Dragon Age 2 - Demo on Feb 23rd?

[Dhruin]

Looks like the Dragon Age 2 demo that EA in Europe accidentally revealed yesterday will be released February 23rd. You can head here to this Dragon Age 2 subsite to see an offer to Gamestop employees for early access and the fine print includes...

This early demo access is being granted to Gamestop employees only. Any form of distribution, recording, posting of any elements of the Dragon Age 2 demo and any of its files is strictly prohibited until February 23, 2011 when the demo is made available to all consumers.

More information.

 

[redman5427]

Gamestop employees play PC games? That's news to me. Everytime I go in there and it isn't often any more, they haven't a clue about games for the PC.

 

[KapitanUnterhosen]

With only a few weeks to go for its launch, DA2's hype machine seems to be fairly weak. Skyrim's 10 months away and gets more attention. Don't know if the pre-launch demo is to blame for the half-hearted campaign or if it's coming out as a means to counter the relatively low interest.

I liked DA1 a lot yet having a hard time feeling excited for the sequel.

 

[JemyM]

Good, they will be able to try the innovative and exciting cover system.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Marketing expands : Not only get editors of gaming magazines get special special special editions of Dragon Age games - but now exployees of gaming markets as well … This is marketing at full force …

 

[rich ruffo]

The kids at the gamestop i go to , dont have a clue about PC games. I love RPGs and liked DA O, but honestly im more turned off by the game than ever ! To much hype to many bonuses not enough game play. Clearly this game is not marketed for people ages 20 and up or its marketed to suckers.

 

[Moriendor]

With only a few weeks to go for its launch, DA2's hype machine seems to be fairly weak. Skyrim's 10 months away and gets more attention. Don't know if the pre-launch demo is to blame for the half-hearted campaign or if it's coming out as a means to counter the relatively low interest.

I don't think you can really compare the two. TES has been off the map for several years so Bethesda is making a lot of noise now to put it back on the map.
Dragon Age on the other hand has never really been off the map ever since the original game was released. There has been a constant stream of DA material in the form of DLCs, bundles (Ultimate edition) and pre-order incentives (Signature Edition). DA has never really disappeared from the public awareness in the way that TES has. EA/BW just don't need to do as much marketing as Bethesda. And who knows what the Signature Edition pre-order numbers look like? Maybe they already know they have a winner and are holding back on the marketing budget for other projects.

 

[JDR13]

Gamestop employees play PC games? That's news to me. Everytime I go in there and it isn't often any more, they haven't a clue about games for the PC.

About 50% of the Gamestop stores in my area don't even have a PC section anymore, and the stores that do reserve very little space for PC titles.

 

[DArtagnan]

Isn't this just part of the last stand to keep PC games available for physical purchase?

If I had to guess, this is EA/Bioware trying to grease their way to existing a bit longer on a shelf in physical form.

Not that I know why they'd bother, but that would be one theory

 

[Couchpotato]

About 50% of the Gamestop stores in my area don't even have a PC section anymore, and the stores that do reserve very little space for PC titles.

Back in the early 90's they had a whole wall section now all you get is a small shelf display. The problem is you cant really sell used pc games nowadays. The other problem is Sony/Microsoft/ and Nintendo buying floor space in retail stores.

 

[booboo]

With only a few weeks to go for its launch, DA2's hype machine seems to be fairly weak. Skyrim's 10 months away and gets more attention. Don't know if the pre-launch demo is to blame for the half-hearted campaign or if it's coming out as a means to counter the relatively low interest.

I liked DA1 a lot yet having a hard time feeling excited for the sequel.

I agree - I'm not at all looking forward to this. I think its more than TES being off the radar for so long. A lot of the 'improvements' Bio have touted have aggravated a lot people and suggest the game will be quite different and not in a good way. Those changes have been discussed at length here, so we won't dredge them up, but I'm simply not that interested anymore. The proposed DRM hasn't helped either. I'll try the demo, of course, but I'm not goingto wait anxiously to get hold of it etc.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

An Gamestop Germany employee told me today he knew of nothing. Any demo, I mean.

 

[mediocrepoet]

With only a few weeks to go for its launch, DA2's hype machine seems to be fairly weak. Skyrim's 10 months away and gets more attention. Don't know if the pre-launch demo is to blame for the half-hearted campaign or if it's coming out as a means to counter the relatively low interest.

I liked DA1 a lot yet having a hard time feeling excited for the sequel.

I also really enjoyed DA:O but I hated Awakenings and most of the DLC stuff I tried. DA2 with its marketing emphasis on action - coming after the barely there RPG mechanics of ME2 and its unsatisfying shooter gameplay really turned me off. It didn't help that their skill list looks pared down (though not as bad as ME2's) and somewhat similar to Final Fantasy X's sphere grid.

I think Bioware games tended to get saved a bit by their stories and characters somewhat but there're only so many times when you can play with basically the same characters in some overwrought plot to save the world via visiting the game play areas + endgame.

Either way, I get the sense that a lot of people are waiting to see/hear what DA2 actually looks like when it comes out or have just gone on to look for other games. At best, I might look at the demo if I hear the game's any good. If I do pick it up, it won't be for another year or so when it hits $20 or they release the Mega OMG Edition though. I'm not terribly interested in supporting a company that laughs at traditional RPG fans and has moved on more or less completely to targeting other markets.