Wow. Sony have swept me off my feet. No sooner had they climbed into the top 40 of our Top Gaming Moments of 2008 by being rubbish in Europe, they have gone and done something Eurocentric. This time they’ve gone and shafted the Americans instead, by making them pre-order Killzone 2 before they can download a demo of the game; we European folks will be able to try the game before it’s out with no such restrictions.

Maybe Sony are just evening the odds a little, since it’s on pretty much every other occasion the European consumer base loses out. All the info after the break.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has confirmed that Europe will receive a demo of Killzone 2 before the game itself is released sometime in February. SCEE told VideoGamer.com that the demo would be released on the European PlayStation Stores in the “normal manner”: presumably this means “like any other demo” and not “months overdue”.

The Americans, however, will not receive the demo in the “normal manner”. If any American K2 enthusiasts (Frawlz) are achingly desperate to try the game out before it hits the shelves, they’ll need to put down a pre-order deposit with GameStop, with codes going out from February the 3rd onwards, 3 weeks before the game’s release on the 27th.

A date for the European demo is unconfirmed, although I’m hoping it would be February the 5th at the earliest (the first Thursday after the Gamestop codes go out). Then again, with no European release date for Killzone 2 itself confirmed, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the demo released after American gamers get their mitts on the full game. Sony are Sony after all.

Since Sony are Sony, you must wonder what they’re thinking when it comes to organizing a marketing strategy. How on earth are you going to convince people to buy your new game if you wont even let them try it without promising to buy it first? Save for the few beta testers who already know it’s awesome (hello) most people are considering Killzone 2 based on hype alone, and it’d be an understatement to say Killzone 2 is nothing but hype, hype, hype.

Would the promise of a demo convince you to pre-order the game? Or will you create a European account, American gamers – since you’ll have had no use for one until now – and just grab the demo from there? I know what I would do, and it doesn’t involve my wallet.

Killzone 2 demo confirmed for Europe – VideoGamer.com via EDGE