most significant.”

Will Sony’s Digital Reader technology be extended beyond the realm of comics on the PSP? Expect “broader reading material in the near future,” says House.

Minis: Responding to a “shift in the entertainment needs of PSP owners”, the PSP will soon be offering Minis, miniature games up to 100MB in size, only available as downloads.

These will be bite-size games to be played in short bursts, playable on all PSPs but launching with the PSP Go in October. Seems like Sony has been taking pointers from the unexpected success of low-cost, casual games on Apple’s iPhone.

The PSP Go will come with Gran Turismo for the PSP - as a full game, not a demo.

EyePet will retail for an RRP of €49.99 Euros, bundled with PlayStation EyeCamera as well as the game itself.

As for the PlayStation motion controller we first glimpsed back at E3, Sony teased the conference crowd with a taster video – but told us we’ll have to wait for the Tokyo Games Show in October for the full story.