Wow. Amazing deal. You get bioshock 2, little big planet 2, infamous 2 and so many other games for free.
http://us.playstation.com/psn/playstation-plus/
Amazon really came through this time.

Do you know if you have to give out any credit card information or anything in order to take advantage of the free games for the year ? I read some mixed reviews. Thank you. :)

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Yes to redeem plus you give them a credit card. As soon as the codes are redeemed you can turn off the autopay renewal and/or delete the card information.

If you are hinting that your son has a backwards compatible fat ps3, then no this one wont play ps2 games. Upgrading the HDD is very similar to putting a different memory card in a camera. There are many how tos on YouTube if you want to get a feel for if you are capable. Just make sure you watch one with your model in it.

at least its not the george foreman grill top slider version

Thank you Gibson. Do you know if this is an older PS3 console version ? I noticed there's one that has sort of a stripe design. Also does this one play PS2 games, the one my son has does not. Thanks again. :)

That's the one my son has, I have always called it a grill. No idea what they were thinking with that design.

I am limited to a slow 1.5 download DSL internet because I live in the country. I run Steam on my PC and it takes forever to download games, but I usually set it to DL while I am at work so it is no big deal, I am assuming this would work in much the same way? I am on the fence about getting this deal since I am sure over the next year the prices on PS3's will fall. Talk me into buying it!

This one won't play PS2 games. Only a few of the early models from 2006/2007 had that capability.

I'm feeling the same way here Joseph. I know the prices on PS3's will definitely drop significantly in the coming year/several months. Especially if there's talk about a possible PS4 in the near future. Remember how people were going crazy over the Wii's, now there worth close to nothing. But I have a 13 year old who has some new games coming for Christmas and in need of a console he could play them in. He will not delete his game saves. Is this a really great deal ? I'm not sure what to do, I didn't do the black friday thing, but I know there was a $199 deal then at Target, I missed it. Undecided.

Four words: The Last of Us.

That game has game of the year written all over it. Though I have no doubt that the PS3 will lower in price next year (and the PS4/Orbis will probably come out as well), I think it's worth it if you buy one now, if just for that, plus the Uncharteds, God of Wars, and Infamous games. And along with the 'free' games that come with Plus, you won't regret your purchase, since you would have been able to enjoy the hell out of the PS3 till whenever it does lower in price, which probably won't be till the last quarter of the year.

Yeah I debated on black friday about one of these as well. I recall similar $199 deals as well but I think they were for smaller HD versions, 160 or 250 maybe? Not a big deal as they can be replaced. This looks like the front loading slim and not the new top loading super slim though. That is a plus for me as I hate top loading devices. I assume in the future all PS3's will be the new super slim. Still on the fence. I don't have any next gen consoles as I migrated to straight PC gaming after going with the Gamecube and PS2 in the last gen.

Thank you Abraham.

I don't know if we can be of much help with out knowing your current model and hard drive size.

There are three styles of ps3s: the original look, now called fat that you can only find used. The model (thin) for sale in this gold box. And the one released this year called ultra-thin.

The slim ps3s have 4 hard drive options: 160, 250, 320, 500. I do not know of the ultrathins, as I was not in the market for ps3 when it came out, I have heard people disliking the new look however.

Joseph,
They had a 500GB PS3 with Assassins Creed for $299, that sounds like it would have been a better deal. I always procrastinate and then feel like an idiot when the item is SOLD OUT. It's time for bed and I feel I have decide something here before I wake up in a few hours and find there no longer available.

I can imagine people thinking: this dumb lady needs to just buy one already ... :oP

Oh is that all? Find a thumb drive and make him put the saves for game he isn't playing on it. It needs to be formatted as fat32 by a computer, but you just plug it into the USB port on the front. Then when you look at the save data press triangle button and choose copy.

Also most saves are small. If he has downloaded games that he doesn't play delete those, the saves won't go with it and you can redownload from your purchase history.

The great thing about this PlayStation bundle is the PlayStation Plus service. If you get this PlayStation bundle with PS+, your son will be able to access his game saves on any PS3 that his PlayStation Network ID is linked to.

PlayStation Plus offers cloud saves. So you could get this bundle, redeem the PlayStation Plus on the PS3 he has now, he can upload his game saves to the cloud, and then go to the new PS3 and keep playing with those game saves.

This model of the PS3 is not the newest but it's not "old" either. The 320 GB model is one of the more recent models from the past year. It is not the new "super slim" PS3 however. (Yes, there are quite a few models to keep track of)

Hope that helps some!

Gibson,

I actually still have the box to his PS3 it's the fat grill looking one 80GB and at the time came with 2 Resistance games.

Not a bad deal at all. This is how much I spent for mine about a year and a half ago, and mine didn't come with PS+

This bundle is a very good deal. The PS3 in this set is the better of the 2 slims in production. This system will not play your PS2 games but will play your PS1 games. The PS3 is the best value in the gaming market. You're not only getting a HD gaming system but a high end blu-ray, DVD,cd, and blu-ray 3D player. On top of all that, it's a streaming box for apps like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus and others. Some systems charge you monthly just to use these features but the PS3 does not. Add the playstation plus program and your instantly stocked on games as long as you keep the service going. Anyone on the fence, don't be.

As for upgrading the hard drive, it's one screw to remove the hard drive cover and it pulls right out. Remove the side screws holding the hard drive and repeat in reverse. No special hard drive needed.any 2.5 inch 5400 rpm notebook hard drive works.

Gibson,

I purchased an external hard drive a few months ago and realized it's the wrong format and haven't used it yet. We did save a few games onto one of those USB things but I'm not sure if it actually saved the games to where they could be uploaded to the PS3 again. I don't want to mess up his games or accidentally delete anything.

That is a fat model then.

Back when I had a fat I upped the hdd size. It is the software side that is difficult and time consuming. You would need the right size hdd, they are called laptop hdd and are 2.5 instead of the less expensive 3.5. But to transfer your current info you need a portable drive as well to back up what is currently on there so once you have replaced the physical part you can restore from backup.

Just from how long it takes the PS3 to do those things it is an all day project. Changing out the physical part takes 5 minutes.

It should be easy to see if the game saves are on there. I think the thumb drive would be visible in the save data folder, if you select it and the saves are visible you are good.

Oh, also if you buy the plus (in this package or separate) Sony will host 1gig of saves as long as you are a member. You can't play the save from the cloud storage, but at least they are there. Personally that is the selling point of plus for me. I had a hdd fry and I had been slow about backing up my system, so I _love_ the cloud saves.

I definitely don't have the patience to make it an all day project. I would rather get him another PS3 which is good because at least we could stream Netflix from one of our other tv's in the house.

Now I just have to decide wether or not to get this deal or the 500GB Assassins Creed PS3, the thing is he already has all of these games on disc, most of the ones offered with this particular PS3.

I don't know why I make this so difficult. :o.

This is an awesome deal, I love this Slim version in this deal compared to the new Super Slim that just came out. If I didn't get laid off I definitely would be buying this for my other room! :(