From Gamezine.co.uk, August 13, 2009:
K-Mart PS3 Slim Ad proven fake in 6 steps – Neogaf forum plays prank
Cheeky Neogaf does it again, but we don’t think we’ve ever fallen for their pesky pranks.
First they created concept art for the PS3 Slim, which is now the media’s standard image for Sony’s presumed console, and now the Neogaf gaming forums have created the ads to promote it. All they have to do now is actually build it and sell it in the shops…
Today Gizmodo reported on a K-Mart promotional ad featuring a 120GB PS3 Slim, priced at $299.99. Sure, the website noted that they thought it was “shenanigans,” but now we can prove the ad is false, with Neogaf’s chubigans as the cheeky culprit. He explains his methodology (with images after this link):
“So I was bored last night and wanted to get my hand on some quick internet fame. Step one: get an old k-mart ad.
“Step 2: reverse the center image so that it looks like print from the other side, instead of just washing out the entire area with white (which would look fake).
“Step 3: take cakefoo’s glorious pic and match the font as best as possible. Go into PR mode and type out your best PS3 description.
“Step 4: add grain, brightness, etc. until it looks really close to the source image.
“Step 5: at this point it looks good, but still very noticeable photoshop. So I could continue to work on it for a few hours more, OR I can do the easy “secret industry spy” route and take off camera pics of it.
“Step 6: email Kotaku, Joy-stiq and Gizmondo to see who will bite first.”
This was his perfectly constructed email, complete with dodgy grammar:
“my name is phil and my friend works at a kmart headquarters. he sent me these flyer pics from a future flyer about th eps3 slim. i dont think ive seen these pics on the itnernet yet so if you do use them dont tell my friends real name i dont want to get him in trouble. anyawys sorry if youve seen these already but i had to emial ya!”
Gizmodo was the winner, and we have to say that it’s a shame that Kotaku didn’t have time to join in.
The PS3 Slim is expected to be announced by Sony on August 18th during their GamesCom conference in Cologne, Germany.