Japan to get steel-coloured PS3

By Robert Purchese Published 18 March, 2008

All in the name of MGS4.

Japanese gamers look set to get the option of picking up steel-coloured PS3 as part of a Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle.

These fancy marketing tactics were revealed in the pages of Famitsu magazine, which reckons the package will cost JPY 51,800 (USD 534 / GBP 261).

Apparently you will also pay the equivalent of USD 91 (GBP 45) for the regular version and USD 101 (GBP 50) for the Special Edition. Which is steep.

Alas, the chances of such a model appearing here are as slim as an Olsen.

Sony US unveiled a Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle for the region at the end of February. It will contain an 80GB PS3, a DualShock 3 controller and the game. All that for USD 499 (GBP 247).

Sony Europe had "no plans" for a bundle back then, and was unavailable to comment this afternoon.

Metal Gear Solid 4 will be released worldwide on 12th June.

Sneak over to our first impressions of for a detailed hands-on with the title.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (30) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Killerbee #1 4 years ago

    I want that bundle!

    Shame Sony Europe seem intent on flogging the low-end model and an obsolete controller to us.

  • Razorus #2 4 years ago

    Good for them. Now announce me a sexy bundle for the UK and begone!

  • jonsaan #3 4 years ago

    And in other news...Sony reluctant to let Europe sniff the steam off their piss.

  • the_dudefather #4 4 years ago

    looks quite nice, never liked the shiny one myself

  • penhalion #5 4 years ago

    I forget...was the 80gb backward compatible or not?

    grabs coat and leaves room

  • Darren #6 4 years ago

    It does look nice in matt black, goes better with my Sony HDTV actually and no doubt won't show up the dust so much! LOL

  • TONYgr #7 4 years ago

    this june is gonna destroy my social life!mgs4 and ninja gaiden 2!

  • Kiigan #8 4 years ago

    Would prefer a cardboard box coloured one.

  • Kryon #9 4 years ago

    That looks awful...I mean, even worse than it looked before (which is no mean feat)..

  • bad09 #10 4 years ago

    Yeah that bundle sounds cool! I'm just waiting for the word from you Sony. Give the UK something like that and I'll start saving. Your move.......

  • syphaa #11 4 years ago

    Hopefully the UK will have a nice bundle to!

  • Skooch #12 4 years ago

    LOL, UK Sony customers holding their ankles and getting shafted AGAIN!

    When will you lot learn... :-D

  • iWolf #13 4 years ago

    Would be a treat if we were to get a BC PS3 bundle too...

  • bad09 #14 4 years ago

    @iWolf

    Amen to that friend! Sadly I think that ship has sailed. b*****d Sony!!

  • sharpfish #15 4 years ago

    fuck BC. I never played a PS2 game in my life (except the few I had to test at my ex job), most of them looked like shit and look even shitter on the PS3 with the scaling BS. I wish people would get over it and realise that people are investing £300 for a machine that can play games comparable to 360 quality AND as a blu ray player. The only people I see crying about BC are people who already have a frickin PS2/PS2 games library and have actually played the games to death already. Why would they cater to you hangers on who you would think would be glad their old hardware isn't completely redundant. Is it that hard to plug your PS2 in on the few occasions you want to play games that aside from a few choice ones were the worst looking of the 3 systems last gen?

    I bet a lot of people who demand BC would end up using it once or twice and realising the world has moved on. This hostility comes from the idiots who keep branding the ps3 40gb the 'tard pack' because it lacks BC (and 2 needless USBs; buy a hub if you need more i prefer the saving, and some memcard readers that are a novelty rather than essential)... I'll take the cooler/smaller chip over BC any time. I never used BC on the 360 and I'd never use in on the PS3. Hell I don't play GBA games on the DS either even though I had a fair few from my GBA days.

    Just can't understand why people hold off on hardware because it won't play old games, that is the exception not the norm. WHen did gamers get so damn petty. Did you play your snes games on your PS1? How about your Atari VCS carts on your Master System? Good look getting those N64 carts working on the Cube/Wii too.

    Also black ps3 looks fine to me, goes with everything else and doesn't stand out like a sore thumb with my other hardware.


    "LOL, UK Sony customers holding their ankles and getting shafted AGAIN!

    When will you lot learn... :-D"

    At least PS3s don't blow up quite so often, it's the people who REBUY 360s after having 1/2/3 units fail with no official word on whether the problem is actually/every going to be, fixed - who don't seem to learn anything, more money than sense.

    Now stop bitching and realise that NON BC PS3s are going to be the #1 dominant gamers console by the end of this gen (actually by the end of this year or next; no Wii doesn't count!).


  • Les #16 4 years ago

    "Sadly I think that ship has sailed. b*****d Sony!!"

    Or you just should have been faster and gotten the 60gb model... ;) But I'm totally against removing BC again, though apparently the market thinks otherwise... I wouldn't be surprised if we won't see BC in the next gen of consoles TBH as reselling the old games via online stores generates nice revenues for the platform holders and BC's importance of preventing people to switch platforms between console cycles seems limited.

  • bad09 #17 4 years ago

    "Or you just should have been faster and gotten the 60gb model... ;)"

    Very true Les, but like many I was waiting for the unrealistic price to go down. I didn't expect them to scale the machine back to get there! I think you are right that BC will go next gen. They will all just try to re sell the games rather than other offer BC, a shame if it goes that way.

    If they did reintroduce a BC model it would stop the ebay robbers though (have you seen the 60gb prices on there!) and give people like me a chance to make some room under my telly!

  • Kryon #18 4 years ago

    Judging by Sharpfish' response, I'd guess he's bought the Tard Pack...

  • Kryon #19 4 years ago

    More importantly, why oh why are Sony still packaging the system with crappy non-rumble pads? Sort it out you fools!

  • bad09 #20 4 years ago

    @f3rrari

    I'd quite like a white one to go with my PSP and 360! But I'm only gonna wait until June (MGS) so I doubt they'll announce colours before then, if at all for the poor UK!

    But to be honest, as long as I get DS3 included with PS3 (as it should be) by June I'm happy :)

  • Skooch #21 4 years ago

    I get the feeling Sharpfish is a little sore from Sony UK screwing him over so many times. Let me see...

    - Release date
    - BC
    - Rumble
    - Special Price-cut for Japanese consumers
    - And now, special hardware, not for UK

    Ouch...that's gotta hurt! :-D

  • Chufty #22 4 years ago

    Steel grey?

    Pink PS3 = sale.

  • Huddy #23 4 years ago

    80GB Ceramic white PS3 in Europe for me please.

  • Royal Fool #24 4 years ago

    Kryon: I reckon Sony has a lot of excess Sixaxis controllers they need to dump out of their warehouses, what better way than by bundling them with hardware? They did the same thing with the old PSX controllers when the DualShock rumble tech first appeared.

  • Nithron #25 4 years ago

    How is that steel coloured?

  • soviet_ #26 4 years ago

    If only they changed the PlayStation 3 font from the Spiderman one, it wouldn't look half bad

    @Skooch, I lol'd
    Edited by soviet_ at 18/03/08 @ 21:26

  • Pulsar_t #27 4 years ago

    There's nothing original about the PS brand is there.. and that includes the tasteless Spiderman font. I wish they'd improvise for once with the design at least :p

    Edit - I also used to believe Ninty produced clunky consoles (S/NES, GB/C were ugly) but they did impress me with the GBA (Micro), GC and DSLite.
    Edited by Pulsar_t at 18/03/08 @ 21:42

  • VMerken #28 4 years ago

    Whoops, should have posted that here.

    SCEE: START! MAKING! PLANS! yadda yadda yadda.

  • 3william56 #29 4 years ago

    "Steel" sounds so much cooler than grey.
    Actually looks pretty nice though.

    Darren - a bit of anti static Mr Sheen, and your PS3 will stay shiny for ages. Unles you live in a manky flat, of course.

  • Darren #30 4 years ago

    @3william56 - Actually my PS3 did initally suck up the dust badly when I first bought it but since I've been using an anti-static cleaning cloth that came free with an issue of OPSM it's nowhere near as bad but still the shiny black finish means it does show up dust quicker than either of my other consoles. I don't use polish on the PS3 in case it damages the plastic, I just wipe it. Ditto for my other consoles and HDTV.