Ugh. I really hope this makes it in, or at least a day one patch. There's no joy in flying with a kb/mouse.
joystick support was awful for BC2 as well. I really hope they devote some time to it for this game. That or at least provide a separate mouse sensitivity for jets and choppers. I can't fly them with my low mouse sensitivity for infantry.
Battlefield 3 PC dedicated servers will charge extra.. for every single player...
Planning to rent a dedicated server for Battlefield 3 on PC? Then you wont be happy to find out that you will have to pay an extra charge on top of your monthly fee for every player slot on those servers and on 64 player maps, those fees could soon add up.
http://beefjack.com/news/battlefiel...rs-will-charge-extra-for-every-single-player/
According to VGCharts, a Video Game Charts website, the Xbox 360 Version of Battlefield 3 stands at 939,864 compared to 124,805 on the PC Version of Battlefield 3. While the game is set to be more geared towards PC players, its clear that it has quite the large following from the Xbox360 community. Last week, DICE announced that HD textures will be available to Xbox 360 / PS3 which is a good sign for those a little bit disappointed by the graphics seen in the BF3 Beta. Be advised that this chart is only for US Pre orders and does not tally the international totals. Needless to say, its apparent that this game has quite the Console based following. For all of you looking to play PS3 / Xbox360. we invite you to our forums!
October 25th in North America, 28th in the UK, 27th in Germany
Since the announcement of Battlefield 3 having several release dates, users have been wondering if theyd be able to play on the US date. It seems as though Battlefield 3 will actually be region locked. In other words, those of you who are hoping to play the game on the 25th outside of North America will have some hoops to jump. There is one way around it, use a North American Based VPN and you should be able to play Battlefield 3 via origin on October 25th. While this may come as a shock to a lot of you who have pre-ordered a US Copy to play on the first date, remember that given the distribution of the game, it was expected to be region locked. Before you get angry at DICE and make petitions, pre order cancels or boycotts, remember that this decision was not theirs and via a VPN you can get around this.
October 25th, 2011
USA, Canada, Singapore, Rest of the World
October 27th, 2011
Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Austria, France, Spain, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand
October 28th, 2011
UK, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Belgium
November 2nd, 2011
Japan
We are currently waiting to get more official confirmation on this from the PR team on Battlefield 3, but already weve received it from a reliable EA source about this Region Lock. Even Eurogamer.cz , a Czech gaming site, reports that Xzone will be selling BF3 copies at midnight on the 25th, but with the game not playable until Friday, October 28th, 2011. The release is only two weeks away and this game is really going to rock the ship this year.
1:00 PM on 10.12.2011 | Casey Baker
In our earlier single-player preview of Battlefield 3, I found a few points of contention within the slice of the game's campaign that I played. Most notably, I disliked control taken away from me in different ways, from quick time events to on-rails levels that relied mostly on my appreciation of the graphics over the actual gameplay.
However, for everything that that the campaign seemingly lacked, the multiplayer portions that both Hamza Aziz and I got to try left us pretty highly impressed. Hamza gave us some of his impressions of the multiplayer in a recent Destructoid Show episode, but to learn in detail how Battlefield 3 has improved upon past games in the series, read on.
Battlefield 3 (PC, PlayStation 3 [previewed], Xbox 360)
Developer: EA DICE
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release: October 25, 2011
Though I got a chance to play a wide variety of multiplayer modes and maps, in this preview I'll be covering only the two that I can discuss for now. Every one of the modes that I played was impressive, with maps that included many different wide-open expanses and strategic choke points for an awesome Battlefield experience.
Before I begin, let me reassure you -- EA wasn't kidding when they explained that the Battlefield 3 beta was in no way representative of the final product. I wondered why they decided to go with the relatively linear, vehicle-less Operation Metro map for the beta, and in a quick interview with Battlefield 3's producer Aleksander Grondel I asked if it had anything to do with bringing in FPS fans who are typically more interested in other modern shooters (i.e., their largest direct competitor, the Call of Duty series). He laughed a little at this and told me, "Well, that's one angle to it, I think. Another angle is that this is something new for Battlefield. I think that most people knew that Battlefield would still be Battlefield, even though we had a map like that. It would be cool to show something a little bit different."
Furthermore, the Battlefield 3 beta was mainly released in the interest of catching and fixing as many bugs as possible before release. DICE plans to continue to improve Battlefield 3's gameplay as they release new content for the game, as has generally been the case for Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
The most immediate improvement in Battlefield 3 comes with the graphical fidelity that the Frostbite 2.0 engine brings. As I turned a corner and ran down a sun-dappled, arched hallway in search of the opposing team, I watched as two enemy soldiers ran by and was taken aback for a moment at just how realistic it all looked and felt, even on the PS3. Character animations are more fluid and realistic than ever before, and the excellent lighting effects carry over impressively in multiplayer. After rounding a corner and stalking the small squad, I managed to take one down with a knife attack to the back and then opened fire on the other one, nearly getting myself killed before taking off through a few other alleys and going prone behind a dumpster. Soon, the enemy pursuing me passed by and got sidetracked by one of my teammates driving a tank through the main street in the map. When the coast was clear, I booked it to one of the two M-COM stations and armed it, sticking around just a little while longer to take down any nearby opposition before the rest of the opposing team converged on my location.
In general, the core gameplay of Battlefield 3 is the same as veterans have come to know and love, with the largest changes being in general gameplay tweaks such as combining the Assault Class with the Medic Class, and of course with a generally slicker graphics engine powering the whole thing. While destruction isn't at the same level as the Bad Company series, it really varied from map to map and in Grand Bazaar, I appreciated how the main plaza areas became more filled with debris and downed trees as more players started to test out their rocket launchers. A lot of building corners and facades crumble realistically and expose enemy cover as well.
One thing I noticed was how different the points distribution system is in Battlefield 3. Even though my kill/death ratio tended to be rather low (at one point, it was something like 7/25), I managed to bring Destructoid (my name for the event) to the top of the leaderboards among my team of journalists for many of the different modes I played. It seemed like I generally got the most points for varying my gameplay throughout my session, whether it was helping my squadmates with suppressing fire, successfully sniping the opposing team, disabling a tank, destroying an M-COM station, or going on a killing spree. Though the multiplayer maps do encourage snipers to hunker down and camp in certain areas to provide support for their team, it awards many more points for actually moving around and generally doing more than camping and getting sneaky kills.
For anyone worried about the sizes of the maps, especially in the supposedly scaled-down PS3 version, worry no longer. The desert map in Operation Firestorm is absolutely huge. When I first spawned into the map I got ditched by my teammates and even my squadmates (other journalists from other gaming sites, natch) as they all ran for the many vehicles in the map. These included carrier helicopters, tanks, jeeps, and, of course, jets. I started hoofing it to the first zone to take over, Alpha, and realized that it would take quite a while to make it there on foot.
Instead, I turned back and decided to wait for a new vehicle to come my way. Fortunately, no one knew how to fly a jet very well and I watched in amusement as a one soared erratically overhead and then plummeted to the ground in a fiery explosion. A minute later, a new jet spawned near my location and I jumped in.
If the on-rails jet section of the single-player game made me feel a little worried for the linearity of the campaign, the jets in the multiplayer made me incredibly excited for the possibilities and sheer freedom of mid-air dogfights. I managed to wrangle just enough control of my jet to be able to soar high above the map and flip vertically and horizontally a few times before I caught another jet headed in my direction. I noticed that I wasn't nearly as bound to the map while in the jet as I was on-foot -- instead, I had more freedom to fly around. I took off, admiring the scenery of burning oil fields, and then crested dusty mountainous regions. I decided to get a little more daring and I took my jet closer into the midst of the battlefield to try to take down some land vehicles. Unfortunately, I still didn't have the best control at slowing down and maneuvering the aircraft, so I found myself getting stuck in a tree before I bailed out of the imminent explosion.
As far as the vehicles go, I noticed that the tanks and jeeps handle pretty similarly to other Battlefield games, and that familiarity helped me take a tank and blast an entire squad of enemies that was defending Alpha. As can be expected for the series, the vehicles and their weaponry have real weight behind how they move and how they sound when firing off rounds.
The overall impression that I got from the main multiplayer modes is that Battlefield is back, plain and simple. The maps are generally huge and varied but the gameplay is still frenzied and focused enough to feel like all-out warfare. The squad-based gameplay feels even more refined than before, with so much emphasis put on helping your squad and staying together as a unit to capture points, destroy M-COM stations, or simply get more kills. This is both the Battlefield on consoles that gamers have come to love, and an entirely new beast with a better and more accurate destruction engine and a far grander sense of scale.
After getting an extended hands-on session with the multiplayer in Battlefield 3, I am incredibly excited to pick up the game on the 25th of this month. The gameplay is much more polished than the beta would have ever suggested, the graphics are very pretty on the PS3, and the support for fixing glitches and stopping hackers is definitely there.
Also, just for the fun of it, I asked Aleksander Grondel about the much-rumored "dinosaurs" in upcoming multiplayer DLC. At this, a mischievous glint shone in his eye and he gave an enigmatic smile while fumbling a little and trying to choose the best words to answer the question.
"I would leave that with... We'll see."
So yeah, dinosaurs CONFIRMED. Journalism!
by Leigh Harris
The Battlefield 3 media and community event in Sydney last night had the most in-depth hands-on with DICE's latest opus, and even had the Frostbite 2 logo carved out of ice!
The game is looking stunning. The on-foot engine has been firmed up to compete with the best of them, it sports an edge-of-your-seat, surprising and dark single player campaign, and of course the most extensive range of vehicles and unprecedented sense of scale in modern combat games today.
MCV took the time to speak to DICE's creative director and lead designer of Battlefield 3, Lars Gustavsson:
Given the rise of the indie sector and smartphone gaming, are there strategic changes going on within companies like DICE who make the biggest games of the year?
I think we at DICE have always tried different things. Nowadays, the free system (which kind of originated at DICE) now has Battlefield Heroes (the free-to-play game), Battlefield 1943 as downloadable content, and I'd like to see more of this in the future. We need to be trying different business models and different paths to the market. It takes quite some effort to deliver a big title like this.
So these methods represent different avenues for audience interaction, marketing and corollaries to the triple-A titles rather than competing markets per se?
Yeah. There are really no rights or wrongs yet. It's all about what you want to try out as a developer.
Battlefield has traditionally been at its weakest with the on-foot movement and combat mechanics, but what I've just played puts it easily on par with the best first-person shooters out there. How has the increased focus towards on-foot mechanics shaped the overall design direction?
We're fortunate to have so many previous games to go back and look at. Previously, we've based the run-and-gun experience on the multiplayer testing, since there's no better way to find out the weaknesses of your first-person shooter gameplay than to have a bank of live people who sometimes do really stupid things. That's where it all originates from.
This time around, we've made a number of deliberate changes to literally everything to make it all fit the experience we wanted to deliver a more gritty and real-life experience.
John Riccitiello said Battlefield 3 was 'designed to take on Call of Duty'. Does that feed all the way back to the development process?
We've been making Battlefield for 12 years now and we wouldn't have been able to do it and continuously grow if we didn't focus on our thing. So I'd use the comparison of runners. If you're running a race and you look at your competitors, you fall. If you focus on your lane, you have a chance of beating them. That's what we do at the studio. Regardless of how things are in the real world, down in the dungeon we worry about the game.
Call of Duty: Black Ops is still coming out with DLC a year after release as Modern Warfare 3 is almost out. What has DICE done to ensure that level of ongoing support for Battlefield players? What kinds of plans do DICE have to push post-launch content?
We've completely restructured our studio around it. Nowadays, we have operations team who looks at the title when it starts getting closer to launch (or long before) with potential downloadable content and so on, to really have a plan. Otherwise you're quite likely to start slipping. If you're focusing just before release on what you're going to ship post-launch, then I think you have problems.
So, yes there is a massive plan in place.
-"BFP4F is a thousand times more fun than BC2 ever was. "I have pre-ordered BF 3 on the PC but have been out of multiplayer gaming for a while. The last game I really played against people was Modern Warfare 2 on the 360.
Battlefield 3 looks amazing but I'm nervous since I don't know the maps at all and have no idea how to control the vehicles. Is there a good BF3 for dummies guide or suggestions you guys have so that I can get a good start?
Typically in multiplayer games I have a good time for the first few weeks or month and then end up quitting because I am a casual player and I can't dedicate 20 + hours a week to games. It gets old being pwnd by people who are just more dedicated to the game than I am.
I'm hoping that playing with a squad of my friends will help with that.
Thanks.
found an odd issue with the stinger before the beta closed
http://youtu.be/yPz_jhr14XE
found an odd issue with the stinger before the beta closed
http://youtu.be/yPz_jhr14XE
No...the map itself is VAST yet the flags are packed into a small area.
And the point is, the people who think that if there is any significant travel time means the game is too slow, there will be PLENTY of maps for them. It's amazing how they want to interdict our efforts to prevail on DICE to have a map the size of Firestorm but where there are flags spread evenly. There's going to be, what, 14 maps, all we're asking is 2-3 to be proper open maps, but the Spam at Karkand lovers want every single map to cater to them. Basically, all that extra space in Firestorm serves no purpose whatsoever except aircraft travel time. Due to the shitty out of bounds they are putting in for uncaps, that shrinks the map immensely.
zh1nt0 said:Hello everyone!
So, I´ve seen many threads on this forum regarding the maps and some of the flags being very close together.
- From our reports we have gathered over the years, a lot of our players are actually infantry players or prefer to play in maps with a heavy infantry focus. Also, a big part of the community also like vehicles. We don´t want to alienate anyone from any map and that is why we are going for a rather mixed setup in the bigger and also smaller conquest maps.
- Vehicles do play a large role and there are flags that are also further apart. The trick for us is not to just roll out a map for players that use many vehicles or only infantry players. The trick is to keep maintaining focus and also cadre to players who prefer either setup. link
zh1nt0 said:No not really.
The key here is to make sure that any player type can enjoy any map.
We had some maps in previous titels which focused quite a lot on only one type of playstyle.
We´re trying something different here. A formula that based on feedback as well as telemetry tells us it´s going to work
linkHiiva2kg said:So flags are bunched together in all maps?
You've probably seen these, since they were posted on your home turf. But for the sane folks that avoid that place....
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twitter.com/zh1nt0: "Going to go through ea uk forums with @IlCarpentero later today. It's important and necessary. #BF3"
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"We've completely restructured our studio around it""
DICE has hinted at an ambitious year-round DLC plan for Battlefield 3
Asked if the company intends to offer the same level of ongoing support for Battlefield 3 players as rival series Call of Duty does, creative director Lars Gustavsson told MCV the developer has "completely restructured" the studio around its plans for add-on content for the upcoming FPS.
"Nowadays, we have operations team who looks at the title when it starts getting closer to launch (or long before) with potential downloadable content and so on, to really have a plan," he said.
"Otherwise you're quite likely to start slipping. If you're focusing just before release on what you're going to ship post-launch, then I think you have problems.
"So, yes there is a massive plan in place."
Our own Jake Denton is of the opinion that the DLC model is getting out of hand. Let us know what you think.
Watch in HD No comments yet, be the first!
Battlefield 3 producer Patrick Liu said earlier this week he thinks EA's franchise has the edge on Call of Duty, although he admitted he's just pleased his game's being bracketed in the same league as the current FPS genre king.
Yesterday EA released a new Battlefield 3 trailer focusing on the shooter's destruction gameplay.
LOL... same thing happened to me... I kept trying to shoot stingers at Jets and Chopters flying over me for awhile because of the glitch - but I ended up getting knifed by someone in the end because I my view was up at the sky...
Maybe i'm doing it wrong, but i could never get missiles to hit planes/heli. I would get lock, fire, keep it homing in. But it just never connects. Plus its very hard to track the missile in the air.
Also seemed to stop tracking very easily, like if smoke is in face or bushes, etc.
You must hate maps like Wake, or Midway, or Bocage, or sharqi, or Oman. Lots of open map space, most of it empty areas or ocean with the flags all in the middle.Indeed. I take his comments to mean that there will be not one large map with spread out flags, all of them will be in some way compromised to both give them the plausible right to say it's a large map, but flag packing will make it function like Karkand type maps.
Basically they are trying to please everyone with every map. All that will really do is please the small map lovers, large open map lovers, not so much.
You have to remember that they've also closed off the uncaps with out of bounds, so that shrinks the map even further.
You must hate maps like Wake, or Midway, or Bocage, or sharqi, or Oman. Lots of open map space, most of it empty areas or ocean with the flags all in the middle.
Hmmmm....those are actually some of the most popular maps ever!
Your point is just wrong. The map design with the flags in the middle give flanking routes to the objectives, while still providing open space to maneuver in jets/helos, and keeps the infantry fighting fun by minimizing the number of 45 minute jogs required to get to the action.
Seriously, stop bitching.
@Battlefield said:New Battlefield 3 multiplayer map details and images on the official Battlefield blog! http://bit.ly/qRFEmW #BF3
BY: HBrun POSTED: Oct 13, 2011, 12:00AM
The 9 multiplayer maps in Battlefield 3 offer every style of gameplay from dense urban combat to all-out vehicle warfare on vast landscapes. Read on for the design ideas behind the multiplayer maps in Battlefield 3, straight from Niklas Åstrand, one of the level designers at DICE. The remaining maps will be revealed here on the blog tomorrow.
OPERATION FIRESTORM
WORKING TITLE> OILFIELDS
DICE INTERNAL DESIGNATION> MP012
SUPPORTED GAME MODES> ALL
BRIEF> ALL-OUT DESERT WARFARE
FICTION> U.S. AND RUSSIA LAUNCH LARGE-SCALE ASSAULTS TO CONTROL IRAN’S BIGGEST SOURCE OF OIL. SECURING THIS AREA WILL OFFER FULL CONTROL OF THE SECTOR AND ITS KEY FACILITIES.
NIKLAS ÅSTRAND’S DESIGN THOUGHTS: One of our largest and most vehicle-friendly map, Operation Firestorm is the classic Battlefield gameplay taken to the extremes. Size-wise, and with some puzzle skills, you could actually place three Atacama Deserts -- one of the largest maps from Battlefield: Bad Company 2 -- within the playable area of Operation Firestorm. This is a wide-open desert map where the burning oil fields in one direction are contrasted by clear blue sky in the other direction. Construction sites dotting the area bring interesting possibilities for infantry to hide in elevated positions, spot vehicles, and take them down by mortar or RPG.
OPERATION MÉTRO
WORKING TITLE> METRO
DICE INTERNAL DESIGNATION> MP015
SUPPORTED GAME MODES> ALL
BRIEF> INFANTRY FOCUSED COMBAT IN SUBWAY
FICTION> HEAVY FIGHTING IS EXPECTED AS U.S. FORCES PUSH TO SECURE THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT IN CENTRAL PARIS. RUSSIAN ANTI-AIR EMPLACEMENTS IN CHARDONNAY PARK ARE LIKELY TO BE THE FIRST TARGET.
NIKLAS ÅSTRAND’S DESIGN THOUGHTS: Operation Métro is the map from E3 and the Open Beta, so some of you are familiar with it already. It is a map that perfectly illustrates that we want to take our players on a journey. Especially in Rush, you can see how Operation Métro is almost three maps within one: You start out in a lush park, then move into a bombed-out section of the subway tunnels, to finally emerge in a dense urban environment outside the Paris stock exchange. It’s a map that asks you to constantly adapt your class and load out for the diverse situations you will find yourself in.
TEHRAN HIGHWAY
WORKING TITLE> HIGHWAY
DICE INTERNAL DESIGNATION> MP003
SUPPORTED GAME MODES> ALL
BRIEF> INFANTRY FIGHTING IN TIGHT CITY STREETS
FICTION> A FIGHT FOR CONTROL OF ACCESS ROUTES NEAR TEHRAN. U.S. FORCES MAKE A PUSH FROM THE HILLS UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS WHILE RUSSIANS HAVE SET UP DEFENSIVE POSITIONS ALONG THE MAIN ENTRANCE POINTS.
NIKLAS ÅSTRAND’S DESIGN THOUGHTS: One of the inspirations for this map was a photo of a night time skyline of Tehran which now is basically the same vista that is available in the game. You start up on the hills above the city outskirts and eventually work your way into town. This atmospheric night-time map, where you can see rockets lighting up the sky, has a balanced mix between vehicle and infantry focus. It plays length-wise and starts semi-open with plenty of room for vehicles, but ends on a much more urban and tight note with less focus on vehicles and more on infantry.
DAMAVAND PEAK
WORKING TITLE> BASEJUMP
DICE INTERNAL DESIGNATION> MP013
SUPPORTED GAME MODES> ALL
BRIEF> FIGHTING IN WINTER MOUNTAINS
FICTION> A RUGGED MOUNTAIN AREA PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE IN DECIDING WHETHER RUSSIAN OR U.S. TROOPS ARE SUCCESSFUL IN COMBAT OPERATIONS IN THE SECTOR, AS THE AREA IS HOME TO KEY RADAR INSTALLATIONS.
NIKLAS ÅSTRAND’S DESIGN THOUGHTS: Damavand Peak, internally known as Base Jump, is built on the idea that we want players to be able to base jump, and features our most extreme height differences ever in a Battlefield map. Attackers in Rush and Squad Rush will start high up on a mountain ridge above a mining facility. The only way down into the valley is to somehow make the 500 meter descent. The further the attackers progress in the map, the more vehicle warfare will be present. There is also a large tunnel section dug into the mountain side at the bottom of the map, and the view when you look up at the starting location is spectacular.
Come back tomorrow for the remaining five multiplayer map reveals.
I think this is a different version than the previously posted video of Operation Firestorm. Same DICE guy narrating, though (Aleksander Grondal).
GameSpot - Battlefield 3 Operation Firestorm Multiplayer Map (Javelin, Thermal, & More!) (YouTube)