Shiny Founder Calls Sony's Degradeable Demos Crazy

[vansau]

Shiny Founder Calls Sony's Degradeable Demos Crazy

Sony's proposed idea for "degradable" game demos is still in the concept stage, but it's already getting blasted.

Videogame demos are are a major tool for developers and publishers when it comes to promoting games. However, it turns out that demos are a bit of a double-edged sword, since players might not buy a game if they feel they got too much of a game experience. Sony's proposed solution to this is to make "degradable" versions of a game available that would gradually lose features until a player decided to buy the title. It's certainly a novel idea, but David Perry - founder of Shiny Entertainment - thinks Sony is out of its mind.

Speaking at the [ a ] list summit, Perry blasted Sony's patent for this proposed demo system. According to him, the patent is "garbage." Exactly what he didn't like about the system is unclear, but he clearly disapproved of the whole idea. He also asked Sony, "Have you lost your minds?"

It should be noted that, Gaikai, his new cloud-based gaming service that allows users to play complete PC and console videogames over the web. As a result, it's not exactly super-surprising that the man was quick to dismiss anything that could be a potential rival to his program.

Personally, I think Sony's idea sounds like it has a lot of potential. Gamers often want a real sense of how a title plays (which can be difficult to see in a standard demo) and publishers want to sell more games. The Gaikai model doesn't sound terrible, either, and I'd be interested in seeing both systems in action before decrying either as a bad idea.

Source: Industry Gamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/david-perry-asks-sony-have-you-lost-your-minds/]

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[mjc0961]

The guy is making a cloud based system and he has the nerve to ask other people if they lost their minds?!

 

[Woodsey]

I'd much rather have an abridged version of a level for a demo then be able to start the game normally and just have things made worse the more I play.

How am I then supposed to tell if the game's just getting shit or if it's degrading?

 

[Delusibeta]

I'd much rather have an abridged version of a level for a demo then be able to start the game normally and just have things made worse the more I play.

How am I then supposed to tell if the game's just getting shit or if it's degrading?

I'd much rather have a time limit, a la Just Cause 2 demo or Mafia 2 demo (or OnLive's demos), myself. (I realise that the first two examples have timelimits that's easy to bypass in the PC version, but that's not the point)

 

[Jack and Calumon]

Think wholesome thoughts when looking at that picture people. Think of kittens, or Calumon.

OT: Cloud based systems are doomed to fail until the problem with different internet connections is solved. I get a 2 MB speed here in the Midlands. Some people can't even get that. So if he goes off saying that Sony has a bad idea, perhaps he should check his own answers before criticising some else's working out.

Calumon: If your going to think of me, can I have a hug then?

 

[ThreeKneeNick]

It sounds like Sony thinks a 1 hour demo is the same as playing a 15 hour full game, or thinks that the players see it this way... Which is insane, if you ask me.

 

[Tarakos]

This is such a stupid idea. If your demo manages to make a player bored with your game and makes them feel that they've had enough of it, then maybe your game just sucks. Here's an idea: make better demos that leave the player wanting more.

 

[Blackadder51]

I get a 2 MB speed here in the Midlands.

Calumon: If your going to think of me, can I have a hug then?

2mbs?

Fuck, im thrilled if i get a constant 150kps. Fuck Australia and its shit and expensive speed, im running ADSL for $59.95

OT: Also while im at it, fuck this demo type.

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

It sounds like Sony thinks a 1 hour demo is the same as playing a 15 hour full game, or thinks that the players see it this way... Which is insane, if you ask me.

Actually, I've had a few friends that get a quick gaming fix out of demos. Rather than buying a full game and playing it, they think "Shit, I've only got 1 hour to play per day" so they get a ton of demos and just play those. Sure, they're playing the same part over and over again, but they don't seem to care. The content is there, and there is JUST enough progression to get them into it.

I think it's a decent idea really. Play our demos instead of our games? Sure, we'll let you TRY it, but if you want to play a video game, then you have to BUY it.

 

[Omega V]

For the record, I consider this a terrible idea. Will the demo continue to degrade to the point of unplayability overtime? Even a minor degradation will almost certainly decrease or even eliminate my interest in buying the full game if the developer really has that low of an opinion of the consumer.

Calumon: If your going to think of me, can I have a hug then?

D'aawwwww of course! *Hugs Calumon* ^ ^

 

[oktalist]

The guy is making a cloud based system and he has the nerve to ask other people if they lost their minds?!

Basically this.

For me, the real disgrace is that it is possible to patent such a thing.

 

[ThreeKneeNick]

It sounds like Sony thinks a 1 hour demo is the same as playing a 15 hour full game, or thinks that the players see it this way... Which is insane, if you ask me.

Actually, I've had a few friends that get a quick gaming fix out of demos. Rather than buying a full game and playing it, they think "Shit, I've only got 1 hour to play per day" so they get a ton of demos and just play those. Sure, they're playing the same part over and over again, but they don't seem to care. The content is there, and there is JUST enough progression to get them into it.

I think it's a decent idea really. Play our demos instead of our games? Sure, we'll let you TRY it, but if you want to play a video game, then you have to BUY it.

I guess i didn't think of that. Well then it might not be such a bad idea, but it sort of does go against what demos are, a free snippet of your game that you freely give and players freely decide what to do with. Having it 'degrade' would be removing that little bit of control we have and as such is a bad thing.

 

[Phishfood]

This is like this massive fight to make incredibly complex DRM.

Stop wasting money on trash and just make a good game for gods sake. DRM has no noticable effect on sales, this will have no noticable effect on sales. Its DRM for demos.

Put all the money from DRM, whining about piracy and messing around with platform exclusives into making the game better by (say) hiring better writers.

 

[GodKlown]

Time limit systems make more sense than basically a game "degrading" over time. But I had a question about this system... does it work based on how long you've played it, or on how long you've had it on your memory?

Granted, this is just a patent. Perhaps Sony heard through the grapevine a rival was planning a similar idea, and wanted to beat them to the patent office to make some money on an idea they didn't actually plan on using themselves. From that perspective, it is just a business decision. In a game where there aren't leveling or upgrades, how would this system work? Does the screen start to darken until you can't see what you are doing anymore? This plan has some unclear flaws... but I wouldn't be surprised to see someone start doing this anyway. Perhaps make the main character start losing health every few minutes until you die, instant demo over. But then that's a little close to a time-based system, so that may not be the answer either.

 

[Jared]

I do think its a bad idea...why make it degradable? I remember having so much fun playing FFX demo until it came out...entertained me!

 

[OceanRunner]

Degradeable demos sound like a poor concept. A lot of gamers may decide on whether or not to buy a game before it's demo begins to "degrade".

 

[Dapper Ninja]

OT: Cloud based systems are doomed to fail until the problem with different internet connections is solved. I get a 2 MB speed here in the Midlands. Some people can't even get that.

Internet connections can be that slow? Now I feel like a spoiled rich kid with 54 MB/s. I'd give some of those megabytes to you if I could. Now I feel depressed.

OT: Cloud-based gaming is still a bad idea and degradable demos sound pretty bad, too. Though the idea of a crumbling game world made me think of Inception for a bit, so at least it's got that.