If you’re a PlayStation 3 owner in South Korea, we have some bad news for you. Thanks to a new law passed by the government there which “prevents under-18s from being asked for their names or ages for the purpose of account authentication,” Sony has been forced to close down access to the PlayStation Store from the PS3.  The new  “Game Industry Promotion Act” is set to go into affect on July 1st.

On the bright side, despite Sony taking the store down proactively, access to PSN like multiplayer gaming and chatting will continue to function until the PlayStation Store returns “sometime this year.” Interestingly, South Koreans can still access the store via the PSP or PS Vita. It remains to be seen if there is some loophole or exceptions that exist or Sony simply hasn’t gotten around to shutting them down yet.

Discuss:

Does this law affect you?

[Via Sony]