In case you haven't checked with Xbox Live lately, there's a little demo to be downloaded going by the name of TimeShift. It is only one of the most anticipated games of the year so there's no reason to get too excited. The demo is around 600MB in size and appeared on Xbox Live Marketplace as soon as last night. I'm not counting on you to read on but here's Major Nelson's post, who brought the news on the shortest of notice:

"Dr. Aiden Krone has made a Time Jump across the space-time continuum - a reckless act with frightening consequences. Now, a disturbing alternate reality has evolved within the bleak and rain-soaked Alpha District. Armed with the experimental Beta Suit, you alone are able to slow, stop and reverse the flow of time. Only with this ability can you lead the uprising to victory and put an end to Krone's madness."

The demo is of course free, but it's not available in Germany. As mentioned above, the demo weighs in at exactly 581.78 MB (just in case your hard drive is almost filled to the limit with content), being filed under Xbox Marketplace as a Demo.

What basically makes TimeShift such an exciting title is that it presents gamers with a unique feature - the player can stop, rewind or slow down time (much like in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), something which not only makes it fun, but mind twisting too, as progression through the game depends on when, how much and how fast one manipulates time.

Of course, the player is not affected by time manipulations, thus enabling him/her to act against enemies and the environment. The game's specific time-related puzzles will literally blow your mind away. There's a catch though: the rewind feature cannot be used in all situations. Normally, the option is only enabled for situations that explicitly require it, such as an integral hallway being destroyed or the player dying.

Alright then, before you go away and play the demo, know that the full version of TimeShift is due out for the Xbox 360 and PC on October 30th. The PlayStation 3 port is set for release in December. Hopefully, it's not delayed.