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Nintendo sort of interested in WiiWare demos ... maybe photo

One of the smartest things Microsoft has done with Xbox LIVE Arcade is make demos a requirement for each and every game, and furthermore, made it so upgrading to the full version is a mere button press away. Really, it's hard not to impulse buy because of the way everything is set up.

At a Q&A session held during an earnings briefing for Nintendo, CEO Satoru Iwata spoke with investors about a newfound interest in providing WiiWare demos later this month. But wait a second -- as of this time, this will be nothing more than a test for a few games.

Nintendo wants to see if demos will help expand the market for WiiWare and DSiWare, but Iwata isn't confident this move will immediately fix the problem, hence it being just a test. If you ask me, such a plan is certainly not going to hurt anything.

While there are currently a lot of unknowns -- which games will be getting demos, what regions this applies to, etc. -- this is something you'd all be interested in seeing, right? Are there any games in particular you've always wanted to try without blindly buying them?

[Via IGN]


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19 comments | showing # 1 to 19

Cowboy TTop's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/03/2009 20:40
Cowboy TTop
They could have been doing this ages ago, but lacked the vision and the will, on top of a poor Wii design without a hard drive..

Give demos for those, and normal Wii games too. A big SD card will be needed, though.
Jonathan Holmes's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/03/2009 20:43
Jonathan Holmes
Personally, I think demos are a bad idea for publishers. I've never bought a game that I demoed first.

Peter Molyneux thinks so too.
SoraX911's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/03/2009 21:01
SoraX911
They should considers this. With some not so great titles going there and some killer gems, Might as well try before you buy.
Jon B's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/03/2009 21:02
Jon B
Frequently I download demos as not a little taster to give me an idea of what the game's like, but to be able to play a bit of it early.

Left 4 Dead 2's demo proves this by rewarding the people who already bought it with early access.
Doomsday Forte's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/03/2009 21:04
Doomsday Forte
This is one thing the iPhone does right, mostly. Most games have demos and while there's no one-button buy option, it's still enough of a taste to give you the idea if you want it or not--the whole point of a demo, right?

There are a number of people who would pirate a game because there's no demo and they don't want to blow n amount of money on an unsure thing. ...but then they'd probably keep the "demo" if it's good, so uh...yeah...
mrandydixon's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/03/2009 21:04
mrandydixon
@Jonathan Holmes

Interesting, I'm the exact opposite (of both you and Molyneux, apparently). I end up buying well over half the games that I download the demo for. I guess it's because I must be at the very least mildly interested in the game to bother downloading the demo to begin with, and the small taste I normally get from playing the demo is rarely enough.

Also, like Jordan mentioned, on XBLA it's just so goddamn easy to buy the full version of the game from within the main menu of the demo (in fact, all you gotta do is push X) that it practically begs me to do it. I'm a terrible impulse buyer, but I thankfully never suffer from buyer's remorse. (I guess I'm their demographic.)

I just wish PSN would wake the fuck up and make their online marketplace experience a little more enjoyable. I normally get so frustrated at their lack of screenshots/descriptions/demos of games that I end up O-ing out before downloading anything at all.
Jonathan Holmes's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/03/2009 21:13
Jonathan Holmes
@ mrandydixon- Well, I'm betting there are a lot more people out there like you than there are like me and Molyneux. From what I'm told, XBLA consistently outsells PSN, and PSN out sells WiiWare, even though there are way more Wiis out there than anything else. I bet the demos have a lot to do with that.

And hey, I'm not going to be sad if Nintendo lets me play free games.
mrandydixon's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/03/2009 21:16
mrandydixon
@Jonathan Holmes

Hell yeah. I can't wait to play a demo for Super Mario Bros 3. That way I can finally find out if it's any good.
Xzyliac's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/03/2009 21:22
Xzyliac
I download demos out of boredom and in turn I end up discovering and buying a lot of things I would've never even noticed existed.
Dexter345's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/03/2009 21:29
Dexter345
@Holmes: Just because you've never bought a game that you demoed first does not mean that nobody has ever bought a game that he hasn't demoed first. I think we need more data.
Paroxysm's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/03/2009 21:50
Paroxysm
After experiencing the awful quality of some wiiware they completely lost my business. I have some leftover points but they only get used on big releases (world of goo, lost winds 2, etc) and I won't be buying more points after they're used up. Demos would change that.
GohanGVO's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/03/2009 22:26
GohanGVO
Games I want to try before I buy (even though I have seen a lot of YouTube footage of them):

Lit.
Evasive Space.
Bit.Trip Beat.
Swords & Soldiers.
Let's CATCH.
Bit.Trip Core.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord.
You, Me & The Cubes.
bobyoko's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/03/2009 23:19
bobyoko
@ GohanGVO

i can help you out with a few of those. buy the bit trip games for sure. lit really isn't worth it, you'll play it once, and figure out that it doesn't make much sense. you're on your own for the others tho, although i'm still kinda itchin to give swords n soldiers a try...
pedrovay2003's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/03/2009 23:43
pedrovay2003
Pretty much EVERY game on the Wii should have demos now. Download and retail games should all have demos since we can have 32gb SD cards in the console now. At least retail is rentable, though -- We need demos for WiiWare games.
peachboy's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/04/2009 00:09
peachboy
bring back shareware
flabzilla's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/04/2009 08:39
flabzilla
I'm sure with demos sitting on there more people would actually browse the channel and see whats on there, more of a reason to visit it and try shit out, giving the games there more exposure.

As for retail, even if they couldn't have downloadable demos they should have at the very lease been giving demo disks away with there official magazine.
The-Excel's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/04/2009 08:59
The-Excel
I want to know why Nintendo hasn't bothered with in-store kiosk demos for normal Wii games when they did the same for the Gamecube and DS.
Your Moms Hot Lover's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/04/2009 09:52
Your Moms Hot Lover
I love the demos on xbla. I try everything I'm remotely interested in and it definately helps me decide what I'm getting. I don't think I spend more or less than I otherwise would, but it helps me avoid buyer remorse for sure. For example - I ain't going to get Left 4 Dead 2 on release date now as it kind of left me underwhelmed.

I've bought two wiiware titles to date. One was World Of Goo. (Only Wii game I actually still play). The other I got burned on - Sandy Beach - meant to be a kids game but the controls are not kid friendly - a demo would have saved me there.

that said, even with demos I have no intention of putting more money into my Wii as at this point I have lost all faith that good games are coming.
Jaffacakelover's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/05/2009 14:32
Jaffacakelover
If I don't play the demo of a game, I don't trust it. While this saves money, it also means that I missed out on the first Left 4 Dead. And Unreal. And almost every Wii and DS game in existence.
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