Everyone Must Download The Mega Man Legends 3 Demo.

[ZeroAX]

Imagine a small quirky game, selling like crazy as a demo.

Hell, I know its only one guy, but isn't that essentially what's happened with Minecraft?

GREAT POINT

Can you imagine trying to get a publisher to support the development of Minecraft? :S
Plus, it works as a marketing scheme as well. It's easier to get someone to try out something for 2$ (the same price as an app), than buy the full priced game.

[Wombatula]

And on the other hand, think about all those quirky games that will be able to finance their development. Think of those small developers, with no big publisher support, being able to make a small amount of money to help them through development.

Capcom is not a small company who could go out of business because of the failure of a DS title, and MegaMan is not some new experimental idea that may or may not catch on with fans.

This is only a good thing, and I honestly don't understand why you guys rant so much about this. Even gaming's greatest "business that respects the player" guru, Gabe Newell said that he'd like to give the gamers a way to support the game they want, while it is being developed, so as to reduce the risk of development.

I don't care what Gabe the guru says, asking fans to support a large franchise with the possibility of being told "Sorry, you didn't donate enough" is bullshit. That'd be like Jerry's telethon not reaching the goal and Jerry walking home with all the money. If this game were going to be made guaranteed then it'd be a different story.

This will only be good for innovation of the gaming industry.

This isn't only a good thing. To keep saying this is only good is just naive and wishful thinking that companies won't abuse it, like they've done with dlc. I wouldn't put it past Capcom or any other company to have already decided not to make a game and just use this as a way to recoup losses.

Imagine a small quirky game, selling like crazy as a demo. Then the company's big shots, will HAVE to pay attention to it, and finance it properly.

Again, this is not some small company or some quirky title. If this were some totaly new title or franchise, or something being developed by a small company, then I could get behind this idea. I love the idea of using this as a way to help smaller companies push though titles with a bigger budget than normal, or being able to add to the game some features that they couldn't afford before. But that's not what this is. This is a big company charging the fanbase to be a study group for a game. And it's a stupid way to do it too, just because tons of people buy the demo, no one's going to buy the game if the demo sucks. A free demo with some kind of poll at the end of it, or an option to sign up for a pre-order if the game is release would more precisely gauge interest in the game.

All this does is take away more of the risk of a financial loss from companies, and shift it towards the consumer. But yeah, that's only a good thing. Unless your the consumer.

[Flake]

All this does is take away more of the risk of a financial loss from companies, and shift it towards the consumer. But yeah, that's only a good thing. Unless your the consumer.

I think the customer wins even more than the company as your maximum risk is a whole $2.

How do you like that? For two dollars that you were going to waste anyway, you have a chance to send a message to a company that is far louder and clearer than any arbitrary (and often biased) review mag or site could possibly give.

And yes, we understand Capcom is a big company. Does that mean they have infinite coffers? No. Does a revival guarantee success? No. Yeah, it worked for Street Fighter. But did Bionic Commando do so well? Or Okamiden?

You can't expect the game industry to change only in ways that favor the customer. You enjoy far more competition for your gaming dollars than ever before - thousands of developers, multiplatform support, multiple venues to get your games, a diverse and established system for second hand games - shit man, the gaming industry has been changing faster and faster over the last decade. Almost NONE of these concepts existed when the last Mega Man Legends game came out.

And each of those developments benefits you, the gamer. But I don't see those things being offered to us forever without the need for the supply side to adapt. Without some kind of alternative how can the developers get the suits upstairs to listen to them when they say 'Hey, we want to make a quirky game' and the suits just want to hear 'we figured out how to make the next Halo / Guitar Hero / Call of Duty'?

You see an evil plan where many of us see a struggling industry trying to find some way to keep the magic without losing its soul.

[MrPopo]

All this does is take away more of the risk of a financial loss from companies, and shift it towards the consumer. But yeah, that's only a good thing. Unless your the consumer.

I think the customer wins even more than the company as your maximum risk is a whole $2.

How do you like that? For two dollars that you were going to waste anyway, you have a chance to send a message to a company that is far louder and clearer than any arbitrary (and often biased) review mag or site could possibly give.

Your math is flawed. Capcom is thinking about making MML3. It may or may not come out. Now they charge me $2 for the demo. It still may or may not come out. But now I'm out $2. Seems to me I win less.

Personally I'd rather vote with my money by entering in to some kind of pre-order style argeement with Capcom. Only instead of the traditional pre-order where you can back out at any time in this one I would give Capcom my $5-10 and I would be obligated to buy the game (or not, and they keep my money) when it comes out. If the game gets cancelled I get my money back. I realize this is logistically infeasable, so another option would be that purchasing the demo for $2 means I get a coupon for $2 off the full game. It's not nearly as good, as now I'm back in the position of potentially being out money when they decide they just hate MML.

[Flake]

Your math is flawed. Capcom is thinking about making MML3. It may or may not come out. Now they charge me $2 for the demo. It still may or may not come out. But now I'm out $2. Seems to me I win less.

Personally I'd rather vote with my money by entering in to some kind of pre-order style argeement with Capcom....

You'd always only be out $2 - and I think that Capcom's feelings on the matter have more to do on if a quality game can be made for the budget provided as opposed to 'fuck Megaman Legends and the robot horse he teleported in on' like so many people seem to think.

I agree that there could be BETTER ways to finance potentially niche titles - I'm just saying that we shouldn't bash a company for trying to find ways to make quirky games in a world where only the Final Fantasies and the Halo's seem to make money any more.

[MrPopo]

Your math is flawed. Capcom is thinking about making MML3. It may or may not come out. Now they charge me $2 for the demo. It still may or may not come out. But now I'm out $2. Seems to me I win less.

Personally I'd rather vote with my money by entering in to some kind of pre-order style argeement with Capcom....

You'd always only be out $2

If the demo is free I only give them $2 when it's part of the overall cost of the game. If the demo costs money it effectively increases the cost of the game to me (by $2) if I want to fully support the development effort. In one scenario I'm out more money than the other.

I agree that there could be BETTER ways to finance potentially niche titles - I'm just saying that we shouldn't bash a company for trying to find ways to make quirky games in a world where only the Final Fantasies and the Halo's seem to make money any more.

Hey, I agree with you that companies need to figure out how to make non-Halo titles work. I'm saying that this is a method that they're trying which I think is flawed and I won't support.

[Inazuma]

How sickening is it to think that Rockman Dash 3 may not sell that well. What the fuck has happened to the video game industry? How could something like Call of Duty or Madden actually sell more copies than Rockman? That is seriously fucked up.

[Flake]

I'm saying that this is a method that they're trying which I think is flawed and I won't support.

Then you're not out anything. Go team!

[brunoafh]

How sickening is it to think that Rockman Dash 3 may not sell that well.

That's the thing, I don't think it will sell poorly at all. In fact, I imagine it would sell quite well. I think Capcom has their panties in a knot over nothing and possibly the poor sales/reception of Star Force.

Or they aren't worried about anything in the first place and are just doing the demo thing as a cash-in.

[lisalover1]

How sickening is it to think that Rockman Dash 3 may not sell that well.

That's the thing, I don't think it will sell poorly at all. In fact, I imagine it would sell quite well. I think Capcom has their panties in a knot over nothing and possibly the poor sales/reception of Star Force.

Or they aren't worried about anything in the first place and are just doing the demo thing as a cash-in.

As a huge Mega Man Battle Network fan, I have to say that Star Force did, indeed, suck. It's a real shame, too. The series could have been great using the extra horsepower of the DS.