lack of demo versions

[Sneer]

hi
something for matrix staff
there are many new games - some of them are remakes of old hits
it is nice
but none of them has any demo version available
many players / including me / if have doubts about new purchase wants to have access to demo as it helps a lot in making right decision
i know that it is additional job but it is probably most important tool in evaluating future purchase

Matrix - let us test what we want to buy

[TonyE]

amen

[JudgeDredd]

Demos always put me off...they never seem to be deep enough or come with enough documentation to allow me to make a good call.

I think the absolute best way of telling if I like a game is by reading and AAR of the game.

If done properly and with in game pics, it can be the best thing for giving you a really good feel for the game.

A good AAR determines if I buy a game or not...

[David Heath]

Hi Guys
 
I must agree with Judge Dredd here.  That pretty well sums up why you see so few demos for our products.
 
David
 
 

[TheHellPatrol]

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

Demos always put me off...they never seem to be deep enough or come with enough documentation to allow me to make a good call.

I think the absolute best way of telling if I like a game is by reading and AAR of the game.

If done properly and with in game pics, it can be the best thing for giving you a really good feel for the game.

A good AAR determines if I buy a game or not...

Amen[;)].

[CJMello63]

I generally like word of mouth by people experienced with the game. I have probably missed a few good games by fumbling through a demo and giving up rather than reading up on it more and getting opinions of others.

[freeboy]

While I like the conceipt of a demo, few have ever been actually influential... AAR word of mouth and company quality.. ie combat missions or decisive battles, I know I like them already and trusted the game developer/designer. Good luck and read those AARs! [:D]

[Arctic Blast]

Demos don't tend to work too well with strategy titles. They either aren't long enough to really get a feel for the system involved, or they feature a stripped down version of the game, so you don't really get a good idea of how the full game works. I tend to go off of word of mouth.

[TonyE]

Well, glad to hear input on this, thanks all.  My frame of reference for this is Harpoon (Classic) where the demo is a set of 13 scenarios that so engross some people they take a while to get to buying the whole game.  The request stream for Harpoon 3 demos is also consistent, not huge, but a couple every month.   It hadn't even occured to me that a demo would be considered a bad thing unless the game was bad, very glad you created the topic Sneer and that a few have chimed in to broaden my understanding, even though it doesn't change my opinion.
 
 

[goodwoodrw]

A few years ago Battlefront put out a demo of CM, I reckon I played the 3 scenarios on that demo more than a lot games, especially the VOD scenario. Talking about Battlefront, if Matrixgames had of released a demo of Battlefront, I'd be $60 richer today though [:D]

[Zap]

I just want to know does his still dress like his avatar depics him.?

[ravinhood]

I agree with JD (unusual), but, yeah a good AAR is worth a 1000 demos that are incomplete and really don't show a lot of what needs to be seen or known about in a game. Reviews by socalled professionals are AAR's, but, those are incomplete as well for the most part. They are on a fixed time limit to get the review out, use a lot of cheats and rifle thru most of the content to get to the end just to make yet another biased opinion anyway. AAR's are definitely informative a great deal. I'd rather read several beta testers AAR's than one professional review myself. In fact Matrixgames should start making this a rule for the beta testers free game, to complete the contract they must write one indepth AAR for the game they have been testing. It must be ohhh 500 words or more and not a lot of A's and I's. lol

[Charles2222]

I have NEVER bought a game based on an AAR, as they seem much too fanboyish to me. I don't want to get bored with somebody's imagination of making more out of it than it is. And, yes, I have bought games based on demos before. The MAIN thing about a demo, not so much the Matrix titles mind you, that is important is to try and get a clue as to whether your machine will handle the action, and in the case of ToW, that is a VERY important consideration.

[ravinhood]

I've also always thought that people that want a demo really just want a free version of the game as well. I've seen some demos even have some that there's so much in the demo you don't need to buy the full game. Like DOOM origional. That one demo was quite enough for me to play and also see that I am not particularly fond of shooters. FPSer demos you really get a lot of game for nothing. Same with RTS games, you can get enough out of a lot of demos never having to buy the final product since they all pretty much play the same and the end game rts is pretty much like the beginning game rts only a different era, but, same grunt rushes still work. I remember I got Baseball Mogul 2004 I think it was. Took the Texas Rangers to the World series the first year in the demo (all that it would allow you to play) lol, never saw any reason to buy that full product after that. Fact is I don't think I've ever bought a game that I played the demo of. It's always been a lot of reviews or player feedback or AAR's that determined if I bought a full game (back in the day when I bought full retail versions of games) haha Nowadays of course it doesn't matter. I'm going to wait until it's bargain bin anyways for the most part and fully patched which usually means waiting a year or so. There's a few exceptions, but, lately nothing has been worth buying full retail for me. I likes them $5 games though.

[Sneer]

each AAR i saw was more or less enthusiastic about the game concerned - what doesn't mean game after purchasing was THAT good / or really worth purchasing for me/....
i have quite a lot of games that were installed on my comp few days or 1 week cos they looked nice - i have never moved back to them / i have enough money to not be restricted at this point but i'm demanding a well
if i have doubts i learned to stay of the title

pity is that i was thinking about playing sth new yesterday and wanted to check few promising demos ....
checked theater of war and wanted compare it to sth of matrixgames collection
but i understand this point of view

[Gibbon]

Few monthes, I would have agreed with you guys.

Now, I have updated (?) to Vista and I can tell I've learned the hard way to try to get the demo running on my system before to actually use my credit card.

Cheers

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: ravinhood

I've also always thought that people that want a demo really just want a free version of the game as well. I've seen some demos even have some that there's so much in the demo you don't need to buy the full game. Like DOOM origional. That one demo was quite enough for me to play and also see that I am not particularly fond of shooters. FPSer demos you really get a lot of game for nothing. Same with RTS games, you can get enough out of a lot of demos never having to buy the final product since they all pretty much play the same and the end game rts is pretty much like the beginning game rts only a different era, but, same grunt rushes still work. I remember I got Baseball Mogul 2004 I think it was. Took the Texas Rangers to the World series the first year in the demo (all that it would allow you to play) lol, never saw any reason to buy that full product after that. Fact is I don't think I've ever bought a game that I played the demo of. It's always been a lot of reviews or player feedback or AAR's that determined if I bought a full game (back in the day when I bought full retail versions of games) haha Nowadays of course it doesn't matter. I'm going to wait until it's bargain bin anyways for the most part and fully patched which usually means waiting a year or so. There's a few exceptions, but, lately nothing has been worth buying full retail for me. I likes them $5 games though.

Texas Rangers

I was that way with MOHAA for quite a while, because there's just so much to that one scenario. I really got off on hearing those guys in stereo outflanking me and such, speaking German. I never did finish that demo mission though I tried a great deal. I have bought the product a few months back, and aside from playing the introduction portion of the game I haven't got around to playing it. I will one of these days, but at least the demo made it clear to me that my computer could handle a good portion of it.

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: Gibbon


Few monthes, I would have agreed with you guys.

Now, I have updated (?) to Vista and I can tell I've learned the hard way to try to get the demo running on my system before to actually use my credit card.

Cheers

Yes, Vista must give you all sorts of dimensions of worry that a lot of us have forgotten about. Man, to think even the simplest turn-based game could be a problem for you!

[JudgeDredd]

In fact Matrixgames should start making this a rule for the beta testers free game

We shouldn't make a habit of this, but that's a good idea

[JudgeDredd]

ORIGINAL: Gibbon


Few monthes, I would have agreed with you guys.

Now, I have updated (?) to Vista and I can tell I've learned the hard way to try to get the demo running on my system before to actually use my credit card.

Cheers

I can understand that...and from a "performance" pov, a demo is a good idea. But from an OS pov, then it's really down to the developer to make sure it's OS compatible.

Of course the developer may test on a new OS and say it's compatible...but what about all the different configurations of drivers and hardware kicking about. Is it realistic nowadays for a developer to make sure it's compatible with all those configurations? I don't think it's possible.

I can understand why a demo would be wanted...but a well written aar helps me decide. If I can get into the AAR and I enjoy it, then it's a fair bet (and hasn't failed me so far) that I'll enjoy the game.

Of course, there are plenty of games where I have not read an AAR and bought the game and enjoyed it. There are also plenty of times where I've enjoyed a demo and the game has been absolute crud...A demo is very useful in the FPS genre...from a strategy pov, I don't think so. Not for me.

One might note that whilst I Every game which I read an AAR for and bought, I've never disliked that game. Whereas there are plenty of games where I played a demo, bought the game and didn't like it.

Maybe there's something screwy about my judgment![&:]