Battlefield 3 Message Board older than one year ago

EA have confirmed that Battlefield 3 is to get a “Premium” service, apparently allowing people who purchase it early and immediate access to future DLC, as well as a greater range of items and customisation options. BFBlog appears to have the details, although this is unconfirmed by EA, who say the details are to be announced on June 4th. The “leaked” details include the price: $50 as a one-time fee. For that you’ll reportedly get all the existing and future DLCs, as well as: 20 maps (in total, presumably?), 20 new weapons, 10+ new vehicles, 4 new game modes, 30+ assignments, unique in-game knife, dog tags, and camos, unique weapon camos, and a bunch of other stuff.

Hmm. I can see why this might sell, but personally I ran out of patience with BF3 within a few weeks of launch. Perhaps I’ll head back after the summer, but it just didn’t hook me.

The fact sheet in question.

The heated battle between Activision and EA over their respective big budget modern military first-person shooter franchises that sell lots of copies appeared to be dying down a bit in recent months, but today's accidental announcement of a new weapon in the Call of Duty/Battlefield 3 arms race seems poised to rekindle the flames of acrimony.

Earlier, a European PlayStation blog entry and a leaked fact sheet posted on NeoGAF outed a new Battlefield 3 Premium service that sounds suspiciously similar to Activision's Call of Duty Elite service. And now EA has essentially confirmed that the service exists, while not quite confirming all the leaked details.

The Premium service is reportedly a one time $50 fee that grants immediate access to all current and forthcoming Battlefield 3 DLC expansions, as well as a few other perks, which include such gems as:

• Unique in-game items, like a knife, and special dog tags, and specialized soldier and weapon camouflage.
• 2 weeks of early, exclusive access to all future Battlefield 3 expansion packs.
• Access to exclusive "Double XP Weekends"
• The ability to reset all of your stats.
• Priority access to server queues (translation: jump ahead of the non-paying gutter trash!)

EA says to keep an eye on Battlefield.com come June 4, presumably so you can have all the same information posted here reiterated to you, but perhaps in a neater and tidier press release format that will include quotes from executives heralding the unprecedented successes of Battlefield 3 and explaining how this Premium service is great for fans because it has things in it.

EA hasn't exactly been shy regarding its turgid feelings over Call of Duty's Elite service. Specifically, its ability to wring extra dollars out of the pockets of those who simply must have everything the game has to possibly offer. And now EA has their own version of that, which is great for them, I guess. You, the consumer? Probably not. But EA? They're good.

Reports of Battlefield 3's "Premium" service just got a lot more official looking, with a fact sheet leaking out of Germany containing lots of details. The service apparently costs $50 one time and includes a variety of content, including access to the five released and upcoming Battlefield 3 expansion packs, two weeks of early access to said packs, and "a host of unique in-game items not available anywhere else."

That, however, is where the "interesting" part of this ends, and the "pretty gross" part begins. Beyond the DLC access, Premium members are said to get "access to powerful new features." What features might those be? "The ability to reset stats" is listed, but so is "queue priority into servers," which means exactly what it sounds like. As in, "pay for this service and get into servers faster than the rabble."

The fact sheet reconfirms what we saw leak out of the EU PlayStation Blog earlier today - Battlefield 3 "Premium" is expected to launch alongside the "Close Quarters" DLC on June 4 across Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Head past the break to see the full sheet.

Our European friends at the PlayStation Blog made a bit of a mistake this morning, it seems, having accidentally outed an upcoming "Premium" service for Battlefield 3, as well as a date (June 4) and pricing across European/Australian regions (£39.99/€49.99/AU$79.99). What's more, is the game's upcoming DLC pack "Close Quarters" also got a date and price: June 4, £11.99/€14.99/AU$23.95.

As you might imagine, someone at Sony quickly realized the issue and pulled the info ... but not before Google Cache caught it in its icy, permanent grip. We've reached out to EA and Sony for more info, but it sounds like the rumored Call of Duty Elite-esque service for Battlefield 3 is more than just a rumor.

#watchthis Snipers, man, amirite? They're fiends. They find one good corner where even a scope glare won't give them away, and they pick you off one by one. More »

#battlefield After it was discovered last week that the number of "official" DICE and EA Battlefield 3 servers on console had dropped significantly in the wake of a new rental scheme, the developer has moved to bring a large number of them back online. More »

Battlefield 3 players recently noticed that all of DICE's official servers for the game appeared to be unavailable, and they wondered: What's up with that? What's up with that, EA says, is that the game was too popular. DICE runs a number of official servers, but those servers can also be rented by players, and if too many players rent official servers, they can appear to be unavailable. But EA and DICE say they want what's best for players, so DICE will keep an eye on the policy, and "will reserve a percentage of servers for players who prefer to connect through DICE-hosted servers."

The publisher hopes that will answer player concerns. And if not ... free XP? Starting tomorrow through Sunday, Battlefield 3 is hosting another double XP weekend for all ranked servers and matches, with players earning twice as much experience as usual. This special weekend isn't a direct response to the server concerns, but hey, free points are free points.

#battlefield It seems that EA and DICE have, very quietly, been taking away official servers for the console versions of Battlefield 3. Worse still, it looks like they're replacing them with servers that fans have to pay for. More »

Pretty sure that orange stream of light is giving away our position, Sarge.

Eurogamer bring the news that Keith Ramsdale, EA’s Northern European boss, has declared that the company wants all of its brands to become “online universes”. That doesn’t mean everything will be massively multiplayer, but rather that each player will never have an excuse to stop playing EA games. Play Battlefield, for example, on a console in the evening, a PC in the midnight hours, a smartphone on the commute and a tablet while at the office. All the data, all the progress and achievements, will carry from one device to the other, allowing the player to play “how he wants, when he wants and on the device he wants”. Let’s have a big old think about that.

(more…)

#battlefield I mean, what's the point? I hide in tanks to stay away from guys like this, but the more they level up, the more tools they get to pry me out and do terrible things to my corpse. More »

Ever since we saw that ad for the PS9, we've been dreaming of a really cool augmented reality gaming future. The video Google produced for its Project Glass got us excited for what could be, but what video production troupe There is a Canal did with the idea is basically read our diary and create a video of what we want: Battlefield 5 played on a pair of AR goggles.

It's a future we mostly want right now - well, not now now. We should probably get in shape before running around an abandoned lot, pretending to shoot imaginary people.

#battlefield EA is no stranger to allowing users to pay for upgrades most people earn the hard way. It's been doing it since the dawn of the DLC era. But a new set of unlocks for Battlefield 3 is beginning to take the piss. More »

#battlefield Strangers can be jerks. Granted, they can be cool, too, but if you're competing in an online shooter, chances are that they're jerks. And sometimes you have play with them. More »

The massive Battlefield 3 patch that hit PS3 last week will officially launch on Xbox 360 tomorrow, April 3. The patch provides a wide range of fixes to almost every aspect of gameplay and introduces the "rent a server" function to 360 players. Renting a server runs from $1.50 for one day to $65 for 90 days, and is accessible via the title's main menu.

The full list of patch fixes can be found on the Battlefield blog; just be sure to get your scrolling fingers ready.

The Battlefield 3 patch rolls out today, bringing some excellent tweaks as well as adding “shortcut items” that allow players to buy items rather than putting in the hours to unlock them – “If you’re new to the game, this is the perfect way to gain some ground on the veterans online.” Or maybe you’re just a lazy man-/vehicle-shooter with money to burn? If so, these are the items for you, with an ultimate bundle that unlocks everything and smaller collections available. Some people are predictably furious, whether due to price or due to the fact that newcomers can jump to the top of the tree straight away. Personally, as I gibbered about earlier, I’m increasingly disinterested in these multiplayer unlock systems. Other changes listed below.

(more…)

#battlefield3 With a little camera trickery and some added effects, Battlefield 3 - which is very much a first-person shooter - suddenly becomes a real-time strategy game. More »

Playstation 3 gamers will get a 1 GB update notification if they sign into Battlefield 3 today. What's inside? Quite a bit...

#battlefield You know that one sparse wall in your bedroom? Graphic designer Terry Mack has it covered. Literally. More »

#battlefield Just in case you ever thought Battlefield 3 would be better with sound effects from Contra and the NES version of Top Gun, here you go. Battlefield 3, with sound effects from Contra and the NES version of Top Gun. More »

#battlefield On an evening in San Francisco when the people behind Battlefield 3 showed off the June expansion to their big war shooter, I asked them about the future beyond that future.. and about a missing element from their past. More »

When buildings are collapsing and jets are being all “newwwwwwwrhghghghggh”, it’s easy to forget that the Battlefield 3 engine does small things as well. Subtle explosions. Personal blowey-uppies. I’d imagine that’s the reason for DICE making the Close Quarters map pack: to show off their microexplosion technology. They spent hours crafting those mini-bangs, so maps that showcase them are needed: the Close Quarters maps are a series of four infantry focused maps set in, with added destructible bits. It makes me way happier than the ten new guns it adds as all I care about is the chandeliers.(more…)

It's the Close Quarters pack, y'all!

#battlefield By sheer coincidence, total accident and obvious happenstance, today, on the day that three new maps are made available for Modern Warfare 3's Xbox 360 Elite subscribers, we've been given a trailer to show you for some new Battlefield 3 DLC. More »

Last week DICE announced a new expansion pack coming to Battlefield 3 called Close Quarters. Dropping the vehicles and wide-open spaces Battlefield multiplayer is known for, Close Quarters offers a more intimate experience where everything breaks. On top of the cuts, player count drops down to 16 players per map -- that's eight on eight...

Expanding on our knowledge base from the earlier Battlefield 3 DLC release date announcement, EA has confirmed that Close Quarters will launch in June, Armored Kill is coming in the fall and End Game is blasting in this winter.

Hit the break for more details on the punch these DLC packs are ... well, packing.

Electronic Arts and DICE just announced three new expansion packs coming to Battlefield 3 in 2012. Additionally, console players get a big addition to Battlelog that'll help create a more personal experience...

#battlefield Eschewing the normal practice of releasing intermittent "piecemeal" map packs, DICE intends to deliver three completely new experiences to Battlefield 3 players this year in the form of a trio of expansion packs, delivering new game modes, "innovative" gameplay, and unique environments with each release. It's maps plus! More »

The handsome newshounds of Eurogamer are reporting that DICE have three new Battlefield 3 expansions in the pipeline, as announced at last night’s GDC event in San Francisco. The first one of these new expansions will be arriving in June is called “Close Quarters”. This will apparently focus on “indoor infantry combat with verticality to the map designs”. The new map with this pack is a glass tower block called Ziba Tower. The pack after that focuses on tank combat, while the final one – END GAME – is a big secret and DICE aren’t talking about it to anyone, not even Eurogamer. So there.

Karl-Magnus Troedsson, CEO of Battlefield developer DICE, announced at an Electronic Arts event last night that customizable servers would be available for consoles in the future.

"All active players out there playing on consoles today will now have the opportunity to customize their servers and set them up exactly how they want them to play," said Troedsson. "Now this is a feature that in Battlefield on PC we've had for some time, but it's an absolute first on console. So, we're pretty excited about this."

So are we! No more Operation Metro is worth whatever DICE wants to charge. The developer currently has no details on pricing or timetable for availability.