Nintendo to offer WiiWare demos News

I struggle to see how letting people try out a game before buying is a bad thing, unless you are purposely making bad games.

Demos for both WiiWare and Virtual Console offerings are way overdue. This is a step in the right direction and should cover all games eventually.

Hooray! Someone at Ninty is listening!

It's a start, but we need retail game demos.

Quite surprised. Nintendo has always been anti-demos.

Its about time. The main reason I don't buy content from Wii ware or the PSN is because most games don't have demos available, and with no prospect of trading a game in if I don't like it, I refuse to part with the money on an unknown quantity. Microsoft did the right thing by forcing all Xbox Live Arcade and Indie games to have a free trial; it should be standard on all systems these days.

He probably doesn't like it because people that play demos might not buy the full version.

He's right, I've never bought a game after enjoying the demo... no wait a minute, I've frequently bought games after enjoying the demo. Crazy old man!

I didnt even know Wiiware and PSN didnt have demos. Glad i could enjoy the Lucidity demo on Xbla since that gave me all i needed from the game for free. The look and music is fantastic but i had enough after playing the demo levels. I want to try all games on the service so demos is great. Havent had the time to play demos lately though. Too much retail games to play.

"It's a start, but we need retail game demos. "

Not many retail games for the Wii would increase sales by having a demo. Arent most Wii games pretty crap - the third party ones. Nintendos own games is another thing of course, but you dont need demos for those either as you know their great anyway.

Good thing, though I agree that the reluctance to offer demos is down more to the knowledge that most of the games being released are utter crap and that demos would actually harm their sales.

I really hate that PSN or Wii have little/no demos. Really, they want me to fork out up to 15 quid a time with no information on a game beyond blatant PR spiel? You can say read reviews, but then you fall into the chestnut of reviews being subjective and not agreeing with them.

I currently have 15 quid in my PSN wallet which I keep deciding against spending just in case I end up buying a game I don't like. And I've never considered buying Wii points (though I do want the Lost Winds games).

I don't know where you guys are getting the idea from that psn haven't got demos, I personally download at least two a week and have been on psn for about a year and a half.

I have just over a hundred demos now sat on my hdd the latest being the god of war 3 demo that i recieved in an email on my pc from Sony.

You just enter the key that they send into the ps3 and download to the ps3.

If you give hooky emails to sony then you won't recieve these little gems and also to get the most out of the network you can create other accounts to the other regions i.e. U.S.A, Japan and Hong Kong.

I downloaded the bayonetta demo from the Japan site last week and it's awesome.

On another note i also have a Wii which is just sat collecting dust. As previous letters have quoted that they do not provide demos and that is a reason amongst others why i don't fire up the Wii.

If they start to provide demos, then i might start to use it, and also would like to download the c64 games like Last Ninja. All in all Nintendo's online service is poor but i hope it improves.

@ muscleblade

"Not many retail games for the Wii would increase sales by having a demo. Arent most Wii games pretty crap - the third party ones. Nintendos own games is another thing of course, but you dont need demos for those either as you know their great anyway."

Exactly, and exactly why we need demos.

Yes there is a huge, stinky sea of raw sewage available for the Wii, but there are also great games hidden in that mess. Demos would serve two purposes:

1) Reduce sales of dross and dissuade publishers from producing said dross, raising the overall quality of Wii software.

2) Increase sales of the gems, raising their profile and attracting more focussed and polished development to the Wii.

It's win-win for everyone but the shovelware makers. Ninty get a better platform reputation, gamers get better games, good developers get dollar bill, yo.

I think he further elaborated by saying that the only people using the Wii Shop were those who knew exactly what they wanted to buy. This is what has persuaded him to consider a demo service. Such a service would certainly remove a barrier to me buying more WiiWare. All they'd need to do then is let me buy stuff with real money, rather than forcing me to sink money into points that won't get used.

@ XrustynutsX
Posts like yours make English teachers sad. Just a little effort would make for greater readability.

@ kipper it's my first ever post on a forum and i appologise for the lack of stops commas and paragraphs.
it does make it hard to read and i'll take more care in the future sorry again.

@ MilkybKid1985
I agree there's really no excuse for not providing a demo. Indeed there are several games such as Gears of War which I have not bought simply because I can't try before I buy.
On the other hand wanting a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied is just wishful thinking and totally unrealistic I am afraid.
I am only aware of one manufacturer for any type of product (Logitech) which makes such an offer.

"The whole "Wii" needs retail demos isn't quite right"

Yes, yes it is.

XBLA/PSN get retail demos regularly, usually more than 1 per week. I base purchasing decisions on these demos often.

There has never been a Wii retail game demo and for that reason I have only bought 1 Wii game in the last year. Until there are demos I won't be buying any more either, because the chances of getting a worthwhile game, let alone a good game, are so very very low.

This might finally persuade me to try some wiiware titles.

This is one of a couple of areas I feel Nintendo lets itself down.

Demos are a great way of allowing people to try-before-they-buy. It enables consumers to make an educated decision when it comes to buying their next game. This will enable people to see what is AAA from what is "Shovelware" and will hopefully encourage developers to make more of the former and less of the latter.

@MilkybKid1985

If you had bothered to read my response before replying you would have seen that although I didnt quote the whole sentence I have responded to it.

The demo situation is very good on XBL/PSN, it can be improved of course, but at least there are a lot of retail demos available and all XBLA games get demos already.

Now how about replying with some relevance instead of diverting attention away to quotation nitpicking? This discussions is about the Wii needing retail demos.

whats there to doubt?

Yes, now I can try one or two wiiware games I'm reluctant to buy.
Make it happen Nintendo!