PlayStation Network to Begin Charging?

Holy pants on fire Batman! Looks like Sony’s PlayStation Network may not be free
of subscription fees much longer. According to SCE’s Chief Technical Officer Masayuki
Chatani has this to say about Sony’s PSN plans in a recent interview:.

Maintaining service will mean continuing cost. This is a major issue for
a home electronics manufacturer, isn’t it?

Servers and the like have running costs, and we would face difficulties if our
business depended solely on the sell-and-forget model. After we sell the
hardware, though, we continue to sell products such as content and services.

We expect to see considerable growth in digital content, such as game
download services, avatar items and the like.

We can also accept payment in a growing number of ways. In addition to single-
payment packaged software, there are also schemes like monthly fees or per-item
charges. I think this variety of payment methods will bring about a diverse range
of playing methods, too.

DAMN! "I" am just about to get my PS3 this month & "they" the big corporate people
do this to me!! Well as the saying goes "Money make the world go round" so this was
bound to happen...