Do Game demos have a place in this game generation?

[Ons::lob::]

I looked at the playstation February announcement and noticed something that got me thinking. At this point in the presentation the CEO of gaikai mentions that in the future one would be able to jump into any game to try it out before buying.

Sony is already doing something similar to this with "timed demos" for playstation plus users where you can download the game in its entirety and play it for an hour before you have to buy it.

Could this be the death of video game demos outside of gaming conventions and the press? Why create a demo for the consumer when you can just create a "vertical slice" of your game for the press who would be much more forgiving when playing an unfinished game?

I know nothing about game development, but would I be wrong to assume publishers could save money by not having to create a demo and have it certified when they can just have the press look at the game and write up a preview about it to help drive pre-order sales?

What do you guys think?

 

[Cyan]

Demo mode could still be very useful in some cases. For instance, if your game is stolen, letting the thief play the demo mode of a game ONLY if he is online could be very useful to know who is the thief and where your game is.

I am talking here for instance, about the Xbox One's policies where your games are totally bound to your account and have an unique code -which is common in blu-rays after all- too.

Additionally the console's provider could send a message to your account or your email address telling you that an unauthorized account has been playing your copy of the game.

This is only possible with physical discs of course.

I don't see demos disappearing anytime soon. People sometimes feel like trying a certain game themselves before reading an article about a game.

Perhaps only game demo installs will disappear because consoles have so much RAM these days that they could use the RAM as a RAM disc, but this seems to be also highly unlikely.