What happened to demos...

[Mother Beef]

Honestly i remember when demos were actually of games that people were excited about. Like the call of duty 2 demo, or the Battlefield Modern Combat demo which servers were open for AGES.

Now demos are usually only sports games or anything produced by EA (which is never really that exciting).

Anyone else missed the days of decent demos?

Infact what happened to free themes and gamer picutres... the whole of XBL has become so much more money obsessed

[MachineZed]

Originally Posted by Mother Beef

Honestly i remember when demos were actually of games that people were excited about. Like the call of duty 2 demo, or the Battlefield Modern Combat demo which servers were open for AGES.

Now demos are usually only sports games or anything produced by EA (which is never really that exciting).

Anyone else missed the days of decent demos?

Infact what happened to free themes and gamer picutres... the whole of XBL has become so much more money obsessed

I see COD Black Ops, Crysis 2, DA2, Bulletstorm or were not those games anticipated? Or were you not really wanting any of those games to begin with?
At some point it comes a matter of opinion what games you are looking forward to and games you aren't. I wasn't personally looking forward to any of those games but I know many that were looking forward to them.

[Nitramuse]

And it takes a lot of resources to build a demo, it uses the same time as the development of the full game. So it just costs too much in their eyes. They can use that time to polish the game.

And sometimes the developers are really sexed about their own game, but when the demo's been released, it appears that the game sucks. So nobody'll buy the game whilst everybody would've bought the game if hyped enough.

[balance13]

Have you even looked at the demos available on XBL?

[Starstrukk X360A]

There are demos of other games you know.

[Narthas]

Think his point is that a few years ago, launch of xbox 360, pc and ps2 days, companies used to say of the demo is out such and such a date, almost like it was the launch of a title, i remember downloading the half life demo (some time ago i know) thinking i seriously cannot wait for this to finish downloading as my narrowband connection seriously tried to keep pushing for all its worth, demos are simply not the media they used to be, i do have to agree on that front.

[Chaosx721]

Originally Posted by Narthas

Think his point is that a few years ago, launch of xbox 360, pc and ps2 days, companies used to say of the demo is out such and such a date, almost like it was the launch of a title, i remember downloading the half life demo (some time ago i know) thinking i seriously cannot wait for this to finish downloading as my narrowband connection seriously tried to keep pushing for all its worth, demos are simply not the media they used to be, i do have to agree on that front.

They still kind have that though. The only reason it was so big last gen was because you had to actively search for the demo, like buy a magazine, buy a new game with a demo in it, be a member of the PS underground where they would send you stuff. But now all you have to do is go look in the demos tab, on XBL or PSN, every Tuesday and see whats new and just straight download it to your console.

[ChArG1nMaLAZ0R]

lmao i thought you were going to sa what happened to the days where you bought a game magazine and had like 10 playable demos.

a few years ago the demos were as dried up for consoles as they are now.

[FFFreak1129]

There are still demos being released, just not as many as before it seems. There are alot of new releases like MachineZed stated, and those were highly anticipated games I'd say.

[Mother Beef]

Originally Posted by MachineZed

I see COD Black Ops, Crysis 2, DA2, Bulletstorm or were not those games anticipated? Or were you not really wanting any of those games to begin with?
At some point it comes a matter of opinion what games you are looking forward to and games you aren't. I wasn't personally looking forward to any of those games but I know many that were looking forward to them.

CoD Black Ops was released after the actual game was out so i found that just stupid; though even then no one needed a demo for that game as we all knew how it would play.
Crysis/Bulletstorm are both produced by EA and well i always find EA demos seem to be very rushed or lacking a sense of enjoyment - though as you said it comes down to personal preference and i guess a lot of people were looking forward to those games.

Narthas kinda has it right with what i was talking about, but idk, maybe i am just growing up and my tastes are more defined thus i dont get excited by all the demos that i would have in the past.

[13ip0lar]

How dare you sir! You do realize that they offered like a month of a playable online demo, when BFBC2 came out. I played the hell out that, or as much as I could stand till I got the game. So let's be fair. Sure it's not as common as in the past, or recent future rather, but I think the "trails" are akin to would you would label as demos. So to be fair, they might not all have multiplayer demos with dedicated servers that are up for months, but demos are far from being a dead practice.

[kdrcraig]

Seems like most games I care anything about playing have a demo put out. They just don't seem like such a big deal anymore because they're so easy to come by. Like others have said, you don't have to go searching through magazines or be members of the PS Underground or something to get your hands on them.

[Narthas]

Originally Posted by Chaosx721

They still kind have that though. The only reason it was so big last gen was because you had to actively search for the demo, like buy a magazine, buy a new game with a demo in it, be a member of the PS underground where they would send you stuff. But now all you have to do is go look in the demos tab, on XBL or PSN, every Tuesday and see whats new and just straight download it to your console.

yeah i see ya point, and agree with it to a certain extent, i just think the demo was so much more back in the day, demos tend not to fuss me so much now, even to the point where sometimes i just cant be bothered with the download, i downloaded the wwe all stars demo today and i aint even played it yet. If that was Unreal tournament, or Half Life when i was younger id of been on it all night, maybe im just getting old, lol!

[TomatoJr.]

In the past, i used to buy the magazines with the demos. They were a great way of playing games i wouldn't have done otherwise and influenced many a purchase.
However, nowadays so much is seen of the game before it comes out anyway i no longer see a demo as necessary. By the time a few screenshots or a trailer has come out i can pretty much tell if i want a game or not, so unless it gets awful reviews i get it.
Demos are a thing a past.

But i do miss free stuff. Free stuff is never a bad thing.

[ConflagrationMN]

I love demos. Even as a kid with a ps1 I played a ton of demos. It's a shame there aren't as many that come out anymore.

I like the fact that demos can just be downloadable, and I'd think the devs would appreciate it too. I downloaded the wwe all-stars demo. Demos also can save me money by not having to buy or rent so many games.

[Chaosx721]

Originally Posted by Narthas

yeah i see ya point, and agree with it to a certain extent, i just think the demo was so much more back in the day, demos tend not to fuss me so much now, even to the point where sometimes i just cant be bothered with the download, i downloaded the wwe all stars demo today and i aint even played it yet. If that was Unreal tournament, or Half Life when i was younger id of been on it all night, maybe im just getting old, lol!

I agree demos use to be a bigger thing back in the day, I remember getting the FF7 demo and playing the hell out of it. But nowadays you can just youtube gameplay footage for any game and get much more of an idea of the game then a demo might, and its always like months before the game comes out.

[SuPaDuPaPsychoo]

Demo's are still around.. Just not for the games you want. For instance, I wanna try GUN before I buy it.

[Venomized]

Originally Posted by MachineZed

I see COD Black Ops, Crysis 2, DA2, Bulletstorm or were not those games anticipated? Or were you not really wanting any of those games to begin with?
At some point it comes a matter of opinion what games you are looking forward to and games you aren't. I wasn't personally looking forward to any of those games but I know many that were looking forward to them.

Whats the point of a demo if it comes out way after the game (Black ops).

[Fueled By RC]

I'd rather just see demos of new IPs. So that you know if you should get it or not.

Why DL a demo of the latest Call of Duty game. You know what you are gonna get from it. When you can DL a demo of say.... Rage.

[TheHarveyShow]

What about dragon age 2 demo? It is sick