Wii Warm Up: Try before you buy

by Alisha Karabinus { Jun 26th 2008 at 8:00AM }

Yesterday, we discussed WiiWare and whether or not the service has delivered, and an interesting issue came up in the comments: demos. Or rather, the lack of demos for WiiWare titles.Of course, this isn't really new; we've long discussed a possible need for demos for Virtual Console games, but it might arguably be more important to have demos for WiiWare titles. After all, the VC games have been around for years and there are tons of screenshots, videos, reviews, and playable copies of those games available, which is not exactly the case for most WiiWare titles. Would you be more inclined to use the service if there were demos for the available games?

Tags: demo

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jerrios @ Jun 26th 2008 8:09AM

Absolutely. I don't like spending a penny until I've actually tried something out when it comes to digital downloads.

WiiTodd @ Jun 26th 2008 8:21AM

Yes.

Rocketboy @ Jun 26th 2008 8:49AM

You have to ask? YES!

Phil @ Jun 26th 2008 8:50AM

Yessir. I've only ever bought one VC game I hadn't played previously and actually wasn't very happy with it. I haven't gotten any WiiWare games yet, becausr a lot of them seem overpriced from what I read. ($10 for a 3 hour LostWinds game?) I'd be 100% more willing to pay $10 for some of them if i knew how fun they were.

On the other hand, I've already went out to buy 2 DS games after trying their demos on the Nintendo Channel.

theMediaman @ Jun 26th 2008 9:03AM

This week I bought Space Invaders Extreme for PSP because I haven't been able to stop playing the demo... and it's in Japanese! I would never have considered this game without the demo.

Demos sell games with low marketing budgets. It's as simple as that. GTA4 didn't need a demo to sell a million copies, but stuff like WiiWare could really benefit from such a strategy.

CJLopez @ Jun 26th 2008 2:39PM

Why should there be a demo of GTAIV, its GTA3 with more polygons.

Now, if we think about it, GTA3 is the demo of GTAIV, man, rockstar do thinks about future releases. Maybe Vice City and San Andreas are demos too... xDDDDD

Blue_Falcon @ Jun 26th 2008 9:40AM

Not having demos is inexcusable, in my opinion. The XBLA method of of downloading the entire game, but locking everything except for a few levels is sensible, and probably not nearly as costly as Nintendo implies it to be.

guttertalk @ Jun 26th 2008 9:42AM

I thought I was more inclined to buy a game if I played the demo, but I've found that demos might influence me to not buy a game, but not to buy one. I try a lot of demos on the 360, and I have bought none of those games, particularly the trials for the arcade games.

For many of those arcade games, the trial has enough gameplay to satisfy me, such as the Lost Cities trial.

As a gamer, I've wanted demos, but from a publishers perspective, I think they do more harm than good. Sure, the occasional game benefits from a demo, but I think for Wiiware games, which are usually shorter anyway, the demo would not benefit the publisher.

I think if we were even considering the game, the reviews and trailers would be sufficient. In fact, there was a study recently that showed trailers sell games better than demos.

sn1per @ Jun 26th 2008 9:44AM

I'd like some demos for regular Wii games too. Why can't we get this on the Nintendo Channel?

CJLopez @ Jun 26th 2008 2:40PM

Because there's no space to install the games. Maybe in the near future we'll get something like this, when we get storage, xD

Dan Davis @ Jun 26th 2008 10:10AM

I probably would've purchased Boom Blox if they released a nice demo for it.

Rocketboy @ Jun 26th 2008 2:48PM

The German Boom Blox page has a 2d demo... and yes, I'm much more interested in it, but still, not at what they want to charge.

SoshiKitai @ Jun 26th 2008 2:59PM

If you look at it one way: The price is for the experience, mainly in parties. You're paying for the cost of the game + the many times you'll use it in parties.
No one who has bought it has seriously regretted it, and most agree the price is worth it.

antho @ Jun 26th 2008 11:03AM

Add my vote for demos of WiiWare titles and VC titles.

I've had my Wii since launch day and have downloaded a total of 4 VC titles and 2 WiiWare titles. With VC games I've limited myself to titles that I missed the first time around and knew I would like (ie: Paper Mario 64) the only VC title I bought based on glowing reviews was Gunstar Heroes and, frankly, I think it sucks.

WiiWare has been a mixed bag; I think Lost winds is great and worth the money, GyroStarr however just doesn't cut it. I'd return it if I could.

Demos would definitely help. So would reducing the price of VC title by 30% acrross the board. WiiWare pricing seems OK so far.

PunchyMcJunk @ Jun 26th 2008 11:10AM

This seems like a rather obvious answer to me. PCs have been doing demos for eons, and it flat out works. Next-Gen consoles have embraced it, and most fans have very few complaints about it. It might not influence you to buy every time, but it will help you make a more informed decision on what is out there, and get you to try a game or genre that you might not normally get all that excited about.

Felipe Torres @ Jun 26th 2008 1:28PM

I'm actually indifferent to demos for games as my main concern is the hard drive space, or lack thereof. I do, though, understand the public's want for demos, so even though I wouldn't use them, I would say its a good idea to have them, and that they should be implemented whenever possible.

SoshiKitai @ Jun 26th 2008 2:01PM

I'm a gambler.
I like buying before I try.

And most times? I learn to love the game, no matter how much reviewers or players hated it.
That's what always makes it worth it.

...demos... well... they can often lead you astray.
There are just some games that are only fun after playing it more than once, or playing certain different stages not listed in the demo.