PixlBit

Bad News! Online Pass Games have their own category on PSN!

It is bad enough that some games are coming out with little to no word of having an Online Pass system. LittleBigPlanet Kart racing is an excellent example. Though I’m sure the game reviewers out there are doing their best to warn us of this insult to gaming, fewer and fewer mainstream reviewers are even mentioning if any game out there has an online pass system. I’ve usually had to rely on lesser known articles from little known websites or gamer word of mouth, just to find out if any of the games I personally selected for “Online Pass Watch” have the mark of unplayability. If I have better luck hearing about Online Pass games from gamefly then from one of the major video game news sites, then we have a serious “public service announcement” problem with those that are in the business of game reviewing.

It’s actually come to the point where I have to ask a store salesperson to physically open their glass game case display, just to see if there are any specific writings on the game box about having online pass. And to top it off, the salespeople most of the time don’t know anything on the subject with a specific game having online pass or not. Forgive me but during this day and age of instant information at our fingertips, why is it so hard to find out if a game has online pass or not. And if so, why can’t I get a straight answer in any publisher’s online pass system in what it locks up behind a paywall?

I’m sorry but I don’t believe I have to buy the game new or used to learn how badly I’m getting ripped off.

In the end I found myself having to resort to research on XBL and PSN under “add on” content to see what exactly I would be paying for with any online pass enabled game. It wasn’t perfect, and it was time consuming, but I was able to find some answers to questions that other avenues of information SHOULD HAVE generally known. It’s how I learned about what all online pass did to Ninja Gaiden 3.

XBL and PSN have ended up being my first go-to for online pass enabled games info. I try to find more info online when I can for specifics on these online pass enabled games. When that usual fails I’m left with the last option of physical investigation. But as much as I’d like to visit the game section of every store I go, my time is limited in how much time I exactly spend in said game section. I hardly ever stop at a game store on a whim unless I’m really intent on buying a specific game.

As you can guess my I’m not buying as many games as I use to.

It’s an imperfect system for finding out about the imperfect games saddled with Online Pass. It works but it should be so much better. So imagine my surprise when I happen to log into PSN and I noticed that during the recent update of the Playstation Store (or perhaps sooner I don’t know exactly when) I noticed that under the “add-ons” menu, there is another submenu for Season Pass AND Online Pass games! It was as if my prayers were answered for information! Instead of having to look under add-ons, then look up a specific game, I could just look up the Online Pass tab and get all the games on one screen that are afflicted! It made my hunt to blacklist games all the more easier! Plus it also helped me confirm some reports I heard of some games once having online pass no longer having it anymore! I saw no sign of Mortal Kombat or Batman Arkham City for PS3 in that category.

It’s interesting to see Sony doing what game publishers and game reviewers are either unable or unwilling to do when it comes to informing gamers on Online Pass titles. This catalog in the Playstation Store certainly saved me time in deciding what to be interested in again or what to shove off by the wayside. Now it’s not perfect, there are times when a game that is labeled to have a SEASON PASS finds its way in the ONLINE PASS category as well, so this doesn’t fully help in giving specifics. But for the most part it does help in deciding what games go on my “Games I’ll never buy” list, or “Games to Reconsider” List.

Hopefully this is only an attempt by Sony to help us gamers in what games we need to avoid or games we need to have extra cash in our PSN Wallets. I would be very disappointed if this was intended to be a permanent fixture in the Playstation Store. For me the decision is not yet final if we are to see Online Pass game will be here to stay. We still have Sony and Microsoft new consoles to see where that decision lies. Plus with word of most (if not all) of the game releases on the Wii U are Online Pass free, the Online Pass system for all games still remains in doubt. (Though I will admit that what’s being done with the PSP Vita is not a very good sign).

So thanks go to Sony for giving ups a little more info to go by when it comes to the abomination of Online Pass games. I still need to see if XBL Marketplace has something similar (the best they have thus far is a “Season Pass” tab) and I’m curious to see if the Nintendo Network has something like this coming soon. If so it could be a boon to us gamers that care not for the games that should never be bought. And hopefully this isn’t a sign of darker, more permanent decision on future game releases to come.

Ta-ta

“N”