C&C3 demo waging war on XBL

Last week, Electronic Arts revealed what many gamers were anticipating--a demo of the Xbox 360 edition of Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars was in the works. Today, the publisher pulled the curtain back on the demo and released it to the public over Xbox Live Marketplace.

The file weighs in at 1GB, which apparently has clogged some Internet pipes and made downloading fairly sluggish. On his blog, Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry Hryb, better known in the gaming community as Major Nelson, confirms that some users have experienced slow download times. However, since the demo went up, Microsoft has been at work alleviating the problem, and Hryb suggests that those users who are encountering slow transfer speeds restart the download.

Though EA hasn't come forward to explain what is in the demo, message board users have. The file allegedly features a pair of single-player missions, a tutorial, and Xbox Live multiplayer support.

The Xbox 360 version of Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars is scheduled for release on May 10, is rated T for Teen, and will retail for $59.99. For more information, read GameSpot's previous coverage.