Article by Kevin Parrish
 
After a brief tease, Bethesda Softworks today confirmed that there will not be a demo for Fallout 3, the highly anticipated sci-fi RPG sequel. Bethesda tells Tom's Games why.
 
http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2008/0 [...] t3_nodemo/

For me "no demo" = "no purchase" (and no I won't pirate it either)

What should I do here Rob?  I'm looking to you for moral guidance.

u mean ur looking for an arguement

Buying it the day it comes out.  Oblivion had no demo (has bethesda ever had a demo?) and it well worth its purchase (although knights of the nine was pretty short).

If there are nice goodies for preordering, I'll do that.  Otherwise I will buy it the day after it comes out as I usually do.  I like to check for DRM complaints before purchase, but some games get me excited enough to preorder anyway.  Also I've never had a problem with Bethesda, and don't expect one.

I think I'll wait to read a few reviews before I buy it, but I'm expecting it should be good. Maybe I'll rent the Xbox version just to try it.

Considering the scope of Oblivion and the fact that some parts - including the opening dungeon escape scene- can be rather tedius, how much free play time would you require to decide whether or not you should pay for that game?

 
Smartass...
 
But since you asked, here goes: I recommend you engage in what I like to call the Freshman Scramble, i.e. when you show up to your dorm freshman year of college without a car, find somebody on your floor who has a car and make friends with them fast (either that or get a Segway). If I may, I will  extrapolate the Freshman Scramble philosophy and apply to Fallout 3: find a friend who has bought -- and I do mean "bought" -- Fallout 3 for the PC and borrow it from them. Or -- and I know this is apples and oranges -- rent a console version of the game and try it out (gasp!). I know, I know -- it's not the same as the PC. But it may give you a good enough idea of the content to let you know if it's worth buying or not. So there's my advice, Oh Snap. Scramble, smartass, scramble!!!
 
Personally, I'm not sure how i feel about this. At first, I was kind of upset that there would be not demo. Even if Bethesda was able to construct some type of extended demo similar to the E3 walkthrough, that's be good enough for me. But then again, I can definitely see their point about it being hard to make a demo for a complex RPG game. And it's their choice. I just think it's going to invite more piracy of the game. As for me, I'm buying a copy the day it's out (in addition to the review copies that Bethesda will hopefully send us).

Why don't they simply make a demo like the original fallout had.  You start out as some random dude in a room full of weapons.  When you exit said room you find a gang of ruffians with equally large weapons.  Point minigun, pull trigger, be entertained for 15-20 minutes while the battle plays out and decide if you want more.
 
My worries are not about the story as much as they are about the game play.  Game play seems like a very easy thing to show.  Give me a character with mid-level skill in everything and a simple area to play with them.

Considering Fallout is my all time favorite game, and I continue to play FO1 and 2 to this day, I could give you an answer in about 10 minutes tops.  I'd just know if it was good or not playing it for a few minutes.

I choose Segway.

you know its gonna be bad...its bethesda. whats the point of even pirating it.

If Tim Cain was on the development team I'd preorder this **** in a heartbeat.  Oblivion was pretty god awful though.

Jeez, tough crowd. When did Oblivion become so awful? I think Bethesda is one of the better developers working today, but hey, that's just me.

 
ive never slept better than when i tried playing oblivion.  

He's just saying it's awful because it validates his pirating it and not paying afterwords.

Yeah, because I didn't purchase a bunch of games I originally pirated or anything.

I totally played through 100 hours of Oblivion and said "I hate this game!" and kept it on my drive.  I definitely didn't play through about 20 minutes worth and delete it.  But you already know that, why am I telling you?

For purplerat only:

Huh?  You played a 100 hours and hated it?  I play wow and I hate it.  I hate Warcraft 3 too (well multiplayer, singlep is great).  I hate Kane, but he's just such a loveable guy.  PEACE THROUGH POWER!