Fallout 3 will not have a demo

I do have a certain sympathy for Bethesda's viewpoint on this one, because I can easily accept the argument that a demo wouldn't give a true sense of the gameplay.

Actually, they're almost damned if they do, damned if they don't. If they made a demo which is action-heavy, then they risk confirming the worst expectations of Fallout fans like us. On the other hand, a demo with more character-building content (like, for instance, a potted demo of the Vault section), might alienate that newer, action oriented, Bethesda fanbase that they've been building.

A balanced demo might simply require too many resources for a return that may well not be matched, especially given the huge positive hype they're already building up.

Actually, come to think of it, the number of bugged - rather, buggered - demos I've come across over the years is huge. Often, they've put me off buying games, because it seems that I might not be able to play the game. (And when I take a punt on them from the bargain bin, they sometimes work fine.) It is almost a wonder that anybody does release demos.
 
Hi guys,

Last night this thought suddenly entered my mind when I was thinking about second hand games.
As you may know, games that use STEAM such as Half Life 2 etc. can't be sold to other users because your user info is stored on it.

Who says that Fallout 3 will not use a similar gimmick, making it impossible to sell on.
 
I'm coming into this a little late, but I wanted to add that I think the real reason Bethesda doesn't do demos is due to their games being so, err, buggy. To their credit, they have gotten more stable since the days of Daggerfall, but I still recall Oblivion crashing an awful lot - like whenever I tried to minimize it. That's just sloppy, and it gives me the impression that they spend all of their time right up to release hacking stuff together to get it to work. Maybe it just isn't ready yet quality-wise and they don't want to publicly admit it.

Of course, this is all wild speculation, but just tossing it out there.
 
What Demo?

What Demo?



Had sub's to several game rags in the ancient 1990's.

Do not recall a single preview or review in the present mode of gushing prose and 4 color glossy pages in full spread glory.

Only recall a side column insert, with a brief gesture to the main quest line, and a pic smaller than most of ya'all's sig's.

Some mention of Wasteland, some latent recall of Interplay and the Bard's Tale series.

Was culling the used and return software bin.

At a new release, open box, (small discount), price was FO.

Box art confirmed the Wasteland theme.

The man that had sold me 2 Amiga-s in that long ago decade, and then, new and used PC pieces and parts, said: "good game".

1998? Dial up a blazing 30-something-k bps. Demo's were only convenient on Mag CD's.
Maybe American rags never had the buxom CD's that Euro Mags had.
So. In Columbus Ohio, early 1998, what FO demo?

Still the dark ages where BOX ART mattered.

Price at point of sale mattered.

Word of mouth mattered.


Repeat this Virginia Woolf quote.

""The less we see, the more we believe.""

Bethesda is as much about selling a belief system as they are about selling a software title.

The warm and fuzzy glow of the status quo is a proven sales instigator.

Some would be content with the risk of buying and playing a game, let the mud crabs fall where they may.

Others are enraptured by this ''GAME OF THE YEAR'' theology that is being pontificated by B-soft PR, and proselytized by most (?) of the game entertainment trade press.

I would rather the pitch be to the game 'as is',

Pete can throw a few fast ones, Todd a few spitter's, Emil a flurry of 'nucker's,

and this whole schtick of Bethesda's entitlement to god, gold, and glory [Gott Mitt Uns!] seems joined at the hip,

and reeks that this 'is' the only game in town, ... , ''the fix is on.''




4too
 
4too said:
Bethesda is as much about selling a belief system as they are about selling a software title
Click to expand...

Heh, ain't that the truth. They're always asking for blind faith (as in "trust us, the dialogue is really good"), and the funny thing is that they still get it even after Oblivion.

The lack of a demo is sorta the norm for games nowadays, so I'm not really riled up about it. Still, their excuse is pretty lame, seeing as the Fallout demo did exactly what they claim is impossible for its successor.
 
Well, I'm not going to be one of those tools that just buys something on name alone. A demo could have woo'ed me, but that's out. So I guess only several good reviews from non brownnosing sites have a chance now. Though even if that came to be, I'd probably just assume the invasion of the body snatchers has begun.
 
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