Gamernode: News - Bethesda says "no way" for a Fallout 3 demo

Bethesda says "no way" for a Fallout 3 demo

Category: Industry, Posted: 04/21/2008 at 04:56PM CDT by Frank Ling, Editorial Director

If you are a Fallout fan or someone who is curious in seeing how Fallout 3 will play like through a demo, Pete Hines of Bethesda Software has crushed your wishes. Hines said that there is "no way" to pull a piece of Fallout 3 from the main game code and have it functioning by itself.

"When you build it as one thing, there's no way to portion off a section and have it stand on its own without putting the whole game in the demo, which we're just not going to do. And it doesn't really capture the fun of a game like an Elder Scrolls or a Fallout, where you can go where you want and do what you want. So no demo, sorry."

Sorry indeed. With no demo slated for Fallout 3, Bethesda may be the one that is sorry because of possible lost sales because of the lack of a demo. While Hines' explanation of not being able to isolate a portion of Fallout 3 for demo purposes sounds good on the surface, it might be because Bethesda doesn't want to fork out additional cash and time in providing a demo.

Demos have been cranked out for ages. Does Bethesda really think that it is too difficult to provide one for Fallout 3 because they can't break the code up? Pretty unlikely and could this be a possible warning to all that the game may not be as good as everyone is expecting since they are reluctant to provide a demo for the game?

[via eurogamer.com]

Posted by KindGalaxy on 04/21/2008 at 05:12PM

There wasn't a demo for Oblivion, Morrowind, or any other Bethesda Softworks game.

Posted by Dr Stupid on 04/21/2008 at 05:39PM

Not too fussed. Love Fallout as much as anything but thank god for patience

Posted by Requiem on 04/21/2008 at 08:45PM

Yeah I dont mind too much. I know what to expect from Fallout. I'm going to get this game either way.

Posted by Oblivion Lotus on 04/22/2008 at 12:52AM

Pfft. They've never put out demo. Why would they bother now? Not going to stop me from buying.

Posted by Corvall on 04/22/2008 at 07:59AM

Yeah, don't worry about it. People who love Fallout will buy it with or without a demo. People who loved Oblivion will buy it with or without a demo. Those two groups alone will make the game a huge success. Positive reviews from professional sites and friends alike will push more sales (assuming it warrents positive reviews). If this was a new title from a new studio with no track record, then yeah a lack of a demo would probably hurt. That however, is simply not the case here.

Posted by vincian on 04/22/2008 at 08:59AM

same reason why there is no demo for the GTA series, or Assassian's Creed. Epic freeform sandbox non-linear games are hard to put into a demo-sized box without giving away too much or too little. I supose they could go the MMO route and have a time-trial, but then you just asking people to hack that, and therefor lose money.

Posted by Leonick on 04/22/2008 at 09:43AM

time trial with lvl lock or something :p

ill buy it anyways

Posted by rtanger on 04/22/2008 at 11:12AM

I just want to see some videos of some damn gameplay before i even begin to worry about a demo. Which I don't have to worry about anyway, so....make with some gameplay video, Bethesda!!!