Ordinarily, if a multiplayer-focused demo went up on Xbox Live, you’d need to have a Gold subscription in order to shoot at your friends, but that won’t be the case with Mass Effect 3.
When the Mass Effect 3 demo goes live on February 14, Silver members will temporarily graduate to Gold, and get all the benefits that come with that, including access to Hulu Plux, Netflix, etc.
According to Microsoft, the temporary lift will last “for the time leading to launch.” Mass Effect 3 is scheduled for March 6, so that’s a few weeks of playing around with Microsoft’s enhanced service.
Of course, there are no such requirements on PlayStation 3 or PC, so when the demo launches on both of those platforms on the same day, it’s business as usual. There is a single player component to the demo, as well, and you will not be able to import your save or custom Commander Shepard.