Sony Becomes 1st First-Party to Institute Online Passes

Oh noes. Following in the footsteps of THQ, EA, and Warner Bros., Sony has confirmed that they will be the first first-party to include an online pass with their game to unlock some, hopefully not all, of a game's online features. This is rumored to be called PSN Pass.

New copies of games will come with a one-time-use only code that can be used to access online play. What this means is much like previous games that require a pass to play online, players who buy the game used will have to shell out a fee for a new code. For now, the price point is still unknown. Sony has confirmed that Resistance 3 will be the first game to have this feature / restriction.

And there it is, so much for PSN being free. We all knew this was coming when EA copied THQ regarding this online pass business. Capcom might be starting a new "screw over the players" trend with their whole Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D undeletable save game bit to, from what I'm guessing is, destroy the used game market.