Left 4 Dead 2 Demo available today for pre-orders.

[d_stilgar]

Has anyone else pre-ordered L4D2 on Steam or in store? If you have then you can join me online and we'll kick some butt later today.

[crenn]

I can't join you, my government doesn't allow me R18+ games *rolls eyes*

[mDust]

I can't join you, my government doesn't allow me R18+ games *rolls eyes*:( Move? lol

Now, you're pre-ordering the demo? :? Or you have to pre-order to get the demo? Either way, I can only describe that as ridiculous. Demos are supposed to be a free teaser to get customers to buy the game, not an additional layer of 'give-us-your-money-gimmick'.


According to Valve's PR guru, users who pre-order the upcoming zombie survival title at "participating retailers or [via] Steam" will gain "advanced access to the demo," which will eventually land on both platforms for all users prior to the game's November 17 launch.Ah, thanks Google! As I suspected: it's just another gimmick. Personally, I hope the game totally sucks and 5 million angry gamers demand their money back thus creating an important learning experience for all game publishing companies: demos are demos, not to be charged for, dangled as a carrot, or otherwise used to manipulate customers. We should be able to decide if we like the game before there are any money transactions involved.:mad:

[d_stilgar]

Well, I don't think that this is a pay-for demo in any sense of the idea. As stated, the demo will be available for free to everyone before Nov 17. The idea of releasing the demo early to people who pre-ordered seems more like a reward to those who are planning on purchasing the game anyway, and are excited enough to pre-order it.

I wouldn't call this a gimmick. I do wish that they would remove the ad from the end of the campaign for those that have already purchases the game. You're preaching to the choir!

[mDust]

If a car dealership told me I had to buy a car before I could test drive it, I'd cock my head to one side, tell the dealer where he could stick his car, and walk out. A game is not a big ticket item, but I'd still be pretty angry if I dropped $60 on a pre-order only to play the demo and find out the developer changed everything that I had liked in the previous game. Taking customers' money before they have the chance to see/experience any part of the game is a pretty one-sided deal. That's not something I want to see become a standard practice in the industry.

[d_stilgar]

Let's say you are a corvette fan, and you purchased the ZR1 before it was released. If the dealership then told everyone that ordered a ZR1 that they could test drive it a month before they got their car, then then that would be great for you. You already paid for it, so it's nice to get a little preview before everyone else.

Your analogy fails because the dealership (Valve) is going to let everyone test drive the ZR1 (L4D2) two weeks before it comes out for tree without a pre-order.

You don't want to pay $60 to play a demo today? Fine. Just wait a couple weeks and play the demo for free then. This is not a scheme to get people to pay for a demo. This is not paying $10 for Spore Creature Creator. This is paying $45 (a $5 discount to pre-orders, another benefit to faithful fans) for the entire game, and getting to sample a bit of it before everyone else because of that.

[Spawn-Inc]

demo is out for xbox live.