Several online retailers have jumped the gun and begun taking pre-orders for Sony's mysterious PlayStation 3 Slim. While there's always a chance that Sears and K-Mart are simply trying to be ahead of the game, it's unlikely that they would have went through the effort of creating the banner above if it was simply a guess. The K-Mart site has even gone as far as to include specs, which appear to be right in line with previous rumors, giving the Slim a 120GB HDD at $299. It is also listed for release on August 24th. That's really soon.

Now here's where it gets murky. It would be huge news if Sears and K-Mart weren't at all linked, meaning that it would be two separate announcements. This isn't the case, since the companies (and their websites) are linked together. It's also a bit shady since the actual ad on the K-Mart site isn't called "PS3 Slim!", it's "PS3 Price Cut." It's pretty fishy, but there's still little chance that the Slim isn't going to be announced at GamesCon this week.

We'll keep you posted, and check out K-Mart's description, written below.

PS3, SLIM High-Definition Blu-ray player for the best movie experience. Free PLAYSTATION Network membership. 120GB HDD for downloading games, music, videos, and photos. Includes DUAL SHOCK 3 controller. HDMI output for 1080p resolution.

PS3, SLIM High-Definition Blu-ray player for the best movie experience. Free PLAYSTATION Network membership. 120GB HDD for downloading games, music, videos, and photos. Includes DUAL SHOCK 3 controller. HDMI output for 1080p resolution.