The "Sony Games" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Which games sell best? Games that are advertised for months on end, or those that just appear in the shops without a word to anyone? Obviously it could depend greatly on the game, but the fact is, advertising works, and Sony just happen to be masters at this art.
Third party developers (companies producing games themselves, and offering them to large companies like Sony or Nintendo for their machine) have to make sure that they are equally competent at making sure everybody knows about their upcoming releases. Television adverts, magazine and newspaper articles, and even poster campaigns can all help, but the final touch now seems to be video demonstrations of what the game can do.
If you visit a magazine store, or a computer game shop, you`ll notice that many PS2 magazines on the shelves are sold with a DVD demo. In the cases of magazines such as PSM2 and PSW, these demos are rolling demos (you can only watch footage of the games, rather than actually play the games). Whilst this may not give you a good feel for the gameplay, it can certainly be used as a powerful tool to impress potential buyers. Another form of demo is the playable demo, found only on the official PS2 magazine. A greater insight into gameplay can be found with these demos, and it also gives you a chance to see the parts of the game the developers might have hoped you wouldn`t.
Two good examples of games that utilise demos effectively are Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid. With the Final Fantasy series, those people that played the game were often split into two groups. There were those that went from beginning to end in the game, and those that stopped before an hour was up - simply never allowing themselves to get involved in the story properly. To use a playable demo with Final Fantasy could potentially put people off, as the game relies on a couple of hours play to completely immerse you in its powerful storyline. This is why most demos of these games are rolling demos, showing beautiful computer generated scenes. Beauty sells Final Fantasy, whilst the story keeps you playing.
However, the use of rolling demos only was slightly abused earlier this year with the release of "The Bouncer". The game looked fantastic, and appeared to packed full of action, plot and pace. However, when finished code was finally released to the reviewers, it turned out that the gameplay really didn`t have the depth or pace to make it a must buy title.
The second example, Metal Gear Solid, is a game that seems more suited to playable demos only. This is because the gameplay is the kind where you need to be the one in control, rather than being a mere spectator. The playable demo that came with Zone of the Enders is like no demo before it. It was like a whole game as it could last hours if you wanted it to, even if it was completeable in twenty minutes. However, Hideo Kojima seems to understand exactly how to make a trailer, and I never fail to be impressed every time I see a new clip of Metal Gear Solid 2. He finds just the right balance of fast action, plot previewing, and graphical showing-off. This is then mixed with a superb sound track that makes the trailer a huge reason to buy the finished game.
Clearly demos, either rolling or playable, are a great tool to show people how good a game looks, and with the ability to play DVDs on a PS2, more and more developers are investing time in video demonstrations of their product. Rather than occasional showings at E3 or Tokyo, developers must now be prepared to hand out demos to magazines around the world. To do this, the demos must be exciting, graphically superb, and mixed with an impressive sound track.
A quick word of warning though - demos are a great help to us when we are looking for good games, but they must be used wisely. They should not be your only source of information. It is important to read about the game in articles as well, and learn about all areas of a game. I think that many people who bought the Bouncer will understand exactly what I mean.
Third party developers (companies producing games themselves, and offering them to large companies like Sony or Nintendo for their machine) have to make sure that they are equally competent at making sure everybody knows about their upcoming releases. Television adverts, magazine and newspaper articles, and even poster campaigns can all help, but the final touch now seems to be video demonstrations of what the game can do.
If you visit a magazine store, or a computer game shop, you`ll notice that many PS2 magazines on the shelves are sold with a DVD demo. In the cases of magazines such as PSM2 and PSW, these demos are rolling demos (you can only watch footage of the games, rather than actually play the games). Whilst this may not give you a good feel for the gameplay, it can certainly be used as a powerful tool to impress potential buyers. Another form of demo is the playable demo, found only on the official PS2 magazine. A greater insight into gameplay can be found with these demos, and it also gives you a chance to see the parts of the game the developers might have hoped you wouldn`t.
Two good examples of games that utilise demos effectively are Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid. With the Final Fantasy series, those people that played the game were often split into two groups. There were those that went from beginning to end in the game, and those that stopped before an hour was up - simply never allowing themselves to get involved in the story properly. To use a playable demo with Final Fantasy could potentially put people off, as the game relies on a couple of hours play to completely immerse you in its powerful storyline. This is why most demos of these games are rolling demos, showing beautiful computer generated scenes. Beauty sells Final Fantasy, whilst the story keeps you playing.
However, the use of rolling demos only was slightly abused earlier this year with the release of "The Bouncer". The game looked fantastic, and appeared to packed full of action, plot and pace. However, when finished code was finally released to the reviewers, it turned out that the gameplay really didn`t have the depth or pace to make it a must buy title.
The second example, Metal Gear Solid, is a game that seems more suited to playable demos only. This is because the gameplay is the kind where you need to be the one in control, rather than being a mere spectator. The playable demo that came with Zone of the Enders is like no demo before it. It was like a whole game as it could last hours if you wanted it to, even if it was completeable in twenty minutes. However, Hideo Kojima seems to understand exactly how to make a trailer, and I never fail to be impressed every time I see a new clip of Metal Gear Solid 2. He finds just the right balance of fast action, plot previewing, and graphical showing-off. This is then mixed with a superb sound track that makes the trailer a huge reason to buy the finished game.
Clearly demos, either rolling or playable, are a great tool to show people how good a game looks, and with the ability to play DVDs on a PS2, more and more developers are investing time in video demonstrations of their product. Rather than occasional showings at E3 or Tokyo, developers must now be prepared to hand out demos to magazines around the world. To do this, the demos must be exciting, graphically superb, and mixed with an impressive sound track.
A quick word of warning though - demos are a great help to us when we are looking for good games, but they must be used wisely. They should not be your only source of information. It is important to read about the game in articles as well, and learn about all areas of a game. I think that many people who bought the Bouncer will understand exactly what I mean.
Page:
i could tell you aswell
i played the Red Faction demo and bought it and then i played the SD:JBI demo and didnt buy it
i played the Red Faction demo and bought it and then i played the SD:JBI demo and didnt buy it
I mean Triple_H. Which games did you buy, after playing demos?
smackdown 3 could be counted as one of them
Which games were they?
Kid Rock wrote:
Why the hell
> would they put a crap game on a demo? it would just give you more reason not to
> get it
Probably because they still want to know what people think about their games. I mean if average games wouldnt be on the demo disks in magazines we would be left with about 1-2 demos each month. Why not play a niche game and see if it is any good or not. I personally played a number of games that were not considered "big" and decided to purchase a full version afterwards
Why the hell
> would they put a crap game on a demo? it would just give you more reason not to
> get it
Probably because they still want to know what people think about their games. I mean if average games wouldnt be on the demo disks in magazines we would be left with about 1-2 demos each month. Why not play a niche game and see if it is any good or not. I personally played a number of games that were not considered "big" and decided to purchase a full version afterwards
Kid Rock wrote:
>Why the hell
> would they put a crap game on a demo?
If you look at the demos of MGS2, obviously they are all from the actual game, but it also depends heavily on mixing the right bits of action - the best bits - with exactly the right music. The trailers are more exciting to watch than the actual game will be.
For games of a lesser quality, this same thing will need to be achieved, except the starting and finishing points will be lower. What I mean is, their rolling demos will make an awful game just look quite bad. There is always an improvement if they get the demo right.
e.g. Bouncer looked great in the trailers. Many other titles look absolutely fascinating, e.g. DNA, but might be poor games.
>Why the hell
> would they put a crap game on a demo?
If you look at the demos of MGS2, obviously they are all from the actual game, but it also depends heavily on mixing the right bits of action - the best bits - with exactly the right music. The trailers are more exciting to watch than the actual game will be.
For games of a lesser quality, this same thing will need to be achieved, except the starting and finishing points will be lower. What I mean is, their rolling demos will make an awful game just look quite bad. There is always an improvement if they get the demo right.
e.g. Bouncer looked great in the trailers. Many other titles look absolutely fascinating, e.g. DNA, but might be poor games.
Good post SSXpro i think that demos are good for games like DMC and Jak & Daxter ( OPS2 5th december) but what about all the crappy games
Why the hell would they put a crap game on a demo? it would just give you more reason not to get it
Why the hell would they put a crap game on a demo? it would just give you more reason not to get it
Nice post, i think demos are really good and help u make a more informed decision about what games to buy, they also help sell games which are all right but don't get rave reviews 'cos ppl play the demo and decide that they really like it then buy it. The only demos i don't like are demos of footy games there always 1half long why not give us a whole game there always over to quick without giving u time to see if u like it or not.
yep deffenetly they should always do that to the big titles
Thats a very good point Triple_H! Feedback is very important, so for example with the MGS2 demo that came with ZOE, the feedback should be extremely useful, particularly as it has had so long to be tested. It arrived nearly a year before the UK release will be, which should give it an unrivalled chance to tone up, and polish itself :-)
Page: