Demo's ??

[joki]

Les , I agree with you !! If I want a game I want see sceenshots and a description before I buy it. I also checks on the Big Net for info , ask some friends if they have heard or seen the game, or even better , they have bought it !! A friend told me about SPWAW and I got it just based on what he said, how it looked and what you could do in the game !!

Jonas

[LarkinVB]

I think a good demo is better than reading reviews or asking friends. A good game will benefit from a demo, a bad game will suffer. I know some people who do not buy antything from Matrixgames cause there is no demo. I'm speaking as a player, don't know about the business aspects.

[Les_the_Sarge_9_1]

I was emotionally scarred by a demo once .

Yeah old story but so what.

I bought the magazine just to get Steel Panthers on cd. 11 bucks later and all I had was a magazine filled with crapola I could care less about and a cd that didn't work. And a company that said snail mail them the particulars so they could explain to me what they thought was the problem (like it wasn't already clear, their low value cd didn't work).

My question for those that WANT a demo, is would you pay for it?

Demos are not free eh, it costs someone something.

Would you pay 10 bucks to get a limited edition demo of a real game like Korsun Pocket? Probably not. You would expect to be able to download the file for free from the source of course.

Bandwidth isn't free though. And we all seem to forget that. I am not sure what David has invested in providing Matrix Games as a location on the Net, but I do know it isn't free.

When Matrix Games has a brand name the equal of Hasbro, maybe then I will expect them to deliver frills that come easy to conglomerates.

Until then David, keep on doing business as you are doing. I am happy with it.

[Javin]

From a player's perspective, I really like demos. I like getting the feel of a game that can't normally be conveyed in screenshots and reviews. Just recently, I tried a demo for O.R.B. because the game is so cheap in stores. The screenshots certainly *looked* cool and very nice, but the game played like crap, so I didn't get it. I've also downloaded demos in the past that have convinced me to get a game. Though I have to admit that more often than not, I already know I want to get a game and I get it; the demo is usually downloaded because I'm not so sure I want it.

Of course, you can look at it from the advertising perspective. Sites may carry a "gone gold" announcement, but gamers may look that over real quick. However, a demo release might intrigue some people to get it or look at it more.

There are good arguments for both sides. However, if a game is relatively unknown and expensive, a demo can certainly help boost sales. A time limit might be a good way of making a demo; a 5 minute gameplay time limit in Korsun Pocket would let you get a quick feel of the game, but certainly won't let you play too much of it.