Splinter Cell Conviction is the latest installment in the hit Tom Clancy series from Ubisoft

It was announced on Xbox Live’s Inside Xbox service that a playable demo of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction will be available this week.

360 players will be able to download the demo on March 18th (this Thursday) and get a taste of Sam Fisher’s latest, and possibly greatest game.

The demo features a ‘brutal’ interrogation scene, as well as a level from later in the game in order to give the player a good idea of the gameplay and story of the game without giving away any big plot points.

Judging by some of the previews that have been out and some of the announced features in Conviction, I would definitely suggest downloading this demo and giving it a try.

A key to the Halo Reach Beta will come packed in with Halo 3 ODST which is released next week

According to Stephen McGill, Head of Entertainment at Xbox, the Halo Reach beta will be a big selling feature for ODST. He believes that it will exceed the success of the Halo 3 multiplayer beta being packed in with Crackdown, which I know was a big selling point for me personally.

This is what he said:

“The only way to access this beta will be through the Halo 3: ODST disc, so we feel there’s another extremely compelling reason for both fans and newcomers to the franchise to experience Halo 3: ODST,” he said.

“We saw the success of this mechanic with the Halo 3 multiplayer beta that came on the Crackdown game disc and the continued sales momentum and excitement generated around that title throughout its lifecycle, and we fully expect Halo 3: ODST to exceed that achievement.

“It’s a great way to extend the shelf life of the title at retail, and allows us to deliver some cool and creative sustained marketing activity around the game throughout 2010.”

Personally I believe that most people that will be interested in Reach will also be interested in ODST, so I don’t think it will have quite the same impact as the Halo 3 Beta. Only time will tell…