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Sonic Generations demo on Xbox Live

Happy 20th birthday Sonic!

A demo of Sonic Generations has just hit Xbox Live Marketplace.

Queue it up from Xbox.com. It weighs in at 652.54MB.

Sonic Generations is a hybrid of classic 2D side-scrolling Sonic and the series' more recent 3D offerings.

The game sees Sonic sucked into mysterious "time holes". Tossed back through the franchise's history, he's reunited with both old friends and classic 2D Sonic. The pair will then team up to find out who's behind the strange goings-on.

It features both classic 1991-style 2D side-scrolling gameplay as well as 3D sections similar to those found in Sonic's more recent outings, with classic franchise environments re-built from scratch in HD.

Both versions of Sonic boast their trademark special moves: Spin Dash and Spin Attack for classic Sonic, and Homing Attack and Sonic Boost for modern Sonic.

Timed to coincide with the hedgehog's 20th anniversary, the game is due out in late 2011.

Wait, that's today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONIC!