Sony announces $499 Metal Gear Solid PS3 bundle, God of War PSP pack

It's no surprise that Sony has had some sort of new PS3 SKU in the works, but the company has now finally gotten official with it, and thrown in another surprise to boot. On that former front, Sony's announced the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PS3 Bundle, which includes said game, an 80GB PS3 and a DualShock 3 wireless controller (also available separately), all for the usual $500 price tag. Look for it to coincide with the launch of MGS4 in the second quarter of this year. As if that wasn't enough, Sony's also taken the wraps off its new God of War PSP Entertainment Pack, which includes a spiffy red Kratos-approved PSP, the God of War: Chains of Olympus game, Superbad on UMD, and a voucher to download Syphon Filter: Combat Ops for free. $200 and it's yours this June.

[Kiwi616 @ Feb 26th 2008 3:08PM]

Release a 20GB version thats $300 already!

[Flashpoint @ Feb 26th 2008 10:06PM]

I guess I know what I'm getting with my BUSH TAX REBATE !!!

[AMFS @ Feb 27th 2008 4:13AM]

Hard drive size has such a minor influence on price it would take a smaller hard drive, the removal of WiFi, uhhm..the minimal but useless number of usb ports (hubs work great) the loss of the memory card reader (use a usb one if u miss it that much) so...i dunno...give it another year and it'll drop some more, especially once sony develops cheaper bluray diodes

[Matt @ Feb 26th 2008 3:10PM]

Good for you.

Now go jump off a tall building and see if your MacBook Air can really hold true to it's name.

[SimonRichards @ Feb 26th 2008 3:10PM]

Will You Blend?

[Nate the Prophet @ Feb 26th 2008 3:11PM]

This MGS4 bundle will sell better than Doritoes after a Snoop Dog concert.

To Kiwi616--a 20GB PS3 is never going to happen. 40GB is the minimum that you need these days with all the games that require large hard drive installs (like Devil May Cry 4--5GB).

But you will see the 40GB down to $299 before the year's out.

[Dahk @ Feb 26th 2008 3:23PM]

I'm not so sure about that anymore =P. If the MGS4 bundle goes insane, and then a LBP bundle goes insane, and a KZ2 and a Resistance 2 bundle go insane, you'll be seeing the minimum $400 price point for a while.

[Nate the Prophet @ Feb 26th 2008 4:03PM]

True, and especially since if you want the 40GB for $299 you CAN get it now on Sony's website with that credit card deal.

[josh @ Feb 27th 2008 8:29PM]

"40GB is the minimum that you need these days with all the games that require large hard drive installs (like Devil May Cry 4--5GB)."

These aren't PC games; they are console games. The whole point is to drop them in and go. I don't want to spend half an hour learning Sanskrit while my game installs, and moreover, that isn't even the most efficient way to improve load times. If the system had a 4GB high speed flash scratch disk that that a game could temporarily write to the hard drive problem (at least for games) wouldn't exist, load times would be much faster than off the hard disk, there wouldn't be install times, and the cost would be a system component that consistently drops in price (unlike HDD which have a floor that they hit regardless of capacity) and initial load times comparable to any game now as it first launches.

Essentially game systems should implemented Vista ReadyBoost if they want to improve game load times, not require large hard disks for lengthy game installs.

[Nate the Prophet @ Feb 27th 2008 10:49PM]

That's probably true. But I do know that it was proven (IGN to name
just one source) in the case of Devil May Cry 4 that the load times
on the PS3 were "Significantly better" than on it's 360 counterpart
due to the hard drive install.

To me a one-time install is no big deal at all if the trade-off is better performance.

[David Olivo @ Feb 26th 2008 3:13PM]

Sony sucks. Why ruin a perfectly good red PSP with that dumb image in the back. Just like that annoying Storm Trooper on the back of the white one. Or is it Darth Vader? whatever, annoying.

[Jakob @ Feb 26th 2008 3:18PM]

I agree with you, it ruins the cleanish look, but Sony DON'T sucks ;)

[Eric M. @ Feb 26th 2008 3:24PM]

I think that picture is badass and I'm sure the millions of God of War fans will agree with me.

[Abuzar @ Feb 26th 2008 6:55PM]

Dude the picture looks NOTHING like Darth Vader or a Storm Trooper. I'm pretty sure that's the guy from God of War. Hell I haven't even played any of the God of War games and I know that.

[Jacqueline @ Feb 26th 2008 7:03PM]

Oh no-that pic of Kratos on the back of the red PSP if far, far from Nerd World where the Stormtrooper PSP lives and breathes.

[David Olivo @ Feb 26th 2008 8:13PM]

I just mean that I prefer a plain red PSP without the drawings in the back marring a perfectly pretty PSP.

And, I was referring to the White PSP that has the Darth Vader on the back and how that annoyed me.

[jacquerr @ Feb 27th 2008 10:09AM]

Once again, someone typed an anti sony rant and you guys made him the lowest ranked. forget the guy who typed "sony doesn't sucks"

bet if he said, right on sony! microsoft sucks, hddvd sucks...you'd all rank him high. why not just change your user names to "sonylover1" and the number can increase with each one of you...

[R0B3RT @ Mar 25th 2008 5:42PM]

You can take the silk screening of that wont hurt the died metal. but i dont know why but i like it the pic

[Andy B. @ Feb 26th 2008 3:15PM]

Anyone else noticing that Sony's blog is down?

[Billy @ Feb 26th 2008 3:16PM]

Yeah, nice database error Sony :P

[Matt B @ Feb 26th 2008 3:28PM]

Maybe its getting pounded....

[foxdie @ May 15th 2008 1:45AM]

you mean sexual?

[Eric M. @ Feb 26th 2008 3:19PM]

Damn, this makes me want to see my 60GB PS3 and buy the Metal Gear one in the summer. AND that God of War bundle WITH Superbad has my cash just jumping out it my pocket. This might make me get a PSP finally..

[Curtis the Claw Game Master V2 @ Feb 26th 2008 3:45PM]

If you want to see your PS3 why don't you go look at it?;)

[Jesse S @ Feb 26th 2008 3:19PM]

We're the unsecure one's when you're praising your purchase on an irrelivent article, completely unprovoked?

[phanbouy @ Feb 26th 2008 3:21PM]

dear ron, i dig macs but hate you. singed, me.

[prateeko @ Feb 26th 2008 3:21PM]

Hmm, before it went down the Sony Playstation Blog Post (http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/02/26/destination-playstation-news-mgs-ps3-bundle-kratos-psp-and-dualshock3-release-date-by/) was saying the bundle would be out in JUNE while the game (God of War) would still be out in March...

[Jim @ Feb 26th 2008 3:57PM]

Agreed. Quoted from the PR.
"The standalone version of God of War: Chains of Olympus launches on
March 4. The God of War PSP Entertainment Pack will be available for
$199.99 (MSRP) in June 2008 and includes the following components."

[Eric M. @ Feb 26th 2008 3:21PM]

How about you fanboys atleast express your fanboyism towards the proper subject. And I would figure Apple users would take Sony's side since the PS3 is competing against a Microsoft product.

[CosterMonger @ Feb 27th 2008 12:11AM]

that because they consider the Macs and iPods "gaming platforms": must be that powerful reality distortion field.

[Andy B. @ Feb 26th 2008 3:22PM]

The big question is: Will it be backwards compatible with PS2 again?

Come on Sony, The fewer components in my cabinet, the better. I'm not buying a PS3 without it.

[prateeko @ Feb 26th 2008 3:27PM]

It's the 80GB version (probably all the leftover stock they have now, good way to get rid of it while making room for 120GB/160GB) so it'll support some BC with the PS2 (kind of like the 360 and Xbox games).

I mean, how embarrassing would it be for Sony if you couldn't play the upcoming MGS collection (1-3) for the PS2 on the same PS3 you get with MGS4?

[Andy B. @ Feb 26th 2008 3:31PM]

They said it's a NEW SKU...
(Is New SKU better than old SKU?)

[prateeko @ Feb 26th 2008 3:49PM]

SKU = stock keeping unit. That's just the number that designates the product ID from Sony to retailers. Each PSP slim out right now has a different SKU but is the exact same. As such, I think this is the same 80GB PS3 out there right now, just with a different setup.

I mean, I SERIOUSLY hope Sony isn't dumb enough to put out a higher level PS3 that can't play PS2 games at all. I still think this is here until they run completely out of 80GB PS3s so they can easily bring in the 120GB/160GB PS3 without the slow, drawn out death the 20GB/60GB PS3s suffered...

[prateeko @ Feb 26th 2008 3:50PM]

Yup, I was right. On the PS Blog (I linked to it somewhere here in all of my comments) a member of the PS team says, "adeleon replied on February 26, 2008 at 12:44 pm (adeleon's Avatar)

Yes, similar to the Motorstorm bundle, the new MGS4 bundle features an 80GB PS3 with some PS2 backwards compatibility."

[phanbouy @ Feb 26th 2008 3:22PM]

I don't know about you guys, but the head-tilted-down goatee man from Soviet Russia really targets to that elusive 12-41 Youth Bracket.

Also nifty cup holder in the middle!

[Jamma @ Feb 26th 2008 5:14PM]

In Soviet Russia, PSP plays you!

[sepirioth @ Feb 26th 2008 3:27PM]

WOW! A "new" PSP! I think I will run out and get this one to go with my other 150 that I have sitting next to the 300 PS3 variations... Come on, quit stalling and release a NEW PSP!

[prateeko @ Feb 26th 2008 3:35PM]

I think you're mistaking Sony with Nintendo.

::looks disapprovingly at his GBA, GBA SP, GBA SP+, GB Player, and GBA Micro::

[sepirioth @ Feb 27th 2008 1:28PM]

And then came the DS... but your right.

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Feb 26th 2008 3:30PM]

Hey guys sorry to prove ya wrong but that psp bundle is $1299 not $499. Do you honestly believe that anyone would pay that much for a new red psp ( well besides the childs play GOW psp from way back). The bundles are all $199.00 check your pricing next time.....

[insertAlias @ Feb 26th 2008 3:54PM]

Normally I might say RTFA, but this time, its actually in the summary:

"...God of War PSP Entertainment Pack, which includes a spiffy red Kratos-approved PSP, the God of War: Chains of Olympus game, Superbad on UMD, and a voucher to download Syphon Filter: Combat Ops for free. $200"

$200. Right there. Not $499 or $1299. If you meant $199, well, you're not correcting anyone. It's there in the article.

The $499 is for the MGS4 PS3 bundle.

[Kenneth Corbett @ Feb 26th 2008 3:30PM]

Anyone know if the 80gb will be backwards compatible?

[Lowinor @ Feb 26th 2008 3:32PM]

Are they ever going to release a new PS3 with hardware PS2 support?

[Galley @ Feb 26th 2008 3:52PM]

They already did, back in 2006 (60GB).

[YouFaceTheTick @ Feb 26th 2008 7:06PM]

People still have PS2s? Why?

[Jimbo @ Feb 26th 2008 7:42PM]

PS2s are the best consoles in gaming history. Nearly 10,ooo games to choose from. Better money spent than a wii, ps3, or 360 any day.

Now, given that PS2s are so cheap and easy to get, perhaps backwards compatibility isn't that big a deal. I moved my PS2 to my office and left my PS3 int he living room, and even though I've got a 60gb, I never play PS2 games on my bigscreen.

While I would love for Sony to put cheap back compat in all new PS3s, it's smarter to get the 40gb and a new PS2 separate. If your entertainment center isn't big enough for the tiny PS2, you've got bigger problems.

But man, if you came out from under a rock and bought a PS2 and a DS today, you would not be missing much by ignoring the new stuff. Imagine what $500 in PS2 stuff gets you!

[farfisa @ Feb 26th 2008 3:40PM]

(PRODUCT) WAR

[peacebyanymeans (AKA: Moorio) @ Feb 26th 2008 3:41PM]

Stick your head down your kitchen sink and then turn on the garbage disposal.

[Curtis the Claw Game Master V2 @ Feb 26th 2008 3:42PM]

You are a complete idiot and are exactly the person Apple is trying to target. You are insecure and you feel that having the ultra sexy macbook air will make you more confident as well as bragging about it to everyone on here. I'm not sure why your bragging about how you got ripped off, maybe you can explain.

..and before you freak out and claim I'm some PC fanboy, I'm not. I've got an iPhone and a Macbook Pro.