Rip-off bundles in rip-off Britain for PS3
I woke up on Saturday morning to find an e-mail from HMV sitting in my inbox, with the subject line about the PS3. On opening, I discovered that the pre-order “deal” was little short of outrageous.
For the Americans amongst us; HMV primarily sells music CDs, but now has branched outwards to include a whole range of games, DVDs and even a select range of board games. It has diversified as a company considerably over the last 8 years, and is now a respectable game website (though I have heard their shipping time online is something to be laughed at).
If you are signed up to the HMV newsletter, you already know what I’m talking about. To stand a chance of getting a PS3 on the 23rd March, you have to buy a 4GB PSP and the PS3. If you succumb to this deal, it puts you on the “Priority List”, so you have basically just pre-ordered a PS3. But, if anyone read the Terms and Conditions, you will discover that even if you do this, you might not get a PS3 on release day. Why? Because HMV cannot guarantee just how many PS3s they will receive. All this and I haven’t even mentioned a price.
£674.99. That includes a 4GB stick, a PSP, Killzone Liberation and Gangs of London. What if you already have a PSP? Tough luck I’m afraid, as you cannot pre-order just the PS3 on HMV. Having looked around, it would seem you cannot just buy the PS3 alone in many places; it has to come in some sort of bundle, even if you don’t want half the games that come with it.
I’m going to stop short of going on a rant about what a piss-take this is, and let you all say it in the comments. If you do want to purchase just the console, head over to Argos who are currently taking pre-orders, whilst not including anything else with the PS3. Sony however seem to be quite liking the PSP/PS3 deal:
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.”
In lighter news, rumours are abound that because of the high price of the PS3, credit will be offered. Therefore, you can pay for the PS3 in monthly installments, with an interest rate of 0%, so you won’t pay any extra, but it makes it more manageable for those who don’t like spending £425 outright. News of this is yet to be confirmed, so for now sit tight and wait for the news.
Thanks Lotus 111s for reminding me about the e-mail!
I nearly fell out of my pram when i saw this about HMV,which is why i posted at news, i doubt they will sell any bloody bundles at this price. I mean read the quote from Sony above “Consumers are free to shop around”. You aren’t lying there Sony and i think EVERYONE will avoid this unless you are either A. Rich or B. Stupid.
Crazyness gone mad.
or C. want a psp as well as a ps3.
So now I should burn down the offices of HMV as well as Sony is what you are saying, yes?
Go for it Glovy
Up to this whole PS3 thing, I have always liked sony (I have a PSP, TV etc) . Now, they dick us on the UK PS3 launch date, they dick us on the price (Outragous compared to US$ price - and yes I read the Head of Sony UKs excuses, pathetic), and now dick us on supply. I am sure I will end up buying a PS3 - But Sony can kiss my ass before I buy any other products from them.
Well why not put your £674.99 into a holiday fund and get some sun onto your pale little faces - I smoke and drive a car now thats a rip-off
You from America? Because fucking driving costs less for you as well, so does tobacco come to think of it.
Bastards.
Argos are taking orders for the PS3 £424.99 plus delivery cost
As I said in the post
Argos also has the cheapest PS3 controller that I’ve seen £29.99
Here in the US one big name retailer requires 10 accessory items to purchase a PS3 - all games or controllers, and blu-ray movies are being produced by some movie companies at $35 instead of the normal $25. Rip-offs abound.
Get a live you game freaks,sony have always been piss takers with there prices and you queue up to pay.Dont pay,dont buy,simple as that,boycot it, you will soon see the price tumble,is this a live and death purchase?
well the guy that stated why not take a holiday, why don’t u all fly to the Us and get a PS3 with a power convertor, why the desperate need to buy a PS3 it’s the show off factor as i got one before u and i got £600 + to waste.
Most of my mates have spent over the odds on Wii 300 odd pounds and up ans ps3to show off any play 4 five minutes or cause it goes with there silver tv nicely never to be played.
Most of there clever mates think wankers spending over the odds when leave it 6 months/after xmas price will plumit and bugs will be ironed out, i have lost faith in sony when i got my stepson a psp within 2 hours the battery had overheated and short ciruicted the internalls.
if we were all early adopters in everything we would all be having vista laptops that crash every 5 minutes, smart phones u have to reboot to make a phone call, and cars that breakdown every five yards and cost us £30,000 even second hand
like the guy said above the clever people leave there mates to pay way too much and see them want to smash it against a wall dude to constantly sending it back to manufactures to fix defects, were in a years time we buy it for bugger all and it works perfectly or is even supperior to model originally launched
I went down to my local dodggy indoor market a couple of months ago and picked up an N64 with golden eye and four pads for £17 - bargin!!! golden eye , what a great game but would I pay the original cost for an N64 - NOOOO - why would I pay nearly £300 from when they first came out - blatently not worth it and the PS3 will be the same in a few years time like every other console before it!!! lifes a bitch and then you buy one.
PS 3 is junk real people use 360
Just buy a Wii?
Or just follow the majority industry reaction to Vista, “we ain’t f***in installing that until at least SP2″ or 1-3 years time, when bugs are ironed out, and the price has tumbled coz of lack of initial uptake.
Exercise your right as a consumer kick ‘em all in the ass and don’t buy it yet! simple
OUCH
the only reason why your game consoles dont last long is because u dont look after them
i had my origional ps2 since its first released date the bulky ps2 and never had a proplem with it and it still works awsome and my ps2 is still running today
i also got a psp since it was released never had a proplem
and for al of those who getting the red light of death on there xbox 360 learn to look after your gaming consoles only reason u getting the red light of death is because u not keeping it cool enough and u always leaving the console on the carpet or something and another thing do not lift your xbox 360 sidways when u are walking and its got a disc inside
always have your gameing consoles layed down flat so it can have rom to breath
it goes for all gameing consoles if u dont look after them they want last that long
im also getting a wii and a ps3 and they will last for years for most people
i got my first atari 2600 and its still working perfect
interesting publicity stunt on the UK launch
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6482789.stm