"Have you played (insert game here)?" It's a question most of us have asked when considering a video game purchase, and the answers given are often more influential than marketing campaigns that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. A study released today by study released today by global integrated communications agency Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, and Harris Interactive. Industry trade groups, surveyed 507 adult gamers between June 6th to July 27th of this year, finding that 33% of those who had purchased a game within the six months prior to the study cited word of mouth from family and friends as the biggest influence on their purchase.

More powerful than friends are a subset being called "Influence Multipliers," friends who are more connected to other gamers, therefor having a much larger say in what other players play. Of the 507 surveyed, 21% were identified as "Influence Multipliers"

"Compared to all video gamers, Influence Multipliers are a hyper influential subset of friends who are also far more connected to other gamers," said Dan Gallagher, senior vice president, Insight & Analytics at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. "As a result, Influence Multipliers have an outsized network influence effect on their gaming colleagues. By targeting the media channels that Influence Multipliers rely on, marketers can optimize their marketing spending."

Gallagher's advice here is something that politicians have been using for ages. You don't have to influence everyone - just the ones who influence everyone else. Words to market by.

The remainder of the chart shows that advertising and promotions accounted for a mere 11% of influenced purchases, beaten by game reviews, demos, and retail presence.

I'd say that actual advertising is most effective for non-gamers, with gamers being so connected these days that we don't need advertisements to know a game is coming out. We don't need to be made aware of a game's existence, just its quality, and for that, we turn to each other. Group hug, everybody!

Demos, in my WiiWare? Preposterous! Yes, this week Nintendo is giving us a free taste of some of the more popular WiiWare titles, letting players who weren't sure about BIT.TRIP Beat, Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord, NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits, and World of Goo a chance to take the games for a test drive. It's about damn time, isn't it?

Or you could demo Pokémon Rumble. It's the only original title hitting WiiWare this week, but when it's a Pokémon brawler, do you really need anything else? Priced at a hefty 1500 Wii points, Rumble pits your Pokémon against wave after wave of enemy Pokémon, using your special moves to win the day. You befriend enemy Pokémon as you progress, allowing you to choose the right Pokémon for the right Poké-situation. Up to four players can participate locally, making this a fine party game for the younger set.

DSiWare gets three new games this week, and one of them has Art Style in the name. Art Style: DIGIDRIVE (500 DSi points) is a traffic manipulating puzzle game, where stacking similar cars gives you the fuel to keep stacking similar cars. Skyworks Interactive brings us Arcade Bowling (200 points), a ball-flicking bowler from classic Activision game designer David Crane. Finally we have Robot Rescue from Teyon (200 points), a logic game about manipulating linked robots through a deadly labyrinth.

A fine lineup this week, and let's not forget the Virtual Console, where Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventure for the Super Nintendo (800 Wii points) and Street Fighter II Championship Edition for the TurboGrafx16 (700 points) both go on sale today.

Check out the official descriptions below, and get ready to download the hell out of some WiiWare demos.

WiiWare

Pokémon Rumble
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Mild Cartoon Violence
Price: 1,500 Wii Points
Description: Available exclusively for the WiiWare service, Pokémon Rumble is an action game in which you control Toy Pokémon (referred to as "Pokémon") and take on wave after wave of other Pokémon in a variety of stages. You can befriend some of the defeated Pokémon along the way, which lets you add them to your collection and grants you the ability to use them in battle. Switch between collected Pokémon at any time, taking advantage of the fact that the amount of damage you deal depends on the type of move used and the type of Pokémon hit. Be the last one standing to gain the right to compete in the Battle Royale and test your skills against many Pokémon at once. You can also team up with three people for some multiplayer action (additional Wii Remote controllers required), working together to take down tough Bosses and earning points that can be used toward recruiting or training Pokémon. You can even save your favorite Pokémon to your Wii Remote™ controller for exchanges with friends. Combining beautiful cel-shaded graphics and exciting game-play features, this is one rumble you won't want to miss. Note that a demo version of Pokémon Rumble is also available for zero Wii Points.

BIT.TRIP BEAT Demo
Publisher: Aksys Games
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 0 Wii Points
Description: BIT.TRIP BEAT brings retro action back as you use the Wii Remote controller's motion sensor to bounce beats in this rhythm game. Retro visuals, classic game play, four-player multiplayer and an 8-bit soundtrack will get you in the zone and rock your world. Pay attention, though: As with most classic games, the challenges are mighty. If you can stay cool as the difficulty increases, you'll discover the beginnings of the BIT.TRIP saga.

FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a Darklord Demo
Publisher: SQUARE ENIX
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes
Price: 0 Wii Points
Description: Step into the royal shoes of the Darklord's daughter as she installs traps and monsters inside her tower to fight back the endless waves of invading adventurers in this world-conquest role-playing game. Filling your demonic tower with monsters and traps called Artifacts is your only hope to keep the adventurers from destroying the Dark Crystal on the top floor. Fly your tower across the land and conquer every stage on your way to dominating the entire world.

NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits Demo
Publisher: Over The Top Games
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Mild Fantasy Violence
Price: 0 Wii Points
Description: NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits is the awesome story of Nyx, an enigmatic winged girl who must descend from heaven in search of her missing friend, Icarus. Fly over the ruins of ancient Greece and avoid falling into blazing sands or perishing in the claws of cruel harpies and hydras. You'll need the help of Zeus and other benevolent gods from Olympus to summon their powers. They will let you cast rays, modify the scenery and control winds at will. Fly, aim and shoot using the Wii Remote controller. Play with a friend and maximize your abilities: While one player controls Nyx, the other will control the powers from the gods.

World of Goo Demo
Publisher: 2D BOY
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief
Price: 0 Wii Points
Description: World of Goo is an award-winning, physics-based puzzle/construction game made entirely by two guys. Use living, squirming, talking globs of goo to build structures, bridges, cannonballs, zeppelins and giant tongues. The millions of Goo Balls that live in the beautiful World of Goo are curious to explore, but they don't know that they are in a game, nor that they are extremely delicious.

Virtual Console

Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures™
Original platform: Super NES™
Publisher: LucasArts
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Mild Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points
Description: Grab your trusty whip and slash your way through all three Indy classics in this no-thrills-barred adventure. If it happened in the movies, it happens here: the giant boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark, the mine-cart chase from Temple of Doom, the three trials from Last Crusade, Rene Belloq and Colonel Vogel – it's three times the action, all in one fully loaded game.

STREET FIGHTER II': CHAMPION EDITION
Original platform: TurboGrafx16
Publisher: Capcom
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) – Mild Blood, Violence
Price: 700 Wii Points
Description: This is the classic PCEngine (TurboGrafx16) version of the two-player fighting game that started it all. At the time, a large capacity HuCARD was used to allow faithful recreation of the dynamic arcade game and its features, including bonus stages and sound effects. In the game, players select one of 12 characters and face opponents in a no-holds-barred battle to decide the top fighter. Master a character's special moves and combos to defeat your rivals around the world. In "V.S. BATTLE" mode, there's a convenient handicap feature. Using this feature to adjust a character's performance, a novice player can be evenly matched against a seasoned player to enjoy an intense, head-to-head combat experience.

Nintendo DSiWare

Art Style™: DIGIDRIVE™
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points™
Description: It's traffic control with a twist as you try to direct identical cars down the same road in Art Style: DIGIDRIVE. This constantly moving puzzle game combines an easily understood playing field (an intersection) and a simple goal (create fuel), challenging you to properly guide a never-ending stream of cars. Stack similar cars five deep to create some fuel, then use that fuel to continue your progress in the game. Play in ENDLESS mode to see how long you can last, or compete against the computer or a human opponent in VS mode. Use combos to your advantage and see if your reflexes can handle the intensity of Overdrive mode. When all is said and done, you may never look at gridlock quite the same way again.

Arcade Bowling
Publisher: Skyworks Interactive
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: From Skyworks comes another addictively classic game, Arcade Bowling. It was designed by video game legend David Crane, one of the original founders of Activision and one of the most critically acclaimed game designers of all time. In the tradition of everyone's favorite Boardwalk bowling game, use your stylus and steady aim to flick "laser" balls down the alley and up the ramp into the scoring holes. The farther away the scoring hole is, the more points you'll get. Arcade Bowling features three futuristic sound tracks, state-of-the-art 3-D graphics and two addictive game modes, Classic and Progressive. In Classic Mode, roll up to nine balls to score as many points as you can. In Progressive Mode, enjoy multiple levels of game play with increasing score plateaus and bonus targets.

Robot Rescue
Publisher: Teyon
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief
Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Robot Rescue is a fun logic game based on a simple but entertaining concept. Your mission is to free robots trapped in 45 evil computer labyrinths while avoiding deadly traps. Sound easy? Not so fast. Each robot shares linked controls, so when you move one, you move them all. It will take clever planning and nerves of steel to pull off this electronic escape. You'll need to avoid many traps, such as mines or electrical circuits, and take advantage of special elements like glue stains. Choose one of three difficulty levels and get ready for a challenge.

Free up some hard disk space as two of the most eagerly awaited games get their demo on. The heavy metal action of the Brutal Legend demo is heavy indeed, weighing in at 2GB, but what's contained on that 2GB should be well worth the space, with the entire opening chapter laid bare on a stone altar to be sacrificed to the dread demon lords or something.

Twice the speed will cost you only half the space, with the Forza Motorsport 3 demo delivering 1GB of 60 frames-per-second racing goodness.

It's worth noting that both demos are Xbox Live gold subscriber exclusives, so if you aren't paying for Xbox Live, this is the price you pay. Patience!

One of these demos should be making it onto the PlayStation Network soon as well. Hint: it's not the one published by Microsoft.

UPDATE: Double Fine president Tim Schafer specified September 17 as the official relase date for the demo during EA's Gamescom press conference.

"We just couldn't wait," Double Fine president Tim Schafer said in a press reelase. "Villagers have surrounded our offices with torches, demanding the game. So we're releasing a demo and hope that this taste of metal will keep the mob at bay until Brütal Legend comes out this Rocktober."

The demo will be downloadable through Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network.

The game will launch in the U.S on October 13.

EA gave no indication about what the demo will contain, noting: "From the bowels of the druid dungeon to the tops of corpse mountains, the Brütal Legend demo is just the beginning of an epic journey."

"A beta is like hooking up with a girl just to say, 'yeah, I f*cked her,'" Cliff waxes. Furthering the Gears boning metaphor "Once you play a beta, you can check it off your list — you can say, 'yeah, I played it.' Then you might not feel motivated to get that initial cherry popping from the proper, final game."

That's an excellent point. One opportunity to "look at all that juice" wasted!

Cliff also explains why there is no Gears of War 2 demo on the horizon, pointing out "stuff takes [time] to put together." If stuff were put together "Gears of War 2 wouldn't be out until February of 2009." And then you'd have blue balls.

Cliff Bleszinski dishes on Gears and games [Gamepro]

Left 4 Dead Beta? [Blank Pixels]
Left 4 Dead [GameStop, thanks reader (not boss) Brian]

Well, a file purporting to be that demo is on Megaupload as we speak. Now, 191 MB is a huge file just to be bogus malware, but still, we assume no responsibility if this isn't what it says it is or turns out to be something worse.

Spore releases for PC and Mac on Sept. 8, 2008, with a version for the DS on Sept. 7 and another TBA for the Wii.

Spore Creature Creator Demo (.exe) [MegaUpload, thanks Null Void]

But Universe at War looked fantastic, despite its only moderate reception. And now it's available as a demo on the Xbox 360. So if you enjoy RTSs but don't have a PC or trust console-ported controls, it might be worth giving a download. And just think: if such demos were around back at Leipzig, I probably wouldn't have to run all my posts by Tristan before publishing. And Mini Bash might have approved my raise, too.

Demo: Universe at War: Earth Assault [Major Nelson]

The other demo, which I simply cannot be bothered to type out again, comes in at a more trim 584.87 MB, but thumbs its figurative nose at anyone not in Canada and the U.S. Sorry, rest of the world. You're going to have to settle for PGR4.

They take away one of the staples of bathroom reading in the states, and the UK version gets a partnership with SCEE to toss out a Blu-ray disc every month? I know Europe is the most important continent and all, but come on. Makes you wonder what Ray Maguire, the managing director of SCE UK is thinking...

We are very excited to partner with Future to offer a playable Blu-ray disc to UK PlayStation 3 owners. The high capacity of Blu-ray media is the perfect method to distribute large volumes of unique existing, and user-generated content in HD, showcasing PS3's multimedia capabilities to the full. Combined with the PlayStation Network Store, we're offering a content distribution channel unmatched anywhere else in the industry.

Probably for the best that we don't get it here, actually. I can't open a drawer in my house without finding an old, untouched OPM or OXM disc in it. The demos will be downloadable via the store, and I finished building my demo disc fort in the backyard months ago. Michael Fahey

Monthly Blu-ray disc for Official PlayStation Magazine

Sony Computer Entertainment and Future team up for world's first Blu-ray covermount

11/04/07 - Future, the UK's leading games media publisher, is delighted to announce that, in partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), Official PlayStation Magazine will carry the world's first monthly playable Blu-ray covermount from June onwards.

The first playable Blu-ray disc comes with issue 7 of Official PlayStation Magazine, on sale Friday, 1st June. The disc promises to be packed with playable demos of key SCEE and third party software titles, with full details of content being announced shortly.

As the disc develops, Future fully intends to support the advanced capabilities of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) and the Blu-ray media, delivering multimedia content and unique user-generated content. The disc will also include Hi-Definition (HD) game and movie trailers. Official PlayStation Magazine will be the ONLY title to offer gamers a playable demo disc, direct from SCEE.

Ray Maguire, Managing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment UK (SCE UK) said:

"We are very excited to partner with Future to offer a playable Blu-ray disc to UK PlayStation 3 owners. The high capacity of Blu-ray media is the perfect method to distribute large volumes of unique existing, and user-generated content in HD, showcasing PS3's multimedia capabilities to the full. Combined with the PlayStation Network Store, we're offering a content distribution channel unmatched anywhere else in the industry. Furthermore, it also marks another key development in the pioneering relationship between SCEE and Future, which began in 1995.

Publisher of Official PlayStation Magazine, Matt Pierce added:

"We are delighted that Official PlayStation Magazine will deliver to its readers a monthly playable disc, and the world's first covermounted Blu-ray disc. Future has worked closely with Sony since 1995 to offer playable demo discs for PlayStation, PlayStation 2 (PS2) and PlayStation Portable (PSPT), and we will be working hard to ensure gamers get the very best content for their PS3 as well"

Issue 7 of Official PlayStation Magazine - with the world's first covermounted Blu-ray disc, hits stores on Friday, 1st June, priced 5.99.

This time around, besides the hidden hack fix, the upgrade includes a way to conserve memory while surfing websites. So if you hit up a porn site, you should be A-OK.
Also, and about as unexciting, the firmware will add dynamic normalizing. In other words you will now be able to have automatic volume adjustment while listening to music tracks.

Yah, so the update is pretty much about their neverending fight against hacks.

They are releasing some new PSP demos as well, which is nice. This time around you can get your hands on Killzone: Liberation, which you should def check out, and SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2 and Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror down the line.

Where's my downloadable episodes of LOST Heroes, dammit? Brian Crecente

Lemmings uses the "processing power of the PLAYSTATION 3" to "take the game to a whole new dimension", which I can only assume means the highly touted Fourth Dimension, exclusive to the PS3. I'm downloading the 142MB trial version now, which I'll pass judgment on later. The full version of Lemmings is only $5.99, how bad can it be?

Go! Sudoku is, of course, sudoku the number puzzle fad that is sweeping the nation. The first pack is free, with four additional packs priced at $2.99 each. Since I'm in post-Brain Age sudoku rehab, I'll pass on this one. Michael McWhertor

Major Nelson breaks it down for us:

Trailers
DOA X2 E3 Trailer*
Project Sylpheed*
Tenchu Senran
Half-Life 2 - Episode 2

Demos
Tenchu Senran*
Game Downloads
BFMEII Aragorn's Journey - Map Pack 1 - Free 9/20 - 9/29
Edit: this is not currently showing up as free. Don't download it yet or you'll be charged. The team is aware of this and working to corrrect it.

BFMEII Northern Badlands - Map Pack 2 - 350 Points
Arcade
Spades Vision support
Hearts Vision support
Backgammon Vision support
Bankshot Billiards Vision support
Note: If you already purchased one of these titles, you'll be prompted for the free autoupdate the next time you play the game and you're connected to Xbox Live.
Community
TGS Picture Pack

PLUS, later today a 5-minute the TGS Briefing will also be available on Xbox Live, but I don't have an exact time...but expect it around 5p PT Brian Crecente

Bringing it Home Day One

For those of you who like playing games in which sweaty, ebony colossi magnificently traverse a gleaming court, tossing a small orange ball to one another, only occasionally disrupting game play to hurl obscenities at their fellow athletes: the NBA 2K7 Demo is now up on Live Marketplace. The demo limits you to a four-minute exhibition game, but with these incremental sports games, a demo is key to determine whether or not you're just being ripped off on what is essentially a glorified, $60 patch. Florian Eckhardt

The songs to be covered?

• Shout at the Devil - Motley Crue
• Strutter - Kiss
• YYZ - Rush
• You Really Got Me - Van Halen

I'm going to have to import this issue. Florian Eckhardt

Guitar Hero 2 Demo [Official Forums]

Next month, the Tokyo Game Show kicks off in *get this* Chiba, Japan. Some of you might go, some might not and some will wonder why the event isn't called the Chiba Game Show. For those sitting at home, Microsoft will be streaming coverage right into your living room. The company announced it will release all TGS vids and demos on Xbox Live Marketplace. It's just like being there, but minus the Microsoft booth companions. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Jean Snow]

Pity, because he is all alone in a savage land, surrounded by mannerless apes and gossamer nymphs, assaulted on all sides by the blaring of screens and the braying of looped demos.

Jealousy, because holy crap there's some nifty stuff coming outta this thing.

Computer and Video Games also has a missionary dispatched to Leip, and he's sending back mysterious video footage from the FUTURE. Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Medieval II: Total War, NFS: Carbon and Mario Strikers Charged vids are piled up like pillaged sheep in the hull of Viking longboat. Go check it out.

Eliza Gauger

See videos here! [Computer and Video Games]