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The latest dev diary from the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning team (which you can see below) details a bit about how the class system works. We’ve heard a bunch about this before, it’s their “destiny” system that tries to let players make decisions about their character creation as you progress, rather than being defined by your character choice at the start, and then only slot in a few attributes. It basically turns the tradition on its head, allowing you to unlock new destinies (read: classes) depending on how you spend points on the various skill trees. There’s also some fancy in-game footage of what is shaping up to be an interesting-looking, if very trad looking, RPG.(more…)

With everything we thought we knew about the "Back to Karkand" expansion for Battlefield 3, we were surprised when the official @Battlefield Twitter noted (since deleted) the DLC would be "a separate map rotation," like the Vietnam expansion for Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

EA informs us the official message from the company was incorrect. The PR director for Battlefield 3 told Joystiq, "Back to Karkand maps will be part of the same rotation as the base maps."

We asked if this would hold true for all future Battlefield 3 DLC, but were informed the company hasn't announced details for future DLC and is currently focused on launching Karkand. The Back to Karkand content will be available sometime in December for $15, or free to those who pre-ordered the Limited Edition copy of the game.

Did you know EA released Battlefield 3 digitally on PSN in Europe on October 27? That's pretty cool ... in theory, anyway. In execution, the launch of the PSN version has been marred by issues with the Battlelog service.

"EA have confirmed that there are issues with the digital build of Battlefield 3 (on the PS Store) which will be affecting people trying sign into Battlelog," Playstation Community Team member "RabidWalker" said on the EU forum. "They are currently working on a patch for this, although no ETA has been given at the moment."

Eurogamer mentions the theory that the issue is caused by incompatibility with Online Pass. The PSN version can't be bought used, the theory suggests, and the requirement was insufficiently patched out of the game. Online Pass issues interacting with stat tracking service issues -- if that's the case, it would be two features that didn't exist just a couple years ago, teaming up to make a game unplayable. To the future!

Two female aliens and a human man probably. Whatever the logistics, it’s sick. Either that or I’m not referring to Kirkesque feats at all but rather to the fact that according to leaked beta assets, Mass Effect 3 will allow players to choose from three different playstyles: Action, RPG or Story. The full text from the menus is below but the names are fairly self-explanatory. I certainly wouldn’t want to play a Mass Effect game in ‘Action’ mode, although Mass Effect 2, eh? Improved combat did lead me to believe all traces of RPG had been completely erased and that only guns remained were once there was dialogue. Or not.

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EA has launched a "current server status" page for Battlefield 3, which should help alleviate the need to check the @Battlefield Twitter account every time the publisher's servers get temperamental.

If the server status says it's up and you're still having connection issues, then be sure to check those ports for optimal server connection. If all else fails, Modern Warfare 3 will be out tomorrow.

#callofduty Battlefield 3 hit stores late last month, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 hits tomorrow. The two series, delivering different takes on first-person shooter warfare, both have a storied history. This mammoth graph charts the history of both series, their games, the sales, the review scores. More »

#masseffect An egg-faced BioWare scrambled this morning to contain any damage done by last night's leak of the Mass Effect 3 closed beta to some subscribers on Xbox Live. The developer chalked it up to "human error" and ask that everyone please, please remember this is all unfinished stuff. More »

Oh no! It’s for girls! And not even the good type of girls. The bad ones. The ones who like Hollyoaks and reality TV, and feast on swirling and scurrilous rumours about Brangelina.

Except that’s a load of old rubbish, like claiming that games with guns only appeal to violent sociopaths or wargames only appeal to retired colonels. I have it on good authority that many current ranking members of the Armed Forces also like to play wargames. The Sims has long been a fascinating piece of software, in many ways experimental and exploratory, and supporting a type of creative play that is rare to find. Let’s mod it. Let’s really open it up.

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It turns out that at least 5 million gamers the world over are into Battlefield enough to purchase its latest iteration in the first week. That's according to "internal estimates" from EA, anyway, which also earns it the right to be called "the fastest-selling game in EA's history." Hoo-rah!

Late last week, the publisher announced that the DICE-developed FPS had moved 10 million units of the game onto store shelves and noted, "sell-through is good and we are already receiving re-orders." One week later, and it looks like the sell-through was good enough to deplete half of the original shipments. Virtual vehicle repair shops are also doing record business, as 67 million vehicles have already been destroyed in-game. Sometimes that repair tool just doesn't cut it, you know?

It turns out that at least 5 million gamers the world over are into Battlefield enough to purchase its latest iteration in the first week. That's according to "internal estimates" from EA, anyway, which also dubs it "the fastest-selling game in EA's history." Hoo-rah!

Late last week, the publisher announced that the DICE-developed FPS had moved 10 million units of the game onto store shelves and noted, "sell-through is good and we are already receiving re-orders." One week later, and it looks like the sell-through was good enough to deplete half of the original shipments. Virtual vehicle repair shops are also doing record business, as 67 million vehicles have already been destroyed in-game. Sometimes that repair tool just doesn't cut it, you know?

#starwarstheoldrepublic Despite saying in August that copies of Star Wars: The Old Republic would be rationed at launch, no one should worry that they won't be able to find a copy of the game, a top Electronic Arts executive told investors. More »

Let's play a little game, folks. Here are three separate quotes from EA/DICE, each given soon after the launch of a major Battlefield. Can you tell which is for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which is for Battlefield 1943, and which is for Battlefield 3? No Googling!
"Despite having a major infrastructure in place, the peak traffic ... has been huge, 400% higher than any other Battlefield's peak simultaneous users. The teams will continue to monitor the services closely. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates on the latest developments as they are relevant."1
"In terms of the network services, we have had unprecedented and historic peaks in terms of the activity that we're getting from the Battlefield community and players, and it's caused parts of our networks to experience some outages."2
"We have full support of EA to add as many servers as takes and then some so that everyone can play. This work has already started and servers will be added around the clock with teams working to cover this 24 hours a day so not a moment is wasted. You will be able to play this game and play it lag free!"3 If you weren't able to distinguish them from one another, I forgive you -- they all sound remarkably alike, don't they? That's because, for three Battlefield games in a row, the same scenario has played out at launch: gamers purchase said Battlefield iteration in great numbers, resulting in no one being able to play the game due to overloaded servers.

#battlefield A line of commuter-transporting, 16-ton tranks took to the streets of London earlier today to carry commuters to work and celebrate the release of Battlefield 3 in the UK. More »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=B3Hrr3tz_Cw There is no more ignoble a death then one delivered at the hot end of a Battlefield 3 "repair tool." It's not just that it's a silly way to die. Death by repair tool takes some patience by the would-be killer and a deep sense of disregard by the intended victim. More »

#gutcheck Battlefield 3 was one of my most anticipated games of this fall. It is the latest iteration in a long-line of beloved shooters from a team of developers who know what they're doing, but I also love a good fight. I'm not just talking about the endless gun battles you get into in the game. I'm talking about the tooth-and-nail brawl that pits Battlefield against Call of Duty. Things tend to get better when two developers are trying to be the best at something. So how did it work out for Battlefield 3? More »

A trailer for EA’s Warp is below. Warp, as EA’s emotionless robo-voice explains, is: “a puzzle-based stealth action game where gamers play as Zero, a loveable yet lethal, little orange alien with a big score to settle.” Zero has been abducted by nefarious humans, and must escape. So you can kill everyone, or take a non-lethal approach – it’s the cute Deus Ex! Sort of. It looks like fun, anyway. Take a gander, below.

A comparison video of Battlefield 3 for Xbox 360 by WikiGamesGuides reveals what kind of difference the HD texture pack makes. Last week, EA finally fessed up to the feature, with executive producer Patrick Bach saying the difference would make the the game look "standard-def." He wasn't kidding -- the difference is staggering.

The pack install is optional because, unlike PCs and PS3, hard drives aren't standard for the Xbox 360. The real question, though, is why does it look this bad without the pack? Even ignoring all other non-EA, DICE games, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 didn't require a hard drive install and still looked fantastic. If you don't have a hard drive for your Xbox 360, consider this a warning.

As everyone knows, Syndicate is back. And as everyone also knows, it’s a first-person shooter, which perhaps isn’t the direction everyone was expecting it to head in. I’ve sat down and played a small section of the game, and below you can read my thoughts.

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Despite carving out a January 2012 launch window for itself earlier this year, it seems that SSX won't be making its way down from the peak (of ... uh ... development? or something?) until February 14, 2012. EA's official SSX site unceremoniously unveiled the release date on its front splash page, floating mysteriously above a snowy backdrop.

Before the game's arrival on Valentine's Day, might we suggest practicing your transitional snowboarding slash wingsuit skills? You'll never know when a deadly descent (or descents, of course) will suddenly appear, ya know?

Battlefield 3's launch trailer is full of nuclear weapons, lost comrades, hostage situations, and many other action movie tropes, so we're holding onto our butts as tightly as possible as a result.

Rock Paper Shotgun has recently received a number of complaints about our foot-to-ball coverage. Upset readers have claimed that we do not take Britain’s most popular sport at all seriously, instead reporting on any of the extremely popular games related to the pursuit with tired running gags, false ignorance and undeserved disdain. It has been pointed out to us that a great many of RPS’s readers are likely not only foot-to-ball fans, but fans of foot-to-ball gaming, and in our incessant use of stupid jokes and degrading remarks, we are alienating these readers from the site, and failing in our duty to provide accurate, engaging coverage of a large element of PC gaming.

But then they’re foot-to-ball fans, aren’t they? That’s just the sort of thing they would say. The idiots. Meanwhile, there’s a demo out for EA’s FIFA Manager 12.

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The latest Battlefield 3 trailer offers quick clips of the only thing most of us care about: multiplayer gameplay. Prepare to squad up with your brothers in virtual arms next week!

The Sims 3 Pets is now out and a little birdie informs me that horses are exclusive to the PC version, so that’s good. That same little birdie is in every version though, being the sort of creature that doesn’t care too much about the company he keeps. I actually had quite a bit of fun with the Create a Pet doohickey, treating it as a cruel and unethical genetics laboratory, but the advertising campaign for the expansion takes that one step further with a hybrid of man and dog, called Trevor Mountleg no less, encouraging ownership of pets. And sex in haystacks. Peculiar.

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Battlefield 3 has surpassed 'a couple million' pre-orders, far outpacing Battlefield: Bad Company 2, according to EA. Gamasutra noted the stat from a recent appearance by EA Project Manager Kevin O'Leary on FOX Business (clip may take several minutes to load).

The official Battlefield Blog also posted an infographic, which states 8.1 million players participated in the controversial Battlefield 3 beta. Click on the gallery below to check it out or grab the mega-sized version from EA.

EA has filed two trademark applications for "Prison Kings," one filing for an "online computer game" and the other for "downloadable computer-game software." This can mean only one of two things: EA holds stock in the American prison system and is building a new game based on the hard-knock life of incarcerated thugs, thereby glorifying the prison lifestyle and creating a new generation of career inmates, securing its investment for decades. Or, "Prison Kings" will be a pretty lame Facebook game. These are the only options.

#battlefield DICE confirmed, via designer Alan Kertz on Twitter, that Battlefield 3 on Xbox 360 and PS3 would require the one-use "Online Pass" code included free in retail copies, but costs $10 for those who have a copy of the game without a code—i.e. those who buy it used. More »

EA is ready to reveal the 9 multiplayer maps that will come with Battlefield 3 when it ships in a couple weeks. Well, to be clear, it's ready to reveal 9 over two days (four of them today), with one of those four being the "Operation Metro" map from the beta. And by "reveal," we mean: talk about with a couple screenshots. So... yay?

Head on over to the Battlefield blog for details from Niklas Åstrand, one of the level designers at developer DICE on the maps. He covers the vast Operation Firestorm, cramped Operation Metro, the vehicle to infantry progression of Tehran Highway and, finally, Damavand Peak. Internally called "Base Jump," Damavand Peak starts with attackers atop a mountain ridge, working their way down to the valley, with more vehicle warfare below.