All the PC demo downloaders

[in5ane]

I wouldn't say I'm a big PC gamer at all, but am tempted occasionally by demos or free stuff like mods and americas army. Is it just me, or is getting a newly released demo a right pain? I never seem to find a decent site that has good speeds, or that I don't have to wait in line, or subscribe or pay for. I'm wary of torrents that aren't official, as while most are legit, who knows which are, and they often come out later than somewhere like fileshack.

It recently occurred to me how I could use two technologies very very cheaply to bring free, full download speed demos to as many people who wanted them. Bandwidth or server resources would simply not be a problem.

Now, maybe there is a site out there already that does this, and it's not worth my time looking into it. If so, please let me know so I can use it to download!

If there isn't, who would be interested in just a very simple site that offered big PC downloads with no sign-ups or queues? I'm talking mega-simple: no forums, no annoying ads, just a list of the latest downloads, with an RSS feed.

I was also thinking this system would be ideal for also shifting large HD game trailers around, which are bound to become more common place, but can not be appreciated easily at the moment as they are not particularly web-friendly.

Any thoughts?

[Bort]

Here is the post about the closing of the great bit torrent demo/movie download site filerush - http://www.filerush.com/forums/viewt...light=filerush

Might be of some help seeing failings in your idea or backing up what you already expected about a BT centric distribution model.

The best alternative I'm found since filerush died is gamershell.com. But it's far from the great days of 3dgamers and filerush.

If your idea would actually worked as cleanly as you hope then I'd use it.

[in5ane]

Thanks, that filerush post opened my eyes a little. If I had known about the site a couple of years ago, I would have definitely used it. It was also nice to see my thoughts echoed in the replies of people who didn't want it to close. Obviously bad to see it didn't work out tho...

BitTorrent is only 50% of my idea, altho I think it's too simple to call what I want to do 'an idea' - it was just a realisation with a friend in work yesterday that 1) downloading big legit stuff is harder than it should be, 2) BT could be coupled with another technology that would take care of all the servers/bandwidth without web servers. HTTP downloads would still be available on my site, but discouraged I guess.

Oh well, I will do a little more researching, altho the lack of replies on this thread probably means most people don't mind signing up to/queing/paying for downloads on the 'big' sites...

[revlob]

Remember the good old days, when you could cram about 20 demos onto a single CD? And still have space for a bunch of "essential" apps like IE3 and Super Image Viewer X? Nowadays, with demos coming in at over 3.5GB*, and with more gamers turning away from traditional printed magazines and towards the web, I can see why demos aren't being pushed as hard as they used to be.

Those demo tapes stuck to the front of your favourite speccy mag used to be one of the only ways to generate interest in your unreleased product, but facing a more connected and bleding-edge switched-on information-hungry audience, publishers today are turning towards more modern techniques such as viral advertising and digital distribution. I know some people who even view piracy as a kind of free trial, and will actually pay for games they like after having torrented the full version.

Anyway, I'm getting distracted from the original discussion. Yes, I think a BT site devoted to legit game content would be very useful to many, including myself. Setting up a listing page, a tracker, and a feed should be all you need really. I can't think off the top of my head anywhere that offers that kind of service. I suppose the big question is who controls the content? Do you allow visitors to add torrents to your tracker, and if so, how regulated will the system be? If you don't allow content to be added in that way, you've got to find the time to add it yourself, or find some trustworthy souls willing to help. Moderation would be very important if you didn't want to break any laws.

* Okay, fair enough that download isn't exactly a demo, but a locked trial version of the full game

[Ian(not Ian)]

I'd like to see a free, fast and reliable PC download service which can be trusted.
I do a lot of demo, patch and mod downloading and recently got so fed up waiting in queues I splashed out on the Fileplanet/IGN subscriber package. At $60 (£33) iirc per annum it initially seems like a lot of cash, but coupled with a 10MB broadband it's become a boon.
Fileplanet's subscription also give you 'game points' whch can be spent on full PC games such as Splinter Cell (original), Empire Earth and a load more.
Essentially I could have both the above games and prolly 2 more for the points I was 'awarded'.

Also I consider Fileplanet's subbies' benefit of being able to download demos approximately a week or so before the masses isn't too bad. I'm also this week getting a Vanguard beta key just for being a member......and a 6.6GB client !!!!

As an IGN 'Insider' I get (mostly naff) "Exclusives" including the ability to post my own blog on their site which I do from time to time. The flashy PDF game guides aren't too shabby though.

It's not for everyone due the the cost, but if you can stretch those pennies and have a fast internet connection it's not massively expensive, working out a about 75p per week.

Download speeds can vary quite a bit though and not as super-fast as Fileplanet extols.
Typically if you're in Europe and there's a European mirror for the file you want use it! I get up to 800KBs on those, but the US / AUS servers will vary from 200KBs to 350kBs.

[in5ane]

Ok, I'm still thinking about this..

Anyone want to test some speeds for me? I have a 100mb file on the server I would be using. (It's a 1080 HD clip of Virtua Fighter 5 if that tempts you!)

[SubparMario]

Personally I just get the filename from one of the big annoying sites and whack it in to http://filemirrors.com/