If last week’s leaked photos of a new slim model of the PS3 seemed dubious to you, consider this: a Chinese company has issued a cease-and-desist on the images, lending some credence to the idea that the device is actually for real.
Last week a number of photos revealing what looked to be a new slim model of the PlayStation 3 leaked online. The pictures, which showed a thin new design boasting 120 GB of memory, led some people to get their hopes up for a new PS3 and others to shake their heads in skepticism.
I’m in the latter category. Having grown up in the bootleg-infested wiles of Chinatown and having spent a not insignificant amount of time in college studying contemporary China, I think I know a cheap knockoff when I see one. The lack of Spider-Man font on the box sealed the day for me: this is not a Sony product.
There might just be a chance that the “slim PS3” is for real, though. Yesterday Engadget revealed that they’d been issued a cease-and-desist letter from a Chinese company requesting they take down the images and “keep our request confidential.”
The blog did neither, but instead speculated that whenever companies send cease-and-desist letters about leaked images of supposedly non-existent devices, it basically means that the device actually exists. Why else would you feel the need to cover it up, right?
However. The letter did not come from Sony directly, but from the company that apparently manufactures these “machines.” That suggests two things, to my mind. It could mean that Sony doesn’t want to shut the leak because they’re actually smart enough to know if they do it’ll imply there’s something worth covering up. Or, it could mean that this Chinese company is afraid that if the pictures get any more publicity, Sony’s lawyers might just notice that they’re making PS3 bootlegs and will release the hounds on them.
Call me a skeptic, but once again, I’m inclined toward the latter.
