Good news God of War fans, there will in fact be a God of War III demo. Bad news, it’s going to cost you $40 to grab it. Sony Computer Entertainment has announced that players will be able to receive the God of War III demo with the purchase of the God of War Collection when it comes out November 10th.
The demo will be the exact gameplay that was shown at E3 2009 which can be viewed here. Director of product development John Hight also wanted to make it clear that the download code will be included with ALL copies of the God of War Collection and not a Gamestop pre-order bonus or anything along those lines.
This is a sweet deal for PS3 owners who haven’t experienced the bloody chaos of God of War to enjoy the first two games AND try out the forthcoming installment as well. For those who have their copies of God of War 1 & 2 firmly in hand, you’ll have to either shell out $40 for the games again or play it at a friend’s house because as of now, there is no other way to access the demo. Kind of a drag isn’t it….
What the!? What made this industry go bat-shit bonkers about these exclusive demo’s with pre-orders or certain other games? May I remind those lazy-ass suit-wearing marketing-noobs that a demo is a MARKETING TOOL, similar to commercials and other advertisements. A demo is an interactive advertisement and customers have never paid voor advertisements. Why in the blood-soaked name of Cthulhu should they ever start now? Demo’s are there to win over MORE customers, not to give out to those who are already going to buy the cursed game. I didn’t follow multiple years of marketing and communication lessons and a didn’t read piles of books regarding marketing for nothing.
See, I get the fact that you want to give some “bonus” to the fans. But make that something pre-order-like. Take Assassin’s Creed II for example. By pre-ordering the Black Edition (like I did), you get an Awesome (capital a, indeed) figurine, soundtrack, artbook and 3 in-game bonus missions. With the Demon’s Souls Deluxe Edition (Pre-ordered as well, hehe *w*) you get an Awesome artbook, strategy guide and soundtrack. With Brütal Legend, albeit small, you get an in-game Tenacious D guitar (the real one is limitedly made only for one lucky US citizen, Jack, Tim, and God).
The point being: demo’s do not make good pre-order goodies. And besides that, you’re making customers pay extra to see an interactive advertisement. You’re making them pay for something with the sole purpose of convincing them to buy your product.
I’m no communist, but this saddens and even sickens me quite a bit.
Issho!
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Did you not read? It says it’s included in the game, not as a pre-order bonus.
And in their defense, if you owned GOWI&II, there’s no way you won’t buy the third one. I think it’s a decent idea to include it for people who are on the edge, and can’t quite decide, since they’ll be getting a taste of all three games with just 30 dollars.
I read the article pretty well, thank you.
I’m npt trying to be a @ss or anything, but it’s quite a punk move if you ask me. A demo should be for everyone. It should make people excited to buy the game, preferably at full retail price. And THAT’s the thing: i bought both GOW I and II at the price of twenty euros. That’s a lot less than buying it at sixty euros. There are probably people like me to convince: buy the game at full retail, or wait until it gets a price drop? This category of customers is probably bigger than you (or hell, even I) think.
Just like commercials are for everyone to see, so should, in my terrifyingly hunble opinion, demos be treated.
That’s why I sound like I’m generalizing (and in doing that, making a fool of myself), but really I’m just trying to put my opinion into context.
calm down noobs, their putting the demo in the god of collection just so people can try the demo out early.. u only have to do this if you want to play the demo early on. they will release the demo on psn next year when the game is about to come out. this is only for trying the game early!!