I think there is a good split between the "will never buy" crowd and the people who will pirate a game simply because a demo is not available. I'm one of those who will get a pirated copy of a game I want if a playable demo is not available. This is purely because I cannot just rely on reviews (which can be biased), screenshots (which give you no indication of the game mechanics) or gameplay videos released by the developer/publisher. What does help are video reviews like what TotalBiscuit gives on YouTube, but this normally only happens after the game has been released and nullifies any attempt of stopping you from buying a crap title on pre-order.
I know that I'll buy a game if it's quality and only after I've played a demo. I pirated Bioshock 1 to see what it's like and also because at the time I couldn't afford it. I'm happy to say I am currently the legal owner of one of my most favourite gamesif I hadn't pirated it to try it out, who knows if I would have bought it.
Watch my latest video on YouTube, all about a Portal 2 turret! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFpwGxsRAt0
Here is a small example of a trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZdanb02280 and now look at the gameplay http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH6JnyfhJSI
Now look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfOOOAN9e9w for the trailer and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWlW4rbq030 for the gameplay
This is why I don't trust trailers
True; quite a few of the games I own I pirated first or played it at a friends house to get a proper idea of what's going on. A demo-into-buy option would really make things easier for us and ease the burden of piracy on the publishers...of course this argument only holds if publishers ONLY release quality products![]()