BATTLEFIELD posts (Subscribe to this feed)

"I'm not saying it's going to happen tomorrow, but in the way that Activision sort of alternates sequels of Modern Warfare and Call of Duty and owns the leadership position in FPS [first-person-shooter], between Medal of Honor and Battlefield, I want it back," EA CEO John Riccitiello declared in an interview with Kotaku. This means war.

With the Call of Duty franchise growing into a $3-billion juggernaut, it's no surprise to see EA looking to topple Activision's bulging beast and reap the significant rewards. According to Riccitiello, the newly rebooted Medal of Honor and March's Battlefield: Bad Company 2 represent a strategy of "innovation and quality," one he suspects is bolstered by DICE's multiplayer expertise. "We think we've got an advantage over Modern Warfare 2 with our multiplayer," he suggested. "The guys at DICE do that really, really well."

So, you think the console wars are intense? Just wait until you see the war ... wars.

Ten-hut, soldiers! During wartime, the government is granted special powers and as such the Army is going to need to commandeer your personal computers. Before we send our best and brightest out into battle, we'll need to train them in advanced maneuvers via upcoming PC games Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

Before you start packing up your 'puters, know the government has issued its guidelines for computer operations (via Shacknews). Report past the break to see if your computer meets these stringent requirements.

It's difficult to explain the current controversy surrounding Battlefield Heroes without talking a whole lot of inside baseball, so we'll keep it simple. Players of the game are up in arms due to a recent update to the title's in-game store. Though EA and DICE had worked up a balance between the game's two forms of currency -- Valor Points, which you unlock from playing, and Battlefunds, which you purchase with real-life money -- this patch heavily depreciates the value of the former while making the latter a near necessity for those who wish to stay competitive in the game.

Items have had their Valor Point costs increased across the board -- what's more, some of these items can no longer be permanently purchased with Valor Points, but can only be taken on a one or three-day test drive. However, these same items have had their Battlefund costs reduced, and allow purchasers to keep them indefinitely.

If the items being purchased were merely cosmetic, we wouldn't think twice about this shift in fungible value -- however, the torch-wielding mob now moving through the Battlefield Heroes forums seem to think that the shooter's developer has forsaken the more frugal members of its community, giving the wealthy playboys among them an unfair advantage.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2's associate producer and dedicated server of official blog updates, Gordon Van Dyke, has assured fans that the PC beta will still happen -- though later than expected. "With the huge success of the PS3 Beta we decided to drastically increase the PC Beta's capacity to insure as many people as possible could participate," Van Dyke wrote. "Unfortunately this meant we had to delay the Beta to very early next year giving us more planning time to make it happen and implement more optimizations."

The PC version of DICE's first-person, military-person shooter will boast full support for DirectX 11, a maximum of 32 active players (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions go up to 24), clans, friend lists and dedicated servers, which is that controversial thing we referenced in the previous paragraph.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will arrive on store shelves in March 2, 2010. It's the one that ups the lone-soldier-walking-towards-you ante with some helicopters, a tank and another soldier that is slightly farther away.

Ahhh yes, flying helicopters from base to base, frantically scrambling to a good vehicle or cover, and the always prudent flag rush -- staples of any good Battlefield: Bad Company online multiplayer match. Maybe you were more into sneaking into a building's attic, blowing a hole in one corner, and carefully sniping the other team from afar? You are our bane!

Ahem, that said, the latest multiplayer trailer for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 above, serves to remind us of all the good times we had the first time around. It also, unfortunately, serves to remind us that the second game still isn't out for another three months. Luckily, some of you will get to enjoy the multiplayer beta starting today. Do us all a favor, folks -- shell the snipers!

You guys like games about modern warfare, right? We heard that somewhere. If so, you'll probably be interested in hearing more about Battlefield: Bad Company 2. What, did you think we were talking about another game?

In the G4 video after the break, producer Gordon Van Dyke provides a running commentary of direct-feed multiplayer footage, demonstrating the kind of gameplay you'll be able to help tune (and also enjoy) in the PS3 multiplayer beta. Or, to put it a different way, there's thirteen minutes of direct-feed Bad Company 2 footage after the break. Hardly needs any more dressing up than that, does it? Enjoy it -- no tips required.

Announced yesterday, the multiplayer beta for EA and DICE's Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is going to give PS3 owners (and only PS3 owners) a one map appetizer on November 19 for the main course coming March 2, 2010. The beta features one match type -- Rush, a version of Bad Company's Gold Rush ... only without the gold -- and takes place in the sun-baked seaside locale of Arica Harbor.

Last week, we took part in a 24-player stress test for the beta (the version coming Nov. 19 will support 24 players, as will the final game) and came away rattled but ready for more. You can read about how it all went down after the break.

PS3 owners will soon have another exclusive to brag about in addition to Uncharted 2. EA and DICE announced today that the multiplayer beta for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will launch on Thursday, November 19, exclusively on Sony's console. As with the recent God of War III demo, a beta code will be offered as a pre-order incentive from GameStop, Amazon and Best Buy (visit the game's official site to check which other retailers are participating).

The beta will focus on one of Bad Company 2's new multiplayer game types: Rush. This multi-stage battle takes place on a map called Arica Harbor, which is broken into unique areas for each round. American forces push forward on foot and in vehicles to scrap with Russian troops outside a military base, in an urban environment and eventually at the harbor itself in a "last stand" scenario.

EA plans to begin a PC round of the beta in December, followed up by an all-new multiplayer demo for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC early next year. The finished game hits shelves on March 2, 2010. We recently had the opportunity to play in the multiplayer beta and will bring you our hands-on impressions tomorrow morning, November 6 at 9:00 a.m. PT / noon ET.

EA and DICE revealed today what's to be found with the treasure trove of weaponry in Battlefield: Bad Company 2's Limited Edition retail release. The BFBC2 "while supplies last" edition will contain six special game unlocks -- only four of which are for Bad Company 2 -- and cost the same as the regular retail version.

The four BFBC2 unlocks are:

• Improved Vehicle Armor - Pretty self explanatory.
• Supreme Vehicle Firepower - Additional weapon mounts for the driver.
• Vehicle Motion Sensor - Locate enemy units in proximity to vehicle.
• Tracer Dart Pistol - Attaches to any vehicle "to track, lock on, and fire rockets onto moving targets even beyond line of sight"

The other two unlocks are for Battlefield 1943 and give soldiers the M1A1 Submachine Gun and the M1911 Pistol, which are both ... you know, guns that go pew-pew. BFBC2 launches March 2 and 5 in North America and Europe, respectively. Meanwhile, poor Battlefield 1943 has been waiting for new maps since July 20, 2009.

It may seem like a contradiction, but it is possible to make "free" an even better value. Just look at Battlefield Heroes; the game just added a boatload of new content (we've got a full list after the break) as part of its "Heroes of the Fall" update, and it's still all delectably free.

If you can't be troubled to read a whole list, some of the most notable changes include a new map called "Riverside Rush" and some improved social networking functionality. And, as you can see above, the update features a guest appearance by the Sepia-Toned Village People, who we hear are huge in the Netherlands.

DICE's free-to-play FPS, Battlefield Heroes, just had its two millionth soldier signed up for duty, EA announced. It's an impressive accomplishment considering the game only opened its doors in June and netted its first million users back in July. And as a reward for all of the players' hard work gaming, EA has dated the title's Heroes of the Fall update for September 30.

We already knew about the proposed changes to the game's social networking functions and the class updates, but there's also the prospect of a new map to be excited about. EA is taking name ideas for the new locale right now at the game's official site, so head on over and suggest one. If you're looking for a bit of inspiration, may we suggest The Joystiq Map of Joystiqing Joystiq: Joystiq?

DICE founder Fredrik Liljegren has his sights set on free-to-play games, as he's revealed (via Gamasutra) his new studio, Antic Entertainment. He's joined by Digital Extremes alum Mark Mikulec and Jeff Evans at the London, Ontario-based studio, which features talent from a variety of titles such as Dark Sector, BioShock and DICE's Battlefield series.

In fact, the team's already got a title underway called Junk: Battles (Seriously? You named your game Junk?), an RTS hybrid designed to work in most major web browsers, where users create a ship and battle other users, gaining stats and ship parts as they progress. While the game is in its earliest stages, feel free to battle through all of the junk (sorry!) at its site here.

Sad news from the front, soldiers. DICE is not currently working on any new Battlefield 1943 maps or content for the downloadable hit, which has now drafted over a million players. Speaking with Joystiq, DICE Producer Gordon Van Dyke said the company is definitely working on the game's squad-swapping bug -- he believes it's a server-side fix that will hopefully be resolved soon -- but that all the effort at the moment is being put behind getting Battlefield: Bad Company 2 out the door.

"We need to figure out what's the best thing for the community. What's the best thing for the franchise?" Van Dyke told us about why the online hit isn't getting further development attention. He currently has "no idea" about when the company will get to work on more content for Battlefield 1943. That certainly calls for a sad face emoticon, don't you think? :(

Such fantastic, eloquent wordplay! Man! You see, the headline says that developer DICE's latest first-person shooter marches into the early 2010 battlefield ... because March is when the vehicular, open-world mayhem begins (that's the 2nd in North America, the 5th in Europe). Perhaps it went over your head: "march" is what soldiers do ... into a battlefield. Woah ... but isn't that also the name of the franchise? Oh, snap, it's Battlefield!

So, let's recap: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is marching this March into a video game battlefield because that is what soldiers do and this is a video game called Battlefield about soldiers in a battlefield. This March. Battlefield.

Field of battle.

Put your rivalry to the side for a moment and join hands. Acknowledge that together, we, as XBLA and PSN users, have reached a tremendous milestone: 600,000. That number represents the to-date total of $15 transactions between us and our respective online services to purchase Battlefield 1943; and we did so, overwhelmingly -- and in record-setting fashion -- on the first day and week of the game's download-only release.

In just fifteen short days, we have sent a message to Microsoft, Sony and third-party publishers. We're willing to pay a bit more and spend it on a slice of good old-fashioned stuff we still get on our retail discs (even if it's a little rough during takeoff). Sorry, indies -- go put it on the App Store.