Remember the good old days of demo discs? Back in the '90s and the 2000s, it wasn't uncommon for magazines to ship with playable demos on a disc, and that was indeed the case for Official Xbox Magazine for many years.
We always love a good excuse to reminisce about them, and one particular Xbox fan known as DarkDigital has given us a great reason to — they've been showing off their collection that includes "almost" every OXM demo disc based on the US version of Official Xbox Magazine (the UK version typically included different demos in a DVD-style box instead).
Notably, they've got the "Premiere Issue" disc that features footage of Dead or Alive 3, and they've also got demo disc #35 that includes a playable demo for action game The Red Star, which never ended up releasing on any Xbox console.
"Was a subscriber throughout the lifespan of the console and got nearly every issue of the magazine except for the first few. Unfortunately I don't have the magazines anymore but I kept all the discs. 60 in total. The discs include demos of never released games such as The Red Star. And even bonus 'DLC'/content for games like Dead or Alive 3. And of course the installers for Xbox Live and Arcade.
It's interesting to watch how the magazine transitioned from OG Xbox to Xbox 360 content, and this is also shown in the discs. As they transition into hybrid OG/360 discs with the original sleeves, then into the white sleeves they used throughout the lifespan of the 360."
Over the years, we've come across a few dedicated Xbox fans who have made it their mission to collect as many OXM demo discs as possible (there are definitely some complete collections out there), and we love the commitment - it seems a fun endeavour, and there are undoubtedly some hidden gems to be found on these!
Fortunately, there are a few people who have put them into video form as well. An old YouTube channel called the OXM Demo Archive goes into a lot of detail on the first 31 OXM demo discs, while the likes of Camp Xbox have also taken closer looks at the discs as well. We'll leave you with a couple of examples at the bottom of the article.
So, do you remember these? Did you ever collect them back in the day, either for Xbox or maybe for another platform like the PlayStation 1? We'd love to hear about your demo disc memories down in the comments section below.