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

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.

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