In the immortal words of Matthew Wilder, it looks like EA isn't letting some early bad press for Battlefield: Bad Company break-a their stride. We've seen a veritable gaggle of promotional material for the controversial title as of late, including two recent trailers which clown on some other popular shooters. The first of which, seen above, parodies the unforgettable Gears of War trailer, and features an unnamed infantryman butchering Gary Jules' cover of the Tears for Fears classic downer "Mad World". The other (available after the break) somewhat mocks Rainbow Six's stealth tactics. It's not exactly uncharted territory, but we can always appreciate such Yankovician displays of friendly competition between developers.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Do you want to try Battlefield Bad Company without having to pre-order the game (which is currently the only way to demo it)? Do you have an Xbox 360? Our sister site X3F has managed to nab 100 demo codes and are giving away the first 50 today. Enter by 10:00pm Eastern tonight. The other 50 will be given away tomorrow. Click here to enter.

At their community event last week, Electronic Arts unveiled the five separate tasks you must complete to be able to use all five previously-premium weapons in Battlefield: Bad Company. Although the official site has only revealed one of the ways, Planet Battlefield has outlined all five methods:

• QBU88 Sniper Rifle: Pre-order the game online or at any participating retailer. So far we know Gamestop and Amazon are part of this deal.
  
• UZI Submachine Gun: Download and play the demo
• M60 Light Machine Gun: Sign up for the Battlefield newsletter
• F2000 Assault Rifle: Register your Battlefield soldier name
• USAS12 Shotgun: Check your Bad Company stats online at launch.

Is this better than paying a premium? As for the quality of the weapons, our friends at sister site X3F tell us that, at least for the beta, the Uzi and F2000 are noticeably more powerful than their available-at-launch counterparts, while the others feel pretty balanced.

The developers of Battlefield: Bad Company have heard the outcry regarding the premium weaponry, both from Sarcastic Gamer and other outlets. Speaking to IGN, DICE Senior Producer Karl-Magnus Troedsson said there would be no charge for the five guns. Here's how you can get the guns:

• Pay $10 for the Gold Edition of the game, have the guns on the disc
  
• Buy the Standard Edition, hit the max rank level of 25
• In both cases, "You have to do the marketing programs that we're going to announce further ahead" (huh?) before you can get the guns.

The last bullet point up there confuses us. What are the marketing programs? Troedsson told IGN there would be five marketing programs from EA that are free and will reportedly be "as easy as signing up for a newsletter." In other words, don't expect the Gold Edition guns on launch day, but know that you can be at rank level 4 and still get access to them at some point.

[Via X3F]

Interested in how the Battlefield: Bad Company pay-to-play weapons stack up against what's available on the retail disc? Our investigative brethren at X3F have created a comparison video of the five DLC weapons and show how they match up. If you are thinking about buying some digital armaments, check out this video first.

We (much like yourself, we'd imagine) heard word of a Battlefield: Bad Company beta in the works. But we held off on passing it along until some of the details could be hammered out. Basically, you're either going to need to be a member of IGN's Founders Club or Insider service or pre-order the game at your local Gamestop. Oh, and you're going to need to be playing on the 360, as the offer isn't extended to PS3 players.

If you're in the first group, your life is pretty easy. Just hit up this link and you're in, provided you meet the requirements. If you're going through Gamestop, you'll want to act fast: Only the first 5,000 to preorder are going to be in on the month of action, which will include one mode ("Gold Rush") and two maps. There's more info about the Gamestop keys here. No matter which way you get in, the beta starts March 25 and continues until April 25. So what's the word? Will you be taking advantage of the beta?

According to X3F, who heard it from Megatonik, who saw it on ScoreHero, who cribbed it from scans on GameFaqs, OXM like totally printed all the Rock Band DLC for March in its new issue. We've confirmed the tracks are revealed in an advertisement for Xbox Live that was placed by Microsoft. There's no mention of prices, but if March releases follow the general trend, it should be 440 MS points ($5.50) for a pack and 160 MS point ($2) for a single song.

Week of March 4: Thrash Pack

• Blinded By Fear - At The Gates
• Thrasher - Evile
• Shadow World - Haunted

Week of March 11:

• Shooting Star - Bad Company *Cover*
• Simple Man - Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Message In A Bottle - Police

Week of March 18: Nine Inch Nails Pack

• March Of The Pigs
• The Collector
• The Perfect Drug
  

Week of Mar. 25: Metal Pack

• Wrathchild - Ironmaiden *Cover*
• Supernaut - Black Sabbath *Cover*
• Fuel - Metallica
  

That's great ... now about February?

Update: An MTV/Harmonix spokesperson tells Shacknews this is a tentative schedule, saying, "Please stay tuned for confirmation of Rock Band DLC closer to their release."

[Via X3F]

Wait a minute, we're confused. We watched this entire trailer for Battlefield: Bad Company and saw not a single instance of shooting, radical explosions or particle effects. There was also no disembodied voice growling about how tough/what a rebel our character will be, nor were there any searing metal guitar solos. How are we supposed to know if we like the game or not?

All that's here is a clearly defined, well-written, well-acted character named Haggard who seems enamored with explosions. As we watched, we began to get the oddest sensation. We weren't sure, but we think that's what it's like when other emotions are engaged besides the emotion that likes to see things blown up. ... Yuck. We need a shower.