gamesfreak64: No demo ? playing games for over 40 years i wonder why no demo's ?
PixelBoy: Well, they have a demo section on their homesite, which interestingly enough, doesn't have a demo, but a purchase link to GOG, but not Steam...
http://hero-u.com/demos-and-videos/
Anyway, since there's a demo section, maybe they release a demo later? I guess they used all their resources to get the actual game released.
gamesfreak64: Every commercial game had a playable demo , nowadays it looks like they fear a proper demo might reduce sales...
PixelBoy: Not really true.
If you go back far enough to 8-bit era, very few, if any, games had demos. Demos were a later addition in the 16-bit era, in the form of demo disks and downloadable BBS content.
"Every game had a demo" was only a brief moment when PC became the main platform and when CDs and later Internet became storage media that could have enough space for working demos.
Otherwise you are correct. "Steamification" in the game industry has lead to a situation where you no longer really own your games, and don't often have any way to try demos out before you buy. I guess those "play free for this weekend" kind of promos are more or less demos of this era.
Thanks for the reply, i heard of the weekend free to try games Steam has...
Regarding the 8 bit , that must have been the vic and c64 cause i dont know of any other computers then zx spectrum and similar, not counting consoles, consoles with cardridge or cd does not count as a home computer imho, so i refer to machine with a keyboard.
First release: Jagged Alliance; 1995
it had a demo, i had to buy the game after playing the game :D
So i guess the first decade of the 90's ( 1990-1999) had demos on discs
AMIGA had floppy disc demos.
60s and 70s was poor man gaming,
gaming started imho with VIC 20 C64 all the way to PC ( anything with a keyboard like i said)
If the devs should release a demo in 4 weeks or months , it will be too late for me and redundant , if its hot its hot, so release a proper playable demo x period before the retail releases not afterwards ....
You cant start a car without gas, you need to fill it up before you can drive, in this case you can lend another car or bike or similar or walk all the way to the gasstation nearby.
Anyway releasing demos x period after a game is released is too little too late.
I googled and found this old post
https://metro.co.uk/2013/02/12/games-sell-better-without-demos-reveals-research-3439100/
I read it and.... i dont agree... basically this person tells that in a way gamers 'dont mind if they are being fooled into buying a game, because the demo lowered the expectations they had....
He goes on and talks about reading a review ..... as if reviews are neutral ....you cannot be neutral there is always a doubt so thats why dont follow reviews blindly, i always decide if i buy a game.
Some things are of influence:
in my case:
1) is the game a decent point and click and or adventure or rpg or rts? no 3d or fpp? no zooming /rotating?
2) do i own games already from that dev and did they perform well ( cpu usage)
3) no unity because of the very bad experience
4) no visonaire/wintermute ( bad experience)
5) price : if the game is made with a inferior tool ( check 2 ,3) and its 1 to 3.99 euros, i might get it...
Thats why i realy need demo's , if many gamers dive in the deep , buy a game without a demo,at a high retail price okay with me.