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Sony Looks Into Degradable Game Demos
Sony is apparently hard at work on a new type of game demo. A patent filed by the company revealed plans for a video game demo that initially allows gamers access to full games, then slowly takes away elements of the game over time which can only be replenished if the game is purchased.
This new demo method would allow distributors to tailor what game features become locked and when. For example, if you’re playing a game with a level 50 sword of bad-assery, it would be replaced with a level 1 wooden fork.
Another possibility in the patent is immediately exposing players to a race game packed with tracks, only to slowly block off access to them over time. Being able to play your favorite track again would be simple; buy the game.
Other options include shaving down a game’s cast of playable characters. How awful would it be to only have Dan as an option in a Street Fighter demo? More nefarious means of degradation include negatively altering a game’s colors, brightness, and sound effects.
The patent boasts that this dwindling demo system is superior to current methods because it can be delivered via physical media and gamers have access to the whole game for a small window of time. How physical demos are superior to digital demos is perplexing, but the idea of being able to play more than the first level of God of War III would be cool, even if Kratos swapped out the Blades of Chaos for toilet brushes.
What do you think? Is eventually exposing gamers to a diluted version of the game a price worth paying for allowing them to briefly experience the whole shebang? Or do you think that it’s against developers’ best interest to have gamers play an unrepresentative iteration of their products?
Source: Silconera
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