Get your demoes now, thank me later

That right, today is Xbox demo day as two of this year's biggest blockbusters are available now for the taking...as long as you have a gold membership of course. The first is the demo for Bulletstorm, taking place in a collapsed building, using three different weapons and over 45 skill shots. Remember to pre order, as just about every retailer has some sort of exclusive, and expect to see this title on store shelves come Feb. 22, 2011.

The other demo is for Crysis 2, and I hope you are sitting down for this...it is a multiplayer demo, WIN!!! Though I did not get a press release for this demo, I thought I would give a heads up, and I am awaiting response from the publisher for more info.

Hands on: Beyblade and Lost in Shadows

So I go home yesterday and find a package from Hudson, not sure what to expect I tear it open and find the demo disks to both Beyblade Metal Fusion Battle Fortress and Lost in Shadow. As some of you may be aware of, we have been covering Lost in Shadows for the last couple months, so here are my impressions of time spent with both demos.

I will start with Beyblade, a game where you play as a “blader” fighting in the World Beyblading Championships based on the TV series. The demo consists of a tutorial and two gameplay modes allowing me to choose from a number of available players. After a brief tutorial I start blading like an animal, flicking my wrist to throw my blade into the arena trying to knock out my opponents. The way you shove the computer is by shaking the remote in the direction of the opponent for that extra oomph. From the looks of the demo, you are able to play a type of survivor mode to see how man Beyblades you can knock out in one turn and a mode where you play in the tournament either against friends or the computer. I felt this title was pretty simple, with a lot of remote shaking, but like other games based on TV series’ there will probably be mass amounts of tweens lining for this release.

Lost in Shadow surprised me with a demo lasting significantly longer than Beyblade taking about a half an hour to complete. In the demo, the story starts with your character suspended in some sort of trance when the big baddy comes out strikes you, releasing your shadow from your body. From there I was walked through a tutorial by accessing memories to help me gain mass and get me to the tower to ascend and seek vengeance. Using a “Spangle”, which appears to be a type of fairy you use to find moving part in the tower make your way to the goal. The use of shadows and ability of fight shadows along with manipulate light make this a platformer puzzler that I am definitely looking forward to as plays just as good as it looks.

Vanquish demo to be made available this month

Sega has let us know that the demo of their upcoming title, Vanquish, will be available to download on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the states on August 31st. The demo will have players choosing from one of two difficulty levels as an agent fitted with a futuristic battle suit fighting for the last remaining resources on board a vast space station.The game is scheduled to hit store shelves on October 19th.

Get your hands on the Demo of Just Cause 2 Thursday

So we have just been told that the demo for Just Cause 2 will be available next week but the real excitement is in what the demo will have to offer. Players looking to cause destruction will be able to do so in the 35 square miles of Lautan Lama Desert hunting down and assassinating one of the game's 50 colonels, along with being able to go to town destroying bases, fuel tanks, and government structures using anything you can get your hands on.

Batten down the hatches - Heavy Rain demo approaches tomorrow!

If you're like me, you've probably just picked up Dante's Inferno and/or Bioshock 2 (maybe even still working your way through Mass Effect 2); but also, like me, you'll want to direct your attention to your PlayStation 3 tomorrow, 2/11/2010.  This means you Adrian.

The upcoming PS3-exclusive Heavy Rain (February 23rd) will make its demo debut tomorrow on the PSN.  I've waited for this game since first hearing about, and seeing the tech-demo that Quantic Dream put together many sun-cycles ago.  The demo will feature two full chapters from the game; playing as Norman Jayden (FBI Profiler) and Scott Shelby (Private Investigator), players will get a chance to uncover the mysteries surrounding the Origami Killer.

This demo definitely has me putting everything else on hold, at least for the length of the demo.  When you play it tomorrow, feel free to let us know what you think?  The game is out shortly, and we also hope to have an official review of it as we near it's launch; and it appears it's doing rather well over at Metacritic; but please come back and take our word for it.

 

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Demo baby! | Xbox first

Okay, Okay - so not that it matters who gets it first, but we all know that people like to keep records of exclusives, even if it's just a timed-exclusive.  EA announced today the availability of the demo for DICE's latest Online Warfare title Battlefield: Bad Company 2.  Go and queue it up now on your Xbox 360.  If you have a PC, you can also get in on the action right now, if you pre-ordered.  Sadly, if you're waiting for your turn with the PlayStation 3, you'll have another two weeks (only one if you're in Europe) on your hands to play that Dante's Inferno demo you got earlier than those Xbox fans.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is out in stores March 2nd.  Don't forget, you can get the Limited Edition for the price of the regular edition here.

Check out the demo and let us know what you think.  Does this have the potential to dethrone the Modern Warfare series?

Dante's Inferno demo release dates announced, sorry Xbox owners

The day before baby Jesus himself was born sounds like a great day to release the demo for a game about hell sounds like the perfect time, right? EA has announced that Dante's Inferno, Gates of Hell, demo will be available on December 10th for the Playstation 3 and December 24th for the Xbox 360.

The demo is to be a prelude to the journey players will get on February 9th, 2010. In the demo, Dante's returns home to Florence to dustcover that his love, Beatrice, has been murdered and kidnapped by the shadow form of Lucifer. Dante swears to rescue her, journeying through the nine gates of hell to battle the undead, unholy demon bosses, and Death himself.

Gentlemen, start your engines!

Forza 3 has gone gold, making October 23rd a day for racing fans to mark on their calenders. To celebrate going gold, Turn 10 is giving fans of the series a demo on September 24th to play until it's release. The demo provides the five cars listed below to do damage on the Camino Viejo track. Leaderboards will be available to show lap times of others taking part in the demo.

• 2007 Porsche #80 Flying Lizard 911 GT3-RSR
• 2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro
• 2009 Ferrari California
• 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR
• 2009 Mini John Cooper Works

Bethesda releases a 'Wet' demo | Demos

You may have missed this little tidbit yesterday, as most were focused on the Bat signal in the night sky, but our good friends at Bethesda released a demo of their upcoming third-person shooter 'Wet' on the Xbox Live Marketplace and PSN.

The title has surely flew under most gamers radar up until recently when Bethesda acquired the publishing rights for the title.

We're firing up our demo right now but let us know what you think of it (if you can pull yourself out of Arkham for a few). Oh, and if you're on the fence, you do play as a virtual Eliza Dushku, from TV's Dollhouse. There - we are relying on sex to sell this game. For shame.

Wet is available on Xbox 360 and Playstion 3 on September 15th.

Double Fine and EA invite you to ROCK (via demo) on September 17th | Demo season

Prepare to get "headbanger whiplash", at least in a small form come September 17th, as Brütal Legend will unleash it's powers amongst the Xbox Live and PSN that day. A short month away, we'll all get to experience what those lucky few did at E3 2009. Tim Schafer's newest masterpiece's demo will showcase the game's non-stop hack n' slash action and mayhem.

If you pre-order the game from Gamestop, you get access to the demo a week before the mainstream - so go pre-order online or in-store! I know I'm doing it today!

From the release:

The demo opens as Eddie awakes in the age of metal where he must quickly learn how to use the powerful ancient axe, ‘The Separator’ and electrifying guitar ‘Clementine’ to unleash combo moves that destroy the demons of darkness. As he comes face-to-face with zipper-faced nuns and devilish druids, Eddie encounters the beautiful and tough-as-nails Ophelia, an ally and would-be love interest. Together, Eddie and Ophelia use double team attacks for more powerful combo moves to defeat the rock demons that are after them. Luckily, they are bestowed with a super-charged, druid-destroying vehicle, ‘The Deuce’ that can be upgraded with weapons and armor throughout the game. From the bowels of the druid dungeon to the tops of corpse mountains, the Brütal Legend demo is just the beginning of an epic journey.

Brütal Legend will launch on October 13th (Oct 16th in Europe) on both the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION®3

Find your planet on August 19 | Lost Planet 2 Demo

Wednesday, August 19th, you will have a few choices. You can A) Download and play Shadow Complex; B) you can download and play the Mini Ninjas Demo; C) you can download and play the Lost Planet 2 Demo or D) All of the above, if you're feeling extra feisty!

The demo for Lost Planet 2 will be the Co-op demo. This same demo has made many an action gamer happy at other recent events, such as E3, Comic-Con and the current GamesCom. One small caveat, Gold members will gain access tomorrow, while the Silver members will have to wait until August 26th.

So sounds like you'll be busy eh gamers? Give them a whirl and let us know what you think.

Let Batman "demo" how he can kick your ass | Batman Demo

Let it be, that right now, you can download the Batman Arkham Asylum demo for the Xbox 360 or PS3 off of each of their respective downloading network thingies. (official names be damned!)

We'll have some thoughts and impressions this weekend, let us know what YOU think in the comments below.

Battlestations: Pacific Demo Incoming

Announced today via an announcement, is the official Battlestations: Pacific single-player demo. Premiering on April 30th, a mere 7 days away, on both the XBOX 360 and PC, featuring an intense sea and air mission from the US campaign (Divine Winds of Leyte) and two multiplayer modes (Island Capture and Siege) to play in the single-player Skirmish Mode.

There's also something down here at the bottom, about an exclusive Gamespot demo page, so not really sure if you'll only be able to download the demo from this page, but you should definitely check it out regardless.

As a reminder, Battlestations: Pacific is set to release on May 12th (pre-order here) in North America. And be sure to check out our youtube page for the latest videos.