zombie84 said:

I think if Sony or MS actually tried to implement such a feature it would be halted by the supreme court.

A lot of games already do this. I think everything published by EA is this way anymore. Battlefield 3, which was a very major release, came with a one use code that gave you access to the full online multiplayer, and this is a game people really only buy for the multiplayer. If you buy a used copy you have to purchase an online pass for $10, otherwise you only get to play what is essentially a limited demo version that caps your level. Assassin's Creed III requires an online pass too, but at least with that one the online play is more of a bonus feature than the main event.

It's the sole reason I never once recommended people to buy an Xbox 360 when you could be playing the same--and more often than not better--games online with the PS3 for free.

I used to begrudge the fact that Xbox users have to pay for Xbox Live while Sony was decent enough to provide their services for free, I always thought that if I ever got a Playstation 3 I'd completely drop Xbox Live and make that my primary online system. Then I finally bought one and have never thought twice about paying for Xbox Live again, it is SOOO far superior to what Sony has to offer. I'll gladly pay a premium for smooth, nearly flawless online multiplayer with virtually no outages. In this case, you honestly get what you pay for, Playstation Network is a joke.

As far as more often than not better games? Most games are identical cross platform games, with Playstation exclusives being far and few in between. Playstation exclusives do look gorgeous, but I can't even think of any really popular online PS3 exclusives.