GDC08: Battlefield: Bad Company multiplayer demo'd
by Christopher Grant 
{ Feb 28th 2008 at 1:58PM }
Click to embiggen
EA hosted a special DICE event at GDC last week, showing off the various titles the Swedish developer has in the works. The first embargo to up and die covered the recently delayed Battlefield: Bad Company and, since we couldn't spend as much time as we'd have liked with the title, we've gathered videos and previews from some other outlets for you to enjoy. We do have some pictures of the swank event, hosted at San Francisco's Vessel Lounge, for you to peruse but let's jump right into the game, shall we?
Gallery: Battlefield: Bad Company
Read – Battlefield: Bad Company Multiplayer Hands-On (GameSpot)
Read – Battlefield: Bad Company Preview (IGN)
Bad Company differs from your usual Battlefield title in a few notable ways: 1) it's being built specifically for consoles and 2) it has a single-player campaign. Bad Company's biggest gameplay innovation is its destructible environments which, while chic and somewhat non-functional several years ago, have come a long way thanks to the increased capabilities of modern consoles.
Gallery: GDC08: EA DICE event
The seven-on-seven multiplayer bout that EA set up at the event illustrated the strategic challenge this presents: hiding behind a wall to regain some health doesn't do much good when enemies simply blow the wall up. The main multiplayer mode – dubbed "Gold Rush" – has you seeking out your enemy's stash of heavily guarded gold; destroy two stashes, open up more of the map and create two new stashes to be defended. While the final game promises massive environments and the requisite vehicles to traverse them, the map they showed off was sadly vehicle-less.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tc @ Feb 28th 2008 2:11PM
cromulent word usage joystiq
naxe @ Feb 28th 2008 2:28PM
Yea can you please say Demo'd,
or review, screenshots. i thought since its thursday there might be a demo to download when i get home.....
Christopher Grant @ Feb 28th 2008 2:29PM
He meant "embiggen" - not "demo" – but I see what you mean. I'll amend.
BIGGEN @ Feb 28th 2008 4:10PM
embiggen? is that like my half-witted brother or something?
dvdguy @ Feb 28th 2008 2:32PM
I wish that DICE would make Midtown Madness 4.
xFenixKnightx @ Feb 28th 2008 2:32PM
Ohhhhhh, daddy likes! Take your time DICE Ive got some (hopefully) good stuff lined up this month.
Mabooza @ Feb 28th 2008 2:59PM
Looks decent. Is that fog I see? Or just a shallow draw distance? I wonder if the novelty of blowing holes through walls will wear off? With all the grenade launcher action on display I hope MP doesn't turn into a noob-tube fest. New Gold Rush mode sounds pretty cool.
Mo @ Feb 28th 2008 3:01PM
Thats some pretty nice looking graphics there
ThornedVenom (Patapornographer) @ Feb 28th 2008 3:08PM
Did he just destroy a house to find gold?
JangoGod @ Feb 28th 2008 3:25PM
Blow tings up!
Borsi @ Feb 28th 2008 3:28PM
Me likey, me likey…
Already have this pre-ordered and now it’s just a matter of counting down the days till the mysterious launch. End of June maybe [EBGames]? Cept my local Futureshop is listing it for mid-April on their coming soon board.
JangoGod @ Feb 28th 2008 3:31PM
I have it pre-ordered too! (I did so about a month ago)
killploki @ Feb 28th 2008 3:45PM
why bother pre-ordering anything? you are just giving the company free money. you will be able to walk in and pick this game up on launch day.
ExMcloud @ Feb 28th 2008 4:36PM
Because ultimately your helping them help u...If your gonna walk in and buy something the first day anyway why not pre-order the thing so they can get more copies of the game to sell to more people...Seems logical?
killploki @ Feb 28th 2008 4:42PM
no, i dont see the logic. there are more than enough retailers around that sell the exact same games. pre ordering especially without a release date seems like a waste.
colin @ Feb 28th 2008 5:19PM
free money? the laws of financial and cost accounting disagree with you, as well as the IRS. the company can't use this money, it is a LIABILITY and must be treated that way. i.e. not spent, invested, or used in any way. lets say that your local gamestop is in the red this year by $1000 (their liabilities total to $1000 more than their assets). at the end of the year, they start taking preorders for "big guns 3: the war game" If they take 200 preorders @ $5 apiece, they take in $1000. But they are still in the red, because this $1000 dollars is not theirs, it is a placeholder for future sales which will happen the next fiscal year. they are liable for this money. some of the money may be recouped with people not picking up their items. i'm not sure of gamestop's policy on how long after release your preorder is good for, but i'd bet its a whole year before they can absorb your money. i'd also bet that a very low percentage of paying preorderers never pick up their items.
Edog Lost @ Feb 28th 2008 3:58PM
The AI seems dumb. The guy blows out the fence, and the AI doesn't even react to the explosion.
Tim @ Feb 29th 2008 11:29AM
correct me if im wrong but I though it was a multiplayer match....the stupid guy was infact human....
XGM @ Feb 28th 2008 4:39PM
I hope they polish that alot to make sure its perfect, and not patch is up like BF2 (witch became so buggy, and still is).
On a side note, is it me or does it look alot like CoD4 ?
Arturo @ Feb 28th 2008 5:24PM
@ killploki:
It's usually not a waste at all since the preorder cost typically goes towards the purchase price of the game...dur
CB @ Feb 28th 2008 7:23PM
WTF!
driven2sin @ Feb 29th 2008 1:20AM
pre-order is gay sometimes i need extra10for drugs uncontrolably
Jared @ Feb 29th 2008 8:18AM
Man I hope this game turns out good. Whenever fully destructable cover is involved, a game always looks promising.