Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Message Board older than one year ago

Many have called Operation Hastings a re-imagining of hell. Rumble in the jungle as Operation Hastings begins.

It may have taken six map unlocks before DICE got to it, but the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 developer announced this morning that VIP Map Pack 7 will include four new(ish) multiplayer maps: Heavy Metal, Cold War, Oasis, and Harvest Day. If the latter two maps sound familiar, it's because they're updated versions of maps that appeared in the original Bad Company -- handpicked with the community in mind. "When we ask for your favorite maps from Battlefield: Bad Company, Oasis and Harvest Day always come out on top," the DLC's announcement reads. As with previous map packs, the DLC will be free for VIP members only (VIP access is free with new copies of BC2, $15 otherwise).

Outside of a handful of (relatively minor) tweaks noted on the Battlefield blog, the biggest change to the maps will be the addition of Bad Company 2's "Destruction 2.0" system and enhanced graphics. Check out the first shots of the revamped maps in the gallery below and look for a more in-depth exploration of Heavy Metal this Wednesday. Hopefully Wednesday will bring news of a release date as well.

A rather significant -- at least, in size -- 900MB patch is available now for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on PC. Although there are several changes that any Battlefield: BC2 veteran will welcome, our favorite is: "Reduced all weapon damage to the MCOM by 50%." It's not as progressive as "made head of anyone who drops C4 on MCOM explode," but we'll take it as a start.

We're currently following up with EA on whether it plans to make these updates to the console versions of the game before Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam launches this winter. Check out the patch details after the break.

Having won the vote, Battlefield: Bad Company 2's SPECACT kit upgrades and Onslaught Mode are on sale on Xbox Live this week (through Sunday). You can snag them for 320 Microsoft Points ($4) and 400 MSP ($5), respectively.

EA wants to makes sure you can play Battlefield no matter where you are -- provided you can access the App Store's version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Just like all your favorite video games, BF:BC2 mobile sees you fighting in "the jungle, snow, desert, room-to-room, and in the air" -- no word on a lava level, unfortunately.

A great package with solid value for the newcomer.

#ea Next week, the Tokyo Game Show will take over the Makuhari Messe, showcasing the latest and greatest Japanese video games. On the eve of that show, EA will trot out its newest games, including Battlefield: Bad Company 2's Vietnam add-on. More »

Amazon's deal of the day is Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Ultimate Edition at 33 percent off, for $40. ThriftyNerd noticed the discounted bundle -- which was just officially announced last week -- which includes the original game (w/ VIP access), Onslaught mode, Battlefield 1943 and items that were initially available through the "limited edition" back in March.

For those who still haven't played Battlefield: Bad Company 2: the single-player campaign isn't anything special, but get some friends together in a squad and you've got some of the best multiplayer this year.

Hi Battlefield fans! Don’t tell anyone, but I didn’t pick up Battlefield 1943 when it originally launched. For a DICE employee, that’s perhaps best kept a secret. The good news is: I have the perfect excuse to catch up on it now.

More Battlefield goodness than you can shake an RPG at.

You get a ton of stuff in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Ultimate Edition, with Onslaught Mode, Limited Edition Unlocks and the full version of Battlefield 1943 — DICE’s PSN WWII shooter from the summer of 2009, now making its first appearance in retail stores.

As you may or may not remember, when Battlefield 1943 first launched, DICE ran the Coral Sea Challenge. As soon as the gamers on PS3 reached 43 million kills collectively, a fourth map would unlock. For a latecomer to the party, it’s still a blast to soar through the skies on the Coral Sea bonus map, even though I missed out on contributing in the challenge.

Back to the beautiful Pacific in Battlefield 1943.

Back then, it took the PS3 gamers only eight days to reach the 43 million kill limit! Which got me wondering: What has happened since then in the Battlefield universe, numbers-wise? So I dove into the official PS3 stats for Bad Company 2 (released only six months ago) and came back with the following impressive figures:

Total body count: 2,551,119,430
Total time played (hours): 61,391,471 (that’s 7,000 years!)
Total dog tags taken: 76,712,440
Number of deaths by defibrillator: 828,069

Turns out a medic can use his tools for more offensive duties than reviving his comrades! Of course, by the time you read this, these numbers will have increased even further. So make sure to stop by and check out the global stats, as well as your individual, detailed battle records.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Ultimate Edition is out now for $59.95. If you want to get the skinny on everything happening in the Battlefield community, stay tuned on Twitter @OfficalBFBC2 and battlefield.com.

Oh, and as always, remember to keep your squad tight.

EA officially announced this morning that Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Ultimate Edition will be available at retail for Xbox 360 and PS3 ... um, today. Leaked by retail sites earlier this month, the package includes the main game, Onslaught mode, Battlefield 1943 and items originally included in the limited edition.

The "ultimate edition" moniker gives this package a feeling of finality we aren't exactly comfortable with. Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam, the multiplayer expansion for the game, is still allegedly scheduled for Winter 2010. So, if that ever gets bundled in, what? It'll be Super Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Ultimate Edition Turbo HD Remix?

One big bundle of hot action.

One big bundle of hot action.

Fans of Battlefield: Bad Company 2's squad-based modes get two new ways to lay waste to a pair of familiar maps today. VIP Map Pack 6 is now available for all versions of the game. This latest map pack adds Panama Canal to the set of Squad Deathmatch maps and Laguna Presa to the Squad Rush mode.

Grab a few friends and check out the brief video preview of the new scenarios after the break. Hoo-rah!

Anyone waiting for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 to get the "Game of the Year" treatment may hit pay dirt soon enough. The Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Ultimate Edition has been spotted on a couple of retail sites -- ShopTo.Net in the UK and Amazon in the US. The game appears to contain all the downloadable content released thus far, including all the VIP content, the limited edition unlocks and the four-player Onslaught Mode, as well as DICE's online-only XBLA and PSN game, Battlefield 1943.

Amazon has PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions listed at $59.99 for August 31st. It's worth noting that Onslaught is actually the only pay-for DLC ($10) included on the Ultimate Edition. The VIP content normally comes free with new copies of the standard edition, and the Limited Edition bonuses -- apart from the two weapons from 1943 -- can be unlocked the old-fashioned way (by playing the game!). Since the older version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 retails for $40 or less, it becomes a question of whether you want the included Battlefield 1943 with an effective discount of $5 (its regular price is $15).

We've contacted EA and will update this post if we receive any official details on the Ultimate Edition.

[Thanks, Eric]

It's free, but is it good?

#clips Two new maps were served up today over the free (to retail buyers) VIP service for Battlefield: Bad Company 2. VIP Map Pack No. 5 adds White Pass and Nelson Bay, shown in this here trailer. More »

It's a winter murderland as Battlefield: Bad Company 2 deploys VIP Map Pack 5 on Xbox 360 and PS3 today. The snow will turn crimson on White Pass in Rush mode, and on Nelson Bay in Conquest. Check out the trailer after the break.

DICE may bring previously console only co-operative mode to PC players.

PC gamers, have you been hiding in your foxhole, waiting for communications from Battlefield: Bad Company 2 command regarding the new DLC mode, Onslaught? Well buck up, soldier -- we've got good news. It's headed your way. Confirmation comes courtesy of PC Gamer, who regrettably weren't able to secure intel regarding potential price point and date of availability for the co-op mode.

Onslaught adds objective-based gameplay to four maps: Valparaiso, Atacama Desert, Isla Inocentes, and Nelson Bay. Here, up to a squad of four players must secure objective points and battle waves of CPU-controlled enemies. Onslaught mode is currently available on the Xbox 360 and PS3 for 800 Microsoft Points and $9.99, respectively.

Two "new" maps have been added to Battlefield: Bad Company 2, free to Xbox 360 and PS3 players who bought the game new and registered their VIP codes. PC players will unlock the new maps through an in-game patch. Atacama Desert has been added to Rush Mode, while Conquest mode has seen Port Valdez added to the rotation.

And when will new (no quotation marks) maps drop into the popular first-person shooter? It's looking more and more likely that the recently announced Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam expansion (coming "winter 2010") will be the first add-on to include new terrain.

Check out a video featuring the latest map update after the break.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2's "Onslaught", a new co-op "horde" mode against enemy AI, is now live and ready for download on the PlayStation Network in both North America and Europe More »

This is Daniel Matros, the new community manager at Dice. As you may or may not know, we just released Onslaught mode for Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Just wanted to give you some more info on what you can expect in this new co-op experience.

Onslaught is co-op in the sense that you get to play with a squad of up to four soldiers against endless waves of A.I. enemies. Endless until you take the base flags, that is. The people who are actually doing the Onslaught are you — the players.

Atacama Desert is a real favorite among Battlefield players. In Onslaught, this huge, vehicle-heavy map is ravaged by minor sandstorms that give it a limited visibility.

This makes Onslaught approachable on two totally different levels. First, it is the perfect place for newcomers to hone their squad tactics without having to face human opposition. On easy or normal difficulty, this should be very manageable by a team of four soldiers playing together. As long as one of you stays alive at all times, the others can keep spawning in.

For the elite squads out there, crank up the difficulty to hardcore and see how quickly you can clear the maps — then compare your best times on the global, Onslaught-specific leaderboards for bragging rights.

The enemies keep attacking as long as you don’t capture a base and advance. Prepare for the fight of your life on Hardcore difficulty!

I played a bunch of matches on Atacama Desert on the hardcore setting today. After 20 or so epic fails, the junior product manager here at Dice and I hooked up with two more soldiers and swept through Atacama’s three bases in 13 minutes. By no means even close to the fastest time in the world, but a nice first attempt to try and crush in the days to come. Two of the guys in our squad today finished up on Atacama in just seven minutes. See if you can beat that.

Oh, and I caught executive producer Patrick Bach in the corridors earlier today. I asked him to give our readers on the PlayStation.Blog some inside info on how to succeed in Onslaught mode:

Keep your squad tight and make sure to experiment with a mix of different kits. It’s all about finding the right weapon for the job. You wouldn’t try and blow up a tank with a sniper rifle — even though you CAN headshot people with the repair tool, actually.

Solid advice. For more on what is happening at Dice and with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 in particular, stay tuned on our blog. Hope to see you guys online, and do let us know what you think of Onslaught!

DICE forces you to survive as a team, or perish.

Direct2Drive has the PC version of Dragon Age: Origins for $20 today err, yesterday.

Update: Due to late publishing, the deal had left the building before this story made it to our front page. We apologize for the error. Today's deal is Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which ... does have some RPG elements in it! And rocket-propelled grenades.

Direct2Drive has the PC version of Dragon Age: Origins for $20 today err, yesterday.

Update: Due to late publishing, the deal had left the building before this story made it to our front page. We apologize for the error. Today's deal is Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which ... does have some RPG elements in it! And rocket-propelled grenades.

A 500MB PC patch for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is ready to deploy tomorrow, June 30, at 1AM EST. Developer DICE states "all game servers" are going down for the four-hour maintenance update (we're trying to clarify if that includes PS3 and Xbox 360 servers). We've listed the full changelog after the break.

As part of his introductory post on the official Battlefield blog, the franchise's new community manager, "Bazajaytee," announced that the delayed Onslaught mode DLC for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will arrive in the Xbox Live Marketplace tomorrow, June 24, for 800 Microsoft points ($10).

We're glad the delay wasn't, say, a week. Then we'd have probably shot someone -- in the game, of course.

#dice Want more Bad Company 2? Today's your day to get more Battlefield-style action with the four-player "Onslaught" cooperative mode, which is shipping on time for at least one of the console's it was promised for today. More »

Squad up for the Onslaught today -- if you're playing on a PS3. Battlefield: Bad Company 2's cooperative Onslaught mode has been "delayed" for Xbox Live, an EA representative has confirmed to Joystiq. The DLC will be available for $10 on PSN as soon as the weekly update occurs later today. We'll make sure to update if we receive any intel on a new date for the Xbox version -- or any date for the PC version, for that matter.

President Hamilton would like you to check out our hands-on before exchanging him for this new mode. We've also placed a new trailer for Onslaught after the break.

#e3 EA is taking its recent hit shooter Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on a tour of Vietnam, launching an expansion named—get this—Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam this winter, just announced at its E3 press conference. More »