Back in the days before downloading a demo, a free trial or a beta was common on console, samples of games were provided in the form of demo discs, either sold separately or included with Xbox magazines.
And pretty much anyone who used to buy these things back in the day will have a fond memory-or-two - after all, they provided hours of fun at a fraction of the cost of a full-sized game, and they were a great collector's item as well!
Of course, downloads eventually became far more prominent, and Official Xbox Magazine stopped including demo discs with issues as of January 2012, before eventually shutting entirely in March of last year.
The memories will always live on though, so thinking about demo discs specifically, can you recall any particular demos that you used to love? Did you collect these discs? Tell us down in the comments below!
Comments 14
I really miss OXM as a whole, not just the demo discs. I know that the internet can and does provide far more up to date information, but I miss print media. That feeling when the newest issue comes through the door, flicking through it before work then diving in later in the day...
Even more so, I miss 360 Magazine. It had the absolute best forum community and reader participation.
I'm old so zapp 64 tapes and writting out pages of code for free games are a fond memory. Amiga floppy discs (if I didn't like the demo could always use the disc.) Tekken PS1 demo. Metal gear solid 2 demo in zone of enders. Dreamcast demo discs with some cracking games. Xbox 360 demo discs (loved the L4D theme that came on one.) Demo discs (tapes and floppy discs) rule!
Metal. Wolf. Chaos. Demo.
I loved the demo discs! I used to play the fusion frenzy demo alllll the time.
Ninja Gaiden, I played that demo disc non stop until the game dropped.
I didn't have an Xbox back in those days
Jurassic Park Operation Genesis. Hands down. Running a park with dinosaurs? Well, "park". It was Site B only which was a limited sand box where you could breed and feed dinosaurs. But couldn't really make a park.
You were limited in dinos too. But it was so amazing watching how lifelike they were.
Thankfully we have Jurassic World: Evolution. If you haven't checked it out, you should by the same guys that did Elite Dangerous and Planet Coaster.
Honestly I gotta look back at the old demo disc era as the best of times as far as gaming journalism was concerned. It's like this is a pretty good site but back then the whole scene was great. All the gaming magazines were monthly releases where they had a whole passionate group of gamers working away for a month to deliver you all the best news, previews, reviews, and content, and every new issue of a magazine was a whole interesting thing to check out as it was full of all the new and upcoming games at the time. Also the journalism was very focused on just the gaming scene back then and simply relating directly to the gamers who were interested in video games, back then we didn't have all the politics that has infested gaming journalism today. Best of all with some magazines, usually the ones focused on a single platform, we got demo discs!
Back in the pre-broadband and early broadband era this was the only way to check out new games really, there wasn't any streamers and nobody was really downloading much of anything as it would take forever on 56k and those early 00's consoles didn't let you download much. Heck even watching clips of video game footage was really iffy back then. I remember the big gaming sites having links for downloading video clips where you would wait around a long time to download a short low resolution clip, but back then it was the only way to see a game in action without buying it or playing a demo. So having a demo disc was just incredible, I remember there being lots of demos where I really got into playing them over and over, when you were a kid who only had some allowance money to spend on games it was a nice way to check out new things. Good times, I kinda miss that era, simpler times.
When they stopped doing discs, I stopped buying the magazines...
There was a magic the gathering game the demo was a multiplayer one.. was in college and pretty sure we burnt out the disc drive playing that demo. Just winner stays and passing controllers around while drinking ... Good times
Ah, where to begin? I adored OXM. I had the sub for many years, even after the demo disks ended. Back then it truly was where you learned of something new. We had internet, but that wasn't where you went for magazine level information. You discussed with people at work and re-read articles, gleaning any info you may have missed the first 5 read-throughs, while waiting for the next issue. The demo disks could be a bit of a drag, especially if it was a month with a bunch of stuff you didn't really care for. I think I finally got to play a Brothers in Arms on the demo disk and immediately picked it up at release.
@PhhhCough I mean, that's the only demo I have.
I would spend £5 on OXM and play every bit of every demo. It was a barbaric, primordial GamePass.
Used to buy both OXM and Xbox World for the discs. Occasionally buy Edge now but just not the same.
Definitely would play all the demos with Kameo being earliest can remember.
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