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Posted: Mar 05 2010 11:24 pm

Found this posted up at engadget and thought I'd share it to see what youre opinions were on this.

Quote:

Want more evidence of the patent degradation of modern society? Well, here's Sony with its latest idea for selling games. The feature-eroding demo concept gives the user the full game to start off with, but then grows increasingly more limited the more you play it. In racing games, that means the number of tracks you can race on gradually dwindles, whereas in classically themed smack-em-ups like God of War your sword, erm... well, it also dwindles. We're kind of on the fence about this -- on the one hand, it's hilariously insulting to the user as it perpetually nags him about what a cheapskate he is for not purchasing the entire game, and yet on the other it does at least let you taste the full breadth of the game, albeit for a limited time. However you may feel, this is still at the application stage, but given the patent office's recent track record, there's no reason why Sony should be denied the rights over this supposed innovation.

Here's a link to the page http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/sony-patents-degradable-video-game-demos-illustrates-the-idea/

Posted: Mar 06 2010 12:08 am

It's a demo. You didn't pay for it. Therefore, they can apply whatever terms they want for its use.

I think a patent is overdoing it, though.

Posted: Mar 06 2010 12:20 am

The-Excel wrote:

It's a demo. You didn't pay for it. Therefore, they can apply whatever terms they want for its use.

I think a patent is overdoing it, though.

i agree w/this

except, i recall playing the Tony Hawk demo on the PS1 for hours and hours, so that would upset me if they had that technology back then.

Joined: Feb 22 2010 Posts: 351

I usually erase a demo right after I play it

Posted: Mar 06 2010 02:16 am

Godofhardcore wrote:

I usually erase a demo right after I play it

Same here. I might play through a demo a few times unless it of course has multiplayer support and then I might play the multiplayer portion until the retail version comes out and I can buy it. The last demo I remember playing through multiple times was Batman Arkham Aslyum just to see if I could be more stealthy in the second section.

But of course what will happen with this new kind of "demo" is it will eventually be cracked and it will have a crack that makes the game think you've only played it once when in fact you've been playing it for months. So in turn a free full game. People will find a way to crack this, guaranteed. So this is not a good idea for Sony in my opinion.

Title: Hugh Joined: Sep 23 2007 Posts: 1591

I agree that people will find a way around it, but doing something like this will still definitely stop a lot of people from going around it. Everyone and their brother uses emulators, but the Wii's Virtual Console is still doing just fine. Some people will steal the full games, too, but there'll still be people who won't. No matter what they do, some people will play by their rules, others won't.

Posted: Mar 06 2010 03:33 am

Current demos are restrictive enough. I thought the 60 minute limit for the Plants v. Zombies demo was generous. One hour later I thought it wasn't enough. How crafty of them.

Posted: Mar 06 2010 04:19 am

It sounds more like they're setting this up more like the Quake demo disc from back in the day with the full game there to buy. It's an interesting idea, I just wonder if they want to sell all their media like that in the future. If thats the case it may end used PS3 games.

Posted: Mar 06 2010 07:21 am

I just don't really see the point. Why do demos this way? The current demo system (give people a level or two, or an hour of gameplay) has worked pretty well for the last 20 years, so why fuck with it?

Anyone should be able to determine whether or not they want to buy a game after playing it for an hour.

Posted: Mar 06 2010 11:03 am

This sounds like an interesting idea on the surface, but I think it would come off as frustrating and perhaps even deterring in execution.

Posted: Mar 06 2010 11:59 am

What would be funny is if they actually gave you the full game and then start eroding features off it. So you could beat God of War 3 without buying it, provided you beat it in three hours.

Posted: Mar 06 2010 01:59 pm

Also, I still don't think I fully understand what Sony is trying to do with this.

Posted: Mar 06 2010 02:04 pm

Pandajuice wrote:

I just don't really see the point. Why do demos this way? The current demo system (give people a level or two, or an hour of gameplay) has worked pretty well for the last 20 years, so why fuck with it?

Anyone should be able to determine whether or not they want to buy a game after playing it for an hour.

I agree, what's the point of reinventing the wheel?

Posted: Mar 06 2010 02:09 pm

We can make it faster and wheelier!

Posted: Mar 06 2010 02:15 pm

I've sat through enough pointless meetings throughout my corporate career to learn to loath them, and their faster and wheelier consequences.

On top of the earlier mentioned eventual security breach, and what Panda said regarding the point of it all if the existing situation works just fine, what am curious to know is how much money and time did they waste to replace something that doesn't need to be replaced in the first place?

Posted: Mar 06 2010 06:23 pm

I think there would be people that would try to beat the eroding demos as a challenge. Heck, it could be more fun than the actual game depending on how the game erodes.

Posted: Mar 06 2010 08:31 pm

jackfrost wrote:

I think there would be people that would try to beat the eroding demos as a challenge. Heck, it could be more fun than the actual game depending on how the game erodes.

that thought crossed my mind as well. if you have the master sword for example, but then it keeps downgrading until you only have the wooden sword or deku stick, that might make the demo more challenging/fun

Posted: Mar 06 2010 11:36 pm

Not Sure will never have to buy a game again for the PS3, that is for sure.

Posted: Mar 07 2010 04:44 am

username wrote:

jackfrost wrote:

I think there would be people that would try to beat the eroding demos as a challenge. Heck, it could be more fun than the actual game depending on how the game erodes.

that thought crossed my mind as well. if you have the master sword for example, but then it keeps downgrading until you only have the wooden sword or deku stick, that might make the demo more challenging/fun

That would be fucking annoying! Fighting Stalfos with a deku stick? Oh, it's terrible!