Last week, gamers were dealt some bad news when Microsoft announced that it was delaying the release of the Crackdown demo. Originally scheduled to hit Xbox Live on January 18, the demo was pushed back "several days" because of Microsoft's certification process.

　　"Several days" is turning out to be just shy of a week, as a member of the Crackdown development team revealed that the demo will be released January 23 at 2:00 a.m. PT for Xbox Live Gold subscribers.

　　According to Crackdown community administrator "Agent G," the file will weigh in at around 1GB and feature both single-player and cooperative game modes. The demo will have limited access to the game's open-world environment and give gamers a taste of what the characters can do with accelerated skill progression in five categories. Once a character has reached the second level in any of the core categories, a 30-minute limit will be imposed on the demo.

　　The demo will also not include the ability for a friend to jump into a game already in progress for cooperative action. However, that function will be included in the retail version.

　　Crackdown is rated M for Mature and will retail for $59.99 when it goes on sale February 20. For more information, read GameSpot's previous coverage.

　　[UPDATE] The 1.24GB demo is out now for Xbox Live Gold subscribers.