BATTLEFIELDO

The sixth GeForce LAN is kicking off today in Alameda, California on board the historic aircraft carrier USS Hornet.  The event runs all weekend and features Battlefield 3 as a centerpiece to the festivities, with casual and freeplay tournaments in Conquest and Team Deathmatch modes.  In addition to Operation Metro and Caspian Border, three new maps will be playable by the public for the first time ever at the GeForce LAN - Grand Bazaar, Operation Firestorm, and a third new map which has not yet been revealed.

DICE rendering architect Johan “Repi” Andersson is there and has been tweeting some pictures of the event.  Check the rest out here.  If you are lucky enough to be onboard the USS Hornet attending the event, feel free to send us some pictures of your own to share!

Update: Check out this video from the USS Hornet, courtesy of NextGenTactics:

Original Article

With the release of Open Beta and the upcoming launch of Battlefield 3, we are pleased to announce that we are looking to bring on-board a Video Content Producer for our new Battlefieldo.tv section. Our channel will be primarily focused on Youtube and will reach out to users in the thousands. The position will entail creating new video content, be it Battlefield news updates, Gameplay Commentaries or Montages. Here at Battlefieldo we are all quite creative, meaning this role is more about having the framework for you to use.  Thanks to Pixel Enemy’s support, we will have a Partnered Youtube Channel that can reach out to a large base of users.

 Requirements

- Skill/Expertise in Video Editing Software (Premiere, After Effects, Final Cut or equivalent)
- Intro Animation skills a huge plus
- Able to work on projects independently or with the BFO Team
-  Good speaking voice (for commentaries)
- Audio / video equipment for content creation
- Passion for Battlefield
- Be a chiller / relaxed
- Have a sense of humor

Please send your application + a video sample to Stadler [at] Battlefieldo.com

Include these details in your application and we will get back to you!

Name:
Username:
Age:
Location/Timezone:
Why you want to apply:

Original Article

Suit up guys, its time to get gritty… DICE has just  announced the release of the Battlefield 3 Beta is September 29th! With the official statement coming  down just moments ago, we are excited to tell you that Battlefieldo will cover the Beta live here on our website. There has been much anticipation and excitement about the latest installment of the battlefield series since its announcement earlier this year. With both leaked Alpha footage, and E3 2011, the Battlefield Community has been set ablaze in the last few months as the games official release date is October 25, 2011. The beta will launch in two parts, the initial Beta launch will be released as a closed Beta. Console fans armed with their Medal of Honor Limited Edition disk will be able to play the 48 hour closed Beta, and PC fans who have pre-ordered the game on the new EA  game platform Origin will also have the closed Beta access. Open Beta access will then be given to everyone else who wishes to participate. So go forth, and wreak havoc Battlefielders, and be sure to stay tuned to our website and forums for minute-to-minute updates on all things Battlefield 3!

Original Article

VISIT OUR FORUMS NOW! 

Original Article

This Friday, August 26th marks the beginning of PAX Prime (Penny Arcade Expo) in Seattle, WA, one of the biggest gaming conventions in the United States.  For those of you who have been following us for a long time, you might remember PAX East way back in mid-March, which is the smaller East Coast version of PAX.  PAX Prime runs all weekend and EA will be there in force to show off Battlefield 3.

One of our admins, Stadler, will be in attendance courtesy of our friends at EA, and through him Battlefieldo will bring you comprehensive coverage of everything you need to know about Battlefield 3’s presence at PAX this year.  He’ll be attending a BF3 community event hosted by EA on Friday night, and we’ll be bringing you videos and information from that and of the BF3 booth on the convention center floor.

Expect to hear some new info, but nothing too exciting or monumental, since GamesCom 2011 was such a big deal.  Hopefully, we’ll see some fresh Conquest footage along with some more details about multiplayer BF3.  At the very least you can expect to see some videos from the floor at PAX.  Stay tuned all weekend and we’ll make sure you know everything that matters from PAX Prime!

The EA section is on Level 4 and takes up several booths - you can see a map of the 4th floor here.  If you’re attending, drop us a line via Twitter (@BATTLEFIELDO) and maybe you can say hi to Stadler in person!

Original Article

A Russian Battlefield 3 fansite has made available a 16 minute, uncut video of the entire first cooperative mission from Battlefield 3 as it was demoed at GamesCom.  The footage was taken by a camera recording a screen, but is in 720p HD and is pretty decent quality as far as off-screen footage goes.  You can get a much more in-depth look at the Coop gameplay from one player’s perspective.  Sorry for the terrible music - you’ll want to mute it right away as it gets MUCH worse as the video progresses.  Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Pretty cool stuff, terrible music added by the original uploader nonwithstanding.

Original Article

DICE general manager and VP Karl Magnus Troedsson spoke with VG 24/7 at Gamescom today at length about DICE, Battlefield 3, and the difficulties of adapting the epic scale of 64 player BF3 gameplay on the PC to a 24 player console environment.  He also touches on Battlelog, the failure to bring BF1943 to PC, and Battlefield: Heroes.  Check it out.

But we didn’t feel we got as far as we wanted with PC gaming – Bad Company 1 didn’t come out on PC at all and the PC version of Bad Company 2 even though we’re proud of it wasn’t a proper sequel in any way to Battlefield 2, which had a very specific PC focus. So now we have the Frostbite 2 engine which allows us to do so many more things – especially on PC, that was one of the stars that just – click – it came into place.

The second one was probably what the team wanted to do themselves. After Bad Company 1 and 2 which both had a bit of a slapstick humour – a slightly goofy feeling to it – the team really felt that they wanted to build something a lot more authentic; the word authentic is very important to us. That was aligned with what Battlefield 2 actually was – a modern shooter with a much more authentic tone.

So it was like that’s good – click – another thing that came into place of what we wanted to build. And also I would say that perhaps the experience of the team is at the right place. We feel like now – because Battlefield 2 is very near and dear to us in the studio, and just making a quick ‘oh this is Battlefield 3 and throw it out there-’ that would never work because we’re proud of what the former game is and still is; there’s still a lot of people playing it.

We couldn’t make a sequel if we didn’t feel we could deliver it at the quality that we wanted it to be, so that’s probably the three big things that make it feel like this is the right timing to release Battlefield 3.

Read the rest of this great interview here.

Original Article

We’ve got some fresh content for you today - nine minutes of off-screen (camera pointed at the monitor) footage of the BF3 Conquest map Caspian Border taken at Gamescom 2011.  The footage isn’t that exciting, but gives us a look at some stuff we haven’t seen before: the player drives a light vehicle, battle tank, and attack helicopter, so you can get a look at how they work and move, and generally you get to look around the map on foot a bit more than we could see in the brief 2 minute Conquest trailer released earlier this week.

Like I said - not terribly exciting, since there isn’t much going on, but still worth a watch for those of you who are hungering for some more Conquest footage.

Original Article

The folks from the official Battlefield Blog have posted the latest installment of the Battleblog, #7: “Battlefield Introduces Themed Co-op Campaign”.  Lead Co-op Designer David Spinnier talks about the design of Cooperative mode and discusses a little about the first announced Co-op map, Exfiltration.  Click the link to read, or check out the full text of the article quoted below!

Co-op in Battlefield 3 is designed to be the perfect blend between the strong narrative from single player and the open-ended action from multiplayer. Lead Co-op Designer David Spinnier and his team are fusing the replayability of multiplayer with a pick up and play mentality to create a totally new flavor of Battlefield.

— Every mission in co-op is a new experience. We wanted to create the ultimate mix of play styles for you and a friend, said David Spinnier.

The co-op missions in Battlefield 3 take place in the same world as the single player campaign, and follows a unique series of events that lead up to an explosive finish. Players in co-op will take the role of soldiers that are not tied to any one particular branch of the Armed Forces. This is an intentional  design decision to allow for a vast variety in gameplay in the different co-op missions.

Lend a helping hand
To survive through the co-op missions, you’ll need to stay close to your buddy. If he goes down, lend a helping hand with the new co-op “Man down!” mechanic, that lets you revive him in the heat of battle. While being down, you can still use your secondary weapon to defend yourself, while slowly crawling to a safer spot where your friend can help you without getting shot. If both of you go down, it’s game over.

You fight together. You die together. And you score together. After having cleared a co-op mission with your friend, your total combined score will be displayed via Battlelog, our suite of free social features that connect all Battlefield 3 players. Missions are designed to be shorter than single player missions, so you can easily do multiple rounds in an evening to try and beat your friends’ high score. The best score of your Friend will be displayed for each mission, so you know what to aim for.

Difficulty is high. Spinner and his colleagues are going for a tough challenge in all missions. Also, since competitive players will likely try each mission several times, all of the co-op missions contain randomized elements to keep every playthrough fresh. Clearing the co-op missions not only gives you scores and bragging rights – it also has benefits for your multiplayer career. There are a number of weapons that you can unlock in co-op and take with you to the regular multiplayer modes. These unlocks are based on your combined scores ackumulated throughout the co-op campaign.

Exfiltrate Hamid El Zakir

At GamesCom 2011, we are running Battlefield 3 in co-op for the first time, with the mission Exfiltration. It revolves around a defecting informant, El Zakir, that you and your co-op friend needs to escort to safety. The mission starts outside the building where El Zakir resides. You need to move in, remove any opposition, and extract the target. If you can make it that far without raising a single alarm, there’s a little bonus in it for you. Here’s a little playing tip for you: If you need to take out multiple targets simultaneously (which is the case in Exfiltration), do a countdown over the voice chat. That way you can open fire at the same time, which gives the enemy less time to react.

Part two of Exfiltration has you clearing a path for your convoy so you can reach the outskirts of the city, before entering two of the vehicles and assisting by manning the top-mounted machine guns. Exfiltration is not over there, and there are more elements to it, but by now you should have a good idea what awaits in one of our diverse co-op missions. More will be revealed later.

 If you missed any of the other six Battleblogs so far, you can check them out here:

• Battleblog #6
• Battleblog #5
• Battleblog #4
• Battleblog #3
• Battleblog #2
• Battleblog #1

Original Article

Continuing in their tradition of high-quality Battlefield 3 trailer breakdowns and analyses, our friends over at OffDutyGamers have posted an extensive breakdown of the recent BF3 Caspian Border multiplayer trailer today.  If by some twist of fate you haven’t seen this epic, 64 player Conquest PC multiplayer trailer yet, check it out immediately.  ODG’s breakdown looks at the entire 2+ minute trailer second by second and discusses what we can learn about the game and its authenticity from it.

Check out the full article here.

Original Article

Valve Software’s managing director Gabe Newell spoke to industry news source Develop about the ongoing conflict between Steam and EA (which you can read about in our earlier articles here and here if you are unfamiliar with the debacle).  Many high-profile games developed and/or published by Electronic Arts have disappeared from Steam in recent months, including Dragon Age II and Crysis 2, and at the moment it’s looking like Battlefield 3 won’t be available on Steam on release day, although whether it will after that remains to be seen.

The cause of the conflict between Valve and EA over distribution via Steam has not been specifically explained by either company; EA has simply claimed that Steam’s terms of service “restrict [EA’s] ability to directly connect with consumers” and “limit[s] how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content”.  Industry analysts have been analyzing up a storm about it in the past couple months, and the general consensus seems to be that Valve won’t let EA sell DLC and other extra content through the game itself, instead requiring that it be sold through Steam (where Valve gets a cut of the profit), although obviously this is purely inference and speculation and has not been directly confirmed by either party.

Speaking to Develop, Newell feels that the conflict, while complicated, is one that can be successfully resolved, saying, “we have to show EA it’s a smart decision to have EA games on Steam, and we’re going to try to show them that.”  Here’s the rest of what he said, quoted from the Develop article:

“Companies have to earn the right to install content on their customers’ PCs on a regular basis,” he began.

“The same thing is true of Steam. We have to prove we are creating value on an ongoing basis, whether it’s to EA or Ubisoft or whoever.

“We really want to show there’s a lot of value having EA titles on Steam. We want EA’s games on Steam and we have to show them that’s a smart thing to do,” he said.

“I think at the end of the day we’re going to prove to Electronic Arts they have happier customers, a higher quality service, and will make more money if they have their titles on Steam. It’s our duty to demonstrate that to them. We don’t have a natural right to publish their games.”

For all of you gamers out there who love Steam and have been grumbling about BF3’s conspicuous absence from its otherwise expansive catalog of titles, there is hope yet!  Even if Steam doesn’t offer Battlefield 3 on release day, it seems like there’s still a very strong possibility that it will be coming to Steam at some point in the future once EA and Valve reconcile their differences.

Original Article

The first day of Gamescom 2011 has come to its end. During the 60 minute presentation we got a lot of footage and details regarding various EA games, such as Mass Effect 3, Need for Speed: The Run and, of course, Battlefield 3.

“So what new from Battlefield 3?”, I hear you shout. Well, we are only on the 2nd day of this year’s Gamescom, and DICE and EA have released lots of Battlefield goodies, such as trailers, gameplay videos, screenshots, documents and more. What also interesting to note is the return of the fan favorite commo-rose. However, we will unfortunately not be seeing any footage of it in Gamescom since it has not been integrated into the game yet.

Caspian Border MP Gameplay
This trailer is so far (and will most likely remain) the biggest reveal of Battlefield 3 in Gamescom 2011. I can’t find words to describe how amazing Battlefield 3 looks in this video, so my only advice to you is to do so watch it right now if you haven’t done so already.

Co-Op Campaign Gameplay
During the EA Press Conference on the 16th of August, Karl Magnus Troedsson and Patrik Söderlund, played live the cooperative mission “Hamid El Zakir”, which looks very promising for the tactical gamers out there.

New BF3 Screenshots
Some new Battlefield 3 screenshots have emerged. Some of them are taken from the same map shown in the trailer above: Caspian Border.

[nggallery id=25]

BF3 Fact Sheets
DICE has released 4 fact sheets showing the so-far-confirmed list of weapons, maps, vehciles, etc. Please note that this is most likely NOT the final list of features for the game, but we can expect to see all of these during Gamescom and PAX.

[nggallery id=26]

Commo-rose and Console Server Brower confirmed
Good news people! The most anticipated feature from the battlefield community - Commo Rose - is making its return in the final game of Battlefield 3. This was confirmed by the BF3 General Manager himself, KM Troedsson. What also has been confirmed is the integration of a Server Browser for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Original Article

Kenny Magnusson is a developer for Battlefield 3, and he just recently held a seminar in Germany about the amazing technology that empowers Battlefield 3 - Frostbite 2.0.

During the 55 minute long conference, he talks about the technologies behind Bad Company and Mirrors Edge, and what kind of new features and technology Digital Illusions wanted for their newer titles, such as dynamic lightning and extensive destructable environments. He then describes how they managed to create the state-of-the-art game engine as well as the multiple problems the Swedish studio has run into during its development.

[youtube RBe9pZyy9bQ ]

Note: You haven’t missed our Gamescom contest, have you? If yes, click here to read all about it!
Oh, and don’t forget to stay tuned on Battlefieldo.com for news regarding tomorrows EA Press Conference!

Original Article

The final countdown for the launch of this year’s GamesCom has begun, and the clock is now showing less than 48 hours for the long anticipated event in Cologne, Germany. However, we can expect new Battlefield 3 details, footage and gameplay as soon as tomorrow!

That’s right! On August 16^th at 10:00am EST (04:00pm CET), EA will be holding a Press Conference where they will be showcasing BF3 once again. This time, we can expect to witness more Battlefield awesomeness such as Jets, Large Maps, Conquest Mode, and what not?

It is believed by many that DICE will reveal most of its secrets that have so far been kept safe at its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. Will Community Manager, Daniel Matros, finally be able to give an answer to all the unanswered questions that have been bombarding him for the last few months? Most are convinced about all the above, but we can only but speculate on the fact so far.

In any event, what are YOUR expectations regarding Battlefield 3 during Gamescom? What do you think will be shown and revealed during Gamescom apart from the confirmed Jets and Conquest? Will there be a new feature making its debut on Battlefield or maybe an all-time Battlefield classic making its comeback?

Please feel free to share your thoughts and estimations by posting a comment on this article. If your estimations prove to be accurate, you might be the one lucky winner we pick who will receive a Battlefield-related prize in the near future!

If you choose to participate in the contest, please keep your comment simple, creative, but also to-the-point, and don’t forget to double-check your email before you submit!
The contest ends on August 16^th 2011 at 10:00 EST (04:00am CET). The winner will be announced at a later date.

Stay tuned tomorrow on Battlefieldo.com for the latest BF3 news!

Original Article

In addition to their impressive showing at the upcoming Gamescom 2011 in Germany, including a real-life jet on display, Battlefield 3 will be making appearances at a few other gaming conventions around the world in the next month or two.  NVIDIA and EA have teamed up to run a BF3 booth at PAX Prime in Seattle, Washington from August 26-28th with prizes for playing BF3 including some fully decked-out gaming rigs for a few lucky players.  For those of you living in the UK, BF3 will also be present at GAMEFest in Birmingham, September 16-18th.

For those of you lucky enough to live in or near Stockholm, Sweden where DICE’s headquarters are, good news: DICE is seeking 14 on-site QA Testers to work for a 3-month contract at their Stockholm office testing BF3.

Although video game testing can be fun and rewarding, it is hard work. We are looking for responsible, dependable candidates who have an eye for detail, great work ethics, excellent verbal and written communications skills, and the ability to work in a team environment. We need people who are able to work a flexible schedule as work days may vary from week to week. There will be overtime opportunities. 

What skills does DICE look for? 

Required Skills: 

- Self starter

- Good organisational skills 

- Strong verbal and written communication skills 

- Basic to advanced software troubleshooting skills 

- Ability to remain focused until project completion 

Desired skills: 

- Experience and understanding of console or PC game testing 

- Software troubleshooting 

If you are looking for an opportunity to contribute to the Imminant Battlefield 3 and work with one of the best teams in the Gaming world please apply to the position with a latest copy of your cv. This role is onsite in Stockholm due to the short nature of the contract we are only considering candidates who can work onsite and are able to come to work without relocation support. 

We are not considering overseas or remote applications.

Head over to the original post on the BF Blog and mail your CV to jobs@dice.se to take advantage of this opportunity.

Original Article

As the upcoming German gaming festival / convention Gamescom 2011 rapidly approaches, the internet has been buzzing with the news that we’ll get to see a lot of new Battlefield 3 footage and features.  The event runs from August 17-, starting only about a week and a half from today!

According to GamersBook, EA brand manager Kevin O’Leary (who we saw a lot of at E3, the Summer Showcase and other high-profile events) has revealed that we will be learning more about BF3’s cooperative multiplayer mode, although it is not clear whether or not we will actually get treated to ingame footage or simply learn some new details about how co-op works.

Additionally, DICE general manager Karl-Magnus Troedsson tweeted recently about playing BF3 Conquest mode as the team prepares BF3 for being shown Gamescom 2011.  This seems like a very strong indicator that we can hopefully expect to finally see some Conquest mode gameplay, although of course this is still unconfirmed.

When someone asked him about whether or not jets were included in the Conquest map for Gamescom, Troedsson responded with a simple and crafty “:)”, so hopefully this means we will finally get to see jets in action later this month.  When we hear any more word on what to expect from Gamescom 2011, we’ll let you know, and of course we will be covering all of Gamescom as we did with E3, Dreamhack and other important BF3 events.

Original Article

Today, several US retailers have gone public with their individual pre-order bonus incentives for Battlefield 3.  For United States residents, preordering BF3 on Origin or from Best Buy, GameStop, or Amazon will come with various special bonus content.  All come with the Back to Karkand expansion pack.  Additionally, for people living in Australia, a preorder bonus has also been announced for retailer JB Hi-Fi.

If you preorder from Best Buy, you will receive the SPECACT kit (like in BC2), which gives you an alternate set of player skins (8 in total, purely cosmetic) for each class, as well as Back to Karkand.  Preordering from GameStop will get you Back to Karkand, the Physical Warfare pack, and for PowerUp Rewards members only, a free digital copy of the Prima strategy guide to BF3.  If you preorder Battlefield 3 from Amazon, you’ll get Back to Karkand and a set of five unique dog tags you can use to represent yourself ingame.

For Australian consumers, preordering from JB Hi-Fi will get you both Back to Karkand and the SPECACT kit as well as a collector’s Battlefield 3 hat and real-life dog tags.  So far those are all of the retailers who have announced their preorder bonuses - we’ll keep you updated as other major retailers announce theirs!

Original Article

If you were lucky enough to receive an invite, be sure to update to the new NVIDIA and ATI drivers:

NVIDIA 280.19 Beta Driver

ATI Catalyst 11.7 Driver

Original Article

The folks at GamingExaminer have caught up with DICE GM and VP Karl-Magnus Troedsson for a short interview.

Gaming Examiner: A lot is being said in regards to the whole Battlefield 3 vs. Modern Warfare 3 showdown due to both games releasing very closely to each other. Based off what has been seen of both games so far, you must be feeling confident of taking over the FPS crown. What are your feelings on the whole match up?

Karl Magnus Troedsson: It’s going to be an interesting autumn that’s for sure! We’re 100% focused on finishing the game and want to deliver the best Battlefield game ever this holiday, and really do not spend much time worrying about what our competitors are doing.

GE: Battlefield 3 made a very strong showing at E3 2011, picking up over 40 awards. I imagine this would have a huge effect on the development team. How has this got the team feeling leading up to the final stages of development?

KMT: We’re extremely pleased with the outcome of E3 this year and the awards and accolades that followed have had a really positive impact on the team and the entire studio. When you invest so much time and energy into one game it’s always very uplifting to read that people enjoy what they saw and played.

GE: The Frostbite 2 engine is, from all accounts, an absolutely amazing piece of technology. How is it working with this new engine in comparison to the previous Frostbite engine?

KMT: Frostbite 2 has made some really big progress since the first installment we used for the first time in Battlefield: Bad Company. Things like streaming, better workflows and pipelines speeds up iteration times which leads to higher quality and more polish. The new lighting and animation definitely makes it easier to create a prettier game as well. This in combination with the more classic Battlefield elements like the possibilities of large scale maps, great destruction and advanced vehicle physics makes for a much better platform to build a game on. At the same time it’s more or less an entire new engine and that always come with some challenges when creating a game.

GE: Bad Company 2 had an entertaining and rather quirky storyline with memorable characters. Can we expect the same tone for Battlefield 3, or is realism and grittiness the name of the game here?

KMT: With Battlefield 3 we decided to take a step away from some of the more slapstick elements in the story and with the characters in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. We wanted to create something that is much more authentic and feels more plausible. So Battlefield 3 will have a rather different tone compared to Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

GE: For many players, the multiplayer is what Battlefield is all about. With such high expectations from gamers you must feel a lot of pressure to make sure you give them what they want. It seems like you have heard what the fans are saying and responded with what looks like an outstanding multiplayer mode. What are some of the major changes made in this version compared to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and how do you think people will react to these changes?

KMT: Battlefield 3 is the spiritual successor to 2005’s Battlefield 2. At the same time we’re bringing in a ton of learning from the multiplayer components of Battlefield: Bad Company 1 and 2. A lot of the changes we’ve made come directly from the community with typical examples like bringing back prone and 64 players on PC. The challenge lies in trying to satisfy as many of the online players as possible and on some topics the community is really split. We’re also hell-bent on making sure that both the PC and the console version get their separate love, making sure none of the versions are a port of some other.

GE: Bad Company 2 was critically acclaimed for placing an emphasis on teamwork by working with your squad mates. In what ways does Battlefield 3 push the envelope once again?

KMT: Team work has always been at the heart of the Battlefield franchise and Battlefield 3 will introduce a lot of new elements to this. The new suppression mechanic is one example where you and your squad can work together and be successful as well as getting rewarded for it. We also have some other, unannounced, cool new vehicles and gadgets working together in new ways which I believe the tactical team players really will enjoy. This in combination of the social elements of Battlelog making it easier to play together and communicate will take the team play one step further.

GE: Bad Company 2 pushed the envelope in destructible environments. How is Battlefield 3 going to further enhance this feature?

KMT: One key element of the destruction which will take a big step forward in Battlefield 3 comes from the denser, more urban environments we introduce. In these you can take down the facades of huge buildings and expose or take out the enemies entrenched on the different floors.

GE: A lot of the community is asking for details about the Battlefield 3 Beta. Is there anything you can tell us at this stage?

KMT: All I can say at the moment is that our Beta will take place in September, as announced at E3. We’ll have more details soon.

GE: What do you say to the gamers who have expressed their displeasure over the console version being limited to 30 FPS and 720p resolution?

KMT: Console gamers shouldn’t worry about this, this topic is discussed out of proportions. For those tech-savvy enough to have looked into the actual resolution of their console games it won’t come as a surprise that a lot of console games today do not run at 1080p but rather 720p. We’ve done this for our last games and we believe it can still look amazing. When people ask for 1080p they don’t see the compromises that would be needed to get there. As for the frame-rate we’ve made a conscious decision to stick with 30 FPS on console. It’s not a technical problem with getting our game to run in 60 FPS but we do this in favour of the large amount of players, large scale maps, huge amount of vehicles, full on destruction and so on. The pace in Battlefield is slightly slower than some other twitchy shooters of today which lends itself well to this frame-rate.

GE: What would be considered a success for Battlefield 3?

KMT: That the people who play the game tell us that they enjoy it!

Original Article

Our friendly neighborhood DICE community manager zh1nt0 has posted on the official Battlefield blog with a few frequently asked questions concerning the BF3 alpha trial (running until August 1st) and the upcoming beta in September.

Hello folks! I´ve been getting many questions on twitter regarding the Alpha Trial and also the upcoming beta which was announced at E3 to be in September.

It´s amazing that so many people want to share their experience and are so keen on playing Battlefield 3.

Here are some questions and answers you might find useful :):

How can I get into the Alpha Trial?

It is a highly tech focused test period where the main purpose is to do a number of server related tests in preparation for game launch requiring a set amount of players online to ensure the final experience is as much fun and easy as possible.

Is this the Beta promised to buyers of Medal of Honor: Limited Edition?

No, this is an Alpha Trial, meaning this software is still not at the “Beta” development milestone. The Open Beta will start in September. The exact date for when Medal of Honor: Limited Edition players can join the Beta will be announced at a later date.

Can I join the Battlefield 3 Closed Alpha Trial?

The Alpha is a closed test and by invitation only. If you’d like to have a chance to be called upon make sure to register for our newsletter and ensure your Veteran status is up to date.

We are also not giving away keys to the Alpha Trial on any of our social networking platforms.

Recently a Medal of Honor: Limited Edition Beta newsletter went out to users. What is that all about?

Well, that newsletter says you are entitled to play the beta in September. It is however not a ticket or a code. If you purchased a copy of Medal of Honor with the Battlefield 3 Beta sticker on it, you are eligible for the Beta. If you have not received the newsletter, make sure you opt in on your EA Profile to receive them. Also, if you haven´t received the newsletter and own a copy of Medal of Honor: Limited edition, you are eligible to play in the beta.*

If you have any questions regarding this blog post, feel free to contact me on www.twitter.com/zh1nt0

Not much of anything we don’t already know, but hopefully this clears things up for those of you who have been bombarding our Twitter with questions about how to get into the alpha.  If you are one of the lucky few to be in the alpha, remember that discussing the alpha or releasing videos or images captured from it is in violation of the NDA you agreed to by downloading it.  That’s why you haven’t seen us here at Battlefieldo posting any of the widely available leaked alpha videos and whatnot.  Hopefully DICE will lift the NDA at some point and we can post alpha impressions, screenshots, and gameplay video.

Original Article