Finally, the single-player demo of Crysis is now available for download. It is a huge 1.77GB download from 3D Downloads, 4players.de, ActionTrip, AusGamers, ComputerGames.ro, eXp.de, FileFront, Fragland, FileShack, FanGaming, FilePlanet, Gameguru Mania, Gamer’s Hell, Internode Games Network, OnlineWelten and PixelRage

This NVIDIA page offers beta 169.01 drivers for the Crysis demo. It is recommended

to apply the driver before playing the demo, as it has been optimized specifically for that game.

Mad Catz Europe has announced a price readjustment for the Xbox 360 Live Arcade GameStick, offering an impressive 50% discount for those who buy it this holiday season. The Arcade GameStick, offering ‘arcade style’ controls for the console, will now retail for £24.99, half of what it sold for before.

The arcade controller is officially licensed by Microsoft and features a full-size joystick and the unique 360° ‘Spinner Control’. It also comes with three full Xbox Live Arcade games in the box - Frogger, Timepilot and Astropop.

A new functionality is heading to the Wii pretty soon: gift giving. Gamers will be able to purchase and send games bought within the Virtual Console and upcoming WiiWare channels to their friends, who can then accept it and begin downloading the software. It is unknown whether current titles can be loaned out, or gifts have to be bought separately. No release date for the feature was mentioned.

“We think this will be a breakthrough in encouraging customers to spread news of fun games word of mouth,” said Satoru Iwata, president of the company. “We also hope to spur more users to connect their Wiis to the Internet.”

He also reiterated that Nintendo has no plans on dropping the price of the Wii anytime soon. However, they plan on bringing the Wii to China sometime next year.

Following up on word that Spore is ’six months’ away from release, game designer Will Wright let it slip that the title is also in development for the Wii. “We’re doing Spore on the Wii,” he mentioned casually in a talk with Guardian Unlimited. It was previously declared that the game would arrive on “all platforms,” though it was never for the Nintendo console till now. Portable versions of the game are also said to be in development.

Wright expressed his love for the Wii, terming it as the only “next-generation” console on the market. “The PS3 and the Xbox 360 feel like better versions of the last, but pretty much the same game with incremental improvement,” he said. “But the Wii feels like a major jump–not that the graphics are more powerful, but that it hits a completely different demographic.”

He also expressed his love for the PC: “Every generation it’s like ‘the PC’s dead! The PC’s dead!’ But it carries on growing when consoles are flat for five years. At the moment I can get better graphics on my PC than I can on the PS3.”

EA and Criterion sent out word that Burnout Paradise, the next installment in the crash-and-burn racing series, will be out in North America on January 22. The game is due out on PS3 and Xbox 360, featuring an open-world environment and challenges available at any junction. EA is also promising “a new standard for online social gameplay.”

A demo of the game will be out on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace this December. It will feature online support and show off the new Stunt mode.