In 2011, only a few games go unnoticed. The media likes to pump up the gamers , increase the hype for a game before it`s released by publishing several articles about that game, hands-on, previews and etc... Thus, many know what the game is going to be about before it`s been released. Also, since some gaming websites have privileges over others, they review the games before the game`s been released which adds more hype to it if the game is a good one. However, as the end user, consumer we are sometimes unsure what to expect from a game. It might be a game that we waited for a long time, or a game totally unknown to us, we need to get hands-on with it before purchasing it.
I know for some people that`s not the case. And maybe for us, it`s not the case as well. For instance, I`d buy Killzone 3, pre-order it before it`s been released, because I`m pretty sure it`s going to be a great game. But I don`t know if I`m going to like the Two Worlds II. I have never played it before, and i`m not satisfied with the reviews. Tastes vary, and i don`t know what to expect from the game. How would I get hands on with that game ? I`m an end user, a customer. The answer is the demos.
Although I am aware of the fact that game publishers tend not to release demos, or release them after some time that the game had been released for marketing and other internal reasons that i`m not sure of , I strongly believe and defend the idea that game demos should be introduced a few weeks or a week before the release of the game. Also, I don`t have the hard evidence but I guess the demos are an important determinant factor in purchasing for the customers.
Sometimes all you need is a quick hands on with the game, 10 to 15 minutes would do the trick. No video, article or a review, even a suggestion by a friend is enough for such games that needed to be played by the consumers itself for it to be purchased.
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I agree, I wish more games had demo's even if all that it consisted of was about 5-10 minutes of gameplay just to show me what the game is all about.
Not that demo's are always a good thing for a dev/pub, there have been far more demo's convincing me not to buy a game I was interested in then their have that get me to buy one.
Demos are, though, often even MORE misleading than a bad reviewer. Remember the demo for Sonic Unleashed anyone? Id o. I'd just been reading about a hands on , at the time, a reviewer had had with the "werehog" portions of the game and downloaded the PSN demo to see if they were as poor as he said. What did I find? I found a short demo filled ONLY with the decent(but making less than a quarter of the actuals game itself)Sonic parts and NO fan disgusting Werehog to be seen!
I was left thinking to myself "Christ! If you'd never read anything and only played the demo you'd prolly, as an old fan or new gamer, think it was pretty good and worth getting-and you'd be getting conned!". I kept thinking this until I played another Sega demo on PS3-this time for Valkyria Chronicles:this time the opposite was true. Had other gamers not told me how amazing the game was and I'd only the boring as hell demo to go by I'd NEVER have played one of the best games this generation. As a result I'm left thinking Sega might just be clueless about demos at times!
Anyway, point is it's open to devs and publishers abusing us by cherrypicking their demo pieces to give a wrong impression of their game-I thought that the demo for AITD made the game seem better than it was and so on. By a similar yardstick, though,. devs can kill a game by releasing a demo which shows nothing of how a game really shines.
As a consequence I've come down more in favour of game trials as a way forwards(and easier with DD becoming a more normal way to buy games)even if I will admit demos are better than nothing-several Wii titles that came from third party devs, especially niche or mature titles, could really have benefitted from a demo on Connect but, maybe it's Wii's lack of much memory(though why devs aren't allowed, or just don't, put them in with other retail games these days IDK), they never happen and leave a lot of Wii games mysteries to the game buying [public and as a result some good games get ignored.
Whatever, demos can be JUST as misleading as our mates in the press often are! It's surely not just me who has played some demos that made good games seem crap and crap games seem pretty good, can it?
What P***ed me off is that a demo for mass effect 2 came out the day after I bought it.