You'd think that iD and Valve had announced a collaboration on a new 3-D shooter.

Anyway, I'm not going to read through 200+ comments, so I'll just spout off uninformed. I see this as a very simple issue. I don't see where having demos as "exclusive" benefits me. I don't think it'll make the demo better, or the game cheaper, or anything else. All it does is make the demo harder to obtain. I'm sure the game company is getting something out of it, but if it doesn't benefit me directly, I don't care.

So I'm against exclusive demos. I'm sure the game company will sit down in a week or two and look at the numbers and say "okay, we got 'x' in return for the exlusive demo, but we pissed off 'y' people, which probably cost us 'z' sales." And they'll decide if it was worth it or not.

This whole thing would then basically be you and the other sites crying that some other site is getting better stuff.

You don't seem to be following me... maybe I'm beng too subtle for fear that of coming accross as accusing anyone of anything specific without having a full knowledge of the facts.

Since I don't know the facts, I am just playing devil's advocate about the dangers of a site with so much editorial content being able to barter for exclusivity in a case like this. To be perfectly clear: I am not saying anything fishy is going on here. But I do think that sites like Blue's News, the GSI sites, and the other sites listed in this open letter need to be like Caesar's wife, and place themselves in a position where they are beyond reproach so such concerns cannot exist.

I repeat, this is all based on a worst case scenario, rather than any insider knowledge, so unless something frightfully compelling shows up in this portion of this thread, I'll probably let this point drop after this to avoid creating the impression otherwise.

Hey Morgan. You can deicde for yourself where the line is. You think I'm just an idealistic hippy? Ok, your choice. as I've said, its my choice not to let them take from me what I think is not theirs to take. I'm not concerned with "fighting the man". I'm concered that if I keep letting them, the companies will keep pushing and pushing, until I'm paying for the privilege of walking down the street. So go ahead, buy your Starbucks. And go ahead, pay for demos. And at the end of the month, when you wonder where you hard earned money has gone, when you simply wan't to download a demo of your favorite game, I'm sure the world will be more than happy to give you your money back. After all, you made them rich in the first place.

Let's get this straight for people who seem to have a problem grasping the concept of a demonstration or a "demo". Demos are free!!! Whether it's a vacuum or a game, a demonstration of either is expected of the potential buyer to come without any strings attached. B,S&T goes into developing any product, not just games, and people want familiarity with said product before making the investment. For those of you who don't seem to be able to understand this, the next time you take a car for a test drive , I'd like to see you drop 50 bucks in the salesman's pocket and tell him, "I'll go home and think about it! thanks for the test!"

As far as "picking a fight" goes, I can't think of a better fight to pick within the context of game sites, demos and gamers. If you're talking about spousal abuse, world hunger or the Bush administration then I think you've come to the wrong forum.

activision and whorespy have the free market right to do an exclusive deal, and the rest of the gaming sites have a free market rigth to boycott the demo, its as simple as that.

"The other way around, no?"

err... maybe a collateral? like brownie... points? :p

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*What I say is my opinion only, and does not reflect the site I work at.

So true about the "free" demos. However, demos are supposedly out there advertising their product. Who is gonna pay for advertising; to sample something? If you are going to pay for something, you might as well as pay for the product itself! Why buy something twice?

I think what the above mentioned sites are trying to accomplish, is that even if Fileplanet is the only place to get this demo after exclusivity, it'll be so overwhelmed that it'll slow to a crawl. Even the so called giant File Planet can't sustain that kind of service attack. People will have shelled out money for the special service, and only get 2-5k/second or less from it. The complaint department will have to field endless emails about how their service is junk. Mission accomplished. In the end however, boycotts like this aren't effective anymore as it'll just get bit torrented anyway; if not an organized site like Filerush, some guy with a cable modem who gets the first seed started. Akamai in a box. In reality, not having a popular demo for another week is probably a good thing. We'll all get off our McDonalds chowing rear ends and burn some calories in the summer sun while it lasts. This whole thing is probably a big publicity stunt paid for by the beach and parks service.

I just waited in line 6 minutes for the commandos 3 demo @Fileplanet. Then I started getting the file at my cable's max speed.

Enjoy the bandwidth and short wait times while it lasts boys !

Believe me, if they could charge for air usage, they would.

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22

Payment = payment (money), services, trades, goods, or whatever form of compensation you'd want to include apart form something being given for free.

m19

Is this something you know for a fact? If so, may I ask how?

Oh please, you're a grown man, you know how business works and are better than that to imagine otherwise.

Let me ask you, then. If they didn't have to pay to get exclusive content, where does that place you? This whole thing would then basically be you and the other sites crying that some other site is getting better stuff. But if they can do it for "free," as you're asking, why can't you? If someone else is doing better because of any reason besides payment for the content, would it always be your practice to then complain and try and knock them back down?

More food for thought.

m19

Ah, that's different (you posted while I was typing). It could well be that they aren't paying money for it. Instead, they're offering their server list management and associate services and that's fair enough. I have no objection to that.

Cheers,
Quboid

massive developer brownie points

The other way around, no?

You seem to be under the impression that gaming companies owe you something other than

Even though you are not talking to me, and I am not even in this conversation.

Game companies do owe ME something.

ID Software owes me a dirt bike!

Valve owes me 1,000 acres of land, somewhere out deep in some mountains somewhere(but that can still get broadband!)

Why do they owe me this? Well, in both cases, it is a very long story, filled with inside information. And to tell the story, I would have to brake too many NDA's, and then get sued. But in all honesty they do. *cough*

I request, that everybody being upset about this, to PLEAES
e-mail ID, specifically Johny, Valve, specifically Gabe , about what they owe me. I went to GREAT lengths to do them personal favors, and they are shafting me.

Mr.Carmack is this fair? To shaft me, my simple dirt bike, when you have a rocket ship to the moon!  I really like this joke, I think it is the best one of the whole stupid post, some of you old timers will get it.| Do you really want to be one of the pioneering leaders in the Aero Space industry, but shaft some poor college student, to make you dreams come true? Is this the kind of example you want to set for the space fairing companies for the future?

Gabe...Gabe...remember when I use to call you Gaby?
Gaby! What happened to you man! We were like two pea's in a bowl of soup, but you got greedy with HL2, and forgot all about me. All those things I did for you (that I can not mention, the whole NDA's thing). man, I got to admit, I am ashamed to of known you Gaby


Please help me, My fellow gamers, Get what is OWED to me.

P.S. This is funny, so laugh already damn it



"Science is but an organized system of ignorance."

I can't think of an example either, but with the hypothetical situation ... I think I'd be miffed. It's not fair on other sites for Gamespy to get something for nothing. This means my take is different if Gamespy does or does not give for their gain. I'm really not sure what this means, and what you're getting at.

BTW, this is not like paying for air! No one is paying for me to breath. No one spending money to let me breath as quickly as I can without stand in a queue first. No one owns air so someone would have to make a legitimate case for ownership before they could charge me and that's not going to happen.

Cheers,
Quboid

"I'm not suggesting there was no return, just asking whether it would be a problem if whatever FilePlanet was offering in exchange for the exclusive was not actually cash."

massive developer brownie points

"Is this something you know for a fact? If so, may I ask how?"

in the case of the desert combat mod exclusive update release (yes, that was what i was hinting on earlier in this thread), it seems that it would be too illegal to pay for exclusive rights to a mod without consent with EA. now, im not a poli sci major, but thats what i assume.

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*What I say is my opinion only, and does not reflect the site I work at.

Curse not editing... To clarify, come up with a real-world example where someone was given exclusive rights to something without having to give anything in return. It's an incredibly unrealistic situation, so I'm curious what you're thinking of.

I'm not suggesting there was no return, just asking whether it would be a problem if whatever FilePlanet was offering in exchange for the exclusive was not actually cash.

They *do* pay for it, so that's not debatable.

Is this something you know for a fact? If so, may I ask how?

wow....almost 200 posts in 2 hours.

seems like big stuff....3 in the morning....read everything later...

gnight....

The Internet is getting too commercial.

Fuck that. The world is getting too commercial!

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22