Resident Evil 5 Demo Finally Gets a Release Date: Hitting Xbox 360 First, PS3 Later

It's been a long, painful wait since the Resident Evil 5 demo hit Japan, but things are finally looking up. Developer Capcom has announced that the downloadable demo will "exclusively" hit the North American Xbox Live Marketplace on Monday, January 26.

The PlayStation 3 demo will follow the next week, its release expected to coincide with the PlayStation Store update on Thursday, February 5. As with the Japanese demo, the download will pack two stages along with online and offline co-op support.

Similar to other recent offerings, the availability of the Resident Evil 5 demo is expected to be limited to Xbox Live Gold subscribers during its week of exclusivity. The last demo billed as an Xbox 360 exclusive, Skate 2, saw its PS3 release held back by one week, while Xbox Live ads promoted its temporary exclusivity to Xbox Live Gold members.

Both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Resident Evil 5 storm into North American and European retailers on March 13, with the Japanese release on March 5.