As you may well know, Nintendo’s 3DS demo service went live today with demos for Resident Evil Revelations and Cooking Mama 4.
What Ninty didn’t previously mention, however, is that that you can only play these demos a certain number of times. Thankfully that figure is rather high at 30 uses before the content locks out.
However, what if a demo was so addictive that you played it the maximum number of times the software would allow?
We can confirm that after you hit that magic 30th play of a demo you can’t ever access it again. Not even deleting and redownloading the software will reset the number of uses, so play your demos wisely before they’re gone forever.
Source: Nintendo eShop
Crocadillian
Eurgh, i smell corporate BS.
cc_star
Interesting take on Sony’s ‘trial’ system
kjkg
Has Sony also got a limit to how many times you can play? I hardly ever use the trials so not sure.
colmshan1990
Full Game Trail = 60 mins use, but I don’t think there’s a limit to other demos.
Except Battlefield 1943, which was 30 mins if I recall correctly.
Crocadillian
Time trials are cool, but I really don’t understand the real purpose of this demo system. This won’t want to make more people buy it just because they suddenly can’t play it anymore. I know when I play demos even a few times whether I wan’t it or not, this just seems spiteful
cc_star
Think 30 is more than a few & would cover 99.9% of users without a single problem
(except for me when PES & FIFA demos are launched well ahead of release)
Crocadillian
I know, but then why have a use system in the first place? Are they considering the gift of a demo too generous now? Do they consider demo usage now as yet another potential source of lost revenue, god forbid?
Cutter.T
No, when a full game is on the PSN, you can download it for free if your a PSPlus member but only play it for 60 minutes. However if you do buy it, you just need to download the unlock code and you can continue from where you left off. This is much better than the traditional ‘demo’ system. (IMO Wipeout had the best demo, you could earn trophies in it for the full game! Although that probably was a glitch in the system)
nofi
Fairly sure a couple of recent demos only have 3 uses…
bacon_nuts
Typo? Someone didn’t put in the 0..?
colmshan1990
More than 30 plays of a demo suggests get out and buy it time, unless for example a FIFA game releases the demo about a month early…
MaD-Hand
I agree! The whole point of a demo is to give you the chance to try the game out to see if you would like to buy it. 30 plays is surely more than enough to make that decision.
The Lone Steven
I disagree with demoes have limited uses. I mean, what if there is a massive glitch which results in the amount of uses to be reduced to a single digit?
At least it’s at 30 and not 3. Then again, if you are playing the demo every day for a month, i think it would be wise to invest in the game. ;)
baggyg
And also an ingame time limit :-( Got into the dining room then done.
TheDemocrodile
timelimit? weak, really really weak…
MaD-Hand
Is there? I got past this to where I assumed the demo finished in the bridge….? Pretty good demo though. 2 plays for me, and my mind’s made up! Definitely getting this!
fattyuk
nothing wrong with that. 30 is more than enough to justify a decision of buying it or not
BIGAL-1992
Sounds reasonable enough. 30 times would suggest it’s time to go out and buy the actual game.
Foxhound_Solid
More than enough. Might get a 3ds later on in the year…