Open Letter on Call of Duty Demo

Originally posted by Stabbe@Aug 29 2003, 12:13 AM
I guess with all companys they choose to look away and go ahead anyway as usual.
Fileplanet have the money , we don´t (GH). Says all , no matter what we say , Activision won´t hear us until they hear the ka ching $$$ sound.

if only IGN / Gamespot raise their hands...

guess Avault/Gamezone would help as well (not that anyone uses them for downloads... but adding their name to the list would help)

Well done GH and the 'coalition', Keep it up

Hmmm i applaud this decision as well, demo's should be free.

You are not actually paying for the demo, but for the bandwidth they use to deliver the demo. That being said plenty of other sites offer the demo's for free on the same bandwidth so this reaction was only a matter of time as these exclusives are lame.

On the other hand, its a business world and if FP pays Activision, they would be stupid not to accept, unless it pisses people off, which they just have, so they might reconsider that.

It could also be that in signing a contract with Gamespy to have their gamespy matchmaking service included in the CallOfDuty game that the contract includes they have to give them a demo, exclusively. Who knows ...

Although on the other hand ... this DOES sound like a marketing strategy for Fileplanet but also Fileshack and Filefront, as their "paying" subscribers will still have the chance to download the demo.

Yes you read it right, Fileshack and Filefront WILL be hosting the demo once it becomes publically available, but only for their paying members as well. So they will sign up for their subscription services, while all the "REALLY" free sites such as GH, WP, 3DGamers will be left out in the cold.

So the "principle" of this protest letter may be good, but it misses its point.

You've Been Spanked!

I have never like the punks at activision, all they care about is money.
They will do anything to make money, ie. stupid marketing ideas etc.
obviously fileplanet has payed alot to secure and close the deal of the c.o.d. demo.

I tell you what, for everybody that WANTS the demo despite this industry let-down, i'll lead you to a possibility...
1. Download a Bit Torrent Client.
2. When the demo comes out head to www.suprnova.org
3. No matter how "exclusive" the demo, it'll appear here to download anyway. (mostly) ;)

Bravo...
Finally someone stood up for us gamers.... :thumbup:

This is a curious event. I don't know who's in charge in the PR department at Activision, but if i was the CEO, i'd fire the whole lot damn department. The entire point of a demo is to reach as a large an audience as possible, and that is best accomplished by letting anyone and everyone who wants to host it do so at the earliest opportunity, especially if they are willing to do so free of charge. And if you MUST restrict access to the demo, you do NOT choose fagplanet and gayspy as the sole distributors!

Originally posted by Sarafan Lord@Aug 28 2003, 07:31 PM
This is a curious event. I don't know who's in charge in the PR department at Activision, but if i was the CEO, i'd fire the whole lot damn department. The entire point of a demo is to reach as a large an audience as possible, and that is best accomplished by letting anyone and everyone who wants to host it do so at the earliest opportunity, especially if they are willing to do so free of charge. And if you MUST restrict access to the demo, you do NOT choose fagplanet and gayspy as the sole distributors!

As a matter of fact the PR department didn't support this decision and was on 'our' side. The call came from 'higher' echelon.

Update: GameGossip is in too.

Originally posted by Dennis S.@Aug 28 2003, 07:35 PM
As a matter of fact the PR department didn't support this decision and was on 'our' side. The call came from 'higher' echelon.

If i was the IRS i'd do a little snooping around the accounts of top members of Activision. This is NOT a decision that benefits either the company as a whole, nor the product they're trying to sell, even if the gayspy network IS paying them for exclusive demo rights. And that leaves precious few reasons why a company would want to shoot themselves in the leg like this......

Originally posted by Neosypher@Aug 29 2003, 12:26 AM

I have never like the punks at activision, all they care about is money.
They will do anything to make money, ie. stupid marketing ideas etc.
obviously fileplanet has payed alot to secure and close the deal of the c.o.d. demo.

I tell you what, for everybody that WANTS the demo despite this industry let-down, i'll lead you to a possibility...
1. Download a Bit Torrent Client.
2. When the demo comes out head to www.suprnova.org
3. No matter how "exclusive" the demo, it'll appear here to download anyway. (mostly) ;)

u forget that FP is putting some sort of KEY check on the installers , But i guess some FP subscriber could install it and pack the folder , after all it´s the q3 engine , it doesn´t need any system files to run or needs to be installed.