Now most of us at Absolute Gadget are early adopters, so we already have the PSP (even if we end up playing on our Nintendo DS consoles most of the time!). It would come as a bit of a shock to people eager to get their hands on a proper UK-sourced PS3 to be told that they have to buy the handheld games rig if they want to own Sony's answer to Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Seller of music discs HMV , has told prospective buyers of the new console, scheduled to hit the high street on the 23rd March, that they have to buy the console as part of a package alongside the PSP and two PSP games Killzone: Liberation and Gangs of London. The deal will set back British consumers a whopping £674.99 (the PS3 costs £425 - but you do get a cool-looking "cheap" Blu-Ray player for the price) - the deal may seem not so great after all!

Punters will have to stump up £249.99 as a first installment, which get them the PSP and games then wait until the official release date for the PS3 console to arrive and pay the remainder. Even then, there is no guarantee that you will have the shiny new console on the first day. But you do have priority over the Johnny-come-late-lies.

According to an HMV spokesperson the move has had a "mixed response".

"The reason we went down this route, which has met with a mixed response, is in order to maximise the number of consoles to as many as we can get from Sony. Inevitably, there's a limited number, and we decided to do it this way to ensure we could meet as many of our preorders as possible," they said.

Littlewoods is also punting the PS3 on for £579 (which is a tad pricey!). And if you want just the 20GB version instead of the initial console with a 60GB hard drive, well friends you will just have to wait until the pigs have finished their feed at the trough