Mass Effect 3 demo landing January 2012

After suffering a delay last year, BioWare's Mass Effect 3 received an official release date during EA's press briefing at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in June, where the publisher announced that the role-playing sequel would arrive on PCs, the PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360 on March 6, 2012.

Now, BioWare has announced a prerelease demo for the game in January 2012 via a post on the Bioware Social Network forums.

According to the announcement, the demo will include both single-player and multiplayer sections and will be released in all regions where the game is being released.

BioWare also announced that players who purchased a copy of EA's upcoming Battlefield 3 on any platform--and who activate the Online Pass for the game--will automatically be granted early access to the multiplayer part of the Mass Effect 3 demo. A tool posted on the game's official site will let players check if their EA accounts have been granted early access.

The exact date of the launch of the Mass Effect 3 demo will be announced in late November this year. The length of the early access period is still to be determined. The single-player section of the demo will be available to all players on the first day of the demo's launch.

However, BioWare also hinted that there will be another way in which players will be able to unlock early access to the demo, but that this will not be revealed until late November/early December.