Its the features, the atmosphere, the gameplay, how things fit in the world, the controls etc. Those have to work out for me, or its not worth my money. I cant see that in trailers or even reviews.
Aaah c'mon, so now we're down to that if a game doesn't create a very special atmosphere for you, it is ok to download it? I totally agree that if a game doesn't capture a certain atmosphere I seek, I might feel bad about buying it at full price. But there's still the option to wait a couple of months for the game to be more affordable, see a lot more user created gameplay videos, read a lot more reviews and comments from people who actually played through the game, or simply not playing it at all. While I agree with you that most games don't live up to their hype, noone forces me to play them at release. If I'm not sure, I wait. As I said, Doom 3 is $5 used everywhere on the internet and has a demo out for more than 3 years, so there's absolutely no need nor right for
anyone to download it, let alone
1000s of people every frickin day since release! Was D3 worth $50? Fuckin no. Is it worth $5? Of course it is!
What exactly is your point? We're both people buying our games because we can and refuse to pirate titles because we think it hurts the industry, so remind me why exactly you're on the side of the pirates in this thread? (Or are you simply trying to be on the side where I'm not? :))
Oh and btw, you can hear whole CDs in shops, not just the start of a track.
Yes, which is a pointless argument because of what you just said about the "special atmosphere" you seek in your entertainment (so do I). Hearing a CD in a crowded shop doesn't even come close to the experience of listening to it in the comfort of my home on my own stereo. Previews of songs in 32kpbs mono quality on the net (regardless of their length) don't do the real quality any justice either, yet I still buy music. Songs sometimes have to grow on you (just like games), so when would you think is the right time to trash the downloaded MP3s of a new Foo fighters album and actually walk out and buy it? Just before I have enough of it? Shouldn't I feel ripped for paying full price then, because I already got most of my entertainment out of it? And that's the mentality of those "testdrive pirates", of which you find various pretty vocal ones around this board (backing up my assumptions).
Just like my example with concerts or movies, you as a customer either have to take a certain risk in not being 100% entertained or not take part in the fun at all. But to stress this one more time: these ain't the pirates the software industry worries about, it's the pirates who could've bought the rights to use the software but refused to, simply because file sharing today makes it so damn easy for them.