To Get The Duke Nukem Forever Demo You Have to Pre-Order The Game
You want a sandwich? That’ll cost you fifty pounds. You want me to tell you if it’s got shit in it? Hmm. Ok, I’ll let you know what’s in it, but only after you’ve agreed you’re going to buy it off me. Wait, come back!
Tired of slapping women (she had it coming dressed like that, ain’t that so Gearbox?), the Duke Nukem team have managed to find yet another way to make me think less of them. To get access to the demo of Duke Nukem Forever you have to either pre-order the game, or you need to have bought the Borderlands Game of the Year Edition.
I used to think demos were something you tried to get as many people as possible to play in order for them to know if the game is any good. Kind of like giving the consumer a demonstration. Mind you, I also used to think betas were used to test things and content was meant to be on the disc and included in the original price.
Nukezilla‘s advice: Pirate the demo.
When I read that headline in my RSS:
“Pfft, that’s fuckin stupid!”
Aw, videogames. Why do you do?
Back in the days of the PS2, THQ used to sell the demo of the latest WWE game (bear in mind they came out yearly so it’s not like people were desperate) as a physical disc in stores. It was £10 each time and showing a receipt for it got you £5 off the full game within the first two weeks of launch. They did that for three or four years in a row, I never understood why people kept going along with it.
Epic did the same thing with the Gears 3 Beta recently, buy Bulletstorm and you got into the “beta” a week early. I remember people buying Crackdown just for access to a “beta” of some other game too.
People be crazy.
It’s just extra crazy with this because we’ve been waiting what, fourteen years for DNF to come out? Who in their right mind would give a shit about getting a demo of it another week or so early? And if you’re so set on buying it that you’re willing to pre-order it, what use is a demo?
Whether it’s a shit game or not aside (it most certainly is), not one single part of this offer makes any sense.
Gamestop did the same thing with Gears of War 3 — pre-order it and get access to the multiplayer demo. The trick was knowing that you could play the demo then go get your $5 refunded.
@Jenny Rouse:
This x2.
Its not like the demo won’t be available after release either. It’ll still cost the same then if it somehow convinces people to change their minds.