Battlefield 3

[[mXm] andy19]

Battlefield 3 expansions to arrive one week earlier on PS3

Not unlike Microsoft and Activision's agreement to give Xbox early access to Call of Duty DLC, Sony and EA have arranged for Battlefield 3 expansions to arrive with an exclusive lead on PlayStation 3. However, Battlefield 3's expansions will stay exclusive to the PS3 for a shorter period: one week per expansion. The deal kicks off with "Back to Karkand," which launches "later this year" and brings with it four Battlefield 2 maps (including Wake Island) rebuilt in the Frostbite 2.0 engine. The expansion comes free with first-run copies of Battlefield 3 for all platforms, though it now seems it won't be available for download immediately.

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More Battlefield 3 beta details
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On September 21st, 2011 in News

BF3 betaYesterday’s beta announcement finally revealed the first details about the upcoming and highly anticipated Battlefield 3 beta. In the aftermath of the big news, a lot of new information and details have emerged. We’ve summed up everything we know about the beta here.

Battlefield 3 beta will run from September 29 to October 10.
There is no player level limit on the beta and no limit on how much you can unlock.
One game mode, Rush, and one map, Operation Metro will be available.
The Operation Metro map has undergone changes since the alpha.
The beta is limited to 32 players on PC, 24 on console.
Beta size will be around 2-3 GB.
The netcode has been re-written from the alpha trial.
Owners of Medal of Honor do not need the disc to play the beta
EA Origin pre-orders and Medal of Honor owners get access to the beta 48h earlier, on Sep 27.
If you want early access, you have to pre-order on Origin before Sep 25.
Asia has now been added to the open beta.
Origin is required to play the beta on PC.
Stats and ranks will not carry over into the final game.
PC beta system requirements can be found here.
The beta won’t include all the graphics features which will make it in the final version.


Graphics look a bit rough but what i have read is they are simply working on balancing and server stability things and will add lighting effects and textures back in. Not too worried about it as BF games have always been pretty. I just have a slight issue with 30fps as it can effect aiming and shooting at times with some slight screen tearing that hiccup on the screen when you move quickly.

BETA is open for business so get to downloading!

O~

[[mXm] BalzOnYer4Head]

As requested, my mini review.

The game is gorgeous, even for a beta. You can tell that it is missing the lighting effects, but none the less it looks good. It plays well too, smooth. That is, when it isnt being all beta glitchy. Ill get to that later.

Operation Metro is a cool map. Its just the right size of big, so that spawn to spawn sniping is impossible. It is divided into three sections. You start in a huge city park. Lots of lush vegetation, park odds and ends, fountains pavilions, benches which can all be used for cover, natural looking rises in elevation with huge boulders placed well around the map for observation. Once the M-COM stations are destroyed, they simulate an airstrike that blows a couple holes in the ground that allows you to drop into a few sections of an underground transit system. Long dark corridors with subway cars strewn about, some on, some off the track.. There are service tunnels that lead between the two sections of track, and towards your objectives. There are even escalators that lead back up to the ticketing section of the "stop".
After 2 more sets of M-COMS are taken in that section of the map, it leads out of the transit station, and into a part of a town where you are surrounded by a few blocks of a city with buildings that are around four to five stories, and can be entered freely and used to snipe or gain better position from any floor. The final M-COM stations are placed at the second block out from where you start out of the transit station, one in a building and one staggered a little further out up against a bus station.

An improvement (I think) in how you procure your upgrades. No longer do you have to burn a gadget slot for a 4x scope. You start with open sights like usual, and as you progress with that weapon, you unlock upgrades. It seems that you progress rank in class and rank in the gun separately, but at the same time. So as you get kills, you unlock your weapon upgrades, which you can customize to your liking with some new editions. Like the tactical light. Turn it on, and shine it in your enemies face, and it blinds them. Careful though, as it also gives away your position.

As you progress in class, you unlock gadgets,rank, dogtags (which can be customized online at battlefield.battlelog.com, go register and add me as a friend!) and a new element.It looks like a sub specialization. Flak I think equates to body armor, Ammo allows more clips/magazines carried, and the only other one I have messed with is Cover. When I read the description it stated that suppressive fire had less effect on me. It was than I noticed that without the Cover "perq", muzzle flash was more blinding than when I had it on.

The battlefield.battlelog.com website is a very neat addition to the game. You can add friends, track and compare stats, chat live (kinda like Facebook chat)and customize your dogtags, that are seen when you murk someone online. Although, not for the Beta.

The Beta is that, a beta. That being said, there are holes all over the map that you can kind of throw yourself into when you goto prone. The bad thing is, you can shoot out of these holes can see alot of the map from underneath, and one of em is right next to Objective A. Nades work on killin em, but ya have to get within throwing distance, which is much closer than shooting distance.
The mics are spotty at best, and just forget about launching your squad into a game together. It hasnt worked for me yet. It either puts you on opposite teams (most common) puts you on same team diff squad (no mics), or even puts you in completely different games.
Last Beta caveat, no vehicles. :angry:

Im sure all that will be patched come launch, and any experienced beta player can tell when a game has got potential, or its just crap.

This game has mad potential.

[[mXm] andy19]

I agree with everything you've said there Balz.
Just to add, the glitches/bugs I've come across while playing the game have not been show stoppers. None of them have made me think twice about my preorder. There are many bugs that have been brought up on the Battlefield website that I have yet to come across. The main ones being the underground prone thing, not being able to look down sights (although that's fixed if I just sprint real quick) and sometimes not being able to sprint (which has never come when I couldn't look down sights). That's it. Just like Balz said, the game looks good, and I'm sure it'll look even better on the full version once they implement the extra lighting effects.

I look forward to October 25th.

[[mXm] andy19]

The reviews are in! Mind you they're the PC reviews, but I don't see it changing drastically for consoles.

Joystiq- 4.5/5

IGN- 9.0/10