Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Game Sites Rebel Over Exclusive Demos

Posted by simoniker on from the dissention-in-the-ranks dept.

Thanks to Shacknews for their open letter regarding Activision's Call Of Duty demo for PC, which will apparently be initially exclusive (with some file-based protection?) to GameSpy's FilePlanet subscribers. The letter announces that "...the following websites will not be carrying the Call of Duty playable demo, even after its exclusivity is over", and includes notable signatories such as Blue's News and Shacknews themselves. The appeal continues: "The above-listed websites hope to show Activision that the enthusiast industry is strongly opposed to the idea of exclusive demo releases. Feedback from our users shows that gamers hate to be forced through a single point of congestion if they want a demo right away... Deals like this hurt the industry much more than they could possibly enhance a single relationship." Update: 08/29 06:25 GMT by S : Activision have bowed to pressure, and will make the demo available everywhere, non-exclusively, from Friday night.

15 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. well by toddhunter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    you can't blame them too much for trying something like this. Is there any chance we will be seeing more of it? Nah I think not.
    Game developers want you to play their demos, so pulling something like this, which can only limit the number of people playing it, is sure to fail.
    It's the old rule of the internet, anything you can buy somewhere, you can get free somewhere else. It won't be long before a gaming site that apposes this stuff becomes popular and so the cycle will continue

    1. Re:well by BrookHarty · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Actually, with demos reaching almost a gig on release, using fileplanet was the best method to get new files. But now with bittorrent, new releases should be easier than ever to download.

    2. Re:well by Goldberg's+Pants · · Score: 2, Interesting

      ANY P2P service would be good for releasing demos on. Fileplanet is a HEINOUS site. I hate having to go there for ANYTHING unless I have too.

      Releasing your demo exclusively through them is idiocy. I mean speak up if you do, but I don't know ANYONE who has anything but bad things to say about Fileplanet. (I also don't know anyone who is a member either.)

      It seems to have slackened off a bit these days, but in the past it was looking like Fileplanet were taking over EVERY download on the net. It seemed no matter what I wanted, ultimately, it all lead to their damn site.

    3. Re:well by Vaevictis666 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Hahahaha... oh the joys of fileplanet. Like taking 5 tries to get a live download link in Opera... Or taking 3 tries to successfully download a (600mb) file... Only to find out that the .zip is corrupt. *grumbles under breath*

    4. Re:well by Soul-Burn666 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Fileplanet used to be a quite stable site with rather minor waits. At some time, it became very popular that the huge bandwidth they had became saturated. Downloading was very slow, people had to wait in long lines to get a mediocre service. So what did Fileplanet do? Use this slowness for their own good and started offering "premium services" in order to d/l fast. At that time, it was already very easy to find sources for many files on other, much faster sites.

      Bittorrent was written specifically for these kinds of sites. Sites with high-bandwidth, but with very large amounts of users, seeking specific, new files. If FP had used BitTorrent, they would have cut down the bandwidth needs by a huge factor. Therefore, might not even have to use these "premium" services to survive, and making downloads much faster.

      I don't remember which download site it was, but there's one site that has 2 methods of recieving a file. Direct download, or using their own P2P system. These kinds of P2P programs aren't needed anymore since BT makes life much easier.

      If all download sites would use BT for the latest, most popular, most bandwidth hogging files, everyone will be pleased. The users because they don't have to wait, and now downloading in very fast speeds. The sites because their bandwidth is offloaded to the net.

      Moreover, older files will be downloaded in traditional ways. That isn't a problem becuase they don't saturate the bandwidth too much.

      The only current problem with BT (I think) is that you can't have multiple trackers.... And a single tracker may crash because of the load.

      If it was possible to have multiple trackers, one on each d/l site, all serving the same file, then downloading these files would be much easier.

      --
      ^_^
    5. Re:well by wheany · · Score: 2, Informative

      If it was possible to have multiple trackers, one on each d/l site, all serving the same file, then downloading these files would be much easier.

      Just have some script redirect users to different .torrent-files, each with its own tracker.

    6. Re:well by Soul-Burn666 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The idea is they will all use the SAME network.

      Meaning, DownloadSite and OtherDownloadSite could use the same .torrent... that is what would be best for everyone. Have different trackers means smaller user base meaning less efficiency.

      --
      ^_^
    7. Re:well by I(rispee_I(reme · · Score: 2, Informative

      Upcoming plans call for the Bittorrent protocol to support multiple trackers per torrent, adding further redundancy.

  2. Re:How does Gamespy live on? by Soul-Burn666 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Gamespy really is a pain in the ass.

    The best game-browser I know, by far, is The All-Seeing Eye.

    It works fast, simple, the program doesn't lock-up when performing a search, useful filters, auto-updates.....

    And that's only in the FREE version of the program. The registered version adds some more features.

    This is one piece of software I can really say is good.

    --
    ^_^
  3. IIRC: UT & 3DFX by neglige · · Score: 2, Interesting

    IIRC, the first Unreal Tournament demo was released exclusively for 3DFX. At least there were several server where you could download the file, and it was possible to run it in software rendering mode, so you could play it without a Voodoo card.

    Of course it made sense, since it was released for debugging purposes: narrowing down the hardware makes it much easier. I think Q3 had a similar pre-demo-debugging release.

    Creating such a restriction for marketing purposes is not smart, IMHO. After all, you want to spread the demo. Everyone should play it. And everyone should like it (and buy the full game). A gamer that doesn't have the demo - because FilePlanet screws up or he doesn't like it or he doesn't want to wait - is one less potential buyer of the final product...

    --
    My cats ate my karma. They also wrote this comment.
  4. Not A Bad Idea by rmohr02 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    1) Activision refuses to let anyone but FilePlanet host the demo.
    2) People outcry publicly.
    3) Stories about the problem cover the web--free publicity.
    4) Activision relents, making themselves look good.
    5) Profit!!!

    (I know I missed the "???" step--I'm sorry.)

  5. There is no exclusivity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Consider that you're a game developer.

    Would you:

    1. Rather code for one server system, or code for multiple?

    2. Choose the more popular service, which is more likely to stay in business, even though it has bugs, or use the less popular service which could go down at any time?

    3. Rather set up your own server, which costs money, and which you have to maintain, or use a free or pay service which is maintained by someone else and always guaranteed to be available?

    Even if you can set up your own servers, you still need a central point to distribute server lists so that players can find the games. That's what gamespy provides.

  6. Hrm... Something's wrong here... by Guppy06 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Stupid marketing trick, pissing off the world in general with it... Are you sure you don't mean Acclaim instead of Activision?

  7. Hi, +5 interesting man.. by Inoshiro · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "If FP had used BitTorrent, they would have cut down the bandwidth needs by a huge factor."

    Bittorent did not exist when they introduced this service. In fact, the premium service was more a response to the increase in bandwidth fees and decrease in ad revenue as the dot crash happened in 2000-2001.

    You make a very good case for them doing it now, but the fact that the software didn't exist a few years ago seems to not be a factor in your post even though it's a very important fact.

    --
    --
    Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
    1. Re:Hi, +5 interesting man.. by Soul-Burn666 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Agreed. HOWEVER, by the time they created this service, that other site I talked about which had it's own P2P service was already functional. I don't know how good that service is, but it certainly was a better move than to try to squeeze more money from the common masses.

      Anyways, now it's almost obviously they will NOT change to bittorrent, since they already have profit from their current system. Changing to the new system will just make their very large network infrastructure useless, and they will lose.

      --
      ^_^