Prey gold, 360 demo still MIA

Last week, 3D Realms founder and head George Broussard dropped a not-so-subtle hint that Prey was on the verge of going gold. 3D Realms, best known for its nearly decade-in-the-making shooter Duke Nukem Forever, is overseeing the making of Prey, which originated at the Texas-based studio in the late 1990s. The brunt of development is being done by Madison, Wisconsin-based Human Head Studios (Dead Man's Hand).

Prey is being published by 2K Games, a subbrand of Take-Two Interactive. Today, the company made it official--the master for the game has been sent to the factory, and it will ship on July 11. It is rated M for Mature and will retail for $59.99 for the Xbox 360 and $49.99 for the PC.

Like many sci-fi stories, Prey is set in the midst of an alien invasion that sees a sinister race systematically depopulating Earth. However, unlike many tales of futuristic Armageddon, its hero is a Native American who has mystical powers, including astral projection. Much of the action takes place on board a gigantic alien vessel, with features such as gravity-defying walkways and interdimensional portals.

GameSpot recently got a look at a near-complete build of Prey, which is described in detail in our Final Impressions. Gamers can also download the PC demo directly from GameSpot. A 360 demo was expected to go up on Xbox Live Marketplace last week, but has not yet surfaced. Yesterday on his popular blog, Xbox Live programming director Larry Hyrb, better known as "Major Nelson," announced he had no estimate as to when the 360 Prey demo would be available. "Let's all just take a step back and relax," he said, apparently in response to widespread complaints about the delay.