here's list of them and in good detail
Last week, Microsoft Game Studios and Epic Games finally revealed the date of the much-anticipated Emergence Day. Along with the announcement of the release date for Gears of War, the publisher and the developer also revealed two interested facts. First, and to the surprise of many, it was announced that Gears of War will sell for the same price of third party titles, even if it is a game published by Microsoft Game Studios. This confirmation alone generated quite a hot discussion, which spawned across one editorial and a forum post here on TeamXbox.com.
Second, Mark Rein confirmed that there won’t be a Gears of War demo, at least not before Emergence Day. That also generated a lot of hot reactions, and, while some users understood Epic’s decision for not making a pre-release demo, others could not accept such bad news.
If for this reason that we decided to put together the reasons for which there won’t be a pre-release demo of Gears of War (these might also apply for future hot games like Halo 3). Here’s the whole truth and nothing but the truth:
#1 - Gears of War will sell like hotcakes with or without a demo
Gears of War, in both its standard and limited collector’s editions, will sell faster than hot doughnuts at Krispy Kreme when the glowing red sign turns on. So for that reason, the question is: Does Gears of War need a demo? No. Microsoft doesn’t need to convince any Xbox 360 owner that this game is the hottest holiday title, and those who could grab a demo from Xbox Live Marketplace already know about Gears of War and will buy it. The rest of the mortals will receive a tremendous dose of marketing as Emergence Day gets closer.
#2 - A demo could chop down hype
A demo is nothing more than one of the many marketing strategies publishers and developers use to promote a game. Neither Microsoft nor Epic needs a demo of Gears of War to promote the game, plus a playable demo always has a risky side. If the demo contains bugs or shows only a part of what makes the game cool, then instead of creating more hype, the demo could spread the word that the game is not what users were expecting from it. Ultimately, the purpose of a demo is to create hype and that’s something Gears of War have plenty of already and doesn’t need any more of.
#3 - Epic Games already did a demo
Epic already did a demo for Gears of War; actually two demos. One campaign demo that was shown by CliffyB at the E3 2006 conference and a multiplayer demo that was only playable behind closed doors. With just the campaign demo it was enough to propel hype for the game to the stratosphere so, why would Epic develop a second demo when the first one already did a great job?
You might be asking yourself, why can’t they release those same E3 2006 demos to the public? Well, the truth is that both demos had some bugs and didn’t have all the features that the final game will include. If you pay attention to the level demoed by CliffyB, you’ll see a Locust standing up after it was killed (see movie below) plus there was no Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago co-op multiplayer; one of the strongest features of Gears of War.
Then, regarding the multiplayer demo, I got to play it a couple of times and I remember how my Xbox 360 froze up during a match with my character, as well as an enemy, shaking their bodies like they were experiencing heavy convulsions. We had to reboot our 360 XeDKs and launch the game again.
You can afford those bugs in a work-in-progress code shown to the press six months before launch, but not in a public pre-release demo.
#4 - A demo demands additional resources
Making a demo demands a lot of resources, and only big publishers with lot of staff can afford to make a pre-release demo before a game launches. Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Activision, who are big publishers and developers at the same time, can afford to put a dedicated group to work on a demo while the main core staff continues the development of a game. Gears of War is a first-party title that Epic Games is developing for Microsoft Game Studios. This is the first time that Epic commits to a date instead of simply finishing a game “when it’s done”. Does Epic Games have more staff? Yes, they have, but the rest of Epic Games staffers are working on Unreal Tournament 2007, which has already been pushed back to 2007. That pretty much tells you it is impossible that Epic Games could make a pre-release demo of Gears War while meeting the Emergence Day dateline and continue working on Unreal Tournament 2007.
#5 - There are three trade events before Emergence Day
Like we explained above, a demo is just one of the many marketing strategies used to promote a game. From now till Emergence Day there will be three major gaming conventions across the world; the Leipzig Games Convention later this month, and in September, both the Tokyo Game Show and of course the Xbox 360-only X06 event in Barcelona. You can bet Gears of War will make an appearance in at least two of these shows, but as a guided demo. Those are the demonstrations publishers and developers love, the ones where a representative plays the demo and no one else can give it a try. So if there’s a known bug, they know how to avoid it. Anyways, it is highly probable that a deathmatch multiplayer demo will be available to the public.
These five reasons explain why you shouldn’t expect a Gears of War demo before Emergence Day. The truth hurts. Deal with it.
http://editorials.teamxbox.com/xbox/...rgence-Day/p1/
Five Reasons Why There Won't Be a Gears of War Demo Before Emergence Day 
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