After Allison realized that the 705 MB download was the online demo (as opposed to single player) she handed me the controller. I eagerly started the demo, inverted the vertical aim, and chose, "Quick Match".

"Joining a session, please wait..." I could barely contain myself. I knew I was mere seconds away from being either a spy or a merc and getting my first time in on SCDA. "Joining a session, please wait...". Hmm? It's been at least two minutes, I thought. I'll wait a little longer. Five minutes passed, so I decided to exit out and retry, which required me to reload the demo.

Back to the start screen, I once again chose, "Quick Match." I donned my headset, eagerly anticipating a voice from the deep matrix that is Xbox Live. I began practicing my pseudo-military jargon, "roger that 21, I'll take the right hallway...keep an eye out for laser mines...meet up at checkpoint bravo".

"Joining a session, please wait...". Crap. Same thing. I waited fifteen minutes. I backed out, and decided to try a custom match, thinking that would somehow be different.

"Joining a session, please wait...". Super crap. I tried variations on this theme three more times and am once again staring at the same screen with the same message.

I'm a big fan of Ubisoft and of Splinter Cell games, but serio, if you can't get your act together, don't release the demo.

PS - Keep an eye out for our Splinter Cell Double Agent Walkthrough which is due to start this week!