Sony Japan to offer pre-pay PSN cards

Sony Computer Entertainment has announced plans to offer pre-paid PlayStation Network cards to Japanese consumers from June onwards.

The 'PlayStation Network Tickets' are designed to let gamers who don't have credit cards purchase items from the PlayStation Store.

They will be available in four denominations - YEN 1000 (GBP 4.18), YEN 3000 (GBP 12.53), YEN 5000 (GBP 20.87) and YEN 10,000 (GBP 41.75).

The cards will be available at thousands of shops across Japan, and accessible via in-store terminals. On handing over payment, users will be issued with a 12-digit number which they can enter into the PlayStation Network to receive their funds.

According to Sony UK, there are currently no plans to offer a similar service in Europe.

The announcement follows news which emerged earlier this year that the 1.5 firmware update for Japanese PS3s would include support for Edy money, or e-money. This is read into the machine using the PaSoLi USB device that Sony rolled out across the region.