"Super slim" PS3 appears to be on the way

The PS4 may be even further down the road as it appears Sony is working on a new PS3.

Sony has submitted an application to the Federal Communications Commission for a new “Computer Entertainment System.” However, it doesn’t look like it will be a brand new system.

Instead, it appears to be an even slimmer version of the PS3, something that has been rumored for years.

It could very well be Sony’s way of saying that its console is still alive and kicking, and that gamers should not begin thinking about the PS4.

Of course, very few details about the PS3 successor are known at this point. Frankly, it’s kind of hard to figure out what to make of the state of the gaming industry right now.

For the first time ever, we have 5- to 6-year-old consoles that are still chugging along. So, from Sony’s perspective, what point is there to revealing a PS4? What could it do that the PS3 can’t? If the answer is “not much,” then there’s no reason to unveil new hardware.

This is of course uncharted territory for the console gaming market. Never before has a console lived on for more than five years with virtually no one wondering when the next one would come.

The Xbox 360 is admittedly starting to show its age and there have been far more many rumors about its successor than there have been for the PS4. Don’t expect a Sony announcement in this realm any time soon.

Meanwhile, it is widely expected that Microsoft will be forced to announce the Xbox 720 at next year’s E3.