Dirt 3 PS3 Owners Can't Access Multiplayer Due to Online Pass

Customers who have recently purchased the new Dirt 3 racing game for the PlayStation 3 are currently unable to engage in any sort of multiplayer races, as the title's online pass authentication scheme requires users to redeem a unique code on the PlayStation Store, which is still offline after the whole PSN outage.

Online passes have become extremely frequent in today's gaming industry, as publishers want to make sure that customers are buying brand new games, instead of going for the cheaper second-hand offers from various retailers from all around the world.

The pass usually entails players entering some sort of unique code when they start up the actual game.

Sadly, with the recent PlayStation Network outage experienced by Sony, and how the PlayStation Store still isn't functional, it seems that players who just bought the Dirt 3 racing game can't get their online pass to work.

Dirt 3 is shipped with a unique VIP Pass, which is a code that needs to be redeemed on the PlayStation Store in order to unlock access to any and all multiplayer activities.

Seeing as how the store is still not functional and owners aren't able to access the features they bought, Codemasters, the developer and publisher of the game, has issued a statement.

"It is a really unfortunate situation but we are positive that Sony is doing everything to rectify the service as soon as possible," a Codemasters spokesperson said to CVG.

The new Mortal Kombat title was in a similar position, and Warner Bros. its publisher decided to disable the requirement of the online pass until the store was back online.

Codemasters, sadly, can't do the same, as the online pass system is hard-coded into the game.

"We've looked into doing something similar for Dirt 3 but it's technically not possible, as it's hard-coded into the game," a spokesperson said. "Changing this would require considerable development time and a patch which would need to go through Sony's submission process. This in itself would be a longer process than waiting for Sony to bring the PSN Store back online."

Sony stated yesterday that the Store will be back at the end of the month, so, until then, Dirt 3 owners have to settle with the regular single-player races.