Aerodynamic

@LEONLEONLEON

A game engine is a separate thing from art assets. How a game looks has no bearing on a game engine being new or old. Developers tend to improve both graphics and game performance at the same time, so you mistakenly think the two elements are linked.

Frostbite 2.0 is not a "new" game engine. It is an incremental upgrade to Frostbite (the 2.0 is a clue there). DICE would rename the engine if it were new--and they would make a huge deal out of it. And just from playing BF3, it plays no differently than BC2. The upgrades are small, and probably have more to do with backend efficiencies.

And yeah, I think DICE's engine is pretty chunky and slow on the 360, so if this is the "band sound" they want, they should rethink. DICE is obviously held back on the console because the PC game is completely better, but for you to make a virtue out of obvious limitations is hard to get.

@SkizzNutt509

Frostbite 2.0 isn't a new engine either. It's just a marketing term to describe the usual upgrades to a game engine between releases from BC2 to BF3. If you've played BF3, does it feel like a new engine to you, over BC2?

@Mr Hett

I am getting the BF DLC maps free, also. There is some variance between the BF strategy for DLC, and CoD's and therefore, differing ways to look at what value is, in each case. I have paid $15 and will probably do so again, so I am not personally a hater of either franchise. I own both.

I owned BC2 and enjoyed getting the free content, but maps weren't really new (just new mode unlocks, if I recall), and they took forever to come out. Whereas, CoD came out with a lot of maps, and yeah, they cost a bundle.

Seriously, I just didn't know the Back to Karland pack was $15 for non launch copies. For the hundreds of hours we put into these games, it's probably not a big ripoff either way, but when Halo goes to $15 I will be sad!

@BtheCarp

I think CoD mixed in just 2 maps from CoD4 into a 5-map pack for MW2, if I recall. Treyarch was doing 4-5 maps, including an elaborate Zombie map.

BF3 players are being sold on "expansion pack," which is marketing-speak that CoD would not be able to get away with. If you were against $15 maps before, you should be against $15 maps now. This isn't BC2:Vietnam, which was an entirely new skim on the game, with original maps, weapons, soundtrack. That WAS an expansion pack and was a good deal at $15.

@Mr Hett

These aren't new maps. They're throwbacks from Battlefield 2, aren't they?

If they're a value to you, great, seriously. But $15 used to be complained about as the end of the world, even when CoD gave 5 maps for that price, including new achievements and a complex Zombie mode/level that was practically its own game.

But now $15 is cool because it's BF3 and they're throwing in some weapons? And seriously, you have to buy new game modes? I own BF3, don't get me wrong, but the game modes have always been limited in BF series. It would have been nice to have modes released for free. I'm not averse to paying for what it takes DICE time to make, but come on, game modes in BF3 are always skimpy and to pay for them is hard to understand--ESPECIALLY in a climate these days where everything CoD does is evil, but when BF does something similar, it's understandable. They're both the same girlfriend, fellas.

Must be confusing to the BF3 "occupy MW3 reviews" crew to see the white knight savior FPS game of the century--BF3--get maps that will be $15.

@The Soft Machine

Don't spoil plots, please. You can make your point without ruining key moments for others.

(I don't care if it's about Half Life 2 ... gamers play at all different paces, and we all have backlogs.)

If Bethedsa doesn't make it, I'm not going to play it. They'd be better off letting the MMO fail, then putting out Fallout 4 a couple of years later, when fans know the difference between half-baked and excellence.

@DSight

Harder to send max-level black phantoms to local retailers.

An awesome solution to street date chicanery.

A strange screen grab. Will the new Live TV service make past seasons available of current series, like a Hulu Plus service? Cause it looks like it from that screen. And Castle season 2 is not currently available for streaming. Or, was the screen just a quick mock up of "current TV fare."