It’s barely been around a month since EA first announced their “online initiative” that requires people to buy a pass to play a used game online and already other companies are looking to cash in: THQ has already done the same thing with UFC Undisputed 2010 and now it looks like Sony is looking to take advantage of this as well.

I hopped on the Playstation store to buy Modnation Racers PSP the other day and I clicked the first logo I could find, thinking that it would be the game. Oh boy was I wrong, because what I actually clicked was an add-on titled “Modnation Racers PSP Online Entitlement.” This is what it says:

The Online Entitlement is used to activate the Online and Infrastructure features of the ModNation Racers game for the PSP system. For those purchasing the game second-hand, the entitlement will also need to be purchased and entered into a PSN account prior to activating the Infrastructure

So, another publisher joins the fold.

Is this something that’s been going on behind the scenes now? I know that publishers were looking for a way to discourage used game sales; Have they found it? Should they really be getting all butthurt about used games?

This is still a neutral subject for me; I don’t mind publishers looking for a way to get some money off of used games. Really, it’s still their game, but at the same time I don’t agree they should be making money off a game that they’ve already sold. All in all it’s been mentioned many times on various gaming blogs that this pretty much makes buying used games pointless unless it’s a strictly offline affair. Destructoid’s latest Bit Transmission podcast put this nicely, if you’re buying a used game for 10 dollars less than the price of a new one, and you have to pay 10 bucks for a code to play it online, it doesn’t make it worth buying used unless you’re playing it strictly offline.

It might not have been long since EA announced their online initiative, but this is quickly becoming the norm.

The online entitlement seems to be only in place for the PSP version of the game; From what I’ve heard it’s not the same thing for the PS3 version. Of course, if you buy the game new or off of PSN then you don’t have to worry about buying the entitlement, as it will be tied to your PSN account.

Nintendo’s press conference was pretty much rattling off game after game after game, a lot of which the core gamer will enjoy.  There’s a full list of what they announced after the jump, but be warned, it’s LONG.

• New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii – Holiday 2009)
• Wii Fit Plus (Wii – Fall 2009)
• Wii Sports Resort with WiiMotionPlus (Wii – July 26th)
• PGA Tour 10 with WiiMotionPlus (Wii)
• Grand Slam Tennis with WiiMotionPlus (Wii)
• Virtua Tennis 2009 with WiiMotionPlus (Wii)
• Red Steel 2 (Wii) – Note that this game is going to be WiiMotionPlus exclusive.
• Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (Wii)
• Some new Kingdom Hearts game that I wasn’t able to catch the name on. (DS)
• Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (DS – Fall 2009)
• Golden Sun DS (DS – 2010)
• Women’s Murder Club: Games of Passion (DS)
• Cop: The Pursuit (DS)
• Style-Savvy (DS)
• Flipnote Studio a.k.a. Moving Memo (DSiWare – Summer 2009)
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again (DSiWare – June 8th)
• WarioWare: Do It Yourself (DSiWare)
• DSi Camera Facebook functionality
• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS)
• Wii Vitality Sensor (Wii)
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
• The Conduit (Wii – June)
• Resident Evil: The Dark Side Chronicles (Wii)
• Dead Space Extraction (Wii)
• Metroid: Other M (Wii)

The ones I’m personally excited about are bolded, but right now all that’s going through my mind right now is, “Holy shit it’s a new Golden Sun!” That’s definitely something I’ve been waiting for for a while.  The concept of four player co-op in New Super Mario Bros. Wii also looks really cool.  Although I didn’t really get into Super Mario Galaxy, I’ll probably give it another shot with Galaxy 2, and I nearly creamed myself when I saw the trailer for Metroid: Other M.

WarioWare:DIY is something I’m looking forward to, mainly because of the fact that the game is based upon your own creations. That should be really cool. Same goes with the new Mario vs. DK that’s going to be coming out on DSiWare this coming Monday.

But Nintendo seriously redeemed themselves after last year’s conference. Definitely a strong showing this year, and hopefully they will keep this up for years to come.

Assuming that they were being complete boneheads though and thinking that I was offline for the next 3 or so days, I never thought about checking back, because if I did I wouldn’t have missed Microsoft’s press conference.  I’ll probably watch the archive of it later tonight, but I swear, THIS BETTER NOT HAPPEN WITH NINTENDO’S CONFERENCE TOMORROW.

Judging from Gamespot’s E3 site and what our friends over at GamingUnion have posted up from Los Angeles so far, here’s what I seem to have missed from my ISP’s misadventures this morning:

• Kojima’s eternal teaser finally ends: Metal Gear Solid Rising announced for the 360
• Halo Reach announced. You really didn’t think they’d let the series drop after 3 did you?
• Left 4 Dead 2 coming on November 17th for the 360 and PC
• Final Fantasy XIII slated for spring 2010
• Forza Motorsport 3 coming in October
• Rock Band: Beatles
• Alan Wake
• Tony Hawk Ride
• Supposedly a montion-sensing camera accessory was also announced.

Looks like Microsoft had a pretty solid showing. Too bad my ISP’s a bitch.  Nintendo and Sony step up to the plate tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll be online to see it.