Patapon 2 Demo Is Only For Pre-Orders

Keane Ng

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Patapon 2 Demo Is Only For Pre-Orders



Sony's demo for the upcoming Patapon 2 will be available (in the US, at least) exclusively to people who pre-order the game through Amazon or GameStop, a strategy Sony employed for its Killzone 2 demo earlier this year.

If you're eager to get to boogieing with the sequel to the PSP's rhythm-game-meets-pseudo-RTS and you live in the US of A, pata-pata-pata-pon your sorry self down to early taste [http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=73941] of the game is by plopping down an advance investment on it.

Just like reporting [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88477-Killzone-2-Demo-Is-Pre-Order-Only-In-US] that they haven't received download codes yet. And if you're one of those people who actually buys things in person, you'll get a special card when you go to pick up the game at GameStop, which would kind of defeat the purpose of playing the demo in the first place.

Yeah, it's just a demo, sure, but it does sound fairly substantial this time around: five levels, multiplayer functionality, the introduction of the new Hero Patapon and a special helm called the Lordy Hairpiece that's only available in the demo. All items and progress get transferred over to the main game, so you can make all your friends jealous and really get your $5 deposit's worth.

This strategy made sense for Killzone 2, a game that already had a dedicated group of consumers who were dying to play the game before they even saw the first trailer, but Patapon? I think you want a demo to be accessible to as many people as possible, because it's kind of a hard concept to sell just by word of mouth: "So, you tap buttons in rhythm to make these little guys march and fight dinosaurs." Yeah, it makes more sense when you play.

Of course, if you live in Europe, you don't have to mess with any of this: the demo is freely available to all. Or you could just do without the demo and play the free webgame [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90049], which really isn't bad at all.


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KDR_11k

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Meanwhile MS restricts demos for people who aren't paying for their online service... Seriously, what happened to the concept of the demo being like a trailer, advertisement that needs maximum exposure?
 

Legion

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Oct 2, 2008
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KDR_11k said:
Meanwhile MS restricts demos for people who aren't paying for their online service... Seriously, what happened to the concept of the demo being like a trailer, advertisement that needs maximum exposure?
Indeed, the idea I thought was to convince people to try out their product, it'd be like supermarkets charging you for samples...
 

nova18

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I suppose this is only really beneficial to fans of the first game who are desperate to play the 2nd. But like the people above me, I dont believe that any money should be charged to buy a demo, which used to be a way to play before you pay.
 

SenseOfTumour

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It does seem very cynical marketing to tie people into a sale just to be able to try it however.

Sure, you can get the demo and then cancel your order, I'm assuming, but this to me makes as much sense as all the music videos disappearing off Youtube, you're desperately trying to stop people seeing your advertising???

Sorry, but that's such an incredulous question it warrants bonus punctuation.
 

Lord Krunk

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Wait a minute, what's the point of a demo if you have to pay to play it?

Sony, ur doin it rong.
 

oliveira8

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Indigo_Dingo said:
Guys, once again, notice the big 2 next to the word Patapon. This is not something new being offered at Baskin Robbins, its the same flavour you had yesterday. The question is, today do you want to lick the spoon?
What about people that never played Patapon?

And Sony is doing wrong. A demo is for the player to try out a small part of the game to see if he likes it or not. Not buy the game and try the demo so you can regret it.
 

Vlane

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Lord Krunk said:
Wait a minute, what's the point of a demo if you have to pay to play it?

Sony, ur doin it rong.
Valve also did it wrong.

But yeah stuff like this sucks.
 

Jumplion

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This

Of course, if you live in Europe, you don't have to mess with any of this: the demo is freely available to all. Or you could just do without the demo and play the free webgame, which really isn't bad at all.
Strikes me as odd. Why are the Europeans getting off free, like the time with the Killzone 2 demo, while Americans have to pay for a demo?

Damn you Europes! You've had your just desserts!
 

oliveira8

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Indigo_Dingo said:
oliveira8 said:
Indigo_Dingo said:
Guys, once again, notice the big 2 next to the word Patapon. This is not something new being offered at Baskin Robbins, its the same flavour you had yesterday. The question is, today do you want to lick the spoon?
What about people that never played Patapon?

And Sony is doing wrong. A demo is for the player to try out a small part of the game to see if he likes it or not. Not buy the game and try the demo so you can regret it.
Then why do they want to buy the sequel?
Why did people buy Half Life 2 without buying HL1?
 

oliveira8

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Indigo_Dingo said:
oliveira8 said:
Indigo_Dingo said:
oliveira8 said:
Indigo_Dingo said:
Guys, once again, notice the big 2 next to the word Patapon. This is not something new being offered at Baskin Robbins, its the same flavour you had yesterday. The question is, today do you want to lick the spoon?
What about people that never played Patapon?

And Sony is doing wrong. A demo is for the player to try out a small part of the game to see if he likes it or not. Not buy the game and try the demo so you can regret it.
Then why do they want to buy the sequel?
Why did people buy Half Life 2 without buying HL1?
I don't know, why?
Cause Half Life 2 was on the news and people that never played HL1 picked the demo, tried it, liked it and bought it.

I never heard of Patapon till a couple of days ago when Patapon 2 showed up in a game review program on the TV.