The Friday Debate – Trial Or Tribulation?

I think it is a nice way to preview games I am already interested in or games i was not to get me interested in them.

For the free roam part or as many features as possible well it really depends on the game. For example a sandbox game is best played with some restricted time so you really get to see what the developers want you to see.

For a scripted story like GOW3 please just show me as many features as possible cause you know that is just awesome.. It will get you crazy about the game even more..

Playing GOW 3 as i type this finally started on titan mode.. time to go for the plat..

The PS3 definitely needs more games. We use our Wii for that, because there’s not much of a selection of games for children on the PS3. Would be nice to see more games be released mainly aimed for young children.
I did try creating a Thread/list on the OPC forums a few months ago, of all the childrens games on the PS3. So people could see what games are suitable. Would be nice to see something like that on the blog maybe?

I must say I thought enslaved was going to be rubbish, but I actually really enjoyed that demo, if there weren’t so many other awesome games out i’d buy it lol, maybe i’ll get it next summer after my A levels in the ‘dry’ season for gaming :@

demos are very important especially for more obscure games and new IPs.

And yeah, Sony should also enforce that all games on the PSN should have a mandatory demo :/

On the topic of what kind of a demo, i have always loved specially made demos that is not just the start of the game or a random mission from the middle of it. I know these are the most expensive ones to make but i think its worth it ;D

A Demo is extremely important to me as I’m tired of purchasing games which turn out to be garbage,at least a Demo gives you a taste of what to expect,Xbox Live Beats the playstation store every time where Demos are concerned where every game has a Demo so its not a gamble like it is on the store.

Certain games do not need a Demo as people already know what to expect games like Call of Duty etc.

Also why cant the PS3 make my music sound like I’m in a Church it does everything else ? Think I’ll plug in my PS1 and listen to some Gospel Iron Maiden.

hey hey

ive slowly become a no demo – no no buy person as ive been burnt to often and £40 is a big investment to make a loss on.

demos are a double edged sword. a poor game with a great demo can persuade you but the end product may be lacking or become repetative. a great game may have an awfull demo or be a general dissapointment.

i like what + are doing with full game 1hr trials but thr timer needs to be a gameplay timer not from boot.

there are a fair amount of games i have that were purely based on what the demo played like. peggle is a good example. i was hooked and waited till it hit the uk store and was an instant buy. same with deathspank.

a good thing that compliments a demo i a decent gameplay video on youtube. seeing actual ingame footage from random levels can also sway me.

i didnt like the enslaved demo but the video after is very very tempting. youtube player uploads may be a decider.

Speaking of demos why is there no Demo section on the EU PS Store? The US store has one and makes it exceptionally easy and intuitive to find the latest demos. How about holding a Blog vote if people want a Demo section?

Interesting how the results on the poll (from what I remember) on Playstation Home show a different majority. I think demos are pretty useful, but sometimes they give a misleading impression of where the focus of the game lies.
For example, the Heavy Rain demo implies that there are lots of investigation scenes, and I assumed that they would have considerable significance. Fortunately, there are only 3 investigation scenes, but unfortunately the way you go about them has virtually no effect on the outcome of the game.

I have to say Demos for me are very important, they can make me excited for a hence unheard of game, or confirm my thoughts about an upcoming game I am interested in.

I had not heard about the original overlord when I got my Ps3, I saw demo on the PSN, and thought hey, looks interesting, and whats the harm in trying it. FREAKING LOVED IT! Ran out and bought the game later that day, and the second one on release day, the controls were awesome and it was a fun way to play with a hoard of minions.

Demos are a great way to try other things without having to throw down $AU110 for a new release game that might not be my cup of tea.

Call it silly, but looking at the weekly PSN update my eyes go first to the demo section. I rarely buy a PSN game without a demo, and it really helps when buying full disc games as well!

In relation to what makes a good demo;

What I want to see if how the game looks, how it feels, and how it controls.

Deathspank is a great example, only heard a little about this game, The style was quirky and fun, Controlled really well and it drew me in.

Played the demo again then bought it

Demos like Brutal Legend, which let you play the first bit of the game are great, because they let you see how it plays, and get ready for it before it all starts.
I was so hyped for this game, I think I played the demo like 20 times

Demos can be nice but personally, I find them as the last nail in the coffin of Not Buy. If there’s something that’s tempting, it’s a purchase at some point. If not, there’s usually a demo that tends to confirm that the title in question truly is something best left untouched.

Granted, Brütal Legend played the demo card perfectly but after falling into that trap once, never again ^^;

In other words, games sell well enough even without a demo. If they need one, something’s fishy

A shining example of why demos are good is greed corp.

Brilliant game, and I found it through a demo and is now one of my favorite games!

I don’t understand why developers release demos (except for beta testing) for work-in-progress games, it seems pointless. A demo, IMO, should contain at least one level of the finished/released game.

Seeing as the word “refund” isn’t part of the PSN dictionary, it should be mandatory for all games available on PSN to have a demo that represents the full game.

Since all the games are costly… demo’s really help me decide if the game is worth my money or not.. Recently I bought UFC 2010 only after I tried out the demo..

I don’t buy the hype.. I buy only the game which intrests me.. Just because 90% of people like MGS doesn’t mean I will like it too..

Some demos really helped me to make a decision I wouldn’t make without them.

So far, I wouldn’t buy TMNT and Monkey Island 2 from the PSN Store without playing the trial versions and recently, I bought a game called WET, only because of the previously played demo.

On the other hand, once I got the PS3, inFamous and ModNationRacers were both on my “must-have” list… until I played the demos which helped me decide NOT to uy neither of them.

As for whether demos should be limited or time trials – I don’t care. If I like it, I’ll buy the game regardless of what type of demo has been released. In some cases it’s even better to get a cut 300 MB version, then download nearly 2 GB of “full” time trial only to find out that I don’t like the game anyway.

>> And yeah, Sony should also enforce that all games on the PSN
>> should have a mandatory demo :/

they can’t. publishers have to pay bandwidth charges for items downloaded from the PSN store. in order to give away a free demo, that represents a loss (not to mention the extra development costs of putting a demo together). for big companies like EA, activision etc., this is a fraction of their overall marketing budget, for independent games, which are self-published, this becomes a much harder proposition. if you take joe danger as a recent example, the 4 guys financed this themselves, and it wasn’t til after the success of the game (they sold enough in the first week to recoup the development costs) that they could consider putting a demo up.

xbox marketplace works quite differently – microsoft takes on a lot of the publishing duties itself – it’s actually much harder to get independent self-published titles on there than it is on to PSN, and the majority of titles on xbm sell less than 25000. some of the interviews given by the joe danger guys in the printed press make interesting reading.