Ridge Racer 6 XBL demo here and gone and here again

Already bought Ridge Racer 6 :)

You should just logon to Nintendo's online game service and download demos of their new games or better yet connect to Sony's online game service and download their free PS3 demos...Oh...wait...neither of them have such a service. Quit your complaining and enjoy what IS avaible for FREE. MS owes you no explaination as to why they pulled a demo. As a matter of fact, who cares...

sweet... I *really* wanted this game but didnt want to take a chance on the handling model (I thought RRV for the PS2 was awesome). Now I get to try before I buy :) w00t.

They are not on there for the simple reason that the companies that released them obviously feel the free downloadable versions are hurting their sales. I would think fight night will suffer immensely as well.

The only ones who will release demo's in time, will be the the developers with truly great, standout titles. Anything sub par (like re-hashed king kong), will be d/loaded & quickly forgotten about. If companies like this release a demo version 1-2 mths before release, then when it finally releases, another company puts a demo up for a full on awesome game, all these other titles will suffer in a big way.

A playable demo for halo 3 isn't going to hurt it's sales figures in anyway, but all the dime a dozen others will get a punishing at the cash registers of eb's, gamestop & other retailers.

Jason B has a point.
That was one of the bitchiest, nit-picky articles I've read on this site... or any other reputable gaming site.
Now I just used the term "reputable" to describe Joystiq. Please, don't make me want to change my mind.
I like the fact that you guys don't pull any puches when it comes to opinion pieces, but you usually have stuff to back up your complaints.
This piece is just pointless whining.

Huh, I just downloaded the demo from XBLM. What are you guys sniffing? Bad enough to make such a whiny article when you rarely acknowledge all the demos that are up. But in this case you're both whiny and wrong. Probably best to just erase the article and replace it with another Nintendo fanboy snippet.

MichFan, thanks for the troll. If you check MajorNelson's page, you'll see that it was pulled down and replaced.

Luke and Jason B, the point is that Microsoft has been so much more active and involved in these kinds of things than "the other guys." I'm sure their hands are tied re: speaking about this, but it would be nice if they could tell us what's going on. Where's the CoD2 patch this is, isn't, is, isn't, is coming any day now?

As consumers and gamers, if you guys are willing to constantly take a mother knows best view of the gaming industry, there are plenty of companies that agree with you. "MS owes you no explaination as to why they pulled a demo." Similarly, we owe them no blind allegiance or brand loyalty.

"I like the fact that you guys don't pull any puches when it comes to opinion pieces, but you usually have stuff to back up your complaints. This piece is just pointless whining." Whining? The battle cry of the disagreeable. Would you object to having more output, in addition to the already stellar output noted, from Redmond?

Demos exist to get more people intersted in your title. GRAW needs no help. Halo 3 needs no help, although Halo might get a demo because it is uber popular.

It seems that most demos are coming after the release with some notable exceptions. I don't think issuing demos will hurt sales. Have demos hurt PC sales? If so, no publisher would allow a single demo to be released. You can trust that if the demos affected the bottom line, they'd be gone faster than you could say "XBox Live."

Proof is in the pudding, they exist in the first place. I think it's safe to assume publishers have research that supports the value of demos, and they're not just blindly giving them away out of altruism. Or just use anecdotal evidence: have you played a demo that made you consider a game you might not have known about already? For every drooling fanboy who knows their GRAWs from their Halos, there will be plenty who will download a new demo, get floored by it, and buy it.

Now all they have to do is automate that buying part...

"They are not on there for the simple reason that the companies that released them obviously feel the free downloadable versions are hurting their sales. I would think fight night will suffer immensely as well."

I totally disagree...

Wow! Ridge Racer is halla-fun!

THIS is my kind of racing game, fast arcade fun. I put on some Initial D soundtrack music and went drift-crazy!

I'm buying this game ASAP.

To be fair, your point is valid. I think we could be a bit more forthrite when we make changes like posting, then removing public material. Usually, the explaination is a LOT simpler than some would think. I don't know the story in this case, but I'll keep my eye open for opportunities to explain a bit about what's happening in the background if it's appropriate.

John, thanks for replying to my post, and not calling me a whiny nitpicker! :)

My assumption is the same as yours, that "usually, the explaination is a LOT simpler than some would think." This is why I also think that transparency is the best approach. While gaming forums everywhere can speculate "ZOMG, teh RR6 demo is corrupt, they are teh suck!!111!1!!" the easiest solution may be to just give a quick explanation.

And once again you guys have proven to be refreshingly candid, so I apologize for wanting more candor. Some people are never happy! ;)

Hey guys...I updated my post with my findings. I had to wait until that team came into the office this morning so I could get the real deal.

I was I guess one of the few people that DL'ed the King Kong demo and I found that it was VERY easy to get hopelessly stuck. Actually, I have no idea how to win it. I think it had to do with talking to Jack Black, but he just stood there doing nothing and nothing I did could make him move. If you walk past him, you fall off a short ledge that you can't go back up...and you can't do anything else either. You can walk around and see what the engine's like (not bad for an FPS), but you can't accomplish anything. They likely pulled it because of this.