Battlefield 3 at GeForce LAN
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:
BFO Needs a Content Producer!
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:
Battlefield 3 BETA Announced!
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!
Our New forums are online!
It’s our pleasure to announce the launch of our new forums. They are very sleek and offer a lot of nice features such as activity feeds, profiles and sections to discuss and promote any thing community related you are doing. Our forums will be the hub for discussion and a lot of contests/events we will be doing for Battlefield 3 Release/Open Beta. Be sure to head over and register an account to make sure you are caught up with all the action!
Two Days Until PAX Prime Kicks Off
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!
16 Minutes of Off-Screen Coop Footage From GamesCom
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.
KM Troedsson Talks All Things BF3 With VG 24/7
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.
New Off-Screen BF3 Conquest Footage
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.
Battleblog #7: BF3 Co-op Campaign
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:
OffDutyGamers Caspian Border MP Trailer Analysis
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.
