In a strange turn of events, SEGA of Europe has partnered with Game Sessions to bring us a way to trial run games. Games will be downloaded to your machine for a period and allow you to try out the game. If you like it, you'll be able to purchase it right on the spot, and if you don't then you can just uninstall it. No harm, no foul. You may be on the fence about the game and need more time, Game Sessions will also allow you to "rent" the game to extend its trial period. Games you may have wanted to try before, but never got around the paywall. Sonic Generations, Ardennes Assault, Company of Heroes, and Warhammer 40,000 are just some of the games that will be available shortly.

"Partnering with GameSessions gives us access to a delivery mechanism we've not previously had access to and allows players the unique opportunity to try SEGA products before purchasing," said Peter Chan, Business Development Director – Technology and Services at SEGA Europe Ltd. "The partnership will allow SEGA to reach more players in emerging markets such as Brazil and Mexico, where there are a large number of committed PC gamers and this represents a fantastic opportunity to reach new players and audiences."

"We are delighted to have SEGA on board with such high quality games," said Ed French, CEO of GameSessions. "GameSessions' unique technologies let you start playing sooner, benchmark your hardware against available releases, and then let you purchase instantly whilst keeping your saved progress right through to receiving the final Steam® copy. Our experience is that quality content like SEGA's will encourage many trials and subsequently, monetize strongly."

I myself am quite content a service like this exists, on a larger scale it may one day completely remove the need to pirate a game just to try it. At least for those who actually intend to buy it after a not so legal download.