Submitted by: kirkland on Sunday February 06th, 2005 at 01:25 AM EST

Sony announced today that the PlayStation Portable will go on sale in the US on March 24th at a price point of $249. While many analysts predicted a release in March, the price was rumored to be $50 less at $199 based on PSP's Japanese price of 9,800 yen (approximately $185).

The $249 gets you the PSP "Value Pack" which includes a PSP, 32MB Memory Stick Duo, headphones, battery pack, AC adapter, soft case, cleaning cloth and a demo disk. Sony will also include a free UMD of the movie Spider-Man 2 with the first one million PSP units.

Additionally, Sony has revealed 24 launch titles for the PSP which are slated for release in the "launch window" of the PSP, which is the first 2-3 months that the PSP is on the market. Games will go for $39 to $49 in the retail market.

Launch titles include:
Ape Escape: On the Loose
ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails
Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower
Dynasty Warriors
FIFA 2005
Gretzky NHL
Lumines
Metal Gear Acid
MLB
MVP Baseball
NBA
NBA Street Showdown
Need for Speed Rivals
NFL Street 2 Unleashed
Rengoku: Tower of Purgatory
Ridge Racer
Smartbomb
Spider-Man 2
Tiger Woods PGA Tour
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix
Twisted Metal: Head-On
Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade
Wipeout Pure
World Tour Soccer