Unreal II Demo Released

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Posted by simoniker on Thursday May 1, 2003 @01:31PM from the last-train-to-na-pali dept.

G9o writes "The demo for Unreal II: The Awakening has been released. The 153MB file is available for download at Fileplanet or FileShack. Originally Epic said they weren't going to release a demo for it, but perhaps the mediocre reception changed their mind?" In related news, French games site FactorNews are hosting a press document that claims "Unreal II" for Xbox, "Unreal Assault" for PS2 and "Unreal Tournament 2004" for PC will all be shown by Infogrames at E3, albeit possibly behind closed doors.

20 of 272 comments (clear)

A better place to download by Control-Z · 2003-05-01 13:33 · Score: 5, Insightful

I usually download whatever I can from http://3dgamers.com You don't get all the crap that FilePlanet puts you through.
1. Re:A better place to download by paulpuddles · 2003-05-01 13:34 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Yeah, if I wanted to wait in queue for hours, i could just go on IRC and get the whole thing ;)
2. Re:A better place to download by Anonymous Coward · 2003-05-01 13:55 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  $72 a year to download game demos. Sorry fella, I gotta eat.
3. Re:A better place to download by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · 2003-05-01 14:54 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  $6/month for one service, that I would rarely use. Doesn't make sense.
  
  I see a lot of "subscription services" starting up with unrealistic expectations. How many people can afford to pay $5 a month for EVERYTHING that they use occasionally? not fucking many. One reason why I haven't subscribed to WineX. I dont' want to encourage that. I don't want to encourage media companies to try to charge me $3.50/ week to access content that I'd rather purchase outright for a reasonable price (see DVDs) either.
  
  If Epic or any other publisher really expects to continue to use demos to promote their product THEY NEED TO FOOT THE FUCKING BANDWIDTH BILL. Just like in the early days of Quake, et al. A free demo isn't a free demo if you're bludgeoned into paying a subscription fee, or flooded with unnecessary Java download applets.
  
  Lots of companies seem to think that subscriptions, or "software as a service" >spit are a sure way to "guaranteed revenue" in this post dotcom economy. They haven't done the fucking math, or they wouldn't be trying to charge $5 and more for the subscriptions. If you want an GUARANTEED revenue,l you're going to have to lower your per-head expectations. Because once EVERYONE is wanting their $5 of flesh a month, people will have to start making choices about what they reallty want/need, and YOUR product may be the one that gets flushed down the toilet.
  
  --
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4. Re:A better place to download by pimpybra · 2003-05-01 16:03 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  What is this 'outside' you are talking about?
  I dont trust your lies!
purple argh by wadiwood · 2003-05-01 13:34 · Score: 4, Funny

who knew purple could be so bright and its my favourite colour but I don't think I can handle this shade of unreal purple.

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-- it must be true, it's on the internet.
maybe? by deadsaijinx* · 2003-05-01 13:36 · Score: 4, Interesting

Just my thoughts here, but releasing the demo probably won't help. Don't get me wrong, I loved Unreal, and I play UT2003 at least once a week, but Unreal2 is just crappy. Wait, here me through. The game has spiders in it, and that tells us ONE thing, they ran out of ideas. Sorry, but it's true, they just couldn't muster the quality you want in a game. So, in my way of thinking, a demo of a bad game isn't going to boost sales, since people will see just how mediocre the game is.

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YOU SUCK BALLS!
1. Re:maybe? by Slime-dogg · 2003-05-01 16:55 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Conversely: Epic will put the single best level in the demo (maybe the defense level w/ sniper rifles and artillary). Then people will get it, be wowed by the amazing graphics, have their heart pounding because they think that it's so exciting...
  
  Then they'll buy the game and find that it has a thin plot that doesn't seem to go anywhere. Seriously, the plot is the same as Zelda... mainly get pieces of this miraculous old-technology and then face the evil of all evils.
  
  :Yawn: The parent has it right. The game content sucks. The presentation is astounding. I justify my purchase of it as supporting the research and development of the engine. (Heh... kinda like Wolf3d-the original, Doom, Heretic, Quake, Quake 3......) Sorry, but the original ID games have the same problem. They were brand new to the market, which is why they did so well. I play the original Doom now, and I know where every secret door is, I know how to get every single item, I can play on Nightmare with custom respawn and beat the game. It just doesn't have a plot.
  
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Ahh, the old days.. by Masem · 2003-05-01 13:38 · Score: 4, Insightful

I remember way back when when they released demos BEFORE the game hit the shelves, as to give people a chance to play it before buying and as to hopefully make them buy it at full price rather than stale bargain bin prices.
Mind you, 100meg+ demos aren't very EASY to transfer nowadays, much less with the terrible state of sites like FilePlanet, etc. (Has anyone considered a positive use of P2P to split such large files over several clients?)...

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1. Re:Ahh, the old days.. by deadsaijinx* · 2003-05-01 13:50 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  It's really for marketing, it makes more sense to just feed them little bits and peices, maybe one level before it's released. maybe. They turn plenty of profit keeping the lid on it. Of course, for those epic games that everyone wants to play (DOOM3), a demo would just kinda ruin it. I wouldn't download a demo for DOOM3, it would just kinda ruin the fun of playing it for the first time once i've boughten it.
  
  on a lighter note, you can easily find the demo on a p2p network. Just search for "full insert game title here", and 90% of those files will be demos.
  
  --
  YOU SUCK BALLS!
2. Re:Ahh, the old days.. by ewhenn · 2003-05-01 14:05 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  (Has anyone considered a positive use of P2P to split such large files over several clients?)
  
  Im not trolling here. If the company wants to boost sales (or attempt to) by releasing a demo, they should be the ones to supply the bandwith for it. They should not rely, or expect, a user base to pay for an internet connection to distribute their files, so they can profit.
Yep, it'll be a good game by Drummer_Dan · 2003-05-01 13:38 · Score: 4, Funny

This screen is enough to tell me it's good: http://www.unreal2.com/screens/pc/2b.jpg

Now I just have to stand in line at file planet for 60 mins.

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-- When all else fails, read the instructions --
1. Re:Yep, it'll be a good game by 19Buck · 2003-05-01 13:51 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Now I just have to stand in line at file planet for 60 mins.
  The Unreal engine has never looked better if you ask me, and the ragdoll physics just rock.
  The story however, completely sucks. Absolutely nothing memorable or original about it. enemy AI is dumber than a brick (of course) as well.
  Weapons are completely uninspired. your starting weapon is quite good, and throughout the game, you pick up quite a few new ones, but there is just no overwhelming tactical reasons to switch weapons at all.
  Save your money till this one is in the bargain bin.
Bittorrent!!! by SuperCal · 2003-05-01 13:39 · Score: 4, Interesting

If slashdot would offer a bittorrent streams for subscribers... Anyway, anyone already got it want to set up a torrent?

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This is getting old by gurnb · 2003-05-01 14:06 · Score: 4, Interesting

I must be the only one that doesn't have to have the latest and the greatest.
I don't want a game that requires me to have to upgrade my current machine to the hilt just to play it.
The original UNREAL & UNREAL Tourn. were great, and they still run on my machine.

My reward for upgrading my machine and getting the latest version of UT will still bring the same result. I'll be FRAG'd repeatedly & often. But that doesn't mean I'll have anymore fun than I do now with a version I already have. No.

I find myself enjoying games like Out Of The Park 5 (www.ootp5.com) where it's all about the game play/story, NOT the 1.5 trillion Polygons that were drawn on my screen in the last 30 miliseconds

I think I'm getting old. . .I've spent to much time away from playing games on my PC 24/7, and mistakingly developed a life!

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"This must be a Thursday, I never could get the hang of Thursdays."
they ran out of ideas over a year ago by August_zero · 2003-05-01 14:09 · Score: 5, Interesting

Sadly, Unreal Tournament seems to have been the high watermark for this paticular franchise. I bought UT2003, and i liked it, but it was the same game, albeit with nicer graphics of course.

What's peeved me the most, is I remember playing Unreal 1 and UT for the first time, and being impressed with the array of weapons you had to play with. They were not the typical pistol-shotgun-machinegun-rocket cliches that most every other FPS had accepted as the gospel of arsenals. You had a goofy blade that could bounce off walls, a Snot-Gun, a 6 barrled rocket launcher and so on. You get UT2003 and there is nothing new (the ion-gun doesn't count since it's in only about a quarter of the maps)

The unreal 2 pops up and well the series seems then to be in trouble.

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1. Re:they ran out of ideas over a year ago by Sycraft-fu · 2003-05-01 17:13 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  UT 2003 wasn't really intended to be anything new. What Epic has realised is that with most multi-player FPSes, there are two big places to make money: the mods and the engine. UT 2003, like the orignal, is very, very moddable. There are already tons of mods out there and tons more will come. Go find yourself one you like. All the 3d FPSes I've ever played online have been for a mod, not for the orignal game.
  
  The other, and probably even bigger way Epic expects it to make them money is the engine. UT 2003 is the for sale, show off version of the new Unreal engine. Many companies are intrested in liscencing this engine technology for use in their games. Splinter Cell, for example, is an Unreal engine game using the new UT 2003 codebase.
  
  So for their purposes, just doing UT over again and better was enough. Look at Quake and Quake 2. There was nothing new with Quake 2 single player, same old shit. The built-in multiplayer was the same stuff too. However, it had nifty new graphics and got modded all over the place.
Re:wow, they must be running out of ideas by exhilaration · 2003-05-01 14:28 · Score: 4, Funny

i literally worshiped that cd.
Hmmm..... so you literally worshipped that CD, eh? Can you share your philosophy and rituals (human sacrifices perhaps?) with the rest of us? Can your CD perform miracles? Perhaps turning water into Mountain Dew? Those of us seeking guidance thank you!
Could all the criticism by stratjakt · 2003-05-01 15:10 · Score: 5, Interesting

Be based on the fact that FPS GAMES ARE BORING?

I mean, all this "the story stinks", "the levels are the same". This can all be said about any FPS game that comes out. This can be said about Doom 3 even before it comes out.

Same old run around and shoot, all thats new is eye candy.

People keep paying for FPS and then compaining "this one sucks!"

FPS games just aren't fun. Get over it.

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Re:wow, they must be running out of ideas by Some+Dumbass... · 2003-05-01 15:25 · Score: 4, Funny

Hmmm..... so you literally worshipped that CD, eh? Can you share your philosophy and rituals (human sacrifices perhaps?) with the rest of us? Can your CD perform miracles? Perhaps turning water into Mountain Dew? Those of us seeking guidance thank you!

He worshipped the shiny side, and the mighty deity whose image he saw in it.