A document publicly available via the internet - god bless it - has ignited speculation that a revised-hardware PS3 is in the pipeline.
Update: Sony has sent the following statement to Next-Gen: "As mentioned when we made the product announcement for PS3, the system will have different configurations (thus, 60GB HDD with memory card slots and Wi-Fi and 20GB HDD without memory card slots or Wi-Fi both exist).
"Application to the FCC has been made with various possibilities in mind, however, it does not lead to a new product announcement at this time."
Update ends
It's revealed in the document that Sony has made an application requesting "a class II permissive change" to the console to the US Federal Communications Commission. It's suggested by the changes detailed that a version of PS3 with an 80Gb hard drive will be released to live alongside existing models.
Alterations - i.e. update - to PS3's Bluetooth antennae are additionally related to in the document.
It's likely that any revisions to PS3 hardware would be minor and applied across the board, with a new 80Gb model simply being that - a PS3 with a bigger HDD. We'll just have to wait and see.
Sony declined to comment on the matter when contacted earlier.
March 30, 2007
