IGN spotted a listing today for a slim PlayStation 3 with 160GB of storage, with a shipping date of today for $299.99. The listing has been removed since then, but it has shown up at Newegg for the same price with a projected arrival date of August 19 .

Interestingly, Sony has a press conference lined up at GamesCom for mid-afternoon ET tomorrow, where this might be announced. It’s getting hard to keep up with all of these capacities.

Word on the street is that the next version of the Nintendo Wii will be hitting the market next year with both an HD output and a Blu-ray drive. That Might help it catch up to the Sony PS3, but Nintendo is still very behind.

Take this with a grain of salt since it’s just a rumor for now. HD on the Wii is certainly welcome, but we’re not too convinced on the Blu-ray part.

I’m okay with just sitting on the sofa while playing my PS3, but if you really want to immerse yourself in the game and have some money to burn, why not check out the X-Dream Gyroxus gaming chair?

It’s available for the Xbox 360, PC, PS3, PS2 and Nintendo Wii. The PS3 version is already available for pre-order at £399.95 (That’s $637). Let’s be honest here, immersion at that price isn’t going to get you much. But if you want a fancy new chair, this should be arriving in late August.

It makes us sad to see consoles like this. I can only thank god that my own PS3 is still pristine and unburnt. Let’s bow our heads in silence for a moment.

Yes, this is what a PlayStation 3 looks like after a fire. Sniff. I promised myself I wouldn’t cry. No gamer should ever have to go through this. What kind of sick world would do this to a console? Everyone raise your PS3 controller high and hit the X button in a mock 21 gun salute.

I am not one to pay for streaming services and TV programming other than my Satellite TV channels. Hulu is making it very hard for me to resist paying the $9 per month to get it on my PS3 though.

Hulu Plus will already offer major network content with one of the few remaining holdouts being CBS. Rumors circulated over the last month or so that CBS and Hulu were in talks. Reuters reports that CBS CEO Les Moonves has now confirmed those talks.

This guitar hero controller is perfect for the player that shuttles his instrument back and forth between home and various friends homes. The NEXiLUX wireless guitar controller breaks down into just a few pieces and fits neatly inside a bag.

It’s compatible with the PS3 or PS2, but you can also slide a Wii-mote inside of it and use it with your Wii. The makers also claim that it has more responsive fret buttons than the cheap controllers that ship with the games. If you prefer touch over buttons, there’s a set of five touch-sensitive fret buttons too.

Seems like folks are always having problems after they upgrade their PS3 firmware, but we can’t say we’ve experienced any problems. Firmware 3.41 seemed like a minor update that added a new “You May Like” section to the PlayStation Store, but some people are saying that it’s been causing problems for anyone trying to upgrade the hard drive in their console.

There’s a 30-page plus thread on the official PlayStation forums where folks are venting about issues upgrading their hard drive. They’ve been getting a “no applicable data” error after trying to install the update, which has left them with a non-working PS3 and, in some cases, a corrupted original drive.

Looks like Sony has been paying attention to what Nintendo is doing. They have announced that future stereoscopic 3D titles on the PS3 will come with a 3D slider that allows you to adjust the depth of 3D displayed by the game. It’s similar to how the 3DS handles 3D.

The adjustment can be made using the left analog stick, using a tilt. Do you have your 3D TV yet? I doubt the phenomenon will last long, but it will be interesting to see what happens.

Seagate’s new GoFlex Home is for users who need a ton of storage. It’s available in 1TB or 2TB capacities and connects via a local network with Windows, Mac computers (Time Machine compatible) or DLNA devices like the PS3.

It will act as a media file server for photos, music and movies and can be used to backup your home computers. GoFlex Home’s storage can grow by changing the drive module and by adding another disk via the USB port. You can also do both at the same time. If you own an iPhone/iPad or Blackberry, there is also an optional service that will let you access your data while on the go.

Want to play stereoscopic PS3 titles in full high definition? Too bad. According to Joystiq, Sony guidelines won’t allow for 1080p 3D. They will run even native 1080p content at a lower 720p resolution, allowing enough processing for a smooth 60fps framerate and to reduce eyestrain.

3D Blu-ray movies are exempt from the specification and run at a slower, but larger, 1080p24. Native 1080p titles are hard to come by anyway, so you really can’t complain.

Logitech has unveiled its latest set of speakers for computers and other uses. The new speakers are called the Z506 and they can be pre-ordered now for $99. That is a very low price for a set of powered 5.1 speakers.

The speaker system is designed to be used with the PC, PS3, Xbox, DVD player, and Wii. The cables needed for connecting to the PC are included and connection to game consoles uses the cables included with the console.

Not sure why you would need these Grip-it covers for your Xbox 360 or the PS3, unless you have some sort of sweaty hand disease. I’ve had hands so sweaty that I couldn’t grip the analog stick on the PS3 controller. Ever. And I play plenty of games.

But if you do need to get a grip, these Grip-it analog covers are now available for both PS3 and Xbox controllers. Each pack comes with four covers. Like condoms for your loving controller partner. So you can cover the analog sticks on two controllers for $4.99.

It’s time for the next Call of Duty. Just like last year, Mad Catz is producing a bunch of licensed Black Ops peripherals for the Wii, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC to go along with the game. Above is the 360 controller, which features precision aiming, which is just a lowering of the analog sticks’ sensitivity when you want more precision.

You can toggle it by using the “combat” buttons on the controller’s back. The price should be just under $50 for the console pads and $100 for a Cyborg Rat PC mouse which comes with a 2GB USB dog tag.

Sony thinks we need more 3D so Sony’s 3D Blu-ray update for the PS3 console will arrive in September, a few weeks earlier than expected. There’s also another update in the works that will add support for 3D YouTube, and 3D photos that use the .mpo format.

Users will be able to capture 3D photos from supported cameras and view the content using a PS3 and 3D compatible TVs. Some of the supported cameras include the recently announced Cyber-shots with 3D photo capture.

Philips Blu-ray players will now be shipping with BLOCKBUSTER On Demand, offering another way for Blockbuster to offer consumers instant access to the latest movies. It will work with the Philips 5320 and 7320 Blu-ray models.

They are a little late to the party on this one and we don’t see them knocking Netflix down anytime soon. Most of us already have a PS3, after all. But if this catches your movie viewing fancy, the On Demand service offers comprehensive on-screen search and browsing capabilities, as well as full details, ratings, trailers and additional information concerning each movie.