PS3 Slim photos spark legal saber-rattling

Acting on behalf of mystery client, a Taiwanese law firm asks online media outlets to remove photos dismissed by Sony--reigniting rumors that they could be authentic.

Typically, the "Big Three" console makers--Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony--decline to comment when purported photos of new hardware designs are leaked. That wasn't the case last week, when Sony Computer Entertainment Europe flatly dismissed what looked like snapshots of a new 120GB slimline PlayStation 3. "We currently don't have any plans for a redesigned PS3," a rep told UK outlet CVG, appearing to put a stake in the heart of the matter.

However, all that changed this week when the Taiwanese law firm of Li Mo and Associates sent out letters to various gaming outlets--including GameSpot--demanding that photos of the PS3 Slimline be removed forthwith. Sent on behalf of an unnamed client, the letter contains language that suggests the photos may be authentic and not a knockoff console like the much-mocked Vii.

The same letter sent to GameSpot was also received by tech blog Engadget and game site Spong and reads as follows:

Dear Sirs,

As appointed by our client, we hereby inform you that the Web pages on your Web site (as attached hereto) contain some of our client's confidential documents and photos, which were highly possibly illegally released and posted.

We are investigating this violation and will bring all necessary legal actions regarding this matter. In order to protect the confidential information and prevent you from further legal issues and infringements, please immediately remove those pages and keep our request confidential. Thank you for your cooperation.

Your cooperation is deeply appreciated.

When contacted by GameSpot, Sony Computer Entertainment America declined to comment on the letter, whether it had any relationship to Sony, or the PS3 Slim photos' authenticity. "We don't comment on rumors or speculation," a corporate communications representative said.

430 Comments

  • dylan417

    Posted Aug 18, 2009 10:11 am PT

    how much money is the question.

  • dybbuk

    Posted Aug 12, 2009 5:07 pm PT

    So gamespot why aren't you cooperating? Looks like you are risking burning some bridges. Not so sure its worth it.

  • LordRaymond

    Posted Aug 3, 2009 11:22 am PT

    This looks like a peice of platicish lump and how are they going to put the processing unit. It is funny people think this is going to be the PS3 slim.

  • hadokn

    Posted Aug 1, 2009 10:16 am PT

    I hope it's real. Really just because I'm sick of the Spider-Man font.

  • Fusionkiller

    Posted Jul 31, 2009 10:58 pm PT

    Those two pictures are not of the same device. If you look closely, the top pic has a sort of ledge beneath the disc drive. In the bottom pic, there is no ledge, just a flat drive. Its especially odd because it seems the photos are from the same source. Anyone else notice this?

  • vijayanandj2008

    Posted Jul 13, 2009 10:27 am PT

    it is not ps3 its PSB chinese fake ps3 SNES console

  • brendanhunt1

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 8:51 am PT

    yea but a laptop with the ps3 processer in it

  • 20darkspirit

    Posted Jul 5, 2009 10:57 am PT

    good

  • F-unit2008

    Posted Jul 1, 2009 8:14 pm PT

    cant wait ps3 slim i been waiting and the least the price will be is 300.00 or 260.00.

  • McGregor

    Posted Jun 4, 2009 9:15 am PT

    @MareInfinitus - The laptop I own has a blu-ray player in it and it's only about 1.5" thin. Granted it won't pull off PS3 quality game graphics, but I think Sony could pull this off. I'm sure they won't any time soon, they need to recover their R&D on the current model first.

  • quickchord

    Posted Jun 2, 2009 10:30 pm PT

    I'm wondering if that letter to GS is real, after all don't they still have the pix up??

  • deepen03

    Posted Jun 2, 2009 9:31 pm PT

    it looks real to me. and they will probably just follow the 360 route and use a power brick (likely a smaller brick than the the 360's monster power brick) to power it. That looks like a simlar design to the slim ps2. I wouldn't be surprised if this actually was real. Whenever a company says "We dont comment on rumors", the product is usually real. they just say that as a cover up.

  • JowzXIII

    Posted Jun 2, 2009 9:15 pm PT

    Fugly. simply Fugly is this official?. durn and i planning to buy one.

  • ZEX7589

    Posted Jun 2, 2009 8:26 pm PT

    @Mare You can easily find a laptop with bluray drive these days. Bluray drive is not any larger than a normal dvd-rom drive.

  • MareInfinitus

    Posted Jun 2, 2009 5:10 am PT

    @McGregor - You're right, but those same laptops don't have BluRay capabilities. That's what takes up a great deal of the room in the carapace of the PS3.

  • MareInfinitus

    Posted Jun 2, 2009 5:09 am PT

    Holy crap.

  • robcox1980

    Posted Jun 1, 2009 9:21 am PT

    Hmm, by the looks of the box of the psp go and how the box for the ps3 slim are almost identical design scheme this is starting to sound a little more confirmed than a typical rumor. Have to admit, it would be a great way for Sony to get a better foothold, design a crappy looking cheaper slim ps3 and lower the price. I think it looks gimp as shot but I'd still buy it, its still a ps3.

  • slipknoob

    Posted May 27, 2009 3:49 pm PT

    Well, GameSpot hasn't kept their request confidential

  • McGregor

    Posted May 27, 2009 12:12 pm PT

    They have laptops that are easily that slim and they can pull off PS3 quality graphics. I don't see why they couldn't do the same with a PS3. Either way I will agree with Hawaii6U. Sony probably wants these images gone so people don't hold out on buying a PS3 in hopes of a new model.

  • Hawaii6U

    Posted May 25, 2009 9:40 pm PT

    It's more than likely fake. Sony doesn't want people holding out on buying a PS3 in anticipation of a new release, which is why they'd want to quell the rumors. It's not good for sales.

    How the hell would you cool that thing, anyway? It's just unrealistic.

  • Divine_Stryph

    Posted May 25, 2009 12:00 pm PT

    It looks like the top piece to a newly designed PS3 system. It's not the system its self. Just my 2 cents.

  • Iffy350

    Posted May 24, 2009 4:02 pm PT

    One of the answers in the ps3 slim poll should be pug fugly. Thats the phrase used to describe Moe from The Simpsons!

  • yoyoman10

    Posted May 24, 2009 7:33 am PT

    all this nonsense over a picture.

  • The_Weekend

    Posted May 24, 2009 7:28 am PT

    could be real, or just a black color toaster from sony.

  • afrosud12

    Posted May 24, 2009 5:07 am PT

    you can tell this is fake just because of the components that are around are too big to slim it down. there have been no real strides in the past 2 years in graphics capabilities and the size of everything. so crunching the monolith that is the PS3 would be harder than trying to....... well i forgot this site is censored.....

  • nappan

    Posted May 24, 2009 4:56 am PT

    @LinktheCloud: LOL good one.

    @Ian_Michael: Maybe the engineers had a meeting with marketing and said, "this thing is going to catch fire!". Marketing mistook that for a statement about how quickly it would sell, and thus we have the PS3 Molotov Edition. Now you can hurl it at intruders as a handy firebomb!

    All kidding aside however, this is clearly fake, or a top-cover. As Ian-Michael said more charitably... this thing would need to be pumped full of Freon before shipping to keep it from bursting into flames. Given how well the PS3 is made, I find it hard to believe Sony would cede the "reliablity" high-ground for an ugly slim, at least a year before they released one for the PS/2 on a similar timeline.

  • Ian_Michael

    Posted May 24, 2009 12:51 am PT

    The thing just might catch on fire, doesn't look like it would dissipate heat very well.

  • LinktheCloud

    Posted May 23, 2009 11:01 pm PT

    Maybe its just some fat loser in his mom's basement thinking this PS3 redesign is his ticket to fortune?

    And when he sent the photos of his ideas to Sony they LOL'D and threw it into the dumpster where they were found later on?

  • gnrlstuart

    Posted May 23, 2009 1:15 pm PT

    no way, ps3 dosent need a makeover, it looks great the way it is, and that slimline looks terrible. make a slimline when the ps3 actually starts looking dated.
    imo its still the nicest looking console, followed by the 360 elite.

  • fiskefyren

    Posted May 23, 2009 11:41 am PT

    so ugly xD
    but i dunno... i dont mind the one i have... its hidden under my bed anyway
    seriously... it is... i have my pc at a desk right beside my bed and there is nothing i cannot plug into my super rare epic loot of a 24" LCD widescreen

  • Tripwolf

    Posted May 23, 2009 11:30 am PT

    STICK IT TO THE MAN, GAMESPOT!

  • Rowo

    Posted May 23, 2009 8:35 am PT

    Too ugly PS3...

  • nappan

    Posted May 23, 2009 7:07 am PT

    @parrot_of_adun: Hmmmm... there's a word you hardly hear anymre.. superfluous, superfluity... superfluid? No wait.. the last bit is the Bose-Einstein Condensate lol.

    All kidding aside, these photos are not consistant with each other, and are clearly either fakes, or taken out of context. I agree with those who say it's a photoshopped or pranked photo of a new top-cover. Tor just can't seem to help going from Rumour Control, to Rumour, and back to Rumour Control with this one lol.

  • Paladin_basic

    Posted May 23, 2009 4:51 am PT

    The photo looks fake and the story sounds fake to IMHO

  • parrot_of_adun

    Posted May 22, 2009 8:55 pm PT

    I'm not saying I this is the case, but for all we know sony might just not want it's trademarks plastered all over fake products.

    But I think Sony finally understands by now the superfluity of a slim version of a console.

  • MagicOneUp

    Posted May 22, 2009 8:55 pm PT

    its a joke! its time to slim down and get out of the hardware business altogether... sick and tired of sony rip off

  • aaronobst

    Posted May 22, 2009 8:05 pm PT

    @ ChAoS_UNLEASHD

    no u

  • fat_otter

    Posted May 22, 2009 3:52 pm PT

    Looks like some kind of miniature copying machine.

  • ChAoS_UNLEASHD

    Posted May 22, 2009 2:22 pm PT

    If they are actually real:

    FAIL ...again.

  • redskinStu

    Posted May 22, 2009 2:00 pm PT

    The photo looks fake, and I am a professional photographer, so I've seen a few pics in my time.

  • nappan

    Posted May 22, 2009 1:59 pm PT

    @D4NZEL-709: Nope, apparantly it's 50 dollars worth of box-art and updated (still not HD) game. Get it? It's like the NEXT generation, of this next generation! Nintendo gets to cash in on games twice, fanboys are thrilled for the chance to do so, and the rest of us played these already and moved on. "What have you done for me lately," you know what I mean?

  • D4NZEL-709

    Posted May 22, 2009 1:39 pm PT

    Isn't it what is on the inside not the outside.

  • nappan

    Posted May 22, 2009 11:40 am PT

    @necronaux: Dear Sir, I am a wizard. I assure you that I am also a Nigerian prince who needs to use your bank account with my Wizard magic!

    Ok... I said that... does that make it true? Should you give me you bank account number? Hell no! You don't send letters, you send C&D orders. You don't send a letter like this to ANYONE if you are even a company with even marginal international experience. Oh, and the Taiwanese have no legal authority in Japan or the USA to control the spread or reciept of stolen property unless they file for an injunction through the UN, or the Embassy of the country in question. Remember, this would actually have to go through diplomatic channels and existing treaties, none of which cover the release of widely leaked documents owned by anonymous backers of a Taiwanese firm! If Sony told GS to take this down, we wouldn't be reading it right now

  • necronaux

    Posted May 22, 2009 11:04 am PT

    If it's so not true, then why did they mention the photos "were highly possibly illegally released and posted"? A slim version doesn't seem out of the relm of possibility... but why would they? Seems like a waste of time/money. I Haven't heard anyone complaining... "ya know, I'd get a PS3, but it's just to darn fat." For me, I've been waiting for a drop in price, not in girth.

  • nappan

    Posted May 22, 2009 8:34 am PT

    @Bucketoffish: What "man"? The laughable letter sent by a Taiwanese firm with no legal standing to threaten Gamespot or any? This is a mix of GS rumour-mongering (to be followed by thew obligitory Rumour Control) and "cool-guy" posturing. I guess it makes GS' modding look less draconian when they're being such "rebels". lol


    I AM surprised that so many people lap it up however. No wonder Bush was elected in '04. I've said it before, and will again, P.T. Barnum was right.

  • brambleberger

    Posted May 22, 2009 7:16 am PT

    it just a new top plate design.u can see the screw channels in the top pic,they made it less shiney so it not easily sctatched

  • Bucketoffish

    Posted May 21, 2009 11:34 pm PT

    Bravo Gamespot. Stick it to the man. The letters threatening suit really can't hold a candle if Sony (the only company that matters in concerns to the property rights) won't comment on the speculation or the letter.

  • aldrenar47

    Posted May 21, 2009 8:13 pm PT

    I'm still baffled by the shape of the PS3, and this supposed new version is even weirder looking. I'm not knocking it's actual performance, but... wtf?

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