Sega has today announced a playable demo for their forthcoming shooter, The Club, is available for download from the Xbox Live Marketplace. The Club, developed by Bizarre Creations, is one of many early '08 shooters we can be looking forward to and it's good to see Sega getting in early on the action.

The Club mixes cutting edge high definition visuals with hyper-addictive score based challenges to deliver the most intriguing and innovative shooter of early 2008.

The demo features:

• The Prison environment; a disused crumbling, tomb-like Federal Penitentiary, lying in a remote region of one of the less glamorous Rustbelt states.

• One playable character exclusive to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace version of the demo (Renwick, a tough, no nonsense, NYPD Detective whose investigations brought him too close to The Club).

• Single player modes 'Sprint' and 'Time Attack'.

• Multiplayer splitscreen.

As one of eight misfit gladiators players must fight in a shadowy underground blood-sport run by a secret group of sick millionaires. Each character has their own reasons for being in The Club – some are there against their will, others to experience the ultimate high. Whatever their reasons what unites them is the need to kill quickly and skilfully – a challenge those who download this demo will experience first hand.

Sounds pretty cool from where I'm sitting, and since I've pretty much knocked over all the pre-Christmas games, I've been looking to sink my teeth into, and get excited about, a new title... this one could be it. Let us know what you think of the demo.