But on a personnal scale to preview software to buy and delete those you won't, it would be nice to have a legal basis for it.
While cranky already responded nicely, I couldn't help but read your post and think about people who complain about $50 games that may give them multiple-multiple hours of enjoyment, but have no problem slapping down $10+ to see some crapfest of a ninety-minute film at the theater? Entertainment time/$ ratio seems much higher for a game.
But anyway, your post to me read this way: If I go to the theater, and watch the entire film, I should be able to demand a ticket refund if I can state "I won't be buying the DVD."
It's like ordering a pizza, then calling and saying it was awful and want a refund. And the pizza joint wants the unused pizza returned so they can tell if they did something wrong.
"Well, we already ate it."
You mean to tell me that the pizza was so bad that you ate the WHOLE thing?
back to gaming:
I am in the opposite boat. I buy games and they sit around for years. I still haven't opened FEAR/Riddick/Serious Sam 2/Quake 4. They were bought when they came out, two years ago. I ALMOST bought FSX, but decided not to when I accepted that I've bought FS2000/2002/2004, and haven't even opened those yet!
So, in my case, I wouldn't mind waiting yet another year if it meant playing the above for free, but with ads.
But, even with crappy games that maybe never get fully patched, my feeling still is that if you got some enjoyment out of it, you should put some money down for it.
And if they can't be bothered to get it fully patched until the price has gone from $50 down to $20, then pay the $20 for it...
Besides, I've read through what you need to do with some pirated copies of games to get them running on a system (clone programs and such), and it seems more of a nuisance (and potential risk to my system) than just slapping down $20...
The last time I can remember downloading a pirated copy of a game and actually bothering to play it though is maybe Doom and Duke. But that's because I already own a license and am just too lazy to find the media...
(and if I need a new license for the Windows version vs. the DOS version, well, that's lame...)
But, to end, entertainment is a crapshoot. No theater is going to let you watch the entire movie, then let you decide on a refund. Game devs should be allowed the same standard. if they can't make a demo of any kind for you to see (real gameplay of just footage of some sort), then I assume the game just sucked too bad for them to be bothered with it.
Although I should note that from the sound of it Crysis is being delayed at they want stable drivers from Nvidia for the DX10 version of the game. While it'd be nice to have the dx9 version now, and wait for a dx10 patch, you do have to admit it appears these devs want everything as right as can be right out of the box. Be a shame if this needs to be pirated first...
(then again, I have no interest in probably about 95+% of games out there, I don't have the interest of the time... So maybe my entire viewpoint should be ignored...)
FYI: the last two games I have installed are Prey about six months ago, and Trackmania Nations exactly one year ago.
I did install the Bioshock demo. Strange how a demo can also COST a dev a sale! Oops!
(Bioshock's dev's FUBARs still can't justify pirating it, though...)