Among the many innovations to come out of this console generation, one of the most significant is the emergence of demos as an important marketing tool.  Sure, the PS2 had demos, but they were on disc, and didn’t make that much of an impact on the gaming world.  With the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360, though, demos are readily available and heavily advertised, and as a result, have become a vital component to any game’s marketing campaign.  Generally, these demos give gamers a slice of the action, pulling one or two levels from action games, or offering a severely limited roster of playable teams for sports games.  Sony may have found a way to shift that paradigm, and offer players the whole game.  At least until it goes away.

A patent filed by Sony Computer Entertainment America indicates that they are working on a type of degradable demo that would offer the full game for a limited time, and slowly remove features as time goes by.  An example given by Sony was a weapon that, while powerful at the start of the demo, would gradually become weaker, and eventually disappear completely.  Other examples included a decreasing selection of playable tracks in a racing demo, and even degrading graphics and sounds.

It’s certainly an interesting concept, and one that would make demos more appealing. Obviously, full games, especially on Blu-Ray, would make for enormous downloads, so Sony would use physical media for demos.  If a player decided he wanted to keep the game, they’d be able to pay the full price and have their disc “unlocked” remotely, turning the demo into a full version.  The risk of gamers getting all they wanted from the demo is certainly worth noting, but would likely be offset by gamers who, after a few hours with the limited version, feel they absolutely have to buy the full release.

The only people who might object to a system like this would be environmentalists, because unsold full versions would equate to extra discs in the landfill, and programmers, because coding in those degradation triggers might be a huge pain in the ass.

[Source]