The Inquisitr » demo

Pre-order Left 4 Dead 2 now and get the demo early

Chris Greenhough — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:24:16 +0000

Valve today announced release plans for the Left 4 Dead 2 demo, revealing that those who pre-order the game from retailers or Steam will get it first, on October 27. Looks like the Left 4 Dead 2 boycotters ended their lil’ foot-stomping session just in time.

It’s due to be set in “The Parish” campaign, and will even support four players online or via local play. That’s how you do a demo.

If you forget to pre-order the game, then you’ll be able to try your hand at zombie-slaughterin’ a week later on November 3, so long as you’re a Xbox Live Gold member. Impoverished non-Gold subscribers will be left waiting until November 10, with the full game due on November 17.

And I can’t bloody wait.

[Via press release]

No Modern Warfare 2 demo planned, says developer

Chris Greenhough — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:56:24 +0000

Sad cat is sad.

Who’s to blame for our melancholy moggy, our troubled tabby? Nasty ol’ Infinity Ward, that’s who. The Modern Warfare 2 developer revealed today via Twitter that it had “no plans” for a pre-launch demo of its eagerly awaited shooter. And it’s all because IW is lazy wants to make the best game they possibly can. HOW DARE THEY:

“No plan for a demo before launch. The entire team is focused on polish all the way up to ship of the full game.”

So that’s that, it seems. I wouldn’t bank on a public multiplayer beta, so it looks like we’ll be waiting until November 10th to play the real thing.

If you’ve been residing under a rock for the past few months, Modern Warfare 2 is rapidly shaping up to be the game of 2009, even to people who aren’t that crazy about shooters, like me. Here’s a video to whet your appetite/increase the pain of waiting.

[Infinity Ward Twitter, via Eurogamer]

God of War III demo included in God of War Collection

Chris Greenhough — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 05:25:06 +0000

God of War Collection on the PS3 will feature remastered versions of both God of War and God of War II on a single Blu-ray disc, complete with significantly sharper graphics.

That opening sentence alone is an excellent reason to pick this compilation up when it launches in November, but here’s another sweetener: a fully playable God of War III demo will also be included.

According to the U.S. PlayStation blog, God of War Collection will ship with a voucher code that can be redeemed on the PlayStation Network, giving you a chance to try Kratos’ latest adventure, five months before its March 2010 release date. Sexy.

The demo in question was first shown at E3 2009 in May, so if you missed that, then scope out the rather gorgeous footage below (skip to 1:10 to go straight to the game):

[Via PlayStation Blog]

How to lose friends and anger people the TechCrunch way

Duncan Riley — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:22:40 +0000

Chris Shipley, the extraordinarily hard working executive producer of the bi-annual DEMO conference is stepping down this year, and taking over is Matt Marshall, founder of VentureBeat.

During Shipley’s reign at DEMO, the conference has served as an exception launch pad for tech startups and services, including well known names including Salesforce.com, TiVO, VMWare, WebEx, Palm Pilot and many, many more. I’ve never had the opportunity to meet Shipley, but those that have nearly exclusively talk Shipley’s overwhelming commitment to the business, and the amazing job she has done.

DEMO of course today has competition from the TechCrunch 50 conference, a 2 year old annual event that showcase startups fee free on stage, but charges for a massive demo pit and every other part of the conference. Rivalry and competition can be healthy, but from very early on TechCrunch 50 was promoted as a conference primarily focused on killing DEMO. What is a decent conference highlighting some amazing startups became quickly polluted by hate filled rhetoric aimed at DEMO, where as it could, and should be able to stand on its merits alone.

With Michael Arrington taking a month off, you’d think that maybe TechCrunch would maybe back off on the attacks. Add to this a “TechCrunch friend” in Matt Marshall taking over (VentureBeat partners TechCrunch in the Crunchies); a perfect opportunity to bury the hatchet and show some respect.

But you’d be wrong.

TechCrunch’s Erick Schnofield took the opportunity to double the venom in a little exercise of how to lose friends and anger people.

Class is a word completely lost on Schonfield. In attacking the opposition and calling them desperate, TechCrunch looks like the ones who are desperate.

Allen Stern gets it right with “Wait a Moment… Who is the Desperate One?”

In a very tight market, this sort of venom coming out of TechCrunch can and will hurt them when the conference comes around. They should be selling the event on merit, but instead they are damaging it with this rubbish.

The proof: the comments and widespread commentary on the post. There’s not a lot of people sticking up for TechCrunch over this, but plenty who are criticizing it, including previous supporters.

Best of luck to Shipley in what ever is next, and we look forward to catching some of DEMO online in March.

What startups can learn from fluffy bunnies

Duncan Riley — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:49:28 +0000

With so much vitriol this week as TechCrunch50 tried to kill DEMO, then got trumped by Steve Jobs, we need a positive antidote to the negativity. What better way to consider how startups can be better than considering something so universally loved by all: fluffy bunnies.

Here’s what startups can learn from fluffy bunnies.

Fluffy bunnies are cute

In a week where Scoble called every company presenting at DEMO awful due to their websites, style remains an important factor in the mix. Fluffy bunnies are nice to look at, and so should your website. You may have the best idea in the world, but people will be repulsed if your website looks like a Chinese Crested Dog instead of a fluffy bunny.

Fluffy bunnies live in warrens

In an age of environmental awareness, and low carbon footprints, cheap sustainable accommodation is the name of the game. Less than a quarter of the companies presenting at DEMO came from Silicon Valley, proving that you don’t have to have the flashest office in Palo Alto to succeed.

Fluffy bunnies have several exits for safety and quick escapes in their warrens

Starting a site like Twitter with no business model on the idea that some where along the line you might have a viable business was never a good strategy, and that’s even more so now with a slowing economy. Startups need to focus on an exit strategy, and ways to get out if things aren’t going well. Bunnies always know their exists, and they don’t wait around praying for miracles.

Fluffy bunnies have eyes on the sides of the head, delivering a 190 degree field of vision

Know your competition, see the threats and opportunities, and stay on your toes. You need to be focused on your goals, but never focus blindly on them, and learn to except that things can and do change.

Less than 10 percent of all abandoned wild baby bunnies survive.

You’ve left the safety of your corporate job chasing your dream, but the bad news is that most startups fail. 10% on a good day survive.

Fluffy bunnies are excellent at jumping.

How high would you like me to jump, Mr VC? Sometimes you’ve got to show off and spin a little to close the round you need. Practice your skills, and be prepared to jump in when the opportunity arises.

Fluffy bunnies can’t throw up. They can gag, but they can’t vomit.

Stay strong, learn to not fall to pieces when things aren’t going your way. Try not to lash out, learn to gag on your frustration instead.

Fluffy bunnies have long ears for gathering sounds and determining where the sound came from

Learn to network well. Be seen, and use the opportunity learn. Listen to what people are saying about your business and the competition. Talk to smart people. Always be open to feedback, and be prepared to take the criticism as a learning experience, not a kick to the head.

(img credits: 1/ 2)

TC50: Payola or a dodgy site from Ashton Kutcher, I know which I’d pick

Duncan Riley — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:47:30 +0000

The battle of the startup conferences is in full swing today, with DEMOFall08 up against TechCrunch50.

I’ve shared my thoughts previously on my issues with the marketing pitch for TechCrunch50, that it’s a great conference damaged by a hate filled marketing pitch, where there is room in the market for both DEMO and TechCrunch50.

The constant pitch from Arrington and Calacanis has been that TechCrunch50 is about overcoming what they term as “the payola” of DEMO, where the best startups are featured by a selection criteria based on merit, not their ability to pay.

That may be the case, but how do you explain Ashton Kutcher’s BlahGirls in the first session?

The one thing right about BlahGirls is the name, because Blah is the idea. It’s a celebrity gossip site, with some basic animation thrown in for good measure. There is some basic interactivity with the cartoon characters, which at an extremely long stretch might qualify it as being different. But seriously, the best 50 new startups in the land, and a celebrity blog is on the list. Either the state of startups is so extremely poor in 2008 that this is what’s left in the final 50, or payola has been replaced by letting a site in only because it is backed by a C-List celebrity that is only there to get extra press for the conference. It’s fairly obvious which one it is.

Now I have absolutely no issue with Kutcher and his startup being picked for the conference, and the marketing angle of having him there has obvious benefits for the conference as a whole, but when you set a conference up as being a holy grail of startup events, one of purity where payola has been replaced by merit alone, giving a spot to third rate celebrity blog run by a celebrity is an EPIC FAIL in credibility. Given the choice of “payola” or a dodgy gossip site, I know which one I’d pick.

TechCrunch50: $3.5 million x Disingenuous

Duncan Riley — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:02:16 +0000

Brad Stone in the New York Times has finally published his TechCrunch50 vs Demo post. I spoke to Stone last week on the subject, but obviously my so-called venom towards Michael Arrington wasn’t showing because I wasn’t quoted. Arrington has responded here, half calling out Stone for not focusing on the positives, but then has to stick the boot in to DEMO again.

Lets start on the positives. TechCrunch40 last year rocked, and I’m willing to bet that TechCrunch50 this year will be better again. In some ways I’m sad I won’t be attending. It’s a top notch event that highlights some great startups, and offers a wealth of networking opportunities. The TechCrunch staff also work their backsides off in the lead up to the event, so it has the heart and soul Arrington feels the need to share in his post. Indeed, I still don’t think I’ve ever seen a group of people work as hard as the TechCrunch team for last years conference, and that includes everyone for the extremely talented Heather Harde, through to the ever reliable interns.

But here’s my issue, and this is what I told Stone when I was asked: if this is really all about startups, and doing the best for startups, they wouldn’t be running it the same time as DEMO, and they wouldn’t be trying to “kill” DEMO as Jason Calacanis so nicely puts it. If they were serious about putting startups first, they would be focused only on creating more opportunities for startups to be discovered, and they’d allow their event to stand on its own merits without the need to constantly trash talk the opposition. Are we not better off as a web community having both DEMO and TechCrunch50?

Then there’s the profit. Stone says its $3.5 million. How charitable that in helping startups the profit could be as high as $3.5 million (I’d think it’s closer to $2 million, but it’s still 7 figures). I don’t begrudge them a profit, and indeed good on them for being able to turn a million each for both Arrington and Calacanis in the split. But here’s the thing: if it’s not about Payola and all about the greater good, isn’t it grossly disingenuous to be playing the charity/ anti-Payola line when all TechCrunch50 does is slightly shift the goalposts on the money coming in. Demo pit attendees pay…they pay half, but if they want two on the stand they pay the $3k. There’s 100 of those. Then there’s the sponsors. Arrington tells Stone that the sponsors get no special access to the startups, but does anyone seriously think the sponsors pay to get their logo on a screen? I haven’t checked the speakers rostrum/ judges panel, but if there wasn’t some cross over I’d be surprised. They must get something from paying up, VC’s are in the business of making money, not handing it over for no return to line Jason’s and Arrington’s pockets. Maximizing access to startups? $2995 a ticket if you want to watch, and there’s 1000+ attendees. Allow for some of them to be free press passes, but still, access remains the domain of the wealthy few, not necessarily the best people to pitch to.

Prize Money: a paltry $50,000. Embarrassingly low given the profit the event delivers.

If they were really doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, if they really believed that the DEMO model is fatally flawed, and if they really wanted to put on the BEST show for startups, they’d run the event at break even. They’d run the DEMO pit for free, they cut the cost of the tickets, or better still they’d hand pick the audience so as to maximize the best possible group for the presenting companies to pitch to, after all, isn’t charging $2995 for a ticket audience payola?

Of course, they’ll never do any of that, but as long as they run around playing the destroy DEMO/ best for startups marketing pitch, they do themselves a grave disservice. Every time DEMO is trash talked, it appears to most sane people to be more of an insecurity from those doing the trash talk, than any real reflection on the model. Put on a great event, but STFU with the DEMO hating and let your actions in the delivery of the event speak for itself.