[sp332]

You can just add a timer, like Bomberman did, or limit the number of levels or something. I played a puzzle game where the free version was limited to a certain number of moves per day. A timer would have worked fine for The Stanley Parable.

[ollysb]

Maybe OUYA could take care of this automatically, just freeze the game after the time limit had been hit. The developer could just specify how long they want the trial to be.

[ytjohn]

I like that. But what I would like to see would not be a total hours timer, but so much time in a given period. This should be set by developer per game.

I'm thinking of the scenario mentioned in the article where the owner tried it once and put it away. If he had tried a couple demo games that first day by himself, then came back to it months or a year later, then those games might no longer allow the trial.

I think a great thing would be based more on total game time. You get 8 hours of in-game time to try this, then you must pay. Then another factor could be "the trial resets after 30, 60, 90 days".

As long as these are options the developer can pick and tweak, that would be great. It would also be good for the developer (though maybe not for privacy) if the Ouya could report game play stats (avg times opened per day/week/month, avg time played per session, users that "max out" their trial vs those that "abandon" the game).