This is getting to be more common as game development already costs 10's of millions of dollars & the technology becomes more complex. They just dont have the time or money necessary to devote months to put together a demo. It's more important to build a solid game that stands on its own. I'll be buying this game its looks very well done.

R.I.P George Carlin 1937-2008

I can understand not providing a singleplayer demo, even if it is a disappointing move, but they could at least provide a multiplayer one. I always like to judge a games "feel" and performance before actually buying a game. I fear this move will only encourage piracy. It would be nice to see a time limited trial available through something like Steam, which would allow gamers to get an idea of the game without giving them too much for free.

Oh well, I guess I'll have to rely on review sites and forum posts... far from ideal.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Founder of the "I Hate Smiley Fitz" society

Remember: Riley has autism. He has trouble communicating, and in an overstimulating
environment, he can get frightened and run away, leaving his parents frantic. - Auburn

What a lousy excuse.

"Oh, we can't make a demo because it'll offer too many hours of gameplay!"

Guess what, people replay demos all the time. Hell, I think I played the NOLF demo for at least 15 hours.

If people like your demo enough to play it for 12 hours, doesn't that make them more likely to buy the full game..?

No demo? No problem. No fucking demo, no fucking sale, simple as that. Fucking idiots...

"I don't know too many people who are willing to give away a 12-hour game for free."

You mean like Crytek did with modding tools to boot?

Lamers. I'll wait for reviews then.

I have a prediction:

This will be the fucking pirate's excuse for pirating it and when sales are weak for pc they'll blame the pirates... and we won't see far cry 3!

What a load of shit. Far Cry 1 had a demo. Crysis had a demo.

But magically, Far Cry 2 cannot have a demo. Embrace magical thinking.

No demo? No problem. No fucking demo, no fucking sale, simple as that.

Agreed. I'm amazed these developers think this is a good reason for not having a demo!

EDIT: I should add, indie developers have worked out you can (and here comes the bombshell) limit a demo by time. Amazing, I know.


This comment was edited on Jul 11, 22:37.

I miss the days when a demo would be a full 3rd of the game. Hell, BF1942 had two maps you could play. I easily put more than ten hours in on that demo and guess what? I bought the game!


This comment was edited on Jul 11, 22:47.

What a lousy excuse.

I agree. He should have just said something like: 'because of the game's design a demo was impossible' or even, 'releasing a demo would amount to giving away the game'. He could have just told that truth, that making a demo was more work than they were willing to do, but truth is anathema to marketing.

This way he just comes off as a feckless, greedy bastard.

What a load of shit. Far Cry 1 had a demo. Crysis had a demo.

Have you read anything about this game? The whole point is that it's one massive map with freeform gameplay - it plays more like Oblivion than Crysis. It's the same reason that Fallout 3 is not going to have a demo: they cannot represent the game by simply limiting the scope, as the scope of the game is what defines it. That and it takes time and money.

So yeah, it sucks that there's not going to be a demo but I understand why. However, everything about this game looks like it's going to be amazing. That was the situation with Oblivion and I went on what I'd read / seen and bought the game; it was even better than my high expectations. I would be very surprised if Far Cry 2 disappointed. STALKER was very different... I completely dismissed it at first but only recently (couple of days ago actually) discovered that it's an amazing game with really great graphics. STALKER: Clear Sky won't have a demo either but there's no doubt to me that it's going to be an exceptional game.

So yes, it's a bit of a bugger not having a demo but there's nothing we can do about it, though it's not the end of the world. It's the publisher that loses out if the game sells poorly because of the lack of a demo.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Founder of the "I Hate Smiley Fitz" society

Remember: Riley has autism. He has trouble communicating, and in an overstimulating
environment, he can get frightened and run away, leaving his parents frantic. - Auburn

I'm not saying I have a solution, but I do think companies should generally try something.

Otherwise, it's just...buy it because we say it's good?

Even more so in this case - it's a new developer taking an established game in a new direction. I guess I will have to wait for the reviews, though there are obvious flaws/payola issues with those.
New developer, new setting, new gameplay, but I can't test it?!?
After all, I know what I like better than anybody else...

I just find it really hard to believe that these developers cannot make even the most basic demonstration of their game, even if it's just a tech demo or a small building you play through in five minutes.

Thinking something is still more than nothing,
Ray

-----
I'm looking for some alien toilet to park my bricks; who's first?
http://www.flagshipped.com/
I love you, mom.

I just find it really hard to believe that these developers cannot make even the most basic demonstration of their game, even if it's just a tech demo or a small building you play through in five minutes.

Yeah, even if they just take a couple of buildings / a village from the game, throw in some bad guys and fence it off (even if done literally with a fence). The trouble is that may create a false impression of the game and they'd rather avoid that, even if it means a few lost sales. Certainly I don't understand why there's not a multiplayer demo - that would be incredibly easy to do and act as a great advertising tool (if the game's good).

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Founder of the "I Hate Smiley Fitz" society

Remember: Riley has autism. He has trouble communicating, and in an overstimulating
environment, he can get frightened and run away, leaving his parents frantic. - Auburn

they can make a demo. look at crackdown.

that is a shining example of how to make a demo of an open world game like that. i bought crackdown on the strength of that demo alone and the hours of play i got out of it.

are these devs just fucking stupid? how many hours did we all put into the demo for doom and how many levels did we get! and yet we still went out and bought it.

What a lame excuse. "Too much of the game will be given away, and people will enjoy themselves oh noes!"

Well fuck those guys. Id gave away a full one-THIRD of the original Doom, and we all know how successful that was.

My most played demo has to be the maps released for UT99. I spent countless hours in Coret Facility playing on the LAN.

Others that stand out are BF1942 and UT2004.

That said, these days I don't much care for PC demos. It takes too much time to download them, install them, etc. I'd rather go by word of mouth.

The UT99 demo was great, as was BF2 and the Q3 test. Heck, I remember downloading the UT99 demo on dial-up with some random app that let you resume downloads that stopped - pretty revolutionary at the time. What memories.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Founder of the "I Hate Smiley Fitz" society

Remember: Riley has autism. He has trouble communicating, and in an overstimulating
environment, he can get frightened and run away, leaving his parents frantic. - Auburn

What a load of shit. Far Cry 1 had a demo. Crysis had a demo.

Have you read anything about this game? The whole point is that it's one massive map with freeform gameplay - it plays more like Oblivion than Crysis. It's the same reason that Fallout 3 is not going to have a demo: they cannot represent the game by simply limiting the scope, as the scope of the game is what defines it. That and it takes time and money.

I think you have been drinking their marketing coolaid. You have fallen for the hype. Apparently you don't remember similar statements being made when crysis came out and far cry before that. Exercise some scepticism for pete's sake.
The only thing I agree with you is that a demo does take additional resources to create.

How am I supposed to know FC2 runs well on my old PC? At least put walls to say "included in full game".

No demo = no sale. Plain and simple.

I did not buy Crysis because it ran like shit on my PC and didn't have compelling game play to boot. But at least I gave it the opportunity to win my money. Without a demo there's no fucking way.

________________________________________________
Have a nice day
|
|
V