Though we don't really offer much in the way of downloads here, Blue's News is
supporting the sentiments in the following open letter, which demonstrates to
Activision (and hopefully the rest of the industry) what the undersigned sites
feel are the general sentiments of the community about the downsides of
exclusive demo releases. As a result, these sites will not be carrying the Call
of Duty demo, even after its FilePlanet exclusivity (
story) is
over.
Update: To be clear, this does not mean we will not carry news of
when the demo is released, exclusive or not. Here's the letter:
After
discussions with Activision, the following websites will not be carrying the
Call of Duty playable demo, even after its exclusivity is over. This is due to
Activision's decision to not accede to the reasonable request of making the demo
freely available to all game enthusiasts at the same time.
3D Downloads
3D Gamers
AusGamers
Blue's News
EdgeFiles (Callofduty.org)
FileFront
FileShack
GameGossip
Gamer's Hell
Loadedinc
Tiscali Games
WorthPlaying
The above-listed websites hope to show Activision that the enthusiast industry
is strongly opposed to the idea of exclusive demo releases.
Feedback from our users shows that gamers hate to be forced through a single
point of congestion if they want a demo right away. While these websites are
actually competitors, this competition provides the freedom of choice that
enthusiasts want by offering the widest possible distribution of any demo (a
sample intended to interest as many gamers as possible in the full product,
after all) rather than the most restricted one.
Therefore, something this disrespectful of the industry as a whole has inspired
all of these websites to stand together in this open letter.
Deals like this hurt the industry much more than they could possibly enhance a
single relationship, and we ask for your support in sending out this
message.