demos

i love demos, they're definitely one of the real highlights of next-gen (current-gen) gaming and a great way to promote games.

that said, some of them are fuckin' annoying. like demos that are just the first 15 minutes of a game, meaning they're just a really complex tutorial for a game you're not even going to get to play--good example of this is the brothers-in-arms demo, which seems all about teaching you the controls of a game you don't even own. AND it has an unskippable title sequence! obviously they just plopped the first couple of scenes from the games into a package and called it a demo.

bioshock kinda does the same thing too... it's just the opening.

what makes a good demo? favourite examples?

the demo for Myth was 1 multiplayer level of the game. hours of fun blowing up the big zombie mummy guy.

apparently the demo for nhl 09 is just one period of the game, my friends just play three times (and remember the runnign score)

the demo for NBA live is just 2 quarters. game sucks anyway. i liked the Bioshock demo, it seemed to go on for a good long while. the PES demo was bullshit because after each game there was an unskippable parade of uninteresting features that was almost as long as a game itself.

on the whole, i am totally in agreement - i love being able to DL a demo and try a game out. when PES comes out here i'll have bought three games where i was undecided but a demo swayed me. there have been at least three where the demo has convinced me not to buy, but none that i was seriously considering, except maybe Force Unleashed, although i;m sure shitty reviews would've put me off ultimately.

what's PES?

oh, pro evo soccer?

yeah, sorry dude. it's a lot to type out

I can't recall a game I was convinced to buy because of trying out the demo, but I can think of several I haven't bought after trying out the demo and realizing the game is shit, most recently NBA 2K9. In general though, most demos are such big files to download compared to what you get to play in it, that it doesn't seem worth the effort / time to download.

Really? I loved the NBA 2K9 demo. Huh.

I wasn't sold on FIFA 09 until I switched to a different camera angle.

I think I play more demos than I play actual games. I love them because I am miserly and have a short attention span.

I can't recall a game I was convinced to buy because of trying out the demo, but I can think of several I haven't bought after trying out the demo and realizing the game is shit, most recently NBA 2K9. In general though, most demos are such big files to download compared to what you get to play in it, that it doesn't seem worth the effort / time to download.

― Jeff LeVine, Tuesday, October 14, 2008 8:37 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you find? i usually just stack 'em up and let 'em go overnight. it's like free games!

One of my all time favourite demos is the one for Lucas Arts "Outlaws". It's only a single level from the full game, but it's complete, and really gets across the feel of the game.

I think demos have made me not buy more games than they've made me buy, for sure. Don't tell the companies though.

DOOM shareware!

As a kid I played up to the point where the dual goatdemon team scares the shit out of you a million times. I never did play anything past that point.

It's been a while since a demo really got me to buy a AAA title (usually, I can tell what I'm in for through previews, reviews, previous series iterations) and also I am stuck in the last gen console-wise. That Viewtiful Joe demo sold me, though!

But for the times I'll splurge on an indie PC title, they're invaluable. Most of the time I'll have just barely heard of these games at all, and there's little bullshit from a limited demo - they can't really fool you with flashiness - it's got a solid playable core or it doesn't. See: Starscape and Weird Worlds: Strange Adventures in Infinite Space.

i played the shit out of the metal gear solid demo that came bundled with (i think) iss 98 as a young'n

almost all of my XBLA purchases came after playing the trial version. I haven't bought a single retail game due to a demo, though. if I had a 360 before Bioshock came out, I'd probably have to answer otherwise.

ah, yeah the Metal Gear Solid demo was awesome and I played it countless times. I think the key to the success of that one was: a) the stealth element of the gameplay - having to drag away the enemies to hide them from their comrades, not leave footprints in the snow, not get seen by the light etc. - was quite novel and totally rad. b) that first bit of the game is a well designed level and shows you how the gameplay works, without being a boring tutorial because the controls were quite intuitive and c) You get to see a bit of the storyline and characters, and the voice acting and etc. is pretty cool.

and d) metal gear solid was an amazing game.

I wouldn't have been as intrigued about Bioshock if not for the demo. I'm sure I'd have been intrigued.

I wouldn't have bought FIFA 09, NBA 2K8, or Skate if not for demos, but those are the only ones excepting XBOX Live titles.

Some of the demos are fun in their own right, and it's fun for me to check out bad games.

oh skate - I did actually buy that because I enjoyed the demo.

I'm excited about the Mirror's Edge demo coming out tomorrow, not so much because I'm looking forward to trying out the game, but because I'm looking forward to learning the game's control scheme, so that when the full game comes out I'll hopefully be competent with the controls already.

Yeah, I might buy skate based on the demo too. It's cheap!
Excited about Mirror's Edge, didn't know!
I've got the new Tomb Raider at home; like S1ocks, I grab a pile of these and just sit on them.

you just sit on your piles.

And you sit on yours. And together we make magic.

hearing really good things about the banjo kazooie demo; anyone download that?

There was some article somewhere yesterday about how "frequent gamers" have an average of 48 games in their house, and about half of them have a game sitting around still in its cellophane (!).

so, has anyone played the Mirrors Edge demo yet? impressions?

I've been greatly anticipating Mirror's Edge and to finally play the demo, instead of just watching it being played, did nothing to cool down my excitement. First, I just really love the look of the game. Second, I really like the way the game moves - it feels really good navigating through the world - like your character actually has weight and momentum.

I also like that the game seems to be about running away. It reminds me of that first chase in Half Life 2, when you have no weapons and have to sprint like hell through attics and along the rooftops to avoid a beat down. It's got that same feeling of scary excitement and speed.

The controls feel pretty good. They're simple and very timing based - there's a bit of rhythm game under the hood and it feels nice when you nail it, by putting together a string of successful moves.

The only thing I didn't like was the two times in the demo when you have to walk across a thin pipe, using balance. For some reason I had a problem doing this and kept falling off. Every other move seems to involve you going forward (or up), while on the beams you sort of have to push left or right, depending on which way your character is tilting. Anyway, it seemed harder than it should be, but maybe I'll get the hang of it.

I hear the time trial mode is really fun, but unfortunately to play it in the demo you have to have some kind of pre-order code, so I didn't get to try that out too, which is kind of a bummer.

is it first person?

i'm worried about this game because i HATE HATE HATE in first person games when youhave to walk along a narrow bridge or ledge or pipe or whatever. so wrong always.

it's first person and a lot of people were bitching that it should be third, and the developers were straight up like "we've heard this and fuck that, this game is first person."

First person is kinda perfect for this game, IMO. Preserves the gut - wrenching sense of vertigo while vaulting over massive drops.

tbh from that description, sounds like i could experience this game for free by standing on a chair if i was so inclined. tell me when they invent a game in which i can experience the gut-wrenching sense of being buried alive. i think i would enjoy that too.

http://www.gamershood.com/flashgames/2103

i actually feel a lot better about the prospect of being buried alive after beating that

Mirror's Edge is pretty cool, but I don't know if I'd want to play the whole game.

nintendo shd licence the engine for the next mario

anyway the path finding in this looks fun

I don't think anyone knows how much time I spent playing the demo of No One Can Stop Mr. Domino back in 2000.

A demo of Wip3out was also very popular at our house.