Random Gaming Thoughts

Making demos available only to those who have already purchased the game has to be the dumbest trend of this generation.

Two recent examples. I was a big Tony Hawk game fan back in the day and was somewhat interested in buying the remake. I notice there's a demo available but it's only available to those who pre order the game. Then I'm browsing the PlayStation store and my wife notices there's a new Crash Bandicoot game, the only game she plays. Being a full price game and not something I'd typically buy, I was glad to see there is a demo available. But guess what? Only available if you buy the game....

The whole point of a demo is to convince people to buy the game so why would you make it only available to those who already bought it?
To trick people into thinking paying money to be granted the privilege of being able to play the game before anyone who didn't pre-order is a good idea, I imagine.
 
Depending on where you get your games you can cancel the pre-order after the demo. I did that with Shop-to after the Avengers Beta.

Worth doing :)
 
I forgot all about Streets of Rage 4. While there is nothing spectacular about the game its still a worthy entry into the Streets of Rage series and a good trip down nostalgia lane. The SOR series has always been known for its killer soundtracks and SOR4 fits right in. I gotta admit Sega is actually trying for a change.
 
Some Retroarch specialists there?

I'm trying to continue Metropolis Street Racer on Flycast but I'm in trouble. I've a MSR .bin file in my "saves" folder in Retroarch appdata folder but ingame, the game says I've no save.

If I boot the Dreamcast menu to explore my VMU content, there's no MSR file neither.

edit: Looks like the file is corrupted. The "VMU per game" feature is known to be buggy.
 
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How much is the top I should pay for a regular Xbox One (2013 model). I want to buy one just because it was my first system when started working on videogames and I am somehow attached to it.
 
How much is the top I should pay for a regular Xbox One (2013 model). I want to buy one just because it was my first system when started working on videogames and I am somehow attached to it.
looking to buy it secondhand? personally i would pay around £70

if you wait a bit, once the xbox series x comes out, a new xbox one s will probably sell for around £99
 
looking to buy it secondhand? personally i would pay around £70

if you wait a bit, once the xbox series x comes out, a new xbox one s will probably sell for around £99
Yeah, going second hand for sure. It is more a console to get for nostalgic reasons, and since I am thinking about Series X in couple of years I can skip a better One model
 
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To trick people into thinking paying money to be granted the privilege of being able to play the game before anyone who didn't pre-order is a good idea, I imagine.
Paying for a demo, what a joke.

The demo it's supposed to be free so you can play it and see if you liked the game or not. If you need to pre-order the game to play the demo, then the original purpose of it it's gone. It's madness.

Talking about demos, I played the Ghostrunner demo. Seems good, it's kinda Mirrors edge more lineal and has this speedrun stuff that reminds me to Celeste.
 
Paying for a demo, what a joke.

The demo it's supposed to be free so you can play it and see if you liked the game or not. If you need to pre-order the game to play the demo, then the original purpose of it it's gone. It's madness.

Talking about demos, I played the Ghostrunner demo. Seems good, it's kinda Mirrors edge more lineal and has this speedrun stuff that reminds me to Celeste.
I think they're tryna shift what demos are, from a video game equivalent of a trailer to a sneak preview of what you've purchased. I'm fine with that.

There was a study a few years back that suggested demos lead to lower sales figures, but I'm not entirely sure how the data was used to come to that conclusion, and could easily have been misinterpreted.
 
I think they're tryna shift what demos are, from a video game equivalent of a trailer to a sneak preview of what you've purchased. I'm fine with that.

There was a study a few years back that suggested demos lead to lower sales figures, but I'm not entirely sure how the data was used to come to that conclusion, and could easily have been misinterpreted.
Lemme guess. Those studies were financed by the same companies that now are forcing you to pre-order it to play the demo.
 
One of my very first Games on PC was "Commander Blood". I don't know if this game is a beloved game but it is one of the craziest experiences with a videogame. There was a music-video called "You" and there were robots and aliens like from the muppett show. I never played to the end.
 
Lemme guess. Those studies were financed by the same companies that now are forcing you to pre-order it to play the demo.
Demos are more or less a waste of resources, they take time to produce and most of the times make people not buying the game than they do. Youtuber and lets play videos generate more possible sales than demos and also are a lot cheaper to do.

So generating "demos" for people that are already buying your game and might created entitlement defend the game is still silly but makes the same or more sense than a general demo that has 0 guarantees of being effective.
 
Demos are more or less a waste of resources, they take time to produce and most of the times make people not buying the game than they do. Youtuber and lets play videos generate more possible sales than demos and also are a lot cheaper to do.

So generating "demos" for people that are already buying your game and might created entitlement defend the game is still silly but makes the same or more sense than a general demo that has 0 guarantees of being effective.

If there's a demo available, I'd prefer to play the demo instead of watching gameplay on youtube
 
there is a bit of talk online regarding a possible mini sega dreamcast coming out soon,

..realistically, how many dreamcast games could they fit on a mini console?
 

Wow, another KickStarter game gone south (Not that I am suggesting that of Shenmue 3). It's a shame as the game seems really decent too - I was very close to getting it on disc until i learned of the DLC But looks like we won't get a complete Edition now, a real shame.
 
20 years ago I purchased Devil May Cry. Unbeknownst to me, I was right near the end (fighting the Nightmare boss) when I celebrated too early, the boss revived and killed me. I then rage quit and sold the game as I had tried to beat that boss too many times. I've now just completed the game and can put the shame firmly behind me.
 
I actually kind of like FFXIII now that I'm replaying it a decade later... Like, more than FFX, which I didn't really like when I played it a couple years ago for the first time on Vita. Not sure what the hell is wrong with me.

there is a bit of talk online regarding a possible mini sega dreamcast coming out soon,

..realistically, how many dreamcast games could they fit on a mini console?
I have mixed feelings on that because
  • While Dreamcast is my favorite console, skipping the Saturn feels wrong.
  • Saturn would also honestly benefit more from a pragmatic sense since way more people in the west never got to play most of its games. Saturn emulation is also still way worse than DC emulation (which isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination either, but is pretty dang good with Flycast) due to input lag in all of the Saturn emulators.
  • I'm generally just not into mini consoles, yet I feel like I would have to buy a DC one out of some weird sense of loyalty.
IF this is true, then I assume Sega's line of thinking is "more people played DC in the west when they were younger, so more people will buy a DC mini to play those same games again". This line of thinking is true to a large extent, yes, but also completely ass-backwards imo and part of why we have a million ports of Sonic 1 but not one of Planet Harriers. There are other reasons as to why they'd port Sonic 1 again as opposed to a Naomi 2 game such as higher cost of porting, way bigger brand, etc etc, but... Fucking hell Sega, just port more of your unported games already! I promise there is demand among enthusiasts for all this stuff that either can't be played at home or can't be played at home easily and effectively.
 
For any Power Drift fans out there, this is a cool looking game heavily inspired by it -
One to keep an eye on.
 
I actually kind of like FFXIII now that I'm replaying it a decade later... Like, more than FFX, which I didn't really like when I played it a couple years ago for the first time on Vita. Not sure what the hell is wrong with me.
Absolutely nothing. You're a perfectly sane and rational human being. Enjoy it.
 
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