Activision sends along news that the Call of Duty demo at the center of last night's firestorm (story) will be released this evening all across the internet, with no exclusivity. Here's the deal:

The recent reaction to the upcoming Call of Duty demo has caught us here at Activision by surprise. We're appreciative and excited about the high level of enthusiasm the game has received throughout the gaming community. Due to the tremendous demand for the demo – we are answering the call by not only making the demo freely available to all gamers at the same time, but early – This Friday Night - just in time for the long weekend.

Gamespy has been a great partner - working with us so that we can make our fans happy and give them a taste of a game they're clearly excited about. The demo will be available across the net on fan and gaming coverage sites, including GameSpy's FilePlanet.

We think you'll love Call of Duty, and we can't wait for you to play the demo. Look for it Friday night!