OXM disc content coming to XBLM, for a price

by Richard Mitchell { Jul 26th 2007 at 11:45AM }

So, let's say you want to play the Beautiful Katamari demo. Perhaps you've heard that, like other demos, said demo is only available in the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine. "But print is dead!" you say, "I get all of my infoz from ze intarwebz!" In such an assertion, we would agree there are valid points. There are some people who just don't buy gaming magazines anymore. With the advent of Xbox Live Marketplace and ever vigilant news blogs like this one, many just don't see the value in magazines. Now, every once in a while, OXM scores an exclusive demo, which leaves internet-only types out in the dust. It looks like the folks from OXM have come to a similar realization, as they have announced the creation of OXM Digital, which will be available each month on Marketplace.

OXM Digital will contain the exclusive demos found on the OXM disc as well as exclusive content like interviews and videos. The monthly package will set you back 200 MS Points, which adds up to $30 a year, about $5 more than the print subscription. Dan Amrich of OXM points out that both the magazine and its digital counterpart will contain content exclusive to each medium, so OXM Digital is not meant as a replacement.

It doesn't seem like a bad idea on the surface, as we're sure many people occasionally plunk down the cash for OXM just for a demo. It doesn't hurt that 200 MS Points is also cheaper than the newsstand price of the print mag, either. Of course, we're also sure that there will be users that cringe at the thought of paying for demos, regardless of the extra content that comes with them. Let your voice be heard in the comments below.

Tags: officialxboxmagazine, oxm, oxmd, oxmdigital, xblm

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

player @ Jul 26th 2007 12:03PM

Wow, this is really stupid. I'm definitely not going to pay for demos, exclusive or not. They're demos, not full games. Seems just more of M$ trying to milk more money out of the gamers.

dunnypop @ Jul 26th 2007 12:03PM

they usually have free gamer pics with these packs, so 200 points isn't too bad.

ANt @ Jul 26th 2007 12:03PM

Not a bad idea, provided they don't include old demos like they usually do.

Rees Clissold @ Jul 26th 2007 12:10PM

I thought the idea of demos was to sell games? Surely that would mean getting them into as many peoples' hands as possible as quickly as possible to get the word out. Charging people for early access to demos doesn't make a lot of sense.

If, like dunnypop in comment #2 says, you get extra stuff like gamerpics and other goodies thrown in, it might be worth it. 200 point isn't exactly a lot in real world money.

Maurice M @ Jul 26th 2007 12:12PM

Knew MS would try and charge for demos too eventually. They love selling you things you used to get for free. Surprised it took this long.

Not buying!

Joshua @ Jul 26th 2007 12:15PM

If they think I'm buying demos they can eat my backside. Now, if they offer a good amount of video content on top of everything else than I'm a little bit more okay with charging.

Not that it makes exclusive demos cool however since I have a Gold account and Xbox tells me that gives me the ability to download new demos.

Project Ekim @ Jul 26th 2007 12:19PM

i already have oxm and i love it yes thier are blogs out there but everyone has there own opinion and i like to see everyones thats why i get PSm Electronic gaming, nintendo power,GFW, OXM, And game informer. :) i love gaming

OXM BLOWWWWWWZ @ Jul 26th 2007 12:26PM

Name says it all. Poorly edited articles. Information that is outdated or irrelevant. Shitty reviews. Added to the fact that their U.S. website is STILL down...they blow nuts, plain and simple.

tony @ Jul 26th 2007 12:28PM

well if you buy the magazine youre paying for demos already because a magazine alone usually only costs around the ball park of $5-$6 for most, unless its porn. lol. so why is it a bad idea to make you pay like $2-$3 just for the demos instead of the whole $10 youd pay for the magazine and only play the disc and not even read the magazine but a few times. i think its a good idea because actually this is saving the people who only buy the magazine for the demos alot of money actually. youd be saving like $8 and issue if youre in it just for the demos. although microsoft does need to get on the ball and give us much beter demos on the discs instead of shit we can come back home and download for free. thats how they loose money. tryin to charge for what is on marketplace already. give us demos of games that arent out already instead of games that have been sround for a year or so. i wanna know if the games coming out soon are even going to be worth ,my $60 or more before i wste my money.

JrezIN @ Jul 26th 2007 12:28PM

For the love of...

SOMEONE TELL THEM WE'RE NOT COWs!

Malleus @ Jul 26th 2007 12:31PM

Well this is nothing new, people have been paying for demo's included with magazines for years. So basically they are just giving you the option to get it digitally. So I wouldn't get all high and mighty about it and say that they are trying to screw consumers and make them pay for demos because many magazines have been doing that for years. Again like any content you feel is a rip off just vote with your wallet and pass on it. Simple as that.

ji @ Jul 26th 2007 12:53PM

OMFG this is BS im selling my fuggin 360 for a ps3 now, this is the last straw! OXM take your 200 points and shove them up your stupid p.chute! No one reads your moronic little mag anyway. I swear, If I have to put up money to play a demo of a game that I'm actually interested in, I'll literally punt my 360 down the street.

xenocidic @ Jul 26th 2007 12:56PM

@12 don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

bearxor @ Jul 26th 2007 1:02PM

@13: Indeed...

ANt @ Jul 26th 2007 1:10PM

@13 @14 Ditto.....

grady @ Jul 26th 2007 1:13PM

LOL.. Well for the people who think going over to the PS3 camp because MS charges for demos.. hate to burst those bubbles, but Sony also charges for some demos as well. Enjoy!

JJ @ Jul 26th 2007 1:27PM

Well i haven't paid for a demo on my PS3 or 360 yet and i sure heck aint about to start... i dont care if its only 200pts, why should i pay for something at all when the demo should be free? or i can RENT the full game when it comes out to "demo" it?

PS3 @ Jul 26th 2007 1:31PM

@16, which demos, specifically? Because I haven't yet found a single DEMO that COSTS MONEY on the PS3.

Brooks @ Jul 26th 2007 1:40PM

I won't pay for demos. And I won't buy a game without playing the demo. Of course, Microsoft et al. have every right to remove me as a potential customer for some games -- which they've been doing with exclusive demos in print mags for some time.

But it seems like if someone was rethinking the whole arrangement, the obvious top priority would be to get more demos out there so people buy more games. Continuing the idea of limiting access to demos is just strange thinking.

dalec @ Jul 26th 2007 2:03PM

OXM is not owned or operated by Microsoft. You have the option to buy exclusive demos that the magazine offers which are few. If you don't want to buy them, wait a few months and they will be free.

Jcarpio @ Jul 26th 2007 2:02PM

I think some people are missing the point here. Microsoft is not all of sudden charging for demos. They just gave someone the ability to sell the demos they paid to have exclusive on their Marketplace.

As far as leaving the 360 to go to ps3.. good luck in getting a demo before you buy a game. Few and far in between.

honz12 @ Jul 26th 2007 2:46PM

I stopped buying magazines because the 'news' I was reading in them was news I read the month before on the net. OK it's cool that there is a digital sevice now, but so what??... it's a monthly service which means the news will still be a month old by the time it comes out.

Anticrawl @ Jul 26th 2007 3:15PM

Yeah no thanks, I'll just keep to my campus bookstore and jack the demos out out the plastic sleeves. Seriously, I'm not paying for demos. And guys if you want the damn demo so bad and don't want to "steal" just wait until the next issue comes out and drop buy your local game store, they usually cut out the barcode and give away the old magazines and demo discs.

SAB-CA @ Jul 26th 2007 4:32PM

What in the world are people complaining about? Anyone remember the Playstation Underground disk for PS1 and 2, which would come out every few months, and often times, contain the same demos you could get from the Official Playstation Magazine, just collected in one place?

All this does is save you a trip from going to the newsstand, in case you wanted the "exclusives" for that months OXM.

So for 2 dollars and 50 cents, we get "exclusive" content that, in the US, has always been locked behind a 9.99 price commitment + Gas for the trip to the local book dealer?

From the way you guys make it sound, you'd think they where starting to charge for entering the demo section on Live... geeze.

xenocidic @ Jul 26th 2007 3:31PM

Funny Penny Arcade about this one -
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/07/18

T Ghost @ Jul 26th 2007 4:06PM

Finally! Micro$$$$oft charging for demos!!! AMAZING!

People who buy this crap should be fined 10.000 msp for bieng dee-dee-dee...

For me, they could put a demo for HALO 3 and GTA 4 on the same edition, I DO NO PAY FOR DEMOS!

I'm already paying US$8 a month for being served ads and have to deal with a HUMONGOUS WORLD OF LAAAAAGGGGGG (gears of lag anyone?)even with a 7Mbdown/500Kb up connection on Xbox Live and I'm not happy with it!

Grant @ Jul 26th 2007 4:14PM

i think it's a good idea,
i won't have to shuck OXMs anymore to play the one demo i'm interested in.
They rarely have exclusives, so i'm sure this won't be enticing more than 3 times a year.
600 points = about one news stand price.

i've been getting game mags for the demos for SOOOOO sooooo long, and ever since 360 i think i''ve turned to a demo disc twice. I'm quite happy with digital distribution.

mike @ Jul 26th 2007 4:19PM

@#25

You think 500kbps upload speed is good? no wonder your upset. I have 800 myself and I know thats too low to host max players lag free on most games. Ideal for xbox live hosting is 1500+

J.R. @ Jul 26th 2007 4:32PM

I'm going to put this in caps so dumb people can understand.

MICROSOFT IS NOT CHARGING FOR DEMOS ANYMORE THAN THEY DID YESTERDAY!

This is simply a new way to get OXM content (magazine, gamer pics, themes, demos) to a new market. If you thought it wasn't right for OXM to have exclusive access to certain demos because they charge a fee to buy them, that's your opinion.

However, this is not Microsoft (who is only involved with OXM in the licensing of the Xbox name) trying to charge you for demos. They are charging for a digital magazine and for content that you can find at your newsstand.

James @ Jul 26th 2007 5:40PM

Don't blame OXM or MS for this fiasco, blame the retarded game companies that actually agree to keep their demo off XBL where people will actually be exposed to it. It's the company's own fault if they license an "exclusive" to a dead media, and just shows that they don't "get it".

Ciaran Gallagher @ Jul 26th 2007 5:50PM

Well, it may only be 200ms points, but since you can only buy a minimum of 500ms points at one time it makes it seem more expensive, instead you are paying £4.25 for two months, if you see it that way. Not bad, but I still wish it was easier to pay.
Also, I've stopped buying magazines after subscribing to 360zine online magazine thingy, and plus the fact that there are already dozens of sites featuring exclusive screenshots and videos for various games, then regardless of the efforts OXM make, it looks like a downward spiral for them.

Jcarpio @ Jul 26th 2007 6:17PM

Well said JR..

Besides, if you don't want it. Don't buy it. I don't see MS putting a gun to your head and say buy this.

But let's be clear on this point. Marketplace is just a conduit. The publishers get permission from MS to put their stuff on there. So if the publisher decides to start charging for demos. That's their perogative. And you, as the consumer, decide whether or not if the idea of charging for a demo is a smart idea.

If the OXM demo is interesting enough (like an assassin's creed demo or something of that ilk), i might consider putting down my $2.50 before i plunk down $60.

Tel Prydain @ Jul 26th 2007 7:30PM

Urge to strangle morons... rising!

Honestly, next person to say "0h n0z! M$$$$ iz m@KIng u5 p@y 4 teh dem0z" is going to get my foot lodged up their backsides.

ccc @ Jul 26th 2007 8:19PM

Alright,

Whoever came up with this idea for us to pay for demos should be fired, banned from working in the gamming industry and hung upside naked by thier balls in Times Square for a period of no less than 10 days.

bentdog @ Jul 27th 2007 1:13AM

So we have to pay for them to advertise to us? WTF!!!

Eric @ Jul 27th 2007 1:16AM

OXM is trash. I'm not paying for it. I'm sure as hell not paying for demos. This will be just as worthless as the magazine.

Mathew @ Jul 27th 2007 11:57AM

Yeah, I make the assumption that OXM digital will be more than just a demo. I imagine it will include editorial content, reviews, and perhaps other fun things like exclusive gamerpics and the like. If you don't wanna buy it, don't. I'm sure companies will continue to offer demos.

DaFlameking @ Jul 27th 2007 9:24PM

if you guys have ever read the fine print on any demo game, in its box or when its starting up, the publisher/developer of the game CLEARLY says "this game may not be put up for sale or rent" meaning the demo SHOULD BE FREE.

Wtf microsoft. You're already breaking some companies Terms of Service let alone you want people to obey yours.