With only six days left on the demo for the upcoming release of Battlefield Bad Company 2, developer DICE has announced that over 3.5 million players have downloaded and played the demo. The number is impressive when you consider that the decision to offer such early access to the Rush Multiplayer mode on the Port Valdez map was questioned by some thinking that the coming was looking to ramp up the excitement to increase sales prior to release.

The demo has been well received by most and while some have pointed out various things that they would like to see addressed in an upcoming patch, overall players seem to be very pleased with what they have seen so far of the game. When released, the game will offer a single player adventure as well as an additional eight multiplayer maps that will be able to be played in four different types of multiplayer game play.

Only six days remain on the demo prior to the title being released March 2nd in North America, with the European launch to follow March 5th. Those who pre-ordered  and purchased the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version from GameStop will be able to access Squad Rush mode and be able to invite their friends to check out this mode for 30 days, prior to the restriction being lifted and the Squad Rush mode being available to everyone. The Squad Rush mode will be available to all buyers of the PC version from day one regardless of where you buy it, as it does not share this restriction.

We look for a strong release for Bad Company 2 and expect DICE and EA to get some of their mojo back with this release. From the whispers that we have been hearing, from the number of pre-orders it is running ahead of what was originally expected; and this, of course, is good news for both DICE and EA. Of course, it helps when you are giving the limited edition version away to everyone that buys the game right at release. Beyond that, it also helps when you get everyone excited with the release of Battlefield 1943 right before the new title launches. It looks to be well played from where we sit.