Video game makers should bring back the best feature of the Xbox 360 – Reader’s Feature
Not every Xbox 360 innovation caught on (Microsoft) A reader calls for one of the more forgotten aspects of the Xbox 360 era to be brought back, and help gamers get a better idea of what a game’s like before they buy it. I don’t think there’s any real answer to what is the best generation of video game consoles. It all depends on not only your age but what you were doing at that time in your life. The Xbox 360 era was a very happy time for me, so maybe that influences my positive feelings about, but I think there’s more to it than that. The release of the Xbox 360 feels like the start of the modern era, in terms of digital downloads and online, and while that was always inevitable it only happened as soon as it did thanks to Microsoft. Which together with things like achievements is the sort of innovation that’s been so lacking from them lately, especially in terms of things that Sony are then forced to adopt themselves to keep up. Backwards compatibility is the only similar things since then, but there is one feature of the Xbox 360 that I sorely miss and which I find no one seems to talk about. Perhaps they’ve forgotten but back in the day it was a rule from Microsoft that every game, no matter what it was, had to have a demo. I miss that and I wish they’d bring it back. The reason that Microsoft changed the rules behind demos is that publishers found that if people played a demo they were actually less likely to buy the game. I don’t think they ever explained why that was, but I think the assumption was that with games people were on the fence about, or couldn’t really afford, they felt they’d already played it to some degree and so it was skippable. I kind of get that but it still seems a bit strange to me, since surely people would’ve liked some of the games they demoed, enough to buy the whole thing. Although I guess we’re talking averages here. By the end of the Xbox 360’s life the rule had been taken away and demos were up to a publisher and most chose not to do them. The thing is, that was 15 years ago now and a lot has changed about gaming. There are less big name games overall and we learn very little about them before they’re released. Some aren’t properly announced until a few months until they’re out and they often get little or no hands-on previews from websites. At the time the Xbox 360 was getting demos for every game we knew a lot about them, through previews and interviews and often a good year or so of hype before it’s released. That is bound to affect how people viewed the demos. Maybe, after all that build-up, they thought the demo was a letdown, whereas now they’d be more wowed because they didn’t even know what the game was until they started playing it. Indie games have got more expensive nowadays so demos for them are a lot more important than they used to be, and often it’s even less clear what an indie game is until you try it. Publishers must value demos to some degree because they’ll often do beta tests for multiplayer games. These are usually released so close to the game’s release I can’t believe they are at all useful in working out technical problems, let alone whether people liked it or not. They’re just demos with a degree of plausible deniability if there’s something wrong with it. Sony certainly didn’t take any notice of everyone saying they hated Concord, and it came out anyway and, well… you know the rest. So why not release demos for every game and then not only can people understand better what your games are, but companies can get advanced warning of a problem. Whether they choose to pay any attention to it or not is their business. By reader Cyclops Fantasy 7 Rebirth has a demo on PS5 (Square Enix) The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at [email protected] or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email. ArrowMORE: Top 10 online co-op video games for modern consoles and PC – Reader’s Feature ArrowMORE: Xbox is betraying the entire concept of video game consoles - Reader's Feature ArrowMORE: Battlefield was always a fan made game and EA has never understood it – Reader’s Feature
A reader calls for one of the more forgotten aspects of the Xbox 360 era to be brought back, and help gamers get a better idea of what a game’s like before they buy it.
I don’t think there’s any real answer to what is the best generation of video game consoles. It all depends on not only your age but what you were doing at that time in your life. The Xbox 360 era was a very happy time for me, so maybe that influences my positive feelings about, but I think there’s more to it than that.
The release of the Xbox 360 feels like the start of the modern era, in terms of digital downloads and online, and while that was always inevitable it only happened as soon as it did thanks to Microsoft. Which together with things like achievements is the sort of innovation that’s been so lacking from them lately, especially in terms of things that Sony are then forced to adopt themselves to keep up.
Backwards compatibility is the only similar things since then, but there is one feature of the Xbox 360 that I sorely miss and which I find no one seems to talk about. Perhaps they’ve forgotten but back in the day it was a rule from Microsoft that every game, no matter what it was, had to have a demo. I miss that and I wish they’d bring it back.
The reason that Microsoft changed the rules behind demos is that publishers found that if people played a demo they were actually less likely to buy the game. I don’t think they ever explained why that was, but I think the assumption was that with games people were on the fence about, or couldn’t really afford, they felt they’d already played it to some degree and so it was skippable.
I kind of get that but it still seems a bit strange to me, since surely people would’ve liked some of the games they demoed, enough to buy the whole thing. Although I guess we’re talking averages here.
By the end of the Xbox 360’s life the rule had been taken away and demos were up to a publisher and most chose not to do them. The thing is, that was 15 years ago now and a lot has changed about gaming. There are less big name games overall and we learn very little about them before they’re released. Some aren’t properly announced until a few months until they’re out and they often get little or no hands-on previews from websites.
At the time the Xbox 360 was getting demos for every game we knew a lot about them, through previews and interviews and often a good year or so of hype before it’s released. That is bound to affect how people viewed the demos.
Maybe, after all that build-up, they thought the demo was a letdown, whereas now they’d be more wowed because they didn’t even know what the game was until they started playing it. Indie games have got more expensive nowadays so demos for them are a lot more important than they used to be, and often it’s even less clear what an indie game is until you try it.
Publishers must value demos to some degree because they’ll often do beta tests for multiplayer games. These are usually released so close to the game’s release I can’t believe they are at all useful in working out technical problems, let alone whether people liked it or not. They’re just demos with a degree of plausible deniability if there’s something wrong with it.
Sony certainly didn’t take any notice of everyone saying they hated Concord, and it came out anyway and, well… you know the rest. So why not release demos for every game and then not only can people understand better what your games are, but companies can get advanced warning of a problem. Whether they choose to pay any attention to it or not is their business.
By reader Cyclops
Fantasy 7 Rebirth has a demo on PS5 (Square Enix)The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.
You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at [email protected] or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email.
ArrowMORE: Top 10 online co-op video games for modern consoles and PC – Reader’s Feature
ArrowMORE: Xbox is betraying the entire concept of video game consoles - Reader's Feature
ArrowMORE: Battlefield was always a fan made game and EA has never understood it – Reader’s Feature
