It’s been one of the hottest rumours around the gaming community for months, since leaked images appeared earlier this year. But Sony have finally confirmed that the PS3 Slim will be arriving in Europe on September 1st, at a cost of £249.99.

The new slim version is 33 percent smaller, 36 percent lighter and uses 34 percent less power than its predecessor. Hopefully the lower power usage will help solve some overheating issues that the ‘old’ PS3 suffered from.

Although the ‘old’ PS3 was a fine looking console with it’s glossy black finish, the new PS3 has a squarer shape and a textured matt finish, and it retains the curved look of it’s bigger brother. Although the ‘PLAYSTATION 3′ logo that was along the top, has now just become a re-designed ‘PS3′. This has all been done to try and appeal to a wider audience, and no doubt try and regain some of the ground lost to the Nintendo Wii.

Sony say that to reduce the size, they’ve had to re-design all the internals. The Cell processor is now a new 45nm design which uses less power while retaining the same processing speed, and it is more efficient.

In a similar fashion to the 80GB and 160GB models that came before, the slim PS3 will have a 120GB Hard Drive. And also like it’s predecessors it has built-in Wi-Fi and two USB ports. Sony has also taken the stance of allowing the hard drive to be upgraded without the voiding the warranty, though Sony has moved the hard drive from the side of the unit to the front for “easier access.”

There will also be a new firmware release with the new slim Playstation 3, which will add easy access to new items in the Playstation Store, as well as showing recently played games. Although the option to install a new operating system has been removed, as Sony want to concentrate on delivering games and other entertainment content.

Check out the images below.

You’ll be able to get yourself a free PlayStation 3 Slim by visiting the Free PS3 Pages