Pirates and Piñatas on Live

By Robert Purchese Published 15 May, 2007

Shiver me garden demos.

Demos for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Viva Piņata can now be digi-pinched from Xbox Live.

Those of you eager to relive the adventures of Jack Sparrow, or simply get in Elizabeth Swann's togs, can enjoy a tutorial level from Disney Interactive's upcoming romp. It's based around the events of the second and third films, and is actually supposed to be pretty good - which makes a change from the last two games.

The full banana is due out on 22nd May. And note that this demo isn't available in Asia, Canada, Mexico or the US.

Or, for you green-fingered people that looked the other way when Rare returned to form with last year's Viva Piņata, there's a bite-sized taster to see what you missed.

It really isn't just a child's game, despite the amount of times we've wound Tom up with those words, and it even turned out to be one of our favourite games of 2006. Go and absorb our review if you don't believe me.

This demo's available almost everywhere in the world, and it seems even those without Gold memberships can download it, despite Major Nelson saying otherwise. So get stuck in.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Roamer #1 5 years ago

    What the heck?! Why are demos available to Gold-members only? Why force people to pay for what is, essentially, an advertisement. And another thing; a little late, no? Demos should ideally be released prior to the game itself...

  • Darren #2 5 years ago

    I can't see much point in a Viva Pinata demo now after all this time, it would have been more useful for potential buyers prior to the game's release then the actual game itself might have sold better.

  • Obsequious #3 5 years ago

    Jesus, how bizzare; I actually ordered Viva Piņata over the weekend, but cancelled it as I wasn't sure it'd be all that compatible with my regular tastes.

    Thank you, ironic twist.
    /downloads.

  • ZuluHero #4 5 years ago

    aww they brought back the gold membership thing? poo!

  • myk #5 5 years ago

    The naff 'interactive demo' of viva pinata was incredibly annoying; it probably contributed to me not buying the game (as did the fact that the cheapest place to buy it is argos, the most depressing place on earth). Releasing a demo now, months late and exclusive to gold members is almost as bad again - an example of how not to market a product.

  • EmiliasHorse #6 5 years ago

    Tight gets! Buy a gold account and stop moaning.

  • Inquisitor #7 5 years ago

    I can download both demos and I don't have a gold account. What the funk is going on!

  • S.J.Rogers #8 5 years ago

    I have been thinking of getting VP for a few months now but held back.

    Will try Demo and then may pick up a second hand copy at Game..!

  • Obsequious #9 5 years ago

    "I can download both demos and I don't have a gold account. What the funk is going on!"

    Me too! I was gonna sacrifice a 48-hour code, but now..no need!

    What a great day!

  • souljacker2000 #10 5 years ago

    just go buy VP, so childish but addictive... spend many hours making things hump instead of seeing the gf

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #11 5 years ago

    Ah hah. Major Nelson's blog seemed certain that Viva Pinata was restricted to Gold members, although it said nothing about the Pirates subscription-availability.

  • kissthestick #12 5 years ago

    great marketing for Viva Pinata


    ....

  • jimmcq #13 5 years ago

    There is a FAQ about to the Demo at [link url=htt p://pinataisland.info/index.php?title=Demo_FAQ
    ]http://pi nataisland.info/index.php?title...[/link]

    There you can see specifically what is (and is not) included in the demo, as well as answers to any other questions that you may have about it.

  • EmiliasHorse #14 5 years ago

    Go to the shop, buy Viva and while you are at it pick up Crackdown. Return home and play, happy day.

  • woodnotes #15 5 years ago

    What was wrong with the first Pirates game?

    Bethesda made it, wasn't it like Oblivion?

  • the_dudefather #16 5 years ago

    the main problem I had with the first pirates game was that it was too bloody hard, I could never seem to win a sword fight or ship battle, it did seem like an alright game, but that brought it wayyy down.

    anyway, the new demo isn't too bad for a movie tie-in IMO, the swordfighting is fun enough but the camera is a bit dodgy, especially when you try to move it about for fights

  • DrunKao #17 5 years ago

    I'm thinking this demo might be different from the one released a few months ago on the US Marketplace because this new demo has just appeared on the US Marketplace as well. I didn't really look to much into it...

    But I have a surprise for you all!!! This Pirates of the Caribbean demo isn't available on the US Marketplace \0/ that might make some of you feel better about that free XBLA game... maybe...

  • onyx_elite #18 5 years ago

    'Bethesda made it, wasn't it like Oblivion?'

    Lol, yeah cos that steaming Star Trek heap was just like Oblivion. Oblivion and Elder Scrolls are generally regarded as Bethesda's baby and therefore their AAA titles. Other titles squeezed out betwixt these giants will likely always suffer from a slight lack of attention.

    But on a happier note I squealed with glee that the US can't get this demo. Now they just have to do it another 99 times and that should just about level out that whole sticky Video Marketplace situation.

  • DrunKao #19 5 years ago

    Pirates of the Caribbean sucks. At first I was impress by the graphics and the animation, the gameplay sucks and I don't like the camera. I would not recommend.

  • Obsequious #20 5 years ago

    Piņata is stunning.

    God, if only this demo had been released before the game launched, I think it might've sold more than three fucking copies.

    As it is, they've gotten at least one back.
    /orders.

  • kmittal82 #21 5 years ago

    Pirates sucks bigtime!! Sure, it looks good, amazing actually, but beneath it lies dreadful gameplay and some seriosuly f**ked up controls.

    Not that I was expecting this to be a good game in the first place...

  • Darren #22 5 years ago

    I thought the Pirates of the Caribbean demo was great, far better than I expected, and the controls and camera were perfectly fine once I'd turned Inverted Horizontal Axis to NO. It's very heavily influenced by the Prince of Persia games, which is no bad thing, and the combat is similarly fun if a bit shallow.

    My only gripes are that the environments are mostly uninteractive - why can't I smash barrels and tables? - and that the main character feels a bit slow but the latter issue is sorted by holding down the right trigger! I've pre-ordered it on the strength of the demo but it promises to be a better game than the disappointing Spider-Man 3 at least... looks very impressive graphically too for a multiformat game.

  • tancredo #23 5 years ago

    Tried to download the viva piņata demo.
    Didn't let me. I will try again later today.
    I am silver so maybe that has something to do with it.

  • Ceatlan #24 5 years ago

    I thought the demo of Pirates was actually quite a fun game, nothing stellar but pretty fun for a film tie in. However almost all the fun is drained away by the camera, it doesn't seem have any automatic camera control what so ever, its left entirely up to you to maneuvour it. This would be fine if the game wasn't played almost entirely in confined corridor/room based areas, you running up the screem down a corridor, you turn left at the end but the camera does not change place you have to do that yourself. It makes moving around the levels looking for things very tedious.

    A nearly good game ruined.

  • Ceatlan #25 5 years ago

    And they quite often put demos up for gold subscribers first and then let silver users have access to them a week later. I think it is a perfectly acceptable set of affairs. Make sure your paying subscribers think they are getting something for there money, without actually screwing anybody else whilst your doing it. I mean who on earth can't wait a week for a demo.
    Edited by 2 at 17/05/07 @ 15:11