Prey 360 demo now up on Xbox Live

The highly anticipated Xbox 360 demo of 3D Realms' first-person shooter Prey is now available for download from the Xbox Live Marketplace. Gamers who download the 1.17GB demo are promised a taste of Prey's single-player and multiplayer action.

A little over a week ago, the PC demo for Prey premiered on GameSpot. An Xbox 360 demo had been expected to go up on the Xbox Live Marketplace around the same time, but it was "held up in testing," according to 3D Realms president George Broussard. Eager gamers were quite vocal about their disappointment, prompting Xbox Live programming director Larry Hyrb to ask visitors to his blog, Major Nelson, to "take a step back and relax."

Prey spins a sci-fi yarn of alien invasion with a twist. When a UFO abducts Native American Tommy from a reservation along with his girlfriend and grandfather, he must negotiate all manner of alien technology and get in touch with his spiritual side and latent supernatural abilities to save the day. It has been billed as "a serious, dark story based on authentic Cherokee mythology."

Prey is being published by 2K Games, a subbrand of Take-Two Interactive. It is expected to ship on July 11, is rated M for Mature, and will retail for $59.99 for the Xbox 360 and $49.99 for the PC.