HMV' s online store is now taking pre-orders for PlayStation 3 - providing consumers are also willing to purchase a 4GB PSP pack for a total price of GBP 675.

An email sent out to customers today says the deal will enable them to become one of the " lucky few" who will be able to pick up a PS3 at launch. It reads: " At HMV.co.uk, we' ve been working with Sony to offer up to 5000 customers an incredible deal when you buy the new Sony 4GB PSP.

" Anyone who takes advantage of this offer will get priority over other HMV.co.uk customers for the PlayStation 3." The deal also includes two PSP games - Killzone Liberation and Gangs of London - and the price for the bundle is listed as GBP 674.99.

According to the terms and conditions of the promotion, all consumers who buy the bundle " will take precedence over any other online HMV customers" .

However, it' s difficult to see who these other customers might be as a paragraph at the end of the email states, " PlayStation 3 solus console is currently unavailable to order from HMV.co.uk by itself, and we kindly ask customers not to contact us with regards to this." HMV' s high street stores are not currently accepting PS3 pre-orders either.

There' s no assurance that customers who sign up for the bundle will get their PS3 when the console launches on March 23. The terms and conditions of the offer state: " Delivery of any PS3 is subject to Sony�s delivery to HMV Guernsey. Accordingly, HMV cannot guarantee that registration on the Priority List means that you will receive your PS3 on the estimated release date, nor that your order will be fulfilled within any given time frame."

The offer is not likely to be well received by those consumers who feel that the price of the PlayStation 3 alone is already too high at GBP 425 - or by those who want to purchase a PS3, but already own a PSP.

A Sony spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz, " This is just one of a number of value added incentives that retailers will be offering to mark the launch of PS3.

" Consumers are free to shop around to find a package that best suits their own needs, and offers the greatest value for money."

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It' s a good deal it would seem(not an expert at current prices in GB).Definitely a shame that it puts preference to those who go for that deal though, as a lot of people buying ps3' s would already have psp' s. Interesting to see that HMV sells ps3' s over in GB though. HMV isn' t even that popular a music store in Canada, or Calgary at least.

edit: to fix some really bad grammar.

Who fucking buys their consoles at a music store anyways?

In the UK HMV is the biggest high street retailer for movies, music and games. HMV is really popular here and have dominated over their biggest direct rival Virgin Megastore for quite some time now. HMV' s have significantly large gaming sections over here.

Yup and they give student discounts too. I' m not a student anymore, but I kept my Union card heh.

How can they refuse people who want to pre-order it on its own? You' d just go elsewhere wouldn' t you.

This would only make sense, if too many people had already pre-ordered the PS3+PSP, and since they have priority they wouldn' t have enough units to go as standalone packages.

But I can' t see too much demand for a £675 bundle!

...and so i get my email...



...no thankyou HMV, i have no need for a 3rd PSP.

See how it says you can' t just buy the console by itself?! Looks like i once again have to rely on GAME but even they will be only doing bundles. I don' t mind because obviously i' ll be buying games too but if they bundle the damn things with PSP' s too at Sony' s request then i' ll be pissed!

If you preorder a PS3 from GAME instore, when they start taking them, you will be able to buy just the console and a game of your choice.

No forced bundles or anything, not that they did on 360 Wii or other machines. Managers were advised to recomend bundles, but NOT to restrict sales to bundles. The website may be different, but I can safely buy a PS3, VF5 and RR7 at launch at my local GAME.

Thankfully I' m guranteed to get one as one of my friends work there.

If 300,000 units really are coming to uk (as was put on threespeach and later removed) who here things the demand will outstrip the supply at the price of the ps3?

I' m currently feeling pretty good about the prospect of just walking into a shop and picking one up on or just after launch (as im working 12 hours on the 23rd).

I' ll probably pre-order, but i was wondering if it was worth getting like like a pc world/currys/comet kinda place where we can get extended warrenty... i' m not sure how good sony are with replacements, but i gather not good. Though Ive never had a problem with either PS2 i own/owned

I wouldn' t go with Currys, Comet etc. They are known to have the worst customer service of all the big chains. Instead of a brand new machine if your PS3 goes faulty, they' ll just repair it for you, or ask you to send it to Sony.

The best bet would be somewhere like GAME. At least if it goes wrong they are more than happy to exchance the machine for a brand new one. That is of course what by law you are intitled to, and what the retailer has to do on your request. The only issue would be stock. 300,000 units will sell out day one in all major retailers, and you will have to wait for more machines to come in for a replacement if your' s was faulty. Just like it did with Wii, DS, PSP and 360.

Good luck with getting one.

300,000 is more than the US and Japan got combined on day 1. There were only 70,000 360' s on day one here, and only 50,000 Wii' s. 300,000 is a lot of machines to pre-sell and the price isn' t exactly friendly, especially seeing as you hen have to buy games and cables too.

EDIT: GAF stole the thead!

Bundles blow. They make you buy your console plus 2-3 games you may or may not like, not even mentioning the fact as to whether they' re actually good or not. And then, you buy their cables, their carrying case, their terry rags, their little LED flashlight, their Jessica Chobot blow up dolls...

ORIGINAL: Eddie_the_Hated

Jessica Chobot blow up dolls...

Link?

Some guy called Quezcatol is makin' them out of his basement. Want his address?

Oh, the guy who makes the Sakaguchi dolls?

The ones where when you touch him he buzzes? Yeah.

and only 50,000 Wii' s

Really? Our local GAME only got around 60 360' s on launch day and very little after launch for around two months. But they got just over 130 Wii' s on launch day, and have been getting around 20 per week nearly every week from launch. GameStation down the road had a similar situation, as did most retailers in my area.

I expect stock of PS3 to be more limited like the 360, rather than the Wii which has been more free flowing. From what I' ve seen the Wii has had more stock on launch than any other console in recent years, including PSP and DS. From what I have been told, not much more than 60 to 70 PS3 are expected to come in. But nothing has been confirmed 100% at the moment.

I may just pre-order one from game then... perhaps. Yeah i am familiar with currys etc, i used to work at pc world . But if game can do that then i' ll try, so long as they allow me to pre-order just the machine because i hate pre-made bundles.

My bad, Wii sold 50,000 on day 1 and 100,000 in it' s first week. Gamecube launched with 50,000 and sold out on day 1.

Regardless, 300,000 is the largest launch allocation the UK has seen and 30 games for launch is the largest launch lineup. They will not pre-sell sell 300,000 machines. If it sells out in it' s first 48 hours on store shelves i' ll eat my woolly hat.

As for how dedicated gaming stores are selling them, nothing has been decided. All stores, GAME included, are currently in talks with Sony. HMV are hosting the launch party in London and Sony are talking about " added value" being offered by retailers - like this PSP bundle.

I should have imported one. Maybe i' ll see if i can pick one up while i' m in China this week.

Yeah considered imported the us one, but then when it goes wrong it' ll be a bitch to get a new one, i just don' t have the faith in a launch prodect, let alone a sony one.

though to prospect of saving some money would be great, at least i can import the games without the need for a chip - awesome stuff.

I hope we do in hat case get the 300,000 units it' ll make getting one a lot easier without the hassle