This morning Sony announced, to no surprise, that it would be releasing a revised "slim" version of the PlayStation 3. To go along with the new hardware, Sony also dropped the price of the PS3 down to A$499.95. While it's not due out until the 3rd of September, we managed to get a brand new PS3 "Slim" and unpacked it to see what comes in the box.

　　Behold! The box the new PS3 will arrive in!

　　As you'd expect, the console will ship with one DualShock 3 controller.

　　Sadly Sony are still bundling the basic RCA cables along with the new console, so if you want HD, you'll have to fork out and buy the PS3 compontent cables or HDMI. The other cables pictured is the power cable and mini-USB charging cable for the controller. At least the console comes with a spiffy PlayStation Network brouchre.

　　Unpacked, the new PlayStation 3! Note that the disc eject and reset buttons are now actual buttons, not touch sensitive like on the older models. Sony has also toned down the colour on the controller slightly, to match the new matte finish of the console.

　　As you'd expect, there's nothing too exciting to see on the bottom of the console. The little opened hatch pictured on the left hand side of the console is the screw holding in the hard drive bay.

　　Here's a close up on the hard drive screw bay. This will be of particular interest to anyone who wants to upgrade the hard drive in their PS3.

　　The back of the PS3 still has the same ports that you've come to expect, like the Ethernet, HDMI, optical, and AV ports. As you can see on the far right, the power cable has changed slightly, to a figure-eight plug, as opposed to the kettle plug the older PS3s used. It's a real shame that Sony didn't include any USB ports on the back.

　　One on top of the other. AS you can see from this photo, the new PS3 is significantly slimmer and shorter than the original console. The logos placement has also changed from the side of the console, to the front-right side, on top of the cover.

　　The PlayStation 3 "Slim" will be launching on September 3 for A$499.95. At Sony's press conference this morning it also announced that it was partnering with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to bring the ABC's iView video streaming service to the PlayStation 3. For more details on that story, check it out here!