King Kong demo now live

This week, director Peter Jackson made millions of nerds squeal in delight when he announced he will executive-produce the film version of Halo. But before he gets around to that he has to finish a little project called King Kong, his $150 million remake of the 1933 classic.

Unlike many filmmakers, Jackson is very involved in the game adaptation of Kong. After playing Beyond Good and Evil, he asked its director, Michel Ancel, to oversee development of the game, which is being developed and published by Ubisoft.

How did Ancel do this time around? PC gamers can find out for themselves. Ubisoft has released the first PC demo from Peter Jackson's King Kong to the public. Available now on GameSpot, the 291.8MB demo includes two missions: "Chased by T-Rex," which puts players in the boots of the film's hero, Jack Driscoll (played by Adrien Brody in movie), and "Kong vs. T-Rex" which sees the titular ape face off against the toothy dino-star of Jurassic Park. GameSpot's own Justin Calvert played the Xbox 360 version of both levels at X05, so read his hands-on preview to learn more.

Due in November for the PC, PSP, Xbox, GameCube, and PlayStation 2, the game is $49.99 and has not yet been rated. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions will be released in the following months.