BioShock Demo Hits Xbox Live Marketplace

A demo of 2K Games' "genetically enhanced" first-person shooter BioShock has landed in Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace.

A demo version of 2K Games anticipated new “genetically enhanced” first-person shooter BioShock has gone live on Microsoft’s Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox 360. The game is due to ship for the gaming console August 21 in the United States and on August 24 in Europe; a demo version for PCs is due to be available for download later this month.

BioShock’s setting is the underwater society Rapture, which is engulfed in civil war. Gamers wend their way through the powerful forced on both sides, foil treacherous security systems and try to stay one step ahead of genetically modified “splicers” that dog their every move. BioShock enables players to turn virtually anything into a weapon, hack devices and in-game systems, upgrade their weapons, and create their own ammo and battle movies—one player might specialize in catching grenades in mid-air and tossing them back at assailants, while another might get really good at plaguing enemies with swarms of insects. Players can even modify their own genetic biology using plasmids.

BioShock is rating M for “Mature” by the ESRB; the Xbox 360 edition will be priced at $59.99.