[Rant] Buy a game based on screenshots and trailers!

[H.Bogard]

http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/01/06/its-official-no-pc-demo-for-lord-of-the-rings-conquest/

So after releasing a buggy-as-fuck Mercenaries 2 last year, EA and Pandemic expect PC gamers to buy the fucking game based on... what? Screenshots?

I've heard very little about the game, and I tried to look up media for as well as a demo... jack shit.

And then they're gonna whine when the torrent leecher numbers hit the roof.

<rant mode off>

Edit: In my rage, I accidentally created this thread in the Lounge instead of PC santuary. :(

Mods: HELP!

[Variable Gear]

This is how all publishers operate. They are scum. I don't get hyped about games much anymore, but I'm going to need a little bit more to go on than some fucking screenshots. I was playing the multiplayer demo for LOTR: Conquest on the 360, and it sucked so badly that I just deleted the damn thing.

I agree with you, because you are wise.

[Ludoc]

You aren't missing anything. Seriously. If 360 demo is any indication, EA is doing you a favour by not wasting your time with a demo.

[H.Bogard]

You aren't missing anything. Seriously. If 360 demo is any indication, EA is doing you a favour by not wasting your time with a demo.

Isn't ^THAT the point?

[Ancalagon]

Does anyone still buy EA games for the PC? By the sounds of it, I was lucky enough to avoid Dead Space for the PC - great game on console, terrible on PC because of control issues.

[H.Bogard]

Does anyone still buy EA games for the PC? By the sounds of it, I was lucky enough to avoid Dead Space for the PC - great game on console, terrible on PC because of control issues.

What control issues? The game controlled great. It was actually one of the better ports out there (Graphics, controls, gamepad support)

Don't tell me you were victim to the retarded Vsync thing?

[Ancalagon]

What control issues? The game controlled great. It was actually one of the better ports out there (Graphics, controls, gamepad support)

Don't tell me you were victim to the retarded Vsync thing?

I didnt buy it precisely because most reviews gave it 80-90%, then said its control issues were crippling. Specifically keyboard and mouse controls. If you release a game for the PC I think its fair to say your keyboard and mouse controls should at least be good. If you cant get that bit right, dont bother.

[Karmakin]

I really enjoyed M2 on the 360..didn't even know there was a PC version.

However, personally I don't think torrent numbers mean a thing. A small portion of that number are collectors, (people who download everything but rarely use it) but a much larger portion of that number are the average masses who would happily rent the game if it were available. But PC publishers don't have any interest in monetizing that market, so you get piracy out the ying yang.

[H.Bogard]

I didnt buy it precisely because most reviews gave it 80-90%, then said its control issues were crippling. Specifically keyboard and mouse controls. If you release a game for the PC I think its fair to say your keyboard and mouse controls should at least be good. If you cant get that bit right, dont bother.

There were a handful of early reviews that mentioned such a problem, sadly no one bothered to turn off V-sync which not only fixed the controls completely, but also gave a 100% boost in loading times.

[Ancalagon]

There were a handful of early reviews that mentioned such a problem, sadly no one bothered to turn off V-sync which not only fixed the controls completely, but also gave a 100% boost in loading times.

Perhaps so, still a pity EA didnt do better QA on the title.

Am I giving them a hard time? Absolutely. But if you dont bother to test your A) installer, B) controls, C) graphics options, then I cant be bothered to play your games. Those are prerequisites for releasing any game and EA should have known better.

In fact, now that I think about it I remember two quite serious bugs in NFS MW. The first was that the mouse would stop working and I'd have to quit to get it back. The second was that the single player campaign would halt, and I wouldnt be able to challenge the current rival. Only solution to that was to start again. Happened multiple times on multiple PCs to me.

[KingGorilla]

Trailers and Screenshots? Most people just read the back of the box or look for award badges.

[Wraitheist]

I didn't think the demo was that bad. I had a bit of fun playing with total strangers online. My issue is that I have a feeling the demo showed pretty much everything that the game has to offer except for a couple of hero characters and maps. If that is the case, there just isn't enough depth to justify spending $60 on it, IMO.

[Rich Richards]

Lord of the Respawns... wasn't much fun to me, seems like kind of a brainless button mashing festival of endless deaths.

[Deadend]

I honestly think having a demo for the PC versions is MORE important than for the consoles, as for people with lower end machines, it's the only legit way they can make sure the game has satisfactory performance on their PC.

[Hotcod]

I would like to see some one do a study on the torrent downloads rate for games with and without demos. Which won't happen beacuse of how hard it is to avoid the effects of all the other factors involved but it won't surprise me to find that over all games with out demos have higher torrent download numbers.

I know there have been a few games that i've torrented beacuse there hasn't been a demo and i've been unsure it it will run well enough or if i will enjoy it enough to warrent putting my money down on it. If there had been some form of demo i would never have pirated the games.

The only reason not to have a demo is than it's hard to limit the game in a way that leaves the demo as a meaningful way to judge the game. fallout 3 i think would suffer from this for example. The only reason not to put out a demo for this game when they clearly feel they can put out a demo beacuse, well, they have... is that they feel that the PC product is not as good as the console product and as such the PC demo would be harmfull.

Sillynes in other words

[H.Bogard]

The only reason not to have a demo is than it's hard to limit the game in a way that leaves the demo as a meaningful way to judge the game. fallout 3 i think would suffer from this for example.

Sillynes in other words

They have time trials for games like those, back when developers weren't spending 90% of their resources on graphics and had time to work on demos to eagerly show off their game for free to attract BUYERS.

Seriously... how can someone shit on such an obvious method to attract customers is beyond me, aside from games that are obviously cashing in on licensed franchises that sell on name alone *coughLOTRcough*.

[Telefrog]

They have time trials for games like those, back when developers weren't spending 90% of their resources on graphics and had time to work on demos to eagerly show off their game for free to attract BUYERS.

Seriously... how can someone shit on such an obvious method to attract customers is beyond me, aside from games that are obviously cashing in on licensed franchises that sell on name alone *coughLOTRcough*.

All great points except that it's been proven that demos contribute to less sales more often than attracting new ones. Demos are usually downloaded and played by people already interested in the title. A bad demo turns them off, while a good demo is a null point to the potential buyer anyway.Trailers are actually more effective at increasing sales and getting customers. (http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/04/14/study-publishers-shouldnt-release-demos-just-trailers/)

Now, I'm on your side on this since I like demos. I like to check PC games out to see if I want them, but to a publisher, that's exactly the thing you don't want to hear.

[Ancalagon]

All great points except that it's been proven that demos contribute to less sales more often than attracting new ones. Demos are usually downloaded and played by people already interested in the title. A bad demo turns them off, while a good demo is a null point to the potential buyer anyway.Trailers are actually more effective at increasing sales and getting customers. (http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/04/14/study-publishers-shouldnt-release-demos-just-trailers/)

Now, I'm on your side on this since I like demos. I like to check PC games out to see if I want them, but to a publisher, that's exactly the thing you don't want to hear.

I guess thats the problem with demos, is that they only sell the game if both the game and demo are good, and I've never heard of the case where the demo is bad but the game is good. So basically, if you want a demo to sell your game, your game actually needs to be good. And based on how many times we see publishers massaging review scores and hiding bad information, I think its easy to say they care more about good marketing than making good games.

That being said, it doesnt explain why console games get more demos than PC games, but it could have something to do with expected sales.

[Telefrog]

That being said, it doesnt explain why console games get more demos than PC games, but it could have something to do with expected sales.

I think that has a lot to do with it. I'd also wager that on a console, there's not much chance of your platform-specific demo turning out bad for a potential customer because he/she couldn't overcome the technical hurdles getting it to play. How many times have we not bought a PC game because the demo wouldn't play due to one or more driver incompatibilities or random glitchiness?

[Panthera]

I've never heard of the case where the demo is bad but the game is good.

There are definitely demos that sell a bad impression of the full game, most commonly by showing off a later portion of the game. Without the learning curve, the player flounders around uselessly. Off the top of my head, The Darkness and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts were like that.

If a game had a poor introductory level, but got much better after it, then the demo might also sell the game poorly that way. I was turned off of Deus Ex for years because of the demo, only later finding out how wrong I was about it.