Sony has just announced in its Gamescom 2011 keynote that it will be giving its PS3 a price cut. The base PlayStation 3 models will run you just $250 in the US, €250 in Europe, and ¥24,980 in Japan.

Announced at the same show two years ago with a $300 price tag, the base PS3 Slim model includes a 160GB hard drive. A lower price will provide a nice cushion for that $299 Call of Duty: Black Ops bundle, which just hit stores earlier this summer.

Meanwhile, the 320GB model will see a $50 drop as well, with new pricing for both models kicking in immediately in the US and Europe, and August 18th in Japan.

SOURCE via Joystiq

Sony had announced that it will be releasing a new budget-priced PSP model that sports a new design and curiously ditches the WiFi capability that the PSP has had since its debut. No word of a North American release just yet, but folks in Europe will be able to pick it up this fall for €99. The cut-down PSP will be called the PSP E-1000, and it will only be available in PAL territories.

Ubisoft is coming out strong in support of the PlayStation Vita, because it’s a video game system and that’s what Ubisoft does. In advance of Sony’s Gamescom presser today, the company announced development of six titles for the handheld, including Asphalt racing game, Assassin’s Creed, Dungeon Hunter Alliance (above), Rayman Origins, and Michael Jackson: The Experience.

Perhaps most exciting, the PSP launch standout Lumines is returning on PlayStation Vita. Along with the announcement, Ubisoft shared screens of Rayman, Asphalt, and Dungeon Hunter. No dates were provided for any of these, but expect at least a few of them at the system’s launch, because, again, that’s what Ubisoft does.

We still aren’t sure what Sony’s series of teaser videos for its forthcoming S1 and S2 tablets are really all about. What we do know is that we love the films’ cheery soundtracks and the wondrous contraptions they showcase. This fourth spot has the now-familiar pale figurines wandering through a mechanical wonderland, with marbles whizzing overhead and bubbles floating about. Alas, like those that precede it, the latest video provides no new info on the slates Sony’s shilling, as usual. But well, you can still enjoy the teaser video after the break.

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Sony gave is lots of teasers (remember those extremely cool yet confusing ads?) about their Honeycomb tablets, the S1 and S2, and we know nothing about its specifications. Well now we have come to know of one spec regarding the S1 and S2, although it’s not confirmed. Both tablets ‘may’ be running on Android 3.2 during launch.

Listed under the conflicting pics of the “About tablet” screen point to both a 3.1 and 3.2 software destiny. Also on board for this illicit peek, is a shot of the slates’ space-tastic homescreen, in addition to its app drawer where we can clearly see bundled Sony apps like Chumby, Crash Bandicoot and Crackle.

While we’re inclined to believe Honeycomb’s latest and greatest will ship on the pair of black beauties, the site offered no other confirmation of the OS goods. And yes, by now the page has been pulled down.

SOURCE via Sony

The portable cassette players once nearly universally identified as the Walkman may have seen better days, but their spirit is still alive, so far as Sony is concerned. The company is apparently set to release the latest entry in the line, the slick-looking NWZA865B, a 16GB portable media player with wireless file sharing and music streaming capabilities. CNET points out that the device likely won’t have built-in WiFi, due to evidence from the FCC, which does seem to limit the aforementioned streaming options. The 16GB model is also likely one of a number of capacities to be offered, ranging from 8GB to 64GB. The device is available for viewing on UK retailer Buy.com with a £130 ($213) price tag and a July 31st release date.

SOURCE via Play.com

With point and shoot cameras apparently now up against a megapixel wall, manufacturers are focusing on adding quirky new features to keep you hooked on the upgrade cycle. Sony’s new Cyber-shot TX55 includes several such additions, such as ‘amazing’ 3D image capture, ‘extremely low’ noise, and a new digital zoom technology called By Pixel Super Resolution, which promises to double the camera’s 5x optical zoom range while still capturing 16.2-megapixel images at full quality. We’re a bit skeptical about that last one, but if the $350 camera really can deliver on its promise, then we may just have a winner. Read more…

Sony has launched its second digital PlayStation Store in Latin America, in beautiful Brazil. Following Mexico, Brazil now has access to 200 items of first- and third-party digital content, including Assassin’s Creed II and the demo for LittleBigPlanet2. Sony is also extending the Welcome Back program to Brazil, offering two PS3 and two PSP titles to everyone affected by the hacking blackout, through August 21. Sony also established a PlayStation Blog and PlayStation Website for its users in Brazil.

SOURCE via Playstation Blog

It’s the 3^rd episode already, and yet things still haven’t changed. There video still tell you absolutely nothing new about the tablets as the marketing team continues to show their potential extra-curricular indulgences. Sony leads us even deeper into the late-night realm of desktop toys and the tablets they love. Shots of the stylish slates displaying video and gaming functionality are all but hidden in a “filled with fun” maze of booby-trap triggered contraptions. It’s a romp through the sort of endearing Tim Burton-esque, high-art nightmare Sony’s dabbled in for past Playstation campaigns, so it’s actually nothing new. Hit the jump to watch the vid.

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Companies snatching up domain names to protect their brand are nothing new, nor is it particularly interesting. But, a recent a pair of recent registrations by Microsoft has piqued everyone’s curiosity. The folks at Redmond picked up both Microsoft-Sony.com and Sony-Microsoft.com, which has spurred speculation that everything from a Sony-Ericsson WP7 handset to a PlayBox 720 is on its way. The move is worth noting if only because the company doesn’t own similar domains, like LG-Microsoft.com or HTC-Microsoft.com. Of course, it could be something as mundane as a joint marketing campaign for Sony laptops or nothing at all — we’ll just have to wait and see.

SOURCE via winrumors