The PS3 Slim is coming out in September. This is true! Unless, apparently, you live in Florida, where residents in two separate towns are reporting that the console is already on shelves floors in their local Best Buys. UPDATED
A tipster sent us this shot from a Daytona Beach Best Buy, where there's already a healthy—and as of yet untouched—stack of Slims, marked at the expected $300 price. Meanwhile, Engadget got a similar tip from Brandon, which is about two hours away from Daytona, where a reader actually bought one. This could've been one regional managerial goof-up, but could equally be two unconnected incidents, and a sign that Sony might've been using the word "September" loosely.
So, Floridians: It's probably time to check your local Best Buy. Non-Floridians: It couldn't hurt to have a look anyway. Let us know what you find. —Thanks, Boomy and !
UPDATE: And then this tip from a BB employee, who says his store—a Tampa location—has been authorized by corporate to sell the Slim starting today:
I work at one of the Best Buy's in Tampa. We got a notice in our system yesterday that we were getting the PS3's today and that there was no street date on them. No snafu here. Don't know about other districts but we were told.by corporate we can sell them today.
UPDATE 2: Lovely intern Rosa actually stopped by the Port Richey location, and after a little hassle, managed to buy one. There are also reports trickling in that other retailers, like Walmart, GameStop and Amazon, have them in stock, and not just in Florida. So yeah, the floodgates have either opened on this, or they're about to.