PS3 250GB bundles priced, detailed

By Robert Purchese Published 9 September, 2009

ACII! Uncharted 2! GT5! £299.99.

A trusted retail source has corroborated earlier reports and told Eurogamer that a 250GB PS3 Slim will arrive here as early as October, as part of three console-plus-game bundles.

Unlike Spain, the UK will combine either Assassin's Creed II, Gran Turismo 5 or Uncharted 2 with the 250GB PS3 Slim. And each bundle will cost £299.99.

Sony has not backed this up in writing, which is why our source wished to remain anonymous.

Although the bundle will arrive in October, perhaps only Uncharted II - released on 23rd October - will appear then. Assassin's Creed is due on 20th Novmember, and Sony has only officially narrowed the date for GT5 to Q4 2009.

The crescendo in retailer chatter suggests the platform holder may be poised to make an announcement soon. Yet, for now, its validity - and what Microsoft will counter with - remains to be seen.

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.

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

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Comments (41) 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • M_of_the_sys #1 2 years ago

    A trusted retail source has corroborated earlier reports

    Would that be ShopTo by any chance Eurogamer?

  • VandelayIndustries #2 2 years ago

    Excellent value right there. They're really starting to push the PS3 now.

  • uglygamer #3 2 years ago

    Doesnt it say October

  • hiddenranbir #4 2 years ago

    LOL at first post.

  • chessboxer #5 2 years ago

    @ lord

    You don't see the value of a PS3 with a 250GB HDD and possibly 2 brand new games for £299? Are you joking or smoking crack?

    @ svd_grasshopper

    Q4 is both 2009 and 2010. I think Q4 ends in March 2010.

  • Vroom #6 2 years ago

    Gt5 bundle = success.

  • JonFE #7 2 years ago

    "Sony has not backed this up in writing..."

    Hardly surprising, considering that Sony has just released the 120Gb PS3. Confirming that a bundle like that is just a month away will put people off buying anything right now...

  • dsmx #8 2 years ago

    The expression is are you high? Or just incredibly stupid.

  • jmg123 #9 2 years ago

    @chessboxer
    You could get a ps3 slim 120gb, a 500gb hd for it and GT5 for the same money, and thats not even including the £30 you could easily then sell the original 120gb drive for.

  • Darren #10 2 years ago

    Sony are going to launch their Movie Store at some point, which will allow people to not only rent SD and HD movies but also purchase them too. That 250 GB of hard drive space will, therefore, come in very handy for those people who want to buy those in preference to physical media.

  • CableNut #11 2 years ago

    I have a 360.
    But with 250 gig hard drive and GT5, i think i will finally buy me a ps3 xmas...
    Also i need a bluray player :p

    Sold sony :)

  • Der_tolle_Emil #12 2 years ago

    At first I thought all 3 games will be bundled. That would have been almost too good to be true but I still think that the price with "only" one game is really competitive as well.

  • PlugMonkey #13 2 years ago

    I have to say i havent come across a mandatory install for quite a while now on PS3 games, which is also a good thing.

    Batman.

  • DrRobotnik #14 2 years ago

    It's not bad, but I'd hardly call it a 'deal'... and please let me explain first :)

    You can get a 120gb slim for £229 if you dig a little, and games are no more than £39.99 brand new (no-one sells at RRP, before flamers start launching their trebuchets), so you're effectively getting an extra 130gb hard drive for £30.

    Considering you can get a 500gb internal PC HDD for just over £30 (http://ww w.amazon.co.uk/Generic-Hard-Dis... I'd say it's about average value as a 'bundle deal'.

  • chessboxer #15 2 years ago

    @ jmg123

    For the average person, that is a good deal, especially if it comes with 2 newish games, even more so if a bundle appears just before Christmas with Uncharted 2 and GT5.

    I've had a 500GB HDD in my BC PS3 for 11 months and it's small. As soon as a 1TB 9.5mm 2.5" SATA comes out, I'll be getting a PS3 Slim.

    @ DrRobotnik

    Cheap but the wrong HDD for a PS3.

    A 500GB 2.5" SATA will set you back a minimum of £53 (only found one shop selling at that price). Most places sell them for around £65.

    Oh, and many popular high street shops sell games, especially new ones at RRP. HMV do this a lot but places like ASDA tend to be more competitive.

  • monkeylite #16 2 years ago

    I seem to remember reading a comment by someone here who claimed that it will definitely be £350.

    Not a bad deal regardless. Was going to get Uncharted II anyway. Those with the 120GB Slim will do well to upgrade the harddrive themselves, but this isn't too bad if you were planning on a Slim anyway.

  • Johnsters #17 2 years ago

    @lord
    "movies, maybe, but what is the BD-Rom drive for? :-)"

    Playing Blu ray discs.
    If you have other streaming services then the spare capacity is useful (esp when the new PSN movie service opens up in Nov)


  • DrRobotnik #18 2 years ago

    Cheap but the wrong HDD for a PS3.

    A 500GB 2.5" SATA will set you back a minimum of £53 (only found one shop selling at that price). Most places sell them for around £65.
    ---------------------

    Okay, but my point stands, because the PS3 slim bundle comes with 250gb, not 650 :-)

  • Bigglesworth #19 2 years ago

    @DrRobotnik
    There's also the bundled game, and the convenience of not having to shop around for the seperate bits. Face it: its a good deal =)

  • DrRobotnik #20 2 years ago

    @DrRobotnik
    There's also the bundled game, and the convenience of not having to shop around for the seperate bits. Face it: its a good deal =)
    ----------------

    Erm, I included the bundled game!? Like I said, it's alright. It just hasn't set my world alight. I'll buy a standalone I think - 120gb is fine for me.

  • chessboxer #21 2 years ago

    @ lord

    erm... my eyes are playing tricks on me :) I'm sure stores will do their own bundles anyway. Last year you could buy an 80GB PS3 with 3 games or 2 games and a movie for £299 - 320 depending where you shopped.

    @ donnie080208

    Maybe if the 360's HDD weren't so expensive and small, you might have a different point of view. Plus you can do a lot more with the PS3's HDD than you can with the 360's so if you want your media in one place, a large HDD is a must.

  • youhavenomail #22 2 years ago

    They should add PS2 compatibility to this new SKU just for giggles and shit.

  • Nephirion #23 2 years ago

    Good value compared with Microsoft, I still lol at £60 for the wireless adpater

  • MuppetThumper #24 2 years ago

    yes, I had to get the wireless adaptor for my 360 as cable wasnt an option - it pissed me off no end that even shopping around for the best price the thing was still an absolute ripoff.

  • Chazmeister #25 2 years ago

    Hang on a minute, if you can get a PS3 Slim for less than £250, wouldn't it be cheaper to buy the game seperately?

  • IneptPercy #26 2 years ago

    I want it cheaper not more expensive.

    Microsoft need to pull there finger out on the hard drive pricing, the drive inside is the same its just in a caddy as such so they could quite easily chuck whatever drive they wanted in, may still cost more due to the other bits.

    With that my 20GB is still fine as I don't need to install anything.

  • GamerG #27 2 years ago

    I wonder if Sony will do what they did with the 20gig model in the US and slow down shipments of the 120gig model, then claim everone is buying the more expensive one (because they cant find the 120gb model) and then making this 250gig model the only model, claiming they only wanted one Sku anyway?!!!

    Afterall they do seem to like that £299.99 price tag!
    Edited by 1 at 09/09/09 @ 20:44

  • MeBrains #28 2 years ago

    gamerg: O_o?!

  • bioreit #29 2 years ago

    That is a pretty good price - tempted to swap out my old 80GB phat for one, especially if I can get it with AC2! Running out of physical space under the telly and could do with things that use up less leccy - what with living in a shared house and all!

    Also interested in the possibilities of owning movies via download service - always gutted that the UK/Euro Xbox Marketplace is rental only, unlike the US. I want Invader Zim, dagnammit! And if it does what I want, oodles of HDD capacity is a must. And yes, I could buy a nice 500GB 2.5" SATA (btw, for those interested... Samsung 500GB for £56.96), but if I'm always wary of warranty things - if the drive I've purchased dies, tough - I have to sort it!

    Also just wanted to add a tiny modicum of defence in MS's corner, though:

    1. The HDD in a 360 is NOT a standard laptop 2.5" drive - it's a 24*7 rated beast of a drive that has ridiculous MTBF ratings and is very, VERY robust compared to a normal HDD - that dodgy shipment to Oz notwithstanding.

    2. Yes, the wifi adaptor is far more expensive than a PC counterpart, but the range on it is fantastic when using G and it also has A - for those that are interested in such things, it's a very welcome feature. Especially if you live in an area deluged by bloomin' wifi routers all pumping out on the same 3 bloody channels in the G band...

    *shakes fist at Sky*

  • Zaltan #30 2 years ago

    Thats when I will upgrade! Or more of a sidegrade or downgrade when you consider its smaller than the current one...

  • aids #31 2 years ago

    MS need to lift their game.
    I love my 360 but I'd agree the PS3 looks like a much better proposition now.
    Actually hoping this will spur PS3 sales and make MS take notice.

  • Gaol #32 2 years ago

    The bundle is a crazy idea.

    Sony shouldn't be reintroducing SKUs at £300, it just reinforces the notion that PS3s are expensive and confuses general consumers. They might now see the £230 product as a 'cheap' version and assume (wrongly) that it's somehow a cut down product like the Arcade.

    Stick to one cheap SKU.

  • swissorc #33 2 years ago

    Who is stupid enough to get excited over these ps3 with larger and larger hdd when you can swap them out anyway clever way to justify 299 I think not rip off I'll stick with getting the 120 in the spring thank you

    p.s saw wireless 360 adaptors for 25 quid in cabott circus in Bristol back in June Oh I was I'd bought ten and sold them on

    :(
    Edited by 1 at 10/09/09 @ 09:59

  • des #34 2 years ago

    Europe is truly Sony bundle land.
    But hey Uncharted will chart now.

  • bioreit #35 2 years ago

    @ lord

    We buy 'standard' 3.5" and 2.5" drives here at work, but we don't just buy off the shelf - we buy a half dozen units of each model type we're interested in, from different manufacturing batches, then stress test them in our blades for at least four weeks. Based on their performance, we purchase our new units in batches of 500+. Microsoft carries out very similar testing - one of our suppliers had to refuse our order for 2000 units because the drive we wanted had tested very highly and EVERYONE wanted it - MS beat us all to the punch with an order into the dozens of thousands. We pass the cost of this testing onto our satellite offices, much in the same way Microsoft does. Although they obviously stick an 'extra' premium on top which I do find hard to swallow.

    Also, the 360 adaptor has far better wireless reception than my Zyxel USB adaptor and the Intel internal adaptors we have in our HP 550, 6715b, nx7300 and nx6315 laptops and the internal adaptors in our Toshiba A120s. It also beats hands down the range of the wireless adaptors in our Eee PC 1000H (which are widely acknowledged as having excellent range and signal retention), as well as my personal Samsung NC10 and NC20. It also displays at least double the range of the internal PS3 wifi adaptor and even more compared to the Wii - and with much higher throughput rates at greater distances, too. This is all on G band, to Zyxel 660H-D1, Trendware TEW-435-BRM and Thompson Speedtouch 585 (damn you Be*) routers and Linksys WAP54g and Netgear WG302 access points. As well as our Aruba AP65 and AR61 access points (which is how I test the bandwidth throughput, signal strength and packet loss, on both G and A bands). Based on all of this, the 360 wifi adaptor consistently came top, especially in A - it never dropped below third place in any test.

    Edit: Typos.
    Edited by 1 at 10/09/09 @ 12:14

  • itsfuzzy #36 2 years ago

    Im a 360 user since launch and i have to say this is the 1st time i have the urge that i really need to invest in a PS3. Sony are doing the job now they should have done a long time ago.

  • Corben_Dallas #37 2 years ago

    "...and Sony has only officially narrowed the date for GT5 to Q4 2009.
    FFS Sony put a launch date for europe for GT5 AND STICK TO IT!!!!!!

  • chrisjm #38 2 years ago

    When is the month of Novmember?

  • romelpotter #39 2 years ago

    Hmmm tempted to buy. Got fed up of 360. Now gettin fed up of wow soooooo....does it ha....

    nope! :(

    Sigh, give me the ps4 and sony, don't fudge this one or i'll tell your nan about your addiction to the crack!

  • Beano #40 2 years ago

    "Q4 is both 2009 and 2010. I think Q4 ends in March 2010. "

    Depends if you are talking Sony's financial year or calendar year.

    Calendar Q4 ends december 31 2009.

  • bendowson #41 2 years ago

    As time has shown, prices are too high. Pricing policy needs improvement. Ben from mahjong and crazy taxi club with new hidden object games.