Game movies are proof that the games industry is out of touch with their market. There was a time that the PC game industry used free demos for product samples.

The Shareware model was an heirloom passed down to a careless industry playing to a clueless audience. As dollars continue to reward tireless greed and bad management, the industry will consume its own goodwill, leaving nothing behind but failed companies, disowned software and landfills of disposable hardware.

Until games are sufficiently diverse enough to appeal to a wide range of consumers as, say, movies are, they will not be able to get by on disingenuous marketing techniques (like game movies). In the near-vertical market of the boy-gamer, pay-to-preview will never work.

In this long adolescence of video gaming, free demos, developer tools and community involvement is core to building solid ground for an increasingly uncertain future.