Battlefield 3

First in game footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi2tae2PmmU&feature=p...

Aslo check out the rewind vid where they analyse everything you see in the above trailer.

So. Very. Excited!

Yeah, it's looking pretty amazing graphics wise. Really appreciated the link to the Rewind Vid. Had a feeling the latest trailer would get thoroughly picked apart.

I'm very much looking forward to a proper Battlefield game. I have BBC2 but it just wasn't the same and I've rarely played it.

Not sure I'll be preordering it at £39.99 though! Crikey. How greedy can EA get? I expect they'll release a special ltd edition like Crysis 2, with steelbook and a silly pair of goggles or something for £200.

Shall have to give serious thought as to whether it's worth preordering. I am a man of principle. Or was... Very tempted!

Edited by deleted (Fri 25-Feb-11 10:10:29)

The £40 pre-order is the limited edition and you get the back to karkand map pack (says so at the end of the new trailer) with the limited edition. My understanding of that is that it is 4 re-made BF2 maps (but I can't remember where I heard that - perhaps on the rewind video or it could have been speaking with clan mates? (it was last night!!)). Karkand is a given I expect but then I would guess Wake Island is a near certainty and then maybe Jalalabad is a poplular choice. Personally I would love to see Sharqi again but who knows, they may pick a spec ops map or one of the add-on (euro forces/armored fury) type maps.

The good thing is that it is a PC-lead title - they are developing it for the PC and then dumming down things like server size for the consoles. 64 players again for PC. Oh how I have been looking forward to another 64 player FPS - it just raises new levels of utter carnage!

Dice have said this is a direct sequel to BF2 rather than BC2 (which apparently will have very limited influence on BF3). I am hoping this means the return of things like:

1) 6 man squads.
2) squad leaders (no more spawning on everyone)
3) commanders + commander map - with the added ability of squad leaders to issue squad orders like they could in BF2.
4) 5 classes again - medics having assault rifles and support having the ammo/LMG combo
5) prone

Some people are complaining that they are putting in a single player but I always like a nice bash at SP and tbh they are in a huge head-to-head with Activision (CoD) for supremacy and can't really avoid having one IMO.

BF2 was without doubt my favourite game (infantry only really) and as such I am a little scared at how excited I am getting. I hope I am not building this up in my head into something they can't possibly achieve!

Yes, it is tempting. I loved the Karkland map on BF2. Who didn't? Had many epic campaigns on that one. Started getting into infantry only a little towards the end. It was something else though.

So 4 maps you say? I saw the 'Back to Karkland' bit and it's definitely a strong hook. The real deal maker would be if this/these maps were not available elsewhere. I'm supposing they will be available (for a price) so I might just wait it out as I usually do and try and buy the game at a more reasonable price. £40 is a lot of money for a PC game with no large royalty payments to make.

Have you tried the Vietnam expansion for BBC2? I only just realised it was released 21 Dec 2010 so I could buy it now. Gamerankings give it a decent enough rating but I wouldn't mind finding out what other people think? Looks cool from the trailer though. Did you ever play the first Battlefield Vietnam game? Or even the mod for BF1942?

We are in complete agreement regarding the return to BF2's fundamental set of must haves: squad size/leader spawn, enemy spot!, kit and class, satellite commander view (and support but maybe not so much artillery!) and so on. There's plenty they could tweak. It would be nice to have easier server customisations and a far better in-game browser that actually allows you to filter by region just like good old BF1942 did. Or was that using the All Seeing Eye that tragically got bought, broken and burned by Yahoo?

Looks like a really speedy computer is going to be needed. My own rig is a year old now and might be lagging behind in the graphics department judging by the latest trailer. Plenty of time to upgrade though I suppose! Roll on BF3 day! Oh, you can also apparently play the game a couple of days early to get a head start I think i recall EA saying. Ha. I might need to judging by how hard it is to level up when you're a rookie and getting pwnd by bigger and better guns.

I wonder whether they will go back to the BF2 way of unlocking guns - you can unlock whichever gun you want when you reach a certain level.

I don't dispute £40 is a lot - any other game and I would be kicking up a fuss, no doubt about it. But they could ask for £50 and I would pay for this particular game hehe.

BC2 you can certainly filter by region which you couldn't on release. As much as they are not basing the game around BC2 I think they will have learnt their lessons regarding the server browser. (Fingers crossed).

No I haven't played any of the old Vietnam era BF games but I do have BC2:Vietnam. I like it - my only issue is that it only 5 maps and there are limits to how long 5 maps can hold my attention. That being said I have played it a lot and am still enjoying it. But I only really play Rush - I don't feel conquest works very well on BC2 with usually only 3 flags, often in a straight line. When I tried conquest on Vietnam it seemed almost worse than the BC2 conquest! - it felt like they had made Rush maps and then tried to stick a few flags down for conquest once they had finished.

I upgraded a portion of my PC last Nov (Black ops prompted me to do it and then turned out to be a [censored] game!). So my processor, memory & mobo are all fine. I have a HD4850 which is the weak link of my system as I didn't upgrade my graphics - but I am already thinknig that come release date I will have a shiny new card in my machine

Really looking forward to BF3
I played BF2 Vietnam and think the BC2 Vietnam in more fun.

From what i heard theres 4 classes sadly, tbh i'm quite happy with that as long as the unlock system is like 2142, NOT bc.

Prone is back

Theres been no word on squad sizes or anything but i heard that commander might not be back which would be disappointing but i suppose as long as they do something better then all for it.

The 4 maps returning is karkand (blech, i hated that through and through, stupid alley way of stat padding), wake (hell yesssssssssss), oman and sharqui (ithink, its on joystiq)

I know one thing about buying BF3 this time though, buy it on steam instead of retail as all retail copies seem to be 30quid a pop, steam will be the same so theres no reason not to. Although looks like shopto is getting my DNF preorder, that keyring looks great and its prolly £5 cheaper.

Looks like you're right on the button. From some further digging, confirmation of the 4 remade Back to Karkland maps: BF3 - Karky and What we know so far from BF3 blog. Back to Karkov is expected to follow a month later as separate DLC for those who don't go with the Ltd Ed version. They say it's to be $10 in the US so that's a tenner over here then.

# 64 player support on PCs
# 24 player support on Xbox 360/PS3
# Prone is back
# Jets are back
# No commander
# 4 classes
# Single player campaign + co-op
# It will have more unlocks than Bad Company 2
# No mod tools

There's a nice little video over at Game Informer featuring Lars Gustavsson, Battlefield 3's lead multiplayer designer. He talks about the long history of Battlefield right from Codename Eagle days. It's not really that informative in any regard, but at least it's something different.

That the core of the original developers from DICE are still controlling things (hopefully) is a good sign. Judging by their swanky offices and the number of times Lars pauses to suck back his saliva when he espouses that it's all for the love of making the game for gamers (and not the massive amount of money) it looks like he's already counting all that cash and thinking about what he can do with it.

Or perhaps Lars is just slurping so often as we all are in anticipation of playing this superb looking game? Maybe I'm just too cynical for my own good.

The urban combat footage looks mint. As someone who wasted money on the last Medal of Honor, I'm hoping Dice dont forget to send out the invites for BF3's beta.

I didn't preorder MoH, i couldnt bring myself to buy it it was a pants game and as much as i like BF3 i just couldnt do it.

Singleplayer makes me sad though, it means they spent time not working on multi but working on some stupid side gimmick noone is going to touch unless theyre [censored] bored without internet.