PS3 price cut rumors rise again

The obligatory disclaimer: We’re less than a month from E3, the video game industry’s biggest trade show. Rumors pop up, and not all of them make the cut.

The latest comes from Playstation Lifestyle, which reports that a redesigned Playstation 3 is on the way, and it’ll be cheaper than the current $399 model. No further details were given. If true, that means Sony could be coming to the show with two major announcements if the rumors of a new, UMD-less PSP pan out.

Let’s be honest here, the source is pretty shaky. In all my years of reading and writing about video games, I’ve never come across PlayStation Lifestyle. That alone shouldn’t discredit the publication, but the author merely says "we caught word" of the redesign without even hinting at the nature of the source and why he or she would have such knowledge. That’s a reckless, rather than responsible, use of anonymity.

Mostly, I’m writing this story for fun, because watching the rise and fall of hopes for a cheaper PS3 is comical. I don’t genuinely expect Sony to deliver on a price cut simply because the company has repeatedly denied rumor after rumor along this line, and for good reason: None of the previous stories have proven correct.

E3 is just the latest opportunity for chatter to continue, but I think it’s wishful thinking. Sony has already denied the rumor in the same fashion that it has denied the ones before it, saying they "currently don’t have any plans for a redesigned PS3.

With all that in mind, it would be great if Sony proved me wrong come the first week of June, but I’m not counting on it.