Game Rave Presents: PlayStation Perfect Guide

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	The Eidos Demo Conspiracy By Jason Dvorak Ask some PlayStation collectors what the most annoying thing to collect for is, and they usually say the CD variant artwork from Working Designs. I can safely say that that little collection is a cake walk to finish when compared to the nightmare that I have lovingly dubbed as the “Eidos Demo Conspiracy.” During the late 1998 to early 2000 era, PlayStation Demo Discs were popping up all over the place. As pre-order bonuses, large chain store giveaways, exclusive club memberships, and more. The most popular of these were the subscription based PlayStation Underground, which would provide their readers with demos, movies, interviews, behind the scene looks, and even reader participation events. The one day someone got a kooky; “Screw the pre-order,” they said, “let’s just give them one with the game!” And all hell broke loose. Now you had SquareSoft including supposedly ‘collector’ demo CDs with their games; Capcom traded pack-in demos between Resident Evil 3 and Dino Crisis, and more. Crave added one to Shadow Madness, and everything seemed to be going swell. At least it was until Eidos hit the print button. Not sufficient with including a demo and leaving it at that, Eidos went out of their way to make sure no game went unnoticed to the public eye during the three year period. Every fresh print run that certain games received would be met with another playable demo added to the mix. This…mind numbing choice of plans has resulted in the most obsessive compulsive hunt I have sat through since collecting one of every released game. Why you ask? Because there is no documentation of the changes, and in Fighting Force's case, no SLUS/Copyright changes that help discern one disc from the next. Since 99% of all versions are now used, I've had to physically lug a PSOne with LCD Monitor around to personally check the game on the spot to make sure I was getting the right version. Below is the current list of known variant demo releases. Note that the white spine label Collector’s Edition releases are not included. Fighting Force Standard Release w/ no mention of Core Standard Release w/ mention of Core Standard Release w/ Tomb Raider 3, Ninja Demo Gr. Hits Release Gr. Hits Release w/ Tomb Raider 3 Burst Gr. Hits Release w/ Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Gex 3, Tomb Raider 3 Gr. Hits Release w/ SLUSGH Gex III Standard Release w/ Demos Pandemonium Standard Release Standard Release w/ Demo Tomb Raider Standard Release Gr. Hits Release Gr. Hits Release w/ Tomb Raider II, Fighting Force Gr. Hits Release w/ Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Gex 3, Tomb Raider 3 Gr. Hits Release w/ SLUS 152GH (no burst) Tomb Raider 2 Standard Release Standard Release w/ SLUS A Gr. Hits Release Gr. Hits Release w/ Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Tomb Raider 3 Gr. Hits Release w/ Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Gex 3, Tomb Raider 3, Tomb Raider 3 Standard Release w/ Blue Disc Standard Release w/ Green Disc Gr. Hits Release Gr. Hits Release w/ Tomb Raider: Last Revelation Warzone Standard Release w/ Demos As more information becomes available, and we get to the individual game pages, this concept will be further fleshed out.