While I haven't played Warzone 2100 extensively I am an admirer of the RTS genre, and I am also interested in video game development history. My friend Hallfiry maintains a collection of old video game magazine cover CDs, and has created an online catalogue which allows to browse the contents of the CDs and find specific items. Hallfiry's catalogue currently encompasses more than 3100 PC gaming related CDs, including those from his own collection and from other sources such as the Internet Archive.
With this tool, we were able to identify a relatively large number of Warzone 2100 demo versions. The earliest of them dates back to late October 1998. The retail version of the game, according to an Eidos Interactive press release, was released on March 29, 1999. Most demo versions are thus placed before the retail release.
Here's the full list of the versions that are identified:
- [no version number] (21.10.1998) [with video] - possibly the earliest demo release
- 1b (27.10.1998) [with video]
- 1f (03.12.1998)
- 1h (18.12.1998)
- 1h (18.12.1998) [with video]
- 1M (20.01.1999)
- 1P (??.??.1999) [German language]
- 1Q (17.02.1999) [German language]
- 1R (18.03.1999)
- 1.00.000 (23.04.1999)
I suppose that these demo releases have at least historical value. They certainly differ from the retail version (and from each other) in a number of ways, but this is probably more noticeable to those who are well familiar with the game.
If you're interested you can find more information and download links to these demo versions here:
http://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewto ... 23#p392823
I hope this information is helpful to you guys!