Looks like some of you have already weighed in with your opinion in the comments of the original post, but for those who've spent a bit more time with part one of the planned epic adventure, tell us (dammit) what you think of the Too Human demo.

Over the top brutality is key in MadWorld, with the splashes of blood as you impale your foes on signs, slam them into spiked walls, or toss them against the side of a speeding subway car is the only real color in the game. Other fatalities included using two knives to lift an enemy over your head, tearing him in two, and tossing a guy into a dumpster which slams shut, cutting him in half.

All of this brutality took place over the course of 10 minutes as a pair of television commentators provided a humorous play by play of the action, judging your violence and arguing over when exactly one of your victims died. I'm thinking that most of the humor of the game will spring from the two disembodied voices, as without them the demo I saw would have been simple senseless killing.

Once Jack killed enough people an elevator opened up, leading to the level boss. As our hero moved forward to engage a giant creature with a spiked ball, the demo ended. Poo.

MadWorld worries me a bit. While the stylized black and white graphics looked spectacular and make for some excellent screenshots, I'm not sure how well it will hold up over the long run. I really liked the movie Sin City the first time I saw it, but it just didn't hold up over subsequent viewings. On top of the graphical issue, the killings were pretty repetitive, even in the short demo we saw. Three guys slammed into a spiked wall, two guys with street signs through their skulls...amazing the first time you see it, sure, but the shock quickly faded, leaving "okay, what else?" sort of feeling.

Is MadWorld going to be a revolution in over-the-top violence, or a case of more style, not enough substance? What am I, Dr. FutureMan?

It looks great, but how does it play? We'll know soon enough, as a playable demo will be coming out around E3 in July, initially available exclusively to Qore subscribers and then released to the unwashed masses a couple weeks later.

Update: Good old YouTube. Thanks Kumuasata!

Hit the link for the full episode of On The Spot.

On The Spot for 6/26/08 [GameSpot - Thanks xpowerdumpx!]

Demo: Tales of Vesperia [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]

The demo weighs in at 1.44 GB, one meaty chunk of collegiate football action to tryout before the full game hits next month.

Demo: NCAA Football 09 [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]

The Civilization Revolution demo also contains both multiplayer and single player gameplay, and while I am no expert I am going to go out on a limb and say there is some civilization building going on.

Both demos weigh in on the hefty side, with Battlefield at 1.5 GB and Civ at a slightly more modest 1.25 GB. Enjoy!

Demo: Battlefield: Bad Company [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]
Demo Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution [Same Guy]

Hopefully the demo will be available to the rest of us by the end of the week as promised, though with the game being shipped to stores today I doubt it really matters all that much anyway.

Demo: Ninja Gaiden II [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]

And for all of you heading to your Xbox 360 to log in to your Japanese account, make sure you upgraded that baby to Gold first...Silver users will have to wait a few days before they can start the download...as I just discovered minutes ago. Stupid Silver account, making me look bad.

We'll let you know as soon as this becomes available to the western world.

Demo: NINJA GAIDEN 2 (Japan Only) [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]

On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Demo [Windows, Linux, Mac]

Not too shabby really. I'll definitely be picking the game up, if only to lord having it over my nephew. It's the tiny victories that matter.

Lego Indiana Jones Demo {Games For Windows]

Gold Fever Hits an All Time High With the Upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company Single-Player and Multi-Player Demo

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—You've been drafted to 'B' Company! DICE, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced that a demo for its highly anticipated summer release, Battlefield: Bad Company™ will be available on Xbox LIVE™ Marketplace1 and PLAYSTATION® Store1 on June 5. Players will land on the battlefield as part of the 'B' or Bad Company, a wayward band of soldiers more interested in the pursuit of gold and personal financial gain than following the rules. Gamers will get a sneak peek at how tactical destruction changes the way shooters are played, both offline and online in the single player and multiplayer demo.

Players can also gain early access to the demo by pre-ordering the game through participating retailers in North America and Europe. More details on this special pre-order campaign can be found at http://www.battlefield.com/badcompany.

Players who missed their opportunity to participate in the closed beta get a second chance to experience the intense multiplayer Gold Rush mode on the Oasis map while the single player portion starts gamers at the beginning of their 'B' company career. The single player portion of the demo sets the stage for players as they're introduced to the humorous and sometimes irreverent set of characters that make up the 'B' company. As gamers embark on their quest for gold, they'll experience the same classic Battlefield gameplay including access to numerous vehicles, weapons and open maps as well as the new tactical destruction that only Battlefield: Bad Company can deliver.

In stores on June 25 in North America and June 27 in Europe, Battlefield: Bad Company is developed by Sweden-based developer DICE (Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment, www.dice.se). The game will be available for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and is rated "T" by the ESRB and "16+" by PEGI.

Demo: The Bourne Conspiracy [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]

Lego Indiana Jones Website [LucasArts.com]

"We are thrilled to finally be putting the creative tools of Spore into the hands of players around the world," said Will Wright, chief designer, Maxis. "The amazing creations players design this summer will help populate the game universe we all enter when Spore ships this September, so in a sense, the Spore Creature Creator is the birth of Spore."

Spore Creature Creator Available Worldwide June 17 Free Demo and Complete Retail Versions Deliver Powerful Creativity Tools to Create, Play and Share

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) and Maxis today announced that a free downloadable demo, and complete retail version of the Spore™ Creature Creator will be available starting June 17, 2008. The Spore Creature Creator gives Spore fans, and those who are creatively curious, the first hands-on opportunity to design their own species and share it with their friends. All creatures designed with the Spore Creature Creator can be imported into the full retail version of Spore for PC and Mac when it launches on September 5, 2008 in Europe and September 7, 2008 in North America.

"We are thrilled to finally be putting the creative tools of Spore into the hands of players around the world," said Will Wright, chief designer, Maxis. "The amazing creations players design this summer will help populate the game universe we all enter when Spore ships this September, so in a sense, the Spore Creature Creator is the birth of Spore."

The free demo version of the Spore Creature Creator will be available worldwide via download from www.spore.com. The demo lets players shape, paint and play with an unlimited number of creatures, using 25 percent of the creature-making parts from Spore. Gamers can then share these creations with their friends, including seamless uploads to YouTube. The demo will also be included in the The SimCity™ Box, which ships on June 23.

A complete retail version of the Spore Creature Creator will also be available in North America for $9.99 and most European territories for €9.99, which gives players access to all the creature-making parts in the game.

Spore, the highly anticipated game from the creators of The Sims™, gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even UFOs. Players can then seamlessly share their creations with the world or explore infinite new galaxies created by other gamers.

Consumers can visit www.spore.com to sign up for the Spore newsletter or check out all-new screenshots and video of the game.

Spore Creature Creator retail version is not available in all territories.

On PS3, you can upload your created levels to the developers through the game's interface. Once uploaded, your creation will be considered by the developers for a future downloadable content release.

Feeling Puzzled? echochrome Demo Coming to PSN [Official PlayStation Blog]

"When you build it as one thing, there's no way to portion off a section and have it stand on its own without putting the whole game in the demo, which we're just not going to do," said Hines. "And it doesn't really capture the fun of a game like an Elder Scrolls or a Fallout, where you can go where you want and do what you want. So no demo, sorry."

Fallout 3 demo not possible [Eurogamer]

In 'Carnage Race' players fight against the clock to score points within the given time period by causing as much damage as possible to their environment and opponents. 'Deathmatch Derby' is an arena-based derby with one simple objective - destroy or be destroyed. And finally, Ragdoll stunts take center stage in 'High Jump,' where players must drive their car down the ramp as fast as possible to launch the driver through the windscreen high into the sky to slam into the metal net.

Sounds like a smashing good time! Anything with the words deathmatch and carnage in it is always intriguing to me. Want it now? Download it here.

If you didn't get the free Demo on UMD when it came out, you can still grab it directly over on the Playstation Store. I point this out because the downloadable demo isn't exactly easy to find and some of you may not have realized it's out there.

God of War: Chains of Olympus Demo [PS Story, thanks Brad]

There is nothing more striking and impressive for a collector or gaming fan to have. In the dark it glows a beautiful neon blue colour when turned on, as you can see in the pictures. This really is the ultimate Dreamcast collector's item.

Fantastic, now I have two excuses to buy Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I wonder when I can start showing my son the flicks? I'll have to rewatch them to make sure they're not too racy first, I guess.

Special Indiana Jones DVD to Ship with Lego Indy Demo [Ars Technica]

"We are excited that Eco-Creatures now joins the ranks of Cooking Mama, Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends and Cake Mania as a phenomenal game launching with the support of a great demo available through the Nintendo kiosk program," said Gui Karyo, Executive Vice President of Operations, Majesco.

Majesco Entertainment Announces In-Store DSTM Demo For 'Eco-Creatures: Save the Forest'

Pre-Release Demo Now Available for Play at Retail Locations Nationwide

EDISON, N.J., January 28, 2008 - Providing Nintendo DS™ fans with the ability to try before they buy, Majesco Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: COOL), an innovative provider of video games for the mass market, today announced Eco-Creatures: Save the Forest will be featured in approximately 10,000 Nintendo DS™ Download Stations at major retail locations nationwide this January through May. Eco-Creatures is the only game of its kind that promotes environmental awareness by tasking players with defending the unspoiled forest against dangerous industrial encroachment.

"We are excited that Eco-Creatures now joins the ranks of Cooking Mama, Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends and Cake Mania as a phenomenal game launching with the support of a great demo available through the Nintendo kiosk program," said Gui Karyo, Executive Vice President of Operations, Majesco. "We are confident that anyone who tries Eco-Creatures will be compelled to pick up the full version once it ships and help save the world from ecological disaster."

Eco-Creatures: Save the Forest is a real-time strategy game in which players use the Touch Screen to control units of woodland creatures—named Ecolis, Ecoby and Ecomon—to protect the naturally beautiful Mana Woods and recover the polluted land. All creature types have unique skills that must be strategically managed. With proper nurturing, they can evolve to learn new abilities that help complete the game's more than 40 environmental missions. As players grow their woodland army, they must plant new trees to revitalize the woodlands and prevent deforestation.

Eco-Creatures also includes a creative Land Make feature that lets players build and play their own maps. In addition, the game supports two-player play via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and up to four players via Wireless Single Card download play or Multi-Card play.

Eco-Creatures: Save the Forest will launch March 4 for the Nintendo DS at a suggested retail price of $29.99. For additional information, please visit www.majescoentertainment.com.

Super Smash Brothers Brawl Demo Booth Footage [YouTube]

As for me, stuck in the cold, lonely Midwest, dreading the release of SFIV after getting pwnd in SFII by Gizmodo's Jason Chen last week. All these years I thought that Chun Li was invincible.

Street Fighter IV Going Playable [ign]

The sharp eyes over at IGN have spotted what may be a juicy bit of news over on the Devil May Cry 4 fansite. If you click on the option to download a DMC4 widget, the site loads up an example picture which shows that the demo for the game will be hitting the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on January 31.

Of course, as IGN also points out, this could just be bad placeholder text for the widget example. But with the game hitting just a week into February it doesn't seem like too far a stretch for that demo date to be right.

DMC4 Demo Dated? [IGN]

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and United Kingdom

http://majornelson.com/archive/2008/01/15/demo-turok.aspx

SEGA to Release Exclusive "Renwick" version of Demo for Intense Action-Packed Shooter, The Club, on Xbox LIVE Marketplace

LONDON (January 7th, 2008) - SEGA Europe Ltd. today announced that from 9 a.m. GMT on Tuesday 8th January, an exclusive demo for the exciting new shooter, The Club™ will be available via download across Europe and Australia on the Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.

Developed by industry revered development studio, Bizarre Creations, The Club™ mixes cutting edge high definition visuals with hyper-addictive score based challenges to deliver the most intriguing and innovative shooter of early 2008.

The demo features:

* The Prison environment; a disused crumbling, tomb-like Federal Penitentiary, lying in a remote region of one of the less glamorous Rustbelt states.
* One playable character exclusive to the Xbox LIVE® Marketplace version of the demo (Renwick, a tough, no nonsense, NYPD Detective whose investigations brought him too close to The Club™).
* Single player modes 'Sprint' and 'Time Attack'.
* Multiplayer split-screen.

As one of eight misfit gladiators players must fight in a shadowy underground blood-sport run by a secret group of sick millionaires. Each character has their own reasons for being in The Club™ - some are there against their will, others to experience the ultimate high. Whatever their reasons what unites them is the need to kill quickly and skilfully - a challenge those who download this demo will experience first hand.

UK Official Xbox 360 Magazine - "The rules of The Club are simple: you cannot break your stride. You cannot stop. You must be the perfect killing machine. This is Space Invaders for the Quentin Tarantino generation. Welcome to heaven."

Demo: KUF:COD Playable Demo [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]

DARK MESSIAH ELEMENTS OFFICIAL WEBSITE GOES LIVE AND DEMO AVAILABLE ON MARKETPLACE

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - 21st December 2007 - Ubisoft kicks off the countdown to the release of Dark Messiah™ of Might and Magic®: Elements with the launch of the game's official website www.darkmessiahelements.com.

The Dark Messiah™ of Might and Magic®: Elements official website will be the top destination for gamers to access the most up-to-date information on Sareth's quest adapted to Xbox 360. Visitors will learn more about the storyline, and key features of the game, and get the most up-to-date content and assets about the game.

Ubisoft is also proud to announce that the official playable demo of Dark Messiah™ of Might and Magic®: Elements is now available on Market Place.

The demo includes two maps where players can discover the first map of the singleplayer mode and choose to be whether a Knight or a Mage, with their different skills. A multiplayer map allows the players to choose between any of the four available classes for their heroes and to challenge other players in Deathmatch, Blitz mode or earn their spurs through Training mode.

Developed by Ubisoft Annecy, Dark Messiah™ of Might and Magic®: Elements will launch on Xbox 360 on 10th January, 2008.