During Nintendo's "Summer Splatdown" event, the Splatoon Testfire Demo will be downloadable from the Nintendo eShop for free on Wii U. Anyone who launches the demo on August 25th-28th will be able to try the game for free between the hours of 3 to 5 PM PST. Only the Turf War game mode will be available to play, but anyone who hasn't yet tried the game should give it a shot!

Spoiler: Full Release

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Splatoon Testfire Demo is back! What’s the “Testfire Demo,” you ask? Have you been living under a pool of colorful ink? From Aug. 25 to Aug. 28 between the hours of 3 and 5 p.m. PT each day, anyone who owns a Wii Uconsole can download a free demo for the Splatoon game in Nintendo eShop! This Summer Splatdown event (as all the cool squid kids are calling it) gives you the chance to play Splatoon and experience its outrageously messy multiplayer gameplay.

All you have to do is download the demo and launch the Splatoon Testfire demo during the designated hours to fight it out in Turf War battles. This fun multiplayer mode pits you and three other players against an opposing team of four to cover the most territory possible with colorful ink. It’s one of the core modes of Splatoon and is the perfect introduction to what the game has to offer. During the Splatoon Testfire demo, players can try out four different weapons across two popular maps:

Weapons

• Splattershot Jr.
• Splattershot
• Splat Roller
• Splat Charger

Stages

• Saltspray Rig
• Walleye Warehouse

You’ll need an internet connection to participate, so make sure you have everything set up before the Testfire begins!

To date, ink blasted from all modes and Splatfests in Splatoon have covered 3 million virtual square miles, which is equal in size to Australia, or approximately the size of the contiguous United States! Splatoon has also sold over 4 million units worldwide since it launched last year.

For more information about the Summer Splatfest Testfire event, visit http://splatoon.nintendo.com/.

Note to editors: Nintendo press materials are available at http://press.nintendo.com, a password-protected site. To obtain a login, please register on the site.

Source: GBAtemp Press Inbox
Official Splatoon Website

 

[HaloEffect17]

So, can banned Splatoon players play this?

 

[supergamer368]

JUST as I buy the game....

 

[Zeriel]

There are multiple reasons to not own Splatoon. Not being interest in FPS games and suffering from motion sickness are probably the biggest ones.

Bought it a few months ago and instantly regretted the purchase since I was vomiting (literally) all over the place.

WOW you get sick playing Splatoon? I would've killed myself

 

[LysergCooltyp]

WOW you get sick playing Splatoon? I would've killed myself

I do and I wouldn't go as far as killing myself just because I can't enjoy some games.

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

Well to be honest most PC games in japan are for the Highest rating available mostly cause console games can't be sold with the Z rating, (equal to our Adults only) For obvious reaons, the visual novel hentai games, usually reserved for their pc market instead of consoles. So is my guess based on observation. Is easier to submit those types of games on pc since it has less impact on the rating system. To me the rating system does impact the games created for console vs pc

No doubt! Indie publishers can slap a game on Greenlight and put it up on Steam without going through any formal rating system like the ESRB. The PC is an open platform. You can sell anything without going through official channels. So yeah, makes sense.

It seems to me that the Japanese game market is severely biased towards consoles and they don't want to support PC at all!
I can 100% prove this with Japanese steam games that come out on EVERY language except Japanese so actual Japanese
people are forced to buy their games on consoles and the only games they get on PC are dating sims.

Had no idea that was an actual thing with PC games from Japan! But if true, then hey, I guess they really like their Nintendos and PlayStations. Likely also why most JRPGs just release on the most popular console, rather than be a multi-plat. Persona 5, anyone? In this day and age, most major platforms - Xbox, PlayStation, PC - all use the same architecture. It's easier than ever to port games between systems. Certainly the larger install base buying the game outweighs the development costs of porting to another system.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Had no idea that was an actual thing with PC games from Japan! But if true, then hey, I guess they really like their Nintendos and PlayStations. Likely also why most JRPGs just release on the most popular console, rather than be a multi-plat. Persona 5, anyone? In this day and age, most major platforms - Xbox, PlayStation, PC - all use the same architecture. It's easier than ever to port games between systems. Certainly the larger install base buying the game outweighs the development costs of porting to another system.

There are some games that is planned to be released with a pc port, and some that aren't but later ported to pc. Street fighter V was planned to be both PS4 and pc, unlike games, like dead or alive 5 which was decided later after the game was made. To my opinion, there are some company that make games that is dominating the market, and is finding harder for new games or companies to get a break through, Splatoon is a "CHILD FRIENDLY" shooting game. (Activision could made a paintball game that plays like call of duty with a lower rating if they wanted to get around rating issues) Because other big time games like counterstrike, Call of duty, battle field, and maybe even team fortress 2 (actually modern day overwatch) are all on other platforms while halo, gears of war and splatoon is system exclusive, making it harder to make much of a impact on people.

Trying to sell a game for a console that is hardly getting any sales, you have to give people a reason to turn themself away from those other games people are comfortable with to try this new one out. Even with a big name and reputation like nintendo, is not easy, you mess up, that is all people will remember and talk about everytime you think about doing something like that again. Is like permernant record in life. Just like is hard to forgive or forget sega and their decisions, no one is safe from critisism.