Sony, following yesterday’s Gamescom conference in Germany, has confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that the PSPgo will launch on October 1st, retailing in the UK at £224.99 – £45 more than the original PSP’s RRP back in 2005. As far as America and Europe are concerned, the new hardware will cost exactly what the old hardware did four years ago: $249 and €249 respectively.

Why the UK units will cost more, we don’t know. Perhaps it has something to do with the unstable value of the Queen’s head over the last few years. If so, it’ll be interesting to see if the Pound’s recent comeback will bring about a price drop at some point. We can only hope.

To compliment the PSPgo’s debut, Sony plans to release 15 downloadable 100MB PSP mini games, or ‘Minis’. These will be available on the PlayStation Store the same day, with another 50 expected before the year is out.

This is indeed an effective USP for the product, but it’s hard to say whether this initiative is enough to offset its rather hefty price tag.