AITD demo still planned for Xbox Live News

LOL!

Atarigrames in 'Oh shit! Don't release demo of crap game before we've got impulse sales in' Shocker!

Oh good. I felt like having a quick go at this but there's no way in hell I'm paying to rent or own the thing.

I'd like to see if the controls are as flawed as reviews have said. If I get on with the controls in the demo, the rest of the game sounds interesting enough for a purchase. Plus, if atari take long enough, it'll be cheaper too!

"But you could always just buy the game"

Yes, thanks for that advice EG. We'll just pay up while we wait for the demo. Wallies.

How about "Oh Shit! I played the game for 10 mins, found myself frustrated that I couldn't instantly know all the controls and deemed the game crap because of it!"

It's a good game... it just needs patience in the beginning. Something apparently not a lot of people have.

Where is the real story? The one about Atari threatening to sue all those sites that gave alone in the dark 5 or below and claiming that their legitimately bought (or in some cases sent directly from atari) copies of the game were either preview or pirate copies.

I was recently asked to interview at atari but, have now flatly refused to have anything to do with them after that move! I've actually asked a lawyer friend of mine to look into if review embargos are actually legal under the freedom of speech laws i.e. can you embargo someones opinion of a product? I genuinely don't think embargos have ever been legal to begin with.

Got it on rental friday and played it over the weekend. Dont think a demo is going to help as after a few hours play over the weekend I still havent made up my mind if I love it or hate it.

The controls are not the best, but they are far from the worst. The constant view switching takes a little getting used to but it's thoroughly enjoyable.

ps. The fire effects are awesome ;-)

@penhalion; Freedom of Speech laws affect governments, they have zero impact on businesses, please don't go down the "OMG it R my rite!" route of idiocy.

@Rirekon

Freedom of Speech laws affect governments, they have zero impact on businesses, please don't go down the "OMG it R my rite!" route of idiocy.

Not sure what you are talking about there as freedom of speach is a legal right for citizens in a democracy. Exception to this are speeches that insite racial hatred or violence. These laws affect businesses and individuals in the same way and do not simply apply to governments. You need to pay attention at school as you seem to be unaware of your rights as an individual. A company may not stop you from voicing your opinion on anything let alone a video game.

er... freedom of speech + buisness, IDK..., realy. To go that route and one has to be able to handle the kick-back.

The demo "will be available on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace in the coming WEEKS..."

... as opposed to a week before the game's release as stated by Phil Harrison a while back? LOL

Sorry but without a demo I've little interest in buying this apparently flawed game and by the time it does arrive I'm sure I'll be even less interested or not bothered at all. IMO this is a game that definitely needs a demo to ascertain whether it is worth buying or not. No demo, no sale! :)

Not sure what you are talking about there as freedom of speach is a legal right for citizens in a democracy. Exception to this are speeches that insite racial hatred or violence. These laws affect businesses and individuals in the same way and do not simply apply to governments. You need to pay attention at school as you seem to be unaware of your rights as an individual. A company may not stop you from voicing your opinion on anything let alone a video game.

No really, you have go entirely the wrong idea about how Freedom of Speech works, and please don't kid yourself about living in a democracy.
As an example Eurogamer may decide that they will ban anyone who says "banana" in a comments/forum thread (on their site), you will have zero recourse against them for this and they are fully within their rights to enforce it. The Government however cannot prevent you from saying "banana" unless for some reason it was deemed to fall under incitement laws.
If Atari decide they will only send Preview/Review copies to people who agree to a certain release date for their Previews/Reviews then they are entitled to do so.

Anyway, back to the actual topic of this comment section;
I don't think a demo of Alone in the Dark will sway people one way or the other, though that does depend how long they make it to be honest. The first couple of hours might change peoples' minds.

Darren>It's getting a demo... it's just late. There is a certification process that all games and demos have to go through.

@miiiguel

Thankfully I am in the position to handle the kickback as you so aptly put it. My problem isn't so much with the embargos as with Atari's handling of it. Threatening to sue people and falsely claiming these people have pirate copies of your game simply because you don't like the review scores they have given it is a dangerous road to travel. It can very easily be seen as intimidation. Last time I looked, the games industry wasn't a mafia organisation. Such tatics shouldn't be tolerated. If I have to be the sole voice rallying against such idiocy then so be it.

@rirekon

What an individual site does or does not do is not the issue here. You are right in that Eurogamer or any other site can simply decide to ban someone for saying banana or whatever keyword they choose. This DOES NOT affect anyones right to say banana, simply removes their right to use the eurogamer site to do it. If I open a blog site and rant about a game and decide to review it and give it low marks. No company, not Atari, EA etc. etc. has the right to threaten me to get me to take down my opinions. This is freedom of speech at work.

What atari seem to have been doing is threatening review sites for putting up reviews for copies of the game they purchased and played, then decided deserved a 3 or 5 or whatever in their opinion. Even going so far as to claim that the copies reviewed were pirated in order to intimidate the sites into complying with their wishes. At worst this is borderline illegal intimidation and at best this is hopefully going to turn into a PR nightmare for them.

The "kickback" I mentioned was, for instance, imagine that EG didn't respect what Konami/Kojima asked (demanded ?) regarding reviews and screen-shots of MGS (and a bunch o'shit, that I read), what would happen next time ?

By word-of-law, I imagine one can do whatever one wants, but there are other issues.


on-topic: wating for my copy. As a matter of fact I have 2 new games at home, but spent the weekend playing Mass Effect again because I want to play this one, as my next new game, from start-to-end.

banana

Freedom of speech doesn't mean that if you disrespect peoples' wishes, they have to keep sending you review copies of their software.

Of course if it gets out that you'e being petty, then it's hardly very good for your corporate image.


Back on topic, though, I'm looking forward to a demo of AITD. The tech-demo videos looked intriguing, and the "It's really good if you can get past the controls issues" nature of the review means a demo will be more valuable than usual.

bought it on friday, trading it in today. by far the worst game i've played on 360.

don't buy before you try on this one.

^ that was mean mate..., you read I am (was?) excited about it.

Sorry mate, maybe its just me*.



*Its not

I fell for this one... lame game! At least people can see how crap it is now!

Although I can't prove it, I have a sneaking suspicion that had those early AitD reviews given the game 90%+ then Atari wouldn't have been talking about suing them. ;)

Of course it's not illegal to break review embargoes. It's obviously illegal to break Non-disclosure agreements which you have signed, and it's obviously illegal to use pirated software. I think it's one of these Atari are claiming, rather than trying to prosecute 100% because of broken embargo... Of course, it'll be hard for Atari to prove as the game is now widely available, and this will probably be dropped pretty quickly.

Breaking review embargoes simply reduces your publication's reputation within the industry and could cause publishers to stop sending you games to review pre-release date. You could still go and buy and review the game, but most reviewers prefer to get their games for free through the post and before they're on general release.


"As an example Eurogamer may decide that they will ban anyone who says "banana" in a comments/forum thread (on their site), you will have zero recourse against them for this and they are fully within their rights to enforce it."
Well, of course Eurogamer have the right to arbitrarily restrict access to their website. That's not what this is about at all. Your example is completely irrelevant.

I think it's also not only a "non-disclosure" agreement issue, it's also an ethical issue. If entities have cordial relationships I think it's wrong to disrespect a request if a fair one.

I wonder what section of the game the demo will show? If it is an on-foot section, then people should be able to deal with the controls in the end. Some of the on-foot sections and puzzles are rather good.

But the driving sections are awful in my opinion, so if they've got any sense, they won't be in the demo. I was delighted to get past the driving section on Episode Two after FIVE HOURS of trying, only to find an even harder on on Episode 4, which I cannot get past.

Of course, it's equally possible that my ineptitude at these sections is to blame, and not the messy controls.

After playing this some at the weekend I can see what Eurogamer mean when they say the controls are poor, but I think they over-exaggerated the problem a bit. Once you get your head around them and train yourself to use the right control for the right action, you can start to enjoy the game itself. It's just a shame that this adjustment period can prove too much for some players, who are then put off by the game.

Is it just me or (and I don't mean to be smarmy here) did I just get a good copy of the game?

I've had no real issue with the controls and god forbid if the game actually challenges you slightly from time to time.

Saved checkpoints during the episode would be nice though. Sometimes I have to, you know, go out and socialise half way through playing a level and having to start from the beginning is a bit of a pain. Especially as if you skip through the episode you loose a) the achivement (not such a problem) and b) your inventory.

Oh and if you're critically injured and you die when you restart the critical injury is gone? I kinda dislike that. Makes it too easy.

Anyways back on topic: Late demo... whats the point. Most people have made up their minds by now and if you release the demo in 2 weeks everyone is going to just buy the second hand copies that people seem to be supplying the stores with in droves. That means more money for GAME and less for you Mr. Atari.