I think the worst demo I played was Wing Commander Arena. I'm told the game is good; however, I never purchased it because I didn't like the demo.

Best demo was probably Mad Tracks.

Tron was a great demo, I thought.

Let me play through the first level, then tease me with a half-second glimpse of the first section of level two, and make me buy the game to prove I can beat it.

 

GAH! there goes 400 points! My 5-year supply of points won't last forever!

The worst are the mutant storm games, both of them. I don't need to be reminded to purchase this game almost every second I do something. BIG turn off.

The best were probably ones like Switchball, Omega Five, and Bomberman.

I think the best way to attract costumers is to make them earn 2-3 achievements just during the trial period. That way they're think "hey, this is a cool game and I'm good at it, the achievements says so, here's my 800points".

Pinball FX did that for me, 3 achievements during the trial. I had no other option than open up the full game. Since than I've earned zero achievements and I can't stand the game either. Good trial, bad game.

I can't choose "the best" demo but among my favorites are:

. Lumines Live, cuz you can see the skin changing and you can really have a taste of the gameplay.
. Pinball FX, every time you unlock an achievement it pops a message reminding that you can only unlock achievements on the full game. One thing I really liked about this demo is that if you are good enough you can play for endless hours cuz the demo doesn't stop, it only stops counting points when you reach 10Million but you can still play


a bad demo? I can't say one cuz I usually forget about those fairly quickly

Worst demos are:

Geon- supposedly has an interesting premise, but the demo played like a long winded explanation for Pac-Man and nothing more.

Bankshot Billiards: a time limit so you can't even play a full game? Bliliards being a slower paced game in the first place means almost all you time is used up on about 3 or 4 shots the first time you try the game out.

[Edit] Battlestar Galactica: Exiting to dashboard is the only thing that can save you from that unskippable, poorly editted and just long movie ad for the game. I shouldn't have to see it three times withing a five minute period. If the movie was going to sell it then playing it at the start of the trial once should be enough.

The rest of the demos were just of poor games mostly. The usually showcased the game fairly well, just nothing to gloat about.

Sometimes some of the MS bloggers (particularly Ozymandias) still self censor as they are concerned that their thoughts and viewpoints will be seen as an official MS comment. That's kinda sucky.

I echo "good demo" accolades for PinballFX (just generally a good, accessible game). Also liked Assault Heroes. For full game demos, Fight Night 3 was one of the first I tried when I got my 360, and it made that game a clear purchase.

"Sometimes some of the MS bloggers (particularly Ozymandias) still self censor as they are concerned that their thoughts and viewpoints will be seen as an official MS comment. That's kinda sucky."

This really is the one thing that Microsoft does wrong with the community, you'd figure with the success they have had with Major Nelson, they'd loosen the reigns a little!!

I'm not sure if this is just limited to XBLA demos, but I really like the Guitar Hero 3 demo.

I have a GH2 guitar and traded in GH2 awhile back, and because of this demo, I still have a use for my guitar. Theres only 5 songs, but thats enough if you're only going to play it every once in awhile.

This is one of those rare cases where you love the demo, but don't buy the game since the demo is enough.

"This really is the one thing that Microsoft does wrong with the community, you'd figure with the success they have had with Major Nelson, they'd loosen the reigns a little!!"

Remeber they also silenced Major Nelson on various topics...