Latest TGS 2010 Highlights

See more highlights »

Sony confirms 250GB PS3 for UK, announces PSP Go Rewards

£284.99 250GB PS3 coming Oct. 1 in various bundles; PSP owners who upgrade to UMD-free system will receive three free games to download.

At the opening of the 2009 Tokyo Game Show today, Sony announced that sales of its PlayStation 3 Slim had surpassed the 1-million-unit mark in three weeks.

Time to get bundled up.

Time to get bundled up.

Following the news, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced yet another variation on the console. As had been widely rumoured, it will ship with a 250GB hard drive and will launch in the UK for £284.99 ($462) on October 1 via a handful of hardware bundles. This compares to the recommended retail price of £249.99 ($405) for a standard 120GB PS3 Slim.

At first, buyers can choose to take two titles from the Platinum range of best-sellers (called Greatest Hits in the US) or Sony's recent open-world action game Infamous. On October 16, an Uncharted 2 bundle will also become available, and on October 19, a final Blu-ray movie pack will be released containing X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Dark Knight, and Sony's official Blu-ray Remote. Apparently this last configuration was the "movie bundle" that had been rumoured, but it does not include the PlayTV DVR option which had been speculated about.

Sony UK also announced its long-awaited scheme to reward current PSP owners upgrading to the PSP Go. Unfortunately, owners of vast UMD libraries hoping to get digital copies of their games on the UMD-drive-less PSP Go may be disappointed. The PSP Go Rewards programme will allow owners of a PSP-1000, 2000, or 3000 and at least one UMD to download three free games when they buy a PSP Go. In the UK, there will be 17 titles available, including Killzone: Liberation, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3, Wipeout Pure, and Everybody's Golf.

PSP Go Rewards will launch alongside the console on October 1 and will run until March 31, 2010. The scheme works by having users sign up to the PlayStation Network with both their old PSP and the new PSP Go they have purchased. Once players have applied to the PSP Go Rewards programme with a UMD in the drive of the older model, a voucher is e-mailed to claim the three free downloadable games for the PSP Go.

At press time, both the 250GB PS3 and the Rewards programme were confirmed only for the UK, and Sony Computer Entertainment America had not responded to requests for comment regarding a North American release.

The full list of titles available in the PSP Go Rewards programme is as follows:
Killzone Liberation
MediEvil
Wipeout Pure
Buzz!: Brain Bender
Buzz!: Master Quiz
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
Everybody's Golf (Hot Shots Golf in the US)
Resistance: Retribution
Syphon Filter Dark Mirror
Lemmings
LocoRoco
Patapon
Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow
Echochrome
Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice
Daxter

110 Comments

  • xXZak-ataKXx

    Posted Oct 14, 2009 8:36 pm GMT

    Resistance retribution is a great deal for the awards!!!!

  • xXZak-ataKXx

    Posted Oct 14, 2009 8:33 pm GMT

    thats kinda cool i think

  • spike6958

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 5:12 pm GMT

    Guess i'll not be upgrading then, and those "reward" games suck, im not saying there bad games i just mean that you could get most of them for about £10 new now, they could have at least add put some good ones in like Monster Hunter: Freedom or one of the Final Fantasy games, but really i seen no reason to upgrade, you can't even trade your old PSP in towards the PSPGo because you need it to get the free games, but I will be buying the Uncharted 2 PS3 bundle

  • random-bob

    Posted Sep 27, 2009 10:08 am GMT

    All the stuff is still much more expensive to buy here than across the pond though..

    but we're getting better deals atm!

  • steveroger

    Posted Sep 27, 2009 8:54 am GMT

    "PSP Go Rewards will launch alongside the console on October 1 and will run until March 31, 2010. The scheme works by having users sign up to the PlayStation Network with both their old PSP and the new PSP Go they have purchased. Once players have applied to the PSP Go Rewards programme with a UMD in the drive of the older model, a voucher is e-mailed to claim the three free downloadable games for the PSP Go."

    Have you ever heard of such a ridiculously complicated promotion?

  • bourne2live

    Posted Sep 27, 2009 6:12 am GMT

    PATAPON !!!!

  • bourne2live

    Posted Sep 27, 2009 6:10 am GMT

    Concerning the 250 gb ps3, it luks like sony's finally coming to it senses about money from the consumers.

  • trw534

    Posted Sep 26, 2009 5:56 pm GMT

    sounds cool

  • retroguy02

    Posted Sep 26, 2009 3:11 pm GMT

    They removed the Linux compatibility, which sucks because the PS3 has great potential to become an all-around media PC and gaming machine. Also, doesn't the PS3 support third-party hard drives? 250GB hard drive out of the box is superfluous and largely useless IMHO. I would much rather pick up one of the older Linux compatible 80 GB (now $299) or 160 GB (now $399) bundles.

  • Retro_Matt

    Posted Sep 26, 2009 2:36 pm GMT

    Sony Sucks, what the hell are they thinking, how many new versions of their current hardware are they gonna come up with?

  • LuongoRox1

    Posted Sep 26, 2009 10:06 am GMT

    @DJCartmell

    The 80GB and 160GB have been discontinued. Before the 250GB was announced, the 120GB was the only model of the PS3 in production.

  • Double_O_Soul

    Posted Sep 26, 2009 9:39 am GMT

    Mmmhh......I see Sony has pulled a fast one on me. I just bought the 120GB PS3 Slim a few weeks ago...now they are releasing this 250GB very nice, I like your sneaky tactics Sony. Xbox thought it would have room to breath with its Modern Warfare 250GB release..haha...just like Fight Night at the MGM arena with a packed house..Xbox is on the ropes and will fall on the 10th round (2010)..K.O!..Anyway thank goodness you can easily upgrade the hard drive on the PS3 Slim so me & Sony are still in good terms, am looking at that Big Boy 320GB HDD. By the way what does the X on Box stand for? I know my fellow PS3 fans wondering about that for minuet.....lol. Peace.

  • altair3feb

    Posted Sep 26, 2009 4:59 am GMT

    @TheMistique well, excuse me... but I call it an SATA HDD

  • jtthegame316

    Posted Sep 26, 2009 3:58 am GMT

    Haha some fanboy called spotty6 claiming the xbox is for kids how could you look at games like gears, left 4 dead, halo, slinter cell conviction and games like that which keep coming xbox and say the xbox it for kids if the xbox is for kids as this guy says so is the ps 3 considering for the most part the games on both consoles match.

  • Zerosumgame

    Posted Sep 26, 2009 3:23 am GMT

    UK is just an lsland suddenly got all the goodies, not fair ...

  • TheMistique

    Posted Sep 26, 2009 12:23 am GMT

    @altair3feb you're right. it is a ps3 hard drive,i just said laptop hard dirve as it is more commonly known as such. but yes a laptop hard drive is a ps3 hard drive and vice versa.

  • MaxBlaze

    Posted Sep 25, 2009 5:23 pm GMT

    A good 250GB HDD is around $60. If you feel like you got screwed just buy one and pop it in your PS3 slim. It's so easy to do.

  • wh1te_m4trix

    Posted Sep 25, 2009 3:10 pm GMT

    Well american PSP owners just got screwed over, taking into account that this will not be available in the US for the time being.

  • altair3feb

    Posted Sep 25, 2009 2:44 pm GMT

    @TheMistique Please stop your egoistic actions because I did do some researches... why wouldn't you call it a PS3 Hard Drive for an instance?

  • Johnnyjueves

    Posted Sep 25, 2009 2:32 pm GMT

    Is it going to be backwards compatible?