3DS Demos Are Now Live, But...

@Brendan said:

@Large_Soda said:

@Brendan said:

@Detway81 said:

30 is plenty, but why have a restriction in the first place.

Yeah, I'm not mad at this news or anything, but pretty curious.

Sounds like they're starting it at 30 to test the waters........could get worse.

That's cynical.

I don't think so at all.

Wow! That's about 29 times more than I'll ever play a demo! What a total non-issue!

Historically game demos have been developed with their replay-ability in mind. A developer had to make balanced decisions about what to include in a demo. They must ensure that it is thrilling enough to lure players in to making a purchase, but doesn't provide so much fun for the player that they are content to stick with the demo and not purchase anything at all.

Perhaps these factors influence up to the design of a complete game too.

By introducing an expiration mechanic Nintendo are removing the need for developers to make some of these decisions so perhaps this will lead to different types of demos, and that this will in turn trickle up to the design of the complete games also.

@D5tryr said:

By introducing an expiration mechanic Nintendo are removing the need for developers to make some of these decisions so perhaps this will lead to different types of demos, and that this will in turn trickle up to the design of the complete games also.

Your argument would make a lot more sense if the demo expired after 10 play sessions or another smaller than 30 number. As it stands, developers still need to make those decisions because the re-play count doesn't limit how far into the game a player can go. Those barriers need to be built in either way.

I suspect the reasoning has a lot more to do with nintendo than any developers or publishers.

But I play all game demos exactly 31 times before I make a purchasing decision!

Damn you Nintendo for not making this decision. Now I can't talk about how behind you are.

I might have played the JC2 demo like 10 times.

I hardly doubt that anybody will play a demo more than 30 times, but still, the concept is pretty ridiculous.

@kurtbro900 said:

Damn you Nintendo for not making this decision. Now I can't talk about how behind you are.

They put the option in there, no other console maker has done such a thing so far...

No sane person would use all 30 uses (atleast for the RE:RE demo) but that raises the question of "then why limit it in the first place?"