For those that have been perplexed by Catherine, in regards to its gameplay mechanics, platforming and story choices, you will now have a chance to try it out for yourself, as the demo has arrived on both Xbox 360 and PS3 today.  The demo is a slice of the game, showing off the different aspects of Catherine.  All PS3 owners will have access to the demo starting today, while only Xbox Live Gold members will have access to the demo for the first week on Xbox 360.

Catherine is set for release on PS3 and Xbox 360 on July 26th, 2011 from Atlus USA.  All pre-orders will come with a collectible art book and soundtrack CD for $59.99 and a collector’s edition is also available for $79.99 and comes iwht a t-shirt, Catherine pillowcase, and more.

More demos for WiiWare… we’re quickly approaching the point where any WiiWare game worth a damn now has a free demo. This week, Urbanix and LIT (above) get demos. I can’t vouch for Urbanix, but LIT is pretty slick.

Then there’s S.C.A.T., an 1991 NES game from Natsume (500 points). That stands for Special Cybernetic Attack Team, duh.

Nintendo Download

Nintendo Invites Players to Download Brawny Action, Brainy Puzzles or Both

You needn’t choose between action-packed games and mind-bending puzzle fare when the Wii™ Shop Channel and Nintendo DSi™ Shop offer plenty of both. This week, you can face down monstrous mutations of high school teachers in a demo version of LIT for the WiiWare™ service, now available for zero Wii Points™. Enter an intergalactic battle in the NES™ shooter S.C.A.T.™, which has just landed on the Virtual Console™ service. Action and strategy combine in G.G Series Dark Spirits for the Nintendo DSiWare™ service, while 505 Tangram offers pure hand-held puzzle bliss.

Virtual Console

S.C.A.T.
Original platform: NES
Publisher: Natsume Inc.
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Fantasy Violence
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: It’s the year 2029 and humanity faces certain extinction. An alien force led by the Supreme Commander Vile Malmort is positioned to destroy the Earth. With little time to act, the president assembled the greatest scientists from around the globe to stop this menace. From their laboratory came mankind’s last hope: the members of the Special Cybernetic Attack Team. S.C.A.T. has one goal: complete destruction of the alien fleet. Capture and adapt multiple weapons systems. Enjoy single-player mode or two-player cooperative play. (Additional accessories are required for multiplayer mode and are sold separately.)

WiiWare

Spot the Differences!
Publisher: Sanuk Games
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: Enjoy the ultimate spot-the-difference game for the WiiWare service with 160 scenes, three levels of difficulty and 1,600 differences to spot. Play either solo or with friends to find out who’s the best spotter. Browse odd and attractive scenes in various categories: Landscapes, Pets, Playtime and Yummy. Four game modes are available. In Arcade mode, spot five differences in randomly ordered scenes. In Time Attack mode, spot one difference in each scene for as long as the timer runs. In Select Scenes mode, play with the scenes of your choice and find five differences in each one. In Multiplayer, up to four players can play against each other. (Additional accessories are required for multiplayer mode and are sold separately.)

LIT (demo version)
Publisher: WayForward Technologies
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Violence
Price: 0 Wii Points; full version available for 800 Wii Points
Description: Dark creatures have taken over Jake’s high school, and it’s up to you to guide him through each classroom in order to be reunited with his girlfriend, Rachael. Existing light sources must be used wisely to create bridges of light for Jake to cross. One false step and Jake gets pulled into the darkness. Along the way he’ll encounter twisted versions of his school’s faculty, who he must battle in order to advance. LIT is a horror-puzzle game that requires the Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ controllers. It contains 30 levels, five boss battles, replay modes and several unlockables, including multiple endings, Dark Mode timed challenges and an unlockable character.

Urbanix (demo version)
Publisher: Nordcurrent
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief
Price: 0 Wii Points; full version available for 500 Wii Points
Description: Welcome to Urbanix, a game inspired by classic computer games. You play as Urbanix, a tiny tractor that has to build a town on an empty field. Avoid enemies and catch and chase away house crashers – they will try to spoil your game. Play on Earth, at the North Pole or on the moon. Each location has its own game-play mechanics, so you’ll have to adapt your strategy. Be accurate, be quick and collect bonuses on your way. The enhanced game play is based on decades-old classics. Discover 150 levels plus an intense multiplayer mode.

Note: Some demo versions do not support all game features, and players cannot save their in-game progress in demo versions.

Nintendo DSiWare

G.G Series Dark Spirits
Publisher: Genterprise Inc.
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Mild Fantasy Violence
Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points™
Description: In this side-scrolling shooter, it’s up to you to destroy the enemy by making use of the four familiars that fly in formation around your vessel. Quickly switch the formation pattern of your familiars with the touch of a button. When you destroy an enemy, its soul becomes available to collect. Collect the soul with one of your familiars to upgrade its attack or switch to a different attack type. The familiar’s attack can be upgraded by collecting multiple souls of the same color in a row. The four familiars power up and change independently of each other, adding an element of strategy as you plan how to use each one effectively.

Boom Boom Squaries
Publisher: Gamelion
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief
Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Furries are cute, happy, round beings that enjoy rolling around in the sun all day long. But the bad-tempered, stone-cold Squaries, who hate everything that is round and fluffy, attack the unsuspecting Furries. Now it’s up to you to create chain reactions that will pop the evil invaders. Prove your skill in four different game modes: Classic, Challenge, Time Trial and Endless. Use Squaries’ special abilities such as gravity, air blast and split to plan your blasts for maximum efficiency. When you are done with 40 levels of Classic mode and 40 Challenges, you can enjoy the never-ending fun of Endless mode and beat your high score in Time Trial.

505 Tangram
Publisher: cosmigo
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Solve 505 tangram puzzles from different groups and become a Tangram Master. Numerous challenges await you. Tangram is the puzzle game for purists. Assemble seven pieces of a puzzle correctly to create a preset shape. Animals, humans or objects – can you complete them all? Statistics are available for players who love to track their wins. Save the game status at any time and continue later. The game’s style and interface have been designed for easy, intuitive operation with the stylus or the + Control Pad.

Shawn Johnson Gymnastics
Publisher: Zoo Games, Inc.
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: Go for the gold with Shawn Johnson as you compete in the world of competitive gymnastics. Stick your landings on vaults and nail your combinations on the beam to impress the judges. Start as an amateur and work your way up, earning awards on your way to the World Championships. Train diligently during practice and you’ll be ready for competition in no time. Earn your way through bronze, silver and gold medals as you evolve into an all-around star in the world of gymnastics. Perfect your routines and score high marks to earn a place on the podium – and in the hearts of your fans.

Nintendo adds new titles to the Nintendo DSi Shop and the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time on Mondays. Users with broadband Internet access can redeem Wii Points or Nintendo DSi Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel. Nintendo DSi Points can be purchased in the Nintendo DSi Shop. A Nintendo Points Card™ can be purchased at retail locations. All points from one Nintendo Points Card must be redeemed in either the Nintendo DSi Shop or the Wii Shop Channel. They are not transferable and cannot be divided between the two systems.

Remember that both Wii and Nintendo DSi feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit www.Wii.com or www.NintendoDSi.com.

Epic and EA have announced that the demo for Bulletstorm will be coming to North America’s XBLA on January 25th and Europe’s PSN will get it on the 26th. There is no mention of the North American PSN version of the demo. The release date for the UK has been named as February 25th.

This demo will include a sample of Echo mode, which the press release describes as follows:

From highest score to total number of skillshots performed , players can compete with their friends for bragging rights in Echo mode as they decimate enemies with over-the-top combat moves using some of the most innovative weapons ever seen in a first-person shooter. With more than 45 skillshots in the demo, players are encouraged to “Kill with Skill” in Bulletstorm, finding stylish and ever imaginative ways to take down anyone that stands in their way. The Bulletstorm demo also allows players to unlock platform-specific upgrades* to use in the game’s Anarchy mode, from the Crimson Leash to Stealth Armor, when they purchase the full game.

Excited?

EPIC GAMES AND EA KICK-START THE NEW YEAR WITH A DEMO FOR BULLETSTORM
Get a Taste of One of 2011’s Most Anticipated Games Starting on January 25

Guildford, UK. –January 14, 2010 – People Can Fly, Epic Games and Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced a demo for Bulletstorm, the highly anticipated new action shooter from the makers of the award-winning Gears of War and Unreal series of games. Starting on January 25, the demo will give players a taste of the guns, action and attitude Bulletstorm has to offer, with Entertainment Weekly describing Bulletstorm as “an intense, outrageous shooter,” and Seth Schiesel from the New York Times stating, “the name should say it all; big guns, lots of lead and over-the-top mayhem.”

Bulletstorm ships with three game modes: the pulp sci-fi, single-player campaign; Anarchy multiplayer mode; and Echo mode, a unique experience that tracks and compares players’ scores while they play through locations found in the campaign. The Bulletstorm demo introduces a slice of Echo mode in which players traverse a collapsed building on the deadly paradise planet Stygia as ex-Dead Echo leader Grayson Hunt. Players will utilize the “Skillshot” system in Bulletstorm as they crush enemies in increasingly creative ways to rack up points using an arsenal of powerful weapons, from a futuristic assault rifle called the Peace Maker Carbine, to the Flail Gun, which fires two grenades linked by a chain, and the Screamer, a powerful revolver that turns enemies into human fireworks.

From highest score to total number of skillshots performed , players can compete with their friends for bragging rights in Echo mode as they decimate enemies with over-the-top combat moves using some of the most innovative weapons ever seen in a first-person shooter. With more than 45 skillshots in the demo, players are encouraged to “Kill with Skill” in Bulletstorm, finding stylish and ever imaginative ways to take down anyone that stands in their way. The Bulletstorm demo also allows players to unlock platform-specific upgrades* to use in the game’s Anarchy mode, from the Crimson Leash to Stealth Armor, when they purchase the full game.

The Bulletstorm demo will be available for download January 25 on Xbox LIVE™ Marketplace Worldwide and the PlayStation®Network on January 26 in the UK. Poised to be one of 2011’s most original games, the Bulletstorm Epic Edition will be available for the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and grant early access to the Gears of War 3 beta as well as additional bonus content in-game**.

The Bulletstorm Limited Edition will be available for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC and will also offer additional bonus content in-game**. Bulletstorm will be available on Feb. 25, 2011 in the UK. For more information on Bulletstorm, please visit www.bulletstorm.com and www.facebook.com/bulletstorm or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bulletstorm.

* Content subject to availability.

** Conditions and restrictions apply. Whiles supplies last. See back of pack for details if and when available.

About People Can Fly
People Can Fly, an Epic Games studio, creates visually and technically superior action games for PC and console entertainment systems. Founded in 2002 and based in Warsaw, Poland, People Can Fly is developing “Bulletstorm,” an original, Unreal Engine 3-powered onslaught of ‘kill with skill’ gameplay and blockbuster moments to be released in 2011 by Electronic Arts. People Can Fly made its mark on the shooter genre with its award-winning “Painkiller” series of games for PC and Xbox prior to shipping Epic’s “Gears of War” for PC. Additional information about People Can Fly can be found at www.peoplecanfly.com.

Last week on the podcast, we talked a bit about the Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Demo (affectionatly named Burnout Hot Pursuit), and it seems that we were not alone in playing it.  Apparently a whole lot of people downloaded the demo to play the game, with a total of over two million downloads over the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles.

A few more fun facts from the demo over the last two weeks.  According to the numbers, there were over 700,000 posts to the Speed Wall, over five million Autolog recommendations shared between friends, 54 million miles of road have been traversed, and most importantly, the cops got their man/woman over 20 million times.

Needless to say, it looks like the folks over at Criterion Games have another hit on their hands.  Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is set to arrive this month on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC and Nintendo Wii from Criterion Games and EA Games.  Check the jump for the full press release.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Demo Races into the Record Books

The Highest Rated Need for Speed Game Wins Praise from Critics Worldwide for Innovative ‘Autolog’ Network That Delivers Unprecedented Social Competition

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Criterion Games™, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that during the two weeks of its availability (from Oct 26 — Nov 9), more than two million players took to the streets of Seacrest County in the Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit demo. Players competed as both cops and racers in two events while sampling Hot Pursuit’s revolutionary social network, Need for Speed Autolog, which seamlessly connects players with their friends while automatically tracking and comparing each person’s performances. Autolog serves up challenges based on what their friends have been doing, creating a simple, yet brilliantly dynamic social-gaming experience.

Some facts about the Need for Speed Hot Pursuit demo:

More than 2M downloads on console within two weeks — the fastest downloaded Need for Speed demo in history

More than 700,000 posts to the Speed Wall

More than 5M Autolog Recommendations played between friends

54M miles of road raced

20M cop busts executed

With still one week until launch, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is already receiving critical acclaim worldwide scoring a perfect 10 out of 10 in PlayStation: The Official Magazine and IGN.com calling it “pure over-the-top driving entertainment”. In the UK, GamesMaster magazine rated the game at 93, saying that Hot Pursuit is “gaming’s greatest car chase.” The game has earned an average score of 91 on Metacritic.com and is the highest rated game in the Need for Speed series history.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit will be available November 16 in North America, November 18 in Europe and November 19 in the UK for the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC. The Limited Edition can be pre-ordered now on all platforms to gain exclusive content at no extra cost, with participating retailers worldwide (while supplies last). Need for Speed Hot Pursuit will also be available on the Wii™ and is being developed by Exient.*

For more of the latest news and information on Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, please visit http://www.needforspeed.com, “like” the game on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/needforspeed and follow the game on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/needforspeed.

* Autolog not available on the Wii

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EATM, EA SPORTSTM, EA MobileTM and POGOTM. In fiscal 2010, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.7 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million units. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile, POGO, Need for Speed and Criterion Games are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. The names, designs, and logos of all products are the property of their respective owners and used by permission. Microsoft and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. “PlayStation” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Wii is a trademark of Nintendo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Sure you like that trailer.  Or maybe you are without a Playstation 3 and want to see what the fuss is all about.  It could be either, but it seems that there is a lot of interest in the demo movie that plays at the end of the Enslaved: Odyssey to the West demo, so Namco Bandai was nice enough to send out copies for sites to post up.  In the movie, we get to see Monkey navigating the environment, battling large enemies, and interacting with Trip.

But don’t take my word for it.  Hit the jump to see the full movie.  Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is set for retail shipping in October 2010 on PS3 and Xbox 360 from Namco Bandai and Ninja Theory.

For those of you lucky enough to have working Playstation 3′s you have something to look forward to on September 21st, as an exclusive demo for Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is coming to the platform.  While I will be missing out on all the fun, PS3 owners will get to play through one of the levels in the game, and see all the work that Ninja Theory has put into this title.

And don’t fret Xbox 360 owners,  you will get the demo a little later, and if you don’t own either platform, I guess you can drown your sorrows in an all night Civilization V rager.

In the spirit of all those other games whose names are all in capitals, Sega has brought a demo for the upcoming PlatinumGames (Viewtiful Joe, Okami, MadWorld, Bayonetta) title VANQUISH to PSN and XBLA. It launched today, so I played it.

I’d like to point out that VANQUISH was completely off my radar before this. I’m a fan of PlatinumGames and everything those folks did when their name was Clover as well, but somehow I had totally overlooked this title.

VANQUISH is a third person shooter with some melee stuff in it. Think of Too Human, but without any of the mythology, and with battle suits and a lot more intense action. There’s some similarity to Lost Planet as well, with the hijacking of walkers in the game. The demo lets you play one stage from the full game in your choice of two difficulties, casual auto or normal.

Casual auto difficulty was my choice for my first try, and it was an interesting concept. The auto refers to the aiming. Point the camera in the general direction and hold L1, and Sam locks onto a target. Keep holding L1 to stay locked, and hold R1 to shoot. When the target goes down, he’ll snap to another nearby target.

This made the demo pretty much a breeze, especially when coupled with the cover system. Get behind cover, lock on, and hold fire. You’re given a few different weapons to swap between while fighting using the d-pad, and there are more to try in the tutorial (which is also available in this demo). I recommend taking a spin through that before tackling the provided stage, because there’s a lot here you won’t get, like the bullet-time AR Mode, which gives you a chance to make a comeback or escape for a few seconds just as your life is running out, or whenever you like with an annoying button combination (run, hold X, then L1). This runs until your suit overheats.

I enjoyed the demo. It has some similarities in feel and style to some of Shinji Mikami’s other work, like Devil May Cry and even PN03. The weapons are fun to use and everything feels very fast paced. In casual mode, it’s easy to take out enemies and progress if you’d rather not face too heavy a challenge, which was nice. Bullets feel a little scarce at times, but nowhere near as bad as in Lost Planet 2 or Transformers: War for Cybertron. The final boss of the demo stage, Argus, is cool looking, hulking and difficult, with multiple points to attack and even a form change in the middle of the fight.

I’m expecting a review copy of the game to come in, so when that shows up I’ll be back with more.

It is kind of funny that we recently had a comment in an old HAWX 2 article wanting to know if we had more info on the title.  Well, we actually just got some info on HAWX 2 in the form of a new demo that will be dropping for the title before the full title drops in September.

The demo will feature two missions from the full title, giving gamers ample opportunity to try out the title and see if it works for them.  The first mission called Interception Course has you playing as a Russian pilot that has to intercept a group of stolen aircraft.  The second mission, called Seek and Destroy will have  you taking off at night from a carrier, and entering combat above the African continent using smart ammunition to take out marked targets.

To read more about the HAWX 2 demo, check the press release after the jump.  HAWX 2 is coming to the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

UBISOFT® ANNOUNCES TOM CLANCY’S H.A.W.X.® 2 DEMO

San Francisco, CA – August 13, 2010 – Kicking off the countdown to the game’s release, Ubisoft announced today that a single-player demo of Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system will be made available to consumers prior to the game’s release.

The Xbox 360 demo of H.A.W.X. 2 will appear on Xbox LIVE® for download on August 16th, and the PlayStation 3 demo will be made available on August 17th.

The demo will offer 2 single-player missions:

Interception Course

Take to the air as a Russian pilot sent to intercept a group of stolen aircraft high above the Caucasus Mountains, a hot spot on the world conflict radar, you will be playing a Russian pilot in this mission part of the new multinational cinematic story narrative in H.A.W.X. 2.

Seek and Destroy

Playing from the perspective of the elite U.S. HAWX squadron deployed to settle conflict spilling over in Africa, you are tasked with taking out specific targets with smart ammunition at night. Take off from a carrier under the cover of night and strike against a weapon smuggling operation using precision guided laser bombs

Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2 will ship in North America on September 7, 2010 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2 will also be released for the Wii and PC. For more information please go to: http://hawxgame.com/.

About Ubisoft

Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a strong and diversified line-up of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has offices in 26 countries and has sales in more than 55 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. For the 2009–10 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of 871 million euros. To learn more, please visit www.ubisoftgroup.com.

Ever since its rather lackluster launch on the consoles, the PC version of Lost Planet 2 has been in limbo.  Nothing had been said about when it would be coming, and even the press pages that we get to look at, listed Lost Planet 2 as TBA as late as last Friday.

Well, the official release date for Lost Planet 2 on the PC was announced today and it looks to be hitting all major outlets and digital distribution centers on October 15th, 2010.  Capcom was also nice enough to include the system specifications for both the non-3D version along with the Nvision 3D version of the game.  And for those that want to make sure that their rigs can handle Lost Planet 2, Capcom, in conjunction with Nvidia, have put together a benchmark/playtest demo which is available at Nvidia Nzone.  The 955MB download has both a playable test as well as a benchmark self running demo that will let you know how well your machine will handle Lost Planet 2.

I have to give it up to Capcom.  With their latest PC titles, they have gone out of their way to optimize them for the PC consumers, and have included multiple ways to test your system before dropping coin on the games.  Other companies could learn a thing or two from this.  To check out the specs needed for Lost Planet 2 on PC, hit the jump.

Lost Planet 2 Required Specs:

• Windows XP
• Intel Dual Core or AMD X2 Processor
• XP – 1GB RAM, Vista – 2GB
• 13GB Hard Drive Space free
• 640×480 Video Resolution
• 256MB Video RAM, DX9.0c and Pixel Shader 3.0, Geforce 7800 or Radeon 2400HD
• Onboard Graphics not officially supported, but may work
• mouse and keyboard
• DX9.0c supported DVD drive
• Media ships on 2 9GB DVD’s

Lost Planet 2 Recommended Specs:

• Windows Vista or Windows 7
• Intel Core 2 Quad Core or Athlon Phenom X4 Processor
• Windows XP – 2GB RAM, Vista, 7 – 3GB RAM
• 13GB Hard Drive Space
• 1280×720 Video Resolution
• 512MB Video RAM, Nvidia 9800 or better, Radeon HD4800 or better
• Onboard Graphics not officially supported, but may work
• Xbox 360 Gamepad
• DX9.0c supported DVD Drive
• Media ships on 2 9GB DVD’s

Lost Planet 2 Nvidia 3D Vision Minimum Specs (Same as LP2 Minimum Except for following):

• Nvidia 8800 or Later with 512MB Video RAM

Lost Planet 2 Nvidia 3D Vision Recommended Specs (Same as LP2 Recommended Except for following):

• Nvidia GTX260 or later with 512MB Video RAM

Lost Planet 2 also uses Games for Windows LIVE for its online system.

Sometimes, a press release comes into your mailbox and you just have to sit and read it several times, wondering if you actually read it right.  Call me stupid, but I had that moment today when Activision sent out word that a single player demo for Modern Warfare 2 hit Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 today.  Yes, Modern Warfare 2 got a single player demo today.  And yes, this is the same Modern Warfare 2 that made Zillions of dollars last year and this year already and is probably own by most gamers on the planet already.

I am not sure who Activision is actually trying to capture at this point.  They made close to a billion dollars off of the boxed copy already and topped that off with another cool 300 million in DLC map pack purchases.  So who are they trying to convince at this point to buy Modern Warfare 2?  Well, if you are one of the minute few that have not looked at Modern Warfare 2, today is your lucky day.

Presser available after the jump.

Call of Duty(R): Modern Warfare(R) 2 Single Player Demo Now Available

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug 04, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX News Network/ — Cliffhanger, the breathtaking and epic mission from Call of Duty(R): Modern Warfare(R) 2, is now available worldwide for download as a single player demo on the Xbox LIVE(R) Marketplace and on PlayStation(R)Network*.

One of the most recognized levels in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Cliffhanger thrusts players into an epic fight of a lifetime amid near-blinding snowstorm conditions high in the frigid mountains of Kazakhstan. One wrong move and it’s certain death as players scale a frozen mountainside, battle their way through a raging firefight, and race for survival aboard a snowmobile under heavy enemy fire.

Developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is rated “M” (Mature) by the ESRB for Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence and Language. For more information visit www.modernwarfare2.com.

*PSN Demo not available in Germany

About Activision Publishing, Inc.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products. Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website, www.activision.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Activision Publishing generally uses words such as “outlook,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “might,” “remains,” “to be,” “plans,” “believes,” “may,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “estimate,” future,” “plan,” “positioned,” “potential,” “project,” “remain,” “scheduled,” “set to,” “subject to,” “upcoming” and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include, but are not limited to, sales levels of Activision Publishing’s titles, shifts in consumer spending trends, the impact of the current macroeconomic environment, the seasonal and cyclical nature of the interactive game market, Activision Publishing’s ability to predict consumer preferences among competing hardware platforms, declines in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product delays, retail acceptance of Activision Publishing’s products, adoption rate and availability of new hardware (including peripherals) and related software, industry competition including from used games and other forms of entertainment, litigation risks and associated costs, rapid changes in technology, industry standards, business models including online and used games, and consumer preferences, including interest in specific genres such as music, first-person action and massively multiplayer online games, protection of proprietary rights, maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers, licensees, licensors, vendors, and third-party developers, including the ability to attract, retain and develop key personnel and developers that can create high quality “hit” titles, counterparty risks relating to customers, licensees, licensors and manufacturers, domestic and international economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign exchange rates and tax rates, and the identification of suitable future acquisition opportunities and potential challenges associated with geographic expansion, and the other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

Activision, Call of Duty and Modern Warfare are registered trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners. Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. “PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.