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Has Video Killed the Game Demo Star?
A while back I read of a report that stated that video trailers do a better job selling games than game demos do. I've thought about it and I agree with that assessment. Since I upgraded to a larger hard drive on my 360 is am much more likely to check out videos and demos but I have the view that a game video and think it is a better use of time to download, file size and effort required to put it together by the development.
Video game demos require the developers to fork their code and divert programming and art resources away from the final game and focus on the interim release of the demo. The certification and quality assurance testing of demos is not a small or simple effort. Now I am only talking about demos of full games and not Xbox Live Arcade games. I think demos there are sweet and a good idea.
Also a good game trailer should be composed of a good plenty amount of actual game play running on a real in-game engine. I have a hard time thinking about a game that I've purchased because of a demo but if a trailer is done well they can be very persuasive. Sure there are times where that I demo has helped me decide to get a game but more likely they have helped me decide on the games that I would NOT be getting because I didn't like the demos.
I would rather see a game developer put out several good game trailers rather than focusing on a big demo several hundred megs of work.
Jake at April 25, 2008 
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How many bad games have you bought because of good trailers? I think for the most part, demos should be done post release. No resource draining then.
Posted by: Taylor at April 25, 2008 12:13 PM
I almost never buy games that I don’t like. Since there are a million and one sources of videogame reviews and information on the internet there is no excuse for not doing basic research to see if you are going to like a game.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at April 25, 2008 2:28 PM
While i agree that videos sell games more then the demos do, I know for a fact that alot of people go to the store for one thing and pick up a game that they weren't thinking of. Its called impulse buying which alot of people are affected by. Also there are many games that i thought i would never like, which i have been wrong about before being pretty much forced into it by a friend.
Posted by: Media Mike at April 27, 2008 12:37 AM
