To be clear, the demo will be available for Xbox Live Gold members in the U.S. on the 1st.  The other dates are on the site, but that was the one I cared about.
 
I am getting pretty excited about this game.  I took a pass on Round 4 because it didn't seem like the single player was doing anything special. (I don't play a lot over live due to the atmosphere I find there)  This game actually seems to have something interesting in SP in the Champion mode.  It looks like they want to make something like a movie experience out of it.  I want to know more.
 
Anyone else getting excited for this one?

I think Round 3 is way better than 4. I'm excited about Champion's story mode.

demo is out...I can feel the excitement in here!
 
Not really.  Looks like people are as excited about this game as me.  I was excited about Round 4 but this one hasn't caught my attention at all.  Gonna give the demo a try real quick.  I saw a video of it and it looked good but not really much different than Round 4.

welp...seems like it plays like Fight Night Round 4 to me.  I'm glad they included online.  It was pretty sluggish.  I'm glad they made it where you can't see your opponent's stamina bar.  I always feel like these games (this one even more so it seems) ends up just being 2 guys spamming punches, sways, and blocks and whoever gets the luckiest will be the winner.  I won 2 of 3 online....all 3 could of gone either way it seemed.  Everyone picks Ali because he has a longer reach...the only fight I lost was when I picked Tyson.

I have been trying to beat the computer as Tyson because that is the style of fighting I like.  I like power and inside.  I am really frustrated right now because I feel like I should be winning, but I'm not.

Champion is garbage, I absolutely loved Round 4 but this is just awful. They have one again made the mistake of having punches to the body do squat and there is a massive emphasis on getting lucky counter knock outs that it just takes all of the skill out of the game, so if you're the kind of person that likes to hold the left trigger in and spin around in circles so you can constantly counter, this game is probably for you.

" Champion is garbage, I absolutely loved Round 4 but this is just awful. They have one again made the mistake of having punches to the body do squat and there is a massive emphasis on getting lucky counter knock outs that it just takes all of the skill out of the game, so if you're the kind of person that likes to hold the left trigger in and spin around in circles so you can constantly counter, this game is probably for you. "

" @JJWeatherman: Champions is a step in the wrong direction, the basic game mechanics are completely broken  "

and the online play is unresponsive and sluggish,

 Worst of all the judges are messed up in the worst way possible, I just went three rounds with this guy using Ali who obviously had no idea what he was doing so I counter punched him all day long and got some amazingly sweet power punches in every round whilst he just flailed with jabs and hooks, guess what the judges decided? That I lost every single round. 

" @Schizoid: just because of you losing doesnt really make this a bad dem and you  shouldnt criticize this demo which you are calling  "Game". This is  the real game its an demo and you are criticizing a demo for its online ,a free demo, wow ,complainer. "

" @Schizoid said:

" @JJWeatherman: Champions is a step in the wrong direction, the basic game mechanics are completely broken  "

 How is that?
 

and the online play is unresponsive and sluggish,

For what it's worth, it was fine on my wireless connection.
 
 

 Worst of all the judges are messed up in the worst way possible, I just went three rounds with this guy using Ali who obviously had no idea what he was doing so I counter punched him all day long and got some amazingly sweet power punches in every round whilst he just flailed with jabs and hooks, guess what the judges decided? That I lost every single round. 

I'd honestly have to see the fight, or at least the post-fight stat screen to determine whether or not you were jipped. But yo, if you're Mike Tyson, knock a motha fucka out! "

... if you're Mike Tyson, knock a motha fucka out! "

I agree that the judges seem to be totally biased toward throwing random punches as opposed to boxing your opponent.  I was kind of disappointed with the demo because I think I'm pretty good at this game and when I am playing the computer, I lose every time.  I am hoping that they retail version will feel better when I get to go through Legacy and Champion mode and box much weaker opponents at the beginning.
 
It's funny to me all the people who sing the praises of round 3.  I felt like Round 2 was the best boxing of the series.  Round 3 certainly looked better, but Round 2 always FELT better to me.

I liked the demo. I don't have any experience with Fight Night, but this demo certainly caught my attention. 
 
I managed to both win and lose to the computer and, on one occasion, I got knocked out on the first round, then knocked the guy out twice, winning in the third round. I thought it was very accurate and I did manage to land the blows where and when I intended them to. 
 
I didn't, however, try the online portion of it.

Ya i play UFC instead of fightnight now.

I miss FightNight Round 3.  That game was fun and felt good, you could dominate someone in different ways if you wanted to.  I go to the body of Pacquiao and I am dominating him.  But he doesn't seem fazed.  The commentators even just take notice of counter punches.  The commentary is so annoying, generic a lot of the times and I only hear them praise counter-punching as the show of real skill.  Thats gay.  As Mickey said, don't let the bastard breathe!  But to knock someone out, you have to go to the head.  Retarded. 
 
Also of note, I hate how you can't use illegal hits like crazy in this demo.  In FNR3 demo, you could and that was what got me to get the game, just how fun everything seemed.  Now I have to fight for real.  Fair enough but I want to see how the elbows to the face affect the game.

i havent played any of the fight nights except for a few rounds at my friends not knowing how to do anything ,but i really like this demo it took me like 3 or times to get used to the mechanics but i finally beat Ali with tyson on the fourth try and was very happy. the only thing was the 3 round demo kept me wanting more rounds thats prolly a good thing . will be picking this up a lil after dragon age 2

I still feel like the balance of steady punching workrate vs. power counter-punching is a little off. 
 
Against the A.I., my best chance at winning was just to lean forward and quickly sway back as the A.I. tried for a power shot and score a counter - even though I took four or five punches in the process I fairly consistently did more damage per round. That doesn't feel right.
 
That said, I'm not really a fan of boxing and I'm no expert on what a realistic balance would be like. Hell, a realistic model based on actual physics engine output would probably make for a terrible game with no predictable response for various strikes... so yeah.