Do Game Demos Hurt Game Sales?

Releasing a demo for a game actually hurts the chances of that game selling well.

Or at least that is what game industry analyst and Puzzle Clubhouse CEO Jesse Schell claimed in an interesting presentation at the 16^th annual DICE Awards this year.

In a handy dandy little chart, Schell breaks down Xbox 360 game sales with four different lines. At the bottom of the totem pole are games that don’t have any trailers or demos. Surprisingly, barely above rock bottom, are games that only have demos released. Games with promotional trailers only soar far and above the competition in terms of sales.

Jesse Schell

For Schell, the answer is simple. Games with trailers only are the most successful.

“The thing is, with no demo, you’ve got to buy it if you want to try it,” Schell said.

This seems like a somewhat logical conclusion. Curious players who download a demo and play a game may be intrigued to purchase the game upon release or leave unimpressed. Players who are curious about a certain game and don’t have a demo to play may buy the game upon release and still be unimpressed, but hey, they bought the game.

Despite Schell’s role as an industry analyst and the numbers that back him up, I think making the link between lower game sales and games which release demos is a case of mistaken cause and effect.

Schell is equating demos as the cause, and lower sales as the effect. But what he completely misses is a simple fact that is apparent to most of us – we just aren’t interested in many of the games that release demos.

Remember these? They are evil, terrible ideas. 

Demos are used by developers to further increase the number of people interested in a game so that they will potentially purchase it when the full game is released. It is for promotional purposes.

However, you don’t often see demos for huge triple A titles such as Halo, Skyrim or Call of Duty. Why is that? Because there is already so much player interest and support that a demo doesn’t actually help increase sales. A demo, when almost the entire gaming community is excited about your product, is pointless and a waste of a developer’s time and resources. When a triple A game does get a demo, it is usually well after the game’s launch.

Demos are instead primarily used for lesser known titles or games whose success isn’t 100 percent guaranteed. Many of these games are less than great. Let’s take a look at some of the recently released demos on Xbox Live. We will take the first five: The Crysis 3 open beta, Dead Space 3, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2013, and NBA Baller Beats.

The first three titles on our list are games many would consider popular. However, none of them are going to even come close to selling as many copies as games like Halo, Gears of War, Call of Duty, Skyrim and other AAA games. Metal Gear is a tough sell on the Xbox, as Metal Gear has historically been a PlayStation franchise. Dead Space 3 is trying to sell itself as an action title featuring co-op and more gunplay. Demos are being used to increase awareness about what these products are all about for gamers who might be interested but not sold on their ideas yet.

Now, Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts and NBA Baller Beats is our other reason for releasing a demo. These are games that are not going to achieve huge financial success and have very little marketing going for them. Demos are released then to increase interest with the hope of somebody downloading the demo, having fun, and deciding to shell out some cash. Dangerous Hunts 2013 has a metacritic score of 58, while Baller Beats has a 73.

You are telling me this game didn’t sell well because it had a demo, and not because it’s a game that appeals to a very specific demographic? Not to mention it’s Kinect only.

I propose that demos aren’t the reason for these games selling poorly. It isn’t because gamers, once they get a taste of the game to come, decide to opt out of purchasing it at launch. Just think of how absurd Schell’s statement really is. He is saying we, as consumers, would rather spend $60 to try a game rather than trying it for free in demo form. It doesn’t make sense.

The real reason game demos seem to point to lower game sales is really quite simple – the games that have demos are games not many people are interested in purchasing in the first place.  Demos aren’t the cause of lower game sales; they are more of a symptom that a game won’t break any sale records. A developer releasing a demo says they are trying to get as much attention to their product as possible, that they aren’t 100 percent confident in its ability to be successful on trailers alone. It’s not the demo that is causing the lower sales, or the trailers causing high sales. It’s just the game. It’s really as simple as that.

Colonial Marines Review: An Express Elevator to Hell (and not in a good way)

Video games have been borrowing from the Aliens franchise for a long time.  Halo’s space marines are almost carbon copies of the foul-mouthed, rough and ready colonial marines from the film franchise. It’s not hard to see where the space-horror franchise Dead Space drew its inspiration from, and even Samus Aran herself was inspired by the iconic female heroine of the Aliensfranchise, Ripley. It only seems fitting then that the granddaddy of them all to get its own big budget video game. Well, Aliens: Colonial Marines is finally here, and it’s about as fun as being raped by a facehugger.

On its surface, Colonial Marines sounds promising. Picking up were Aliens left off, the game follows a group of marines sent to investigate a distress signal left by movie characters Ripley and Corporal Hicks after the events of the film. The reality is a storyline of absolute zero consequence. On top of that, rather than adding to the mythology of the franchise,  it instead stomps all over the continuity of the films and doesn’t even bother to explain why.

Upon arriving in orbit over LV-426, the marines discover the U.S.S. Sulaco, the ship Ripley and Hicks flew away on at the end of Aliens and the same ship seen in an entirely different star system in Alien 3. But it’s back at the colony, for reasons never fully explained. What follows is barebones plot that only serves to let players follow in the footsteps of the Aliens film. The only problem here is that Hadley’s Hope, the main setting of the film and the primary location featured in the game, was blown sky high by a colossal nuclear explosion that could be seen from space at the end ofAlien just a few months ago. This is apparently no big deal for the writers of the game. Your marines, seemingly immune to massive levels of radiation, simply stroll on into Hadley’s Hope, finding it to look almost identical post-nuclear explosion as it did in the film.

This is all bad, but it gets worse. A reveal towards the end of the game completely eviscerates the continuity of the film series – a literal WTF moment so mind boggling that even the game’s main characters can’t comprehend it.  As the baffled marines ask how this shocking plot twist came to be, they are literally told “We don’t have time to explain that right now.” And the game doesn’t ever make time. The question goes unanswered, even after the credits roll. It’s a slap in the face to fans of the films, and makes me question whether or not the games writers ever even watched the movies to begin with.

I don’t understand it either, Bishop.

Now, this could forgiven (maybe) if Colonial Marines made up for its atrocious story through stunning visuals and intense gunplay. Sadly, this isn’t the case. The game, with the exception of one mildly interesting and suspenseful stealth sequence where you are stripped of your weapons, consists of running from point A to point B, blasting everything in sight. Occasionally players will participate in what I’m assuming are supposed to be epic and intense last stand scenarios reminiscent of the film. Instead, players are treated to boring segments that involve finding a safe corner and lying on the trigger until the game tells you to move on. The previously mentioned stealth segment and two terrible boss fights are the only attempts at diversifying the gameplay.

A big problem with the core gameplay is how devoid of intelligence the game’s enemies are. As viewers and fans of the movies know well, the Alien from which the franchise gets its name is the ultimate predator. They are incredibly stealthy, have the ability to climb on walls, are covered in razor sharp spines and claws, and have that nasty second mouth thing. The Aliens featured in the game must be another breed entirely, because, aside from occasionally leaping onto a wall, these monsters from outer space are about as dumb as they come. Their only tactic is to run straight at you and hope for the best.

Colonial Marines also suffers from an extreme lack of enemy diversity. You will fight hundreds, upon hundreds of the same brain dead xenomorphs. Only twice in the game will you encounter the terrifying and grotesque facehuggers. Only twice towards the end of the game will you fight a slightly different brain dead xenomorph. Sprinkle on top one segment featuring bizarre blind, exploding aliens, and another handful of segments featuring equally brain dead human enemies in the form of Weyland-Yutani mercenaries, and you have every encounter in the game. The guns are even boring and uninteresting. I used the starting weapon, the pulse rifle, almost exclusively the whole game, finding the other weapons ineffective. Even the flamethrower, used to devastating effect at the end of Aliens, is underwhelming.

Fun fact, the game doesn’t actually look this good.

Once again, some of this could be forgiven if Gearbox delivered a dark, spooky and atmospheric setting to cover up the poor AI. Instead, we have what could easily be mistaken for an original Xbox game. Poor character animations, from the marines to the xenomorphs, take players out of the experience. Textures pop in and out almost constantly. The games lighting does little to elevate the games already dirt poor graphics. The result is an Aliens game that bears almost no resemblance to what makes the film franchise so enduring.

There is some fun to be had in the game’s co-op mode, if only because misery loves company. For fans of the film exploring familiar locations in Hadley’s Hope while discovering audio logs and the “legendary” weapons of the film’s fallen marines is fun fan service, but ultimately to call Colonial Marines a missed opportunity is an understatement. Gearbox has not only managed to contribute nothing to the Aliens franchise, but may have actually detracted from it through their sloppy and irresponsible use of the film’s continuity. Simply adapting the film would have been a better call. After the final cut scene rolled and the achievement “Game over, man!” appeared on my screen, I was relieved for all the wrong reasons. I wasn’t relieved because I had completed an eight hour long campaign of terror, suspense and blood pumping action, but because I could finally wipe the game from my memory and ignore its status as “official canon.” Game over, indeed.

NOTE: This review is based solely on the campaign and co-op experience played on the Xbox 360. I did not play multiplayer.

Responsive Website Design

Responsive or adaptive web design is becoming increasingly important in a world where more and more people are surfing the web on their mobile devices such as a tablet or a phone. A non-responsive website, when viewed on a small phone screen, often becomes distorted and unappealing - a fatal mistake for business owners who want to attract attention to their business. A responsive website is a site that works well for any platform or screen size, adjusting itself to look great and function properly not only on a desktop but also on small smartphone screens.

If trends continue, mobile internet users will soon surpass desktop users, making it incredibly important to have a website that functions well on any platform. Responsive websites are also great for Search Engine Optimization. Rather than having separate desktop and mobile sites, a responsive website is an all in one, making it easier to direct people to one specific site, thus increasing SEO. Google in their Webmaster guidelines highly recommend using a responsive website. With almost all positive reasons, it’s hard to find a reason not to build a responsive site.

Use of QR Codes

It seems like just about every business uses QR codes in their advertising campaigns, and it’s not hard to see why. They are convenient and easy to use ways to direct potential customers or users to a particular place on the web. Simply scan the code, and BAM!, people are directed fast and efficiently to exactly where you want them to go.

These codes pop up mostly in magazines, posters or even in stores – anytime when you aren’t sitting at a computer. Rather than directing a potential customer to a website, you can instead just give them a code. This safes the consumer time, as they don’t have to open up the internet browser on their phone and type in a particular web address.

A potential personal use for QR codes would be to have them printed on business cards or sent with resumes, which could then be used to direct interested parties to my website. Like this! Making a code took two seconds using qrcode.kaywa.com

Advantage of Vectors

When designing on the web, two-types of images are used; bit maps or vectors. The end product might not look to be much different, but each type has its own strengths and weaknesses.

Vector images are traditionally used for logo’s, but due to their small file size are becoming more popular for use all over the web. A big selling point of vector images are that they are scalable  When made smaller or enlarged, a vector image will maintain it’s correct proportions and high quality look.

The method for creating a vector image also allows them to be easily edited. Because vectors are line based, greater detail can be given to images as well. Vector images also look good when printed, which makes them a top notch choice if an image or logo is going to be placed on a brochure or a t-shirt. All of these are great reasons to use vectors. The small file size just so happens to make them ideal for the web, allowing for faster webpage load times.

The Legend of Shaq-Fu

You may have heard of a game called Shaq-Fu, released on the SNES and Sega Genesis. You may have heard that it’s an atrocious, steaming pile of a game that is not worthy of your time.

This is very true. Shaq-Fu is terrible on just about every level. It’s for this very reason that I bought it a few months back for the bargain price of $1 at a local game store. The store was practically giving it away. When I asked the cashier for the game a look of baffled amusement crept across his face. I assured him I knew what I was in for. I was buying it as a joke of sorts. Surely I could get $1 worth of entertainment out of a NBA star shooting flaming basketballs out of his hands in a magical kung-fu world.

Wait, EA put this out? Now it all makes sense.

He went into the back of the store to dig out a copy of the game. I waited patiently. He returned with a similar amused expression, and in his hand he held what I at first mistook for a Legend of Zelda game.

Instead, in his hand rested a golden copy of Shaq-Fu.

“Somebody spray painted this one gold, is that OK?” the cashier asked.

I replied logically. “Why would I not want a golden one? It’s golden.”

And so with a swipe of my debit card a golden copy of one of the worst games of all time became mine.

My golden ticket….to misery

I couldn’t help but wonder about the circumstances surrounding the game’s past. Why would somebody take the time to paint a copy of Shaq-Fu golden? Scenarios swept through my mind.

This game, this crappy game, might have been special to someone at some point in time. Perhaps some parent, unable to afford the Legend of Zelda, painted the cartridge golden to make his kid happy one year for Christmas. Maybe some kid knew the game was crappy, and that somehow painting it golden would make it better. It could have been a practical joke from a friend; a game nobody wanted painted golden and gifted just for fun.

Or maybe not. Maybe some kid was just bored one day and didn’t have anything better to do with a game nobody wanted to play. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something to the history of this cartridge that I would never know.

I played the game. The game is extremely difficult for reasons I can’t quit figure out. It wasn’t very fun, though the dialogue and plot is hysterical. Unsurprisingly, the golden finish did very little to improve the quality of the game inside the plastic cartridge. I can safely say I did get at least $1 worth of entertainment out of it. Maybe even $2 worth. Now it sits on my shelf, Shaquille O’ Neal’s darkest moment ironically shining brighter than any other game in my possession. Every once in a while I glance at it and wonder where it came from, who it belonged to and the series of mundane events that led it to eventually fall into my possession.

Where is all of this going Cameron, you ask? So you got a golden copy of Shaq-Fu. It was bad. Is there any more to this story?

Not really. But if you really need a moral to this story ,remember, all the glimmers is not gold.

For more of my curious comments on gaming and various nerd happening, follow me on Twitter!

 

The Story of Griffball

Griffball can be summed up easily in two simple sentences spoken by the Halo 4 announcer at the beginning of every match: Smash enemies. Score points.

On the surface, that’s about it. Each match of the popular Halo gametype is raw, adrenalin pumping fun as you bash the enemy team with gravity hammers or run for dear life as the ball carrier, bobbing and weaving between opponents to reach the goal. It’s easy to see why the virtual sport is popular, but there is another reason as well, a more symbolic one. Griffball represents the creativity and the connectivity shared between the Halo fans and Halo developer Bungie and now 343 Industries that at the time was something new for console gamers.

The origin of the gametype goes back to Rooster Teeth productions, the creator of the popular Halo mahinima Red vs. Blue. In one episode of the show the red Spartan Sarge is taking pot shots with a sniper rifle at Orange Spartan Griff. Sarge , enjoying himself, exclaims “This is the best game since Griffball!”

Griffball didn’t actually exist at the time, but Rooster Teeth began wondering what exactly a game of Griffball would be like. What they came up with was a game similar to rugby, but with more hammers. Also, an exploding bomb.

The objective is simple – pick up the bomb and plant it at the enemy’s goal. Each player is equipped with a gravity hammer and an energy sword to help kill the enemy team and protect/ kill the ball carrier, depending on which team has the ball. Whoever acquires the ball becomes “Griff” turning orange in color and receiving a speed boost and an over shield. Matches are divided into 5 rounds, resetting the map after each point. The first to score 3 wins the match. Upon scoring, everything near the goal explodes, including Griff. True to the initial idea of the sport and character of Griff, no matter what happens, whether he is hunted down and beaten to death by the enemy team or arms the bomb and scores a point, Griff loses.

As with anything though, there is an abundance of hidden strategy, tactics, and teamwork required to be a successful team. Gravity hammers can help launch teammates across the map to score, or if you aren’t careful can accidently catapult the enemy ball carrier into your own goal. Knowing the right time to swing the hammer or when to swap to the energy sword is essential and requires on the fly thinking from every player. Every point scored is a huge team effort. Players not in possession of the ball serve as blockers for the carrier, keeping enemies at bay and attempting to forge open a path for the carrier to sprint through and score a goal.

Rooster Teeth crafted the sport using Halo 3′s Forge gametype and map builder and debuted it to the Halo community. The simple fun of bashing players with hammers combined with the surprising depth of the game led to competitive leagues for the sport, such as the National Griffball Association and American Griffball League of America, popping up all over internet. It didn’t take long at all for the “disease” to spread. Griffball was a huge hit.

So huge a hit, in fact, that developer Bungie took notice. Bungie created a specific Griffball playlist in both Halo 3 and Halo: Reach to accommodate the demand for the sport. The rest as they say, is history.

So why is this important? One word – community.

Community created gametypes and mods were nothing new to the PC gaming crowd. They’d been doing it for years, but consoles weren’t so lucky. Never before had console gamers been given the tools to contribute to their favorite game. Bungie was among the first console developers to allow gamers to not only modify the game, but to improve it. This sense of community and sharing of the game made many a loyal Bungie and Halo fan, myself included.

Griffball and other popular community game types such as the zombie gametype Infection, continue to be some of the most popular gametypes in the Halo matchmaking.  The Halo 4 Griffball playlist launched just last week. Developer 343 Indsutries took Infection to the next level with Halo 4, turning a gametype that for over 7 years games existed as one team of Spartans versus another team of Spartans into Spartans versus actual flood infected zombies.

343 Industries, like Bungie before them, understands what makes Halo so special to so many. Without the great community created maps, movies, gametypes, and more, Halo would be just another shooter. Instead, it’s something more – it’s a community. And Halo is much stronger, better, and important than it would be otherwise because of it.

The Point(lessness) of Pre-Orders

Looking back, I can’t really remember the first game I pre-ordered. I don’t remember when the trend started or the first game to feature pre-order bonuses. However, I do remember why pre-orders were originally created – to ensure you got your copy of a game or console on release day.

This, except in very few circumstances, isn’t the case anymore.

Games continue to be big business. Unless you live in the middle of nowhere, chances are you can find the majority of game releases on launch day just about anywhere, whether it be Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, or Gamestop. Interestingly enough, almost every one of these retailers use pre-orders in some shape or form, despite the chances of being sold out of a particular game day one are slim.

So what exactly do gamers get out of pre-ordering?

Well, to be honest, not much.

Say you want to pre-order a game from GameStop; let’s use Bioshock: Infinite as an example. You are, for whatever reason, disillusioned and afraid of not being able to find a copy of this major game release on launch day. So you stroll on down to your local GameStop to ensure you will be zip lining through the skies of Columbia come launch day. When asked how much money you want to put down on the game, you flop a five dollar bill out of your wallet and hand it to the cashier. No big deal, right? As a freebie for pre-ordering you get this wonderful in game shotgun - neat.

So what did that five dollars do exactly? Well, the idea is that your hard earned five bucks is ensuring you get the game day one. But if the retailer is getting a large shipment of the games in, what’s the point of spending money to ensure you are going to get something you would get anyway?

Game companies and retailers get plenty out of it though. Pre-order numbers give both game publishers and retailers a rough idea of about how many copies a game will sell upon launch. For retailers, there is a reason the trend has caught on in recent years – GameStop, Wal-Mart and every other game retailer is basically getting free money while providing you with almost nothing in return.

Your five bucks is essentially buying (the majority of the time) a useless in game item. Worst case scenario your five bucks is completely wasted if you A.) Forget to pick up the game or B.) Simply don’t want the game anymore.

So when does it actually make sense to pre-order? Usually when you know there will be a limited supply of the item you want in stock, such as Collector Editions of games or newly released game consoles. These are much harder to come by and you will most likely not get one if you do not pre-order. Midnight releases also require pre-orders. If you can’t wait an extra 9 or 10 hours to get your hands on the hottest title and your retailer is doing a midnight release, it might be worth it to pre-order.

Another reason to pre-order is when a pre-order bonus is actually appealing. Pre-order bonuses emerged as an incentive to pre-order the game, and later attract consumers away from the competition by providing better or different bonuses specific to the retailer. Most of the time they are complete trash, an additional weapon skin or maybe some extra in-game money. There are, however, occasionally some really cool pre-order bonuses. I know I’m not the only one who remembers the excellent Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker pre-order bonus – a copy of Ocarina of time and Master Quest. Sometimes you can get some really cool real life swag from pre-ordering. I recently pre-ordered the DC fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us to pick up a couple of cool alternate reality skins. Russian Solomon Grundy anyone?

Ultimately though, pre-ordering just isn’t worth it. There is very little point in buying car insurance if the chances of getting into an accident (magically) are zero. Same goes for pre-ordering. If it’s a mainstream, big game release, don’t pre-order. I guarantee you will get a copy – and your wallet will stay a little fatter as a result.