The  Sony PS3 Slim rumour mill has gone into overdrive over the past few days, and now a French website reckons we could see the slimmed down console announced as soon as August 18.

Amidst rumours that Sony is planning to discontinue the 80GB Sony PS3 in Japan on 10 August, French website RTL has said it’s had word Sony will out the PS3 Slim during its press conference at Gamescom in Cologne.Combine all these whispers with talk that Sony has doubled its order of Sony  PS3 parts for Q3 this year compared to the past three months, and it certainly seems the PS3 Slim could be just around the corner.

It’s also worth noting that Amazon, whose German outlet briefly listed a “PlayStation 3 Konsole Slim” just yesterday, has also cut the price of the PS3 160GB bundle by $50 for its US customers. 

Can this all really be coincidence? There isn’t too much longer to wait, but be sure to let us know whether you think we’ll be seeing a PS3 Slim in two weeks below.

Via: Electricpig and Gamesindustry.biz

Update:- While we’re waiting for Sony to announce a cheaper, slimmer PS3 during a press conference later today, K-Mart has this announcement on their front page…now. It looks like we get a new model and price drops on old PS3s. K-Mart now has a pre-order page up as well for a $299 Slim (the same pricing we’ve seen leaked before…by K-Mart. Either they’re the biggest screw-ups in retailer history, or Sony doesn’t mind (and has even encouraged) the leaks