Playing games at Game Shows

[quexex]

Having seen all the 'concerns' about various games played at ECTS I thought I'd add my thoughts on playing games on Demo pods or at game shows...

Personally I allways feel that playing games at shows especially is always a bit of a let down you allways feel there shoudl have been more, it's not as good as X etc. Personally I feel this is a result of the environment more than the game itself. There have been a few titles I've played at gameshows over the years that have not lived up to my expectations or have felt lackluster and soulless...welll look where you are could anything be more soulless than a game show! Upon deaper inspection of titles played at shows played at home they often reveal themselves to be the classics I thought they should have been in the first place...So in short don't let your expieriences at ECTS jade your views on somthing you've not played in a decent environment...Also remember that some games just don't fair well at shows when played by the public and the masters of ECTS and E3 allways show demo videos and don't let players actually play there games!

Cheers

Quexex

[Welrain]

I watched and played an Eye Toy : Play demo in Virgin. I was so intrigued I had no choice but to buy it!

But you can't possible judge any game (except maybe robocrap) from demo pod experience..a 5 - 10 mins game doesnt do anything justice.

[quexex]

Ah your right and since my point didn't really cover demo pods I've changed the topic to Gameshows...

[Welrain]

Having seen all the 'concerns' about various games played at ECTS I thought I'd add my thoughts on playing games on Demo pods or at game shows...

Well its the same thing really..10 mins on a demo pod or 10 mins at a gameshow, you havent got the time to spend on the game to get a good idea of what its all about.

[Len]

And another point which some ppl seem to forget is a lot of the time they're not playing a complete, master version of the game. They are usually still in production and as such only a flavour of them can fairly be judged and not a final assessment.

Also might have summit to do with that lovely position you have to put yrslf in to actually play 'em on a lot of stands, who comes up with the idea that it would be comfortable to play in this way...?

Then again you do always get some obvious turkeys but I know what yr saying...

[quexex]

Having seen all the 'concerns' about various games played at ECTS I thought I'd add my thoughts on playing games on Demo pods or at game shows...

Well its the same thing really..10 mins on a demo pod or 10 mins at a gameshow, you havent got the time to spend on the game to get a good idea of what its all about.

Almost except there tends to be more going on at a game show flashing lights very load PA systems people...lots of people so you probably get a slightly fairer representation from a demo pod in a relativly quite shop compared to a gameshow.

And Len your right most game shown at game shows are pre-productiond beta's if your lucky! the amount of changes to the gameplay that can happen between beta and final are considerable belive me the last three months of development is when you really make the game anything before that is getting everythngi prepared! Also these shows can be used to guage consumer reation to game features control methods etc therefore things could change just from the responces of the players playing!

Cheers

Quexex

[PeteJ]

From my experience of ECTS, by the time you actually reach the games themselves (bearing in mind it takes me around 5 hours to get there in the first place), you are so hot and pee'd off that it is unlikely that any game will impress.

In fact, every time I've been to ECTS I've been more impressed with rolling demos than playable ones, since it doesn't rely on me actually doing anything.

[quexex]

PeteJ,

your not wrong, everyone at E3 raved about Halflife2 and Halo2, both of which were non playable movies of ingame action. Most importantly these movies show the games at there best. Look at the masters of this Konami they produce a different video of gamplay footage of there latest MGS title for each show and everyone raves about it!

Cheers

Quexex

[JibberX]

I remember playing BurnOut at an ECTS a while back, with a programmer dude telling me the ins and outs, you just can't enjoy a game under those conditions. I went away feeling like the game was a complete dog...

[Salsa Party Animal]

I think the problem is we play on demo pad standing up with the joypad too low and it is not a comfortable way to judge the game, I prefer to sit back on a chair and play.

Another flaw is if you can't pick up the game within 2 minutes you will give up and think it is crap.

I am going to ECTS for first time for a decade or more. So it will be interesting tomorrow. It got to beat working in a kitchen

[PeteJ]

It got to beat working in a kitchen

It'll probably be hotter

One thing I really hate about ECTS, the god damn heat. Plus, no easy access for stuff to drink, except for warm beer.

[Sad_Genius]

Having just returned from ECTs, I'd say, demo-pods and all, the place to be is the Nintendo truck - Double Dash is grrr8.

Oh, or queuing for an hour and a half to see Half-Life 2.

-M-