Crysis demo fires off September 25

In May, September 25 became a holy day for first-person shooter fans who owned an Xbox 360, as Bungie announced it would be breaking with tradition by releasing the final installment in its Halo trilogy a full two months before its anticipated November launch. Since then, the week has more or less belonged to Halo 3, with few other games rising up to battle for gamers' opening-day dollars.

However, this week Electronic Arts announced it would be releasing a temptation for the Halo 3 faithful on the same day as the game's release. The publisher will put up a free demo for its highly anticipated, graphically impressive PC shooter Crysis on September 25, the day Bungie's latest storms stores.

The single-player demo will comprise the opening level of Crysis. According to developer Crytek (Far Cry), players will be able to experiment with the unique gameplay elements presented by the protagonist's nanosuit in the demo. It will also help showcase the game's open-ended level design and contain a "huge surprise," says EA.

Crysis will retail for $49.99 on the PC and has not yet been rated. For more on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.