After a year of major game releases, the game industry & gamers from all over the world are set to pick the best of the best for the 2011 Video Game Awards.

Shane Bell (Urgent Fury CIO) & Doc (The Tester (Season 1) & Replay w/ Doc) join Commander Fury to preview a few of the categories & make their 2011 VGA picks.

Story by: CritiKiL

Story by: CritiKiL

Story by Seeson @ blogs.battlefield.ea.com.

Thank you for playing the Open Beta and making the final game better!

We are very excited to see so many gamers join our Battlefield 3 Open Beta. Here’s an update on the Open Beta from DICE General Manager Karl Magnus Troedsson.

I want to give you an overview of how the Open Beta is helping us shape a fantastic final game, what we are implementing based on your feedback, and how the Open Beta will help us deliver a robust gaming environment from day one.

The Open Beta is a true Beta

The Battlefield 3 Open Beta is based on software that is more than one month old. We need to test the new back end dedicated server structure we’ve built. Not only have we built a new game engine, but an entirely new back end system so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of dedicated servers on all platforms.

Just like normal procedure when releasing a game, the Open Beta has had long lead times due to testing, certification, and setting up. This means that the code you are now playing is actually quite early and not representative of the final game.

We had to do this in order to have as many people testing as possible, in order to ensure a top quality experience when the game is released. However, we’re confident in the Battlefield formula and confident that our fans will support us in order to make Battlefield 3 better.

Dedicated servers require dedicated testing

The biggest reason for running the Open Beta is to stress test our servers and back end. Already, we are seeing 6 times the number of simultaneous players in the Battlefield 3 Open Beta compared to the Beta for Battlefield: Bad Company 2! The fact that Battlefield 3 is clearly our biggest game launch ever by a magnitude of 6 makes it doubly important to test everything.

We are constantly updating the News section on Battlelog with information on what we are fixing from Open Beta to final. We appreciate your time and your feedback. The data and feedback from the Open Beta will not only directly affect the final game of Battlefield 3, but its future development and support.

We’re heading out on the road this week to let journalists experience all aspects of Battlefield 3. Stay tuned for their previews, and stay tuned for the final game on October 25th. The final game will look, play and sound better than the Open Beta. You have helped making sure of that.

Karl Magnus Troedsson

General Manager, DICE

Story by Owen Good @ Kotaku.com.

About a week before the Battlefield 3 beta began, the game’s community manager had decided he’d heard enough shrill complaining about the fact that “Operation Metro” and not some other map would the only one playable. And so he went off.

Rewind: Operation Metro was revealed to be the beta map on Sept. 20. Apparently, large numbers of forum goers thought some other map would be used, like one that allowed up to 64 players. The choice of Metro did not sit well with many, and the Battlefield forums were filled with great anger and profound disappointment. This is what Daniel Matros, DICE’s global community manager for Battlefield 3, had to confront at the end of the day.

“Right now, I am not in the mood to even browse in here and check out most parts of the forum,” Daniel Matros began on Sept. 20. Saying that “the beta is a privilege, not a right,” unless you got a key with a pre-order, Matros ripped into the whiners, still with a measured tone that suggests he had to choose his words carefully.

“The vibe I’m getting now is just that tons of ungrateful people don’t understand how much work we are putting on this game how many overtime hours we are doing and also how many meetings we are in to ship a game like this.”

Matros thanked those who did provide constructive feedback. “To the rest of you—grow up.”

Two replies later, proving his point, someone wrote: “Why aren’t you releasing Caspian Border in the beta?”

It should be noted that although this thread no longer exists (a cache of it does) even a cursory Google search of the forums turns up threads backing Matros.

As for why they went with Operation Metro, not something else, well, it’s a beta. “We have already showed this map and made some big changes to it to enhance gameplay as well as get it more fluent than in the Alpha,” Matros explained later. “Lots of new things have been added in closer to launch. Our rank progression system as well as customizations have made their way into the beta and it´s very important for us to test these things before we launch. That is the purpose of the Beta as well as combining it with Battlelog and all of the features there. If you feel that this isn´t the right map for you, then perhaps we don´t really agree on what maps we want to see.”

It is indeed hard not to be sympathetic. These games are not made by elves. We’ve heard plenty about “crunch” at the end of a development cycle, I’m sure the last thing anyone wants to deal with, amidst all of that, is inconsiderate sniping and snide questions from some entitled dickbag who is unhappy that the free thing he’s being given isn’t optimized for his comfort.

It is, however, rare to see this kind of thing play out, probably why the thread is gone. The Battlefield 3 beta runs until Oct. 10. I hope everyone survives.

Story by: CritiKiL

Story by Michael McWhertor @ Kotaku.com.

At the risk of sounding overhyped about DICE’s Battlefield 3, the latest batch of unofficial screens from the game’s ongoing beta are (mostly) about its UI, which are beautiful and even a little bit informative.

Screengrabs from Battlefield 3‘s beta, courtesy of Battlefield forum goers, show off some multiplayer options, win/lose screens and the myriad graphic options for the PC version of the game. Very handsome, very option-heavy.

Story by Mike Fahey @ Kotaku.com.

As promised last week, EA delivers the full version of its “99 Problems” Battlefield 3 TV spot today, unveiling never-before-seen gameplay footage and a new tagline aimed right between Modern Warfare 3‘s eyes.

At this point we’ve accepted that Battlefield 3 looks gorgeous, so we’ll not harp on the visuals. Instead, let’s turn our attention to the new tagline at the end of this TV spot. It reads “Above and Beyond the Call”, an obvious dig at Call of Duty, the Activision franchise EA hopes to unseat as king of the military online first-person shooters.

How should Call of Duty fans react? I’d suggest measured, focused rage. Don’t fly off the handle; stay firmly planted on the handle and toss your vicious retorts with military precision.

As for Activision, I’m hoping the company reveals the new tagline for Modern Warfare 3 to be “Fuck Battlefield in Its Stupid Ass”, which is probably why I’m not in marketing.

Story by Mike Fahey @ Kotaku.com.

In this teaser trailer for a full length ad to run on television September 27, rapper Jay-Z explains that while Battlefield 3does have (at least) “99 Problems”, not one of those problems is a bitch. And here we were all worried!

But when EA’s Battlefield team teases something, there’s generally something interesting waiting on the other end. My guess? Jay-Z is lying to us, and one of Battlefield 3‘s problems is indeed bitches.

Story by Brian Crecente @ Kotaku.com.

Battlefield 3′smuch-anticipated open beta starts on Thursday, Sept. 29, the publisher said this morning.

The beta will run until Oct. 10 and will give players a chance to check out the game and the social platform Battlelog, according to the post on the official website for the game. The beta is set in Paris on the Operation Metro map playing the game’s Rush mode.

If you pre-order the PC digitial version of Battlefield 3 on EA’s Origin store before Sept. 25, or if you bought Medal of Honor: Limited Edition/Tier 1 Edition, you will get 48 hours early access to the Beta, meaning you can start playing Tuesday, Sept 27.

For Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, the open beta will be visible on the consoles’ digital marketplaces under Battlefield 3. For PC, you need to install Origin and download the Open Beta from within the Origin application.

Story by Fahed @ MP1st.com.

I don’t think we can wait any longer for the Battlefield 3 Beta, and DICE has just hinted at a big announcement coming tomorrow.

After weeks of denying many beta rumors, DICE has stirred up the pot with 3 hints. On the official Italian Battlefield page, DICE teased “guys, tomorrow follow us, there is news about something you have been waiting for a long time.” However, the teasing didn’t stop there. Dainel Matros, Battlefield’s global community manager, tweeted “this week is going to be off the hook BF3″, and his coworker, David Goldfarb, reassured that this week is “gonna be a great week. BF3″. 

My guess is that the long-awaited Beta will go live tomorrow or will be announced tomorrow to go live next week.

If you were wondering whether you’re going to get a taste of the singleplayer in the upcoming beta, DICE’s Ian Tornay re-clarified “BF3 beta is multiplayer only. There are some rumors to the contrary circulating.” 

Story by Johnny Cullen @ VG247.com.

Following a teaser last week, EA’s launched a fully-extended trailer of Battleifield 3′s Operation Guillotine.

The trailer, which comes in at a fairly decent 1:42, contains footage captured from the Xbox 360 version of the DICE shooter.

This was the mission shown to us when we were at the developer in Stockholm earlier this month. Expect a writeup on that from us next week before we head to Eurogamer Expo.

This is seriously properly amazing stuff. Why on Earth this isn’t on your wanted list yet if it isn’t already is, quite simply, mind-boggling. Get watching below.

Battlefield 3 launches on October 25 in the US and October 28 in the UK for PS3, 360 and PC.

Story by Brian Crecente @ Kotaku.com.

The first thing I notice when I maneuver Sgt. Henry Blackburn, 1st Recon Marine, through the smoking door frame of the Tehran apartment complex isn’t the smoldering bodies lying on the ground nearby, it’s the piece of paper drifting through the room.

I follow it with the tip of my gun, watching it drift around the run down entry way, past an old wooden chair, a slightly flattened box, chipped and dirty walls. Someone took the time to create this piece of imaginary paper and the path it takes as it floats on imaginary crossdrafts in a video game about a future fictional battlefield in Iran.

I stop to jot down a few notes.

“Make my way to the apartment entrance,” I write. “Kinda skudgy. Debris and trash lying around. Paper fluttering the air. Carpet on the floor is rolled up in one corner. Old mattress lying in the hallway.”

Played on a Playstation 3, Battlefield 3 is a solid first-person shooter with tight controls, immersive sound and a hectic, driven storyline. But it’s the density of the game’s visuals that always stand out to me when I play this game.

This morning I had a chance to play a snapshot of the game, a ten minute or so demonstration of a level called Operation Guillotine. Hours earlier Luke Plunkett played and enthused about his time with the very same demo in Tokyo. So when I take the PS3 controller in hand here in New York I decide to meticulously pick my way through the brief time with the game.

Battlefield 3 takes place in a 2014 where the U.S. Marine Corps is fighting along the Iran-Iraq border. This particular missions opens up on what appears to be the evening of Oct. 31, 2014.

Blackburn is hunkered down among a group of other members of Misfit 1-3 preparing to storm a city in Iran’s Tehran Province. The particular build I’m playing on is a couple of weeks old, but still more than a month newer than the one Plunkett and I played in Germany at Gamescom.

The level opens with a low whistle. One of the other marines, looking with me at a massive city lit by bursts of gun fire, flak and explosions says, “That’s a big city. No gun truck yet.”

“Nope,” another marine says. “The wheels of change move slow.”

Seconds later we get the call to move down the hill, into the outskirts of the city and take the Khojir Apartment complex.

These opening, controllable moments of the level don’t give me a chance to fire a single shot. Instead I’m running down a hill with a mortar in both hands.

Explosions shake the ground as I run, some hit so close that I can feel the force of them pushing Blackburn slightly off course, like a boat hit by an unseen wave. Trees shudder in the wake of the blasts, some trees topple over, others burn, their leaves engulfed in flames, their trunks checkered with red embers.

The screen is flaked with smudges of dirt and mud.

Blackburn makes it to a clearing near a wall and drops the mortar on a spot, watching another marine drop a round into the tube. The round launches into the air, lighting the sky with a floating green flare.

I run Blackburn to the wall, to a man with his back against it, and press a button to get a boost over.

When Blackburn lands on the other side he’s got his weapon out. Down a hillside I can see marines in a firefight with opposition across a small gully. The enemy have taken up positions on a road, firing off pot shots at the men below.

I drop Blackburn to a knee and sight down the gun. I fire off three bullets, taking out two enemies with head shots and apparently winging the third. I’m aiming for a third headshot when another marine takes him down.

Moving Blackburn down the hillside I notice a group of enemies setting up much further down the gully, setting up an ambush along the path I’ll be taking once I get him to the floor below.

I drop Blackburn to his knee again and take aim. I squeeze the trigger and run into the only disappointment I end up finding in the brief demo. The bullet seems to miss. I aim carefully and fire another headshot. Nothing. I pump out an entire clip in short bursts at the distant enemy. Nothing.

Later I mention this to the public relations folks manning the demo. What’s the distance of rounds fired in Battlefield 3, I ask. The answer is a little vague and involves mentioning that the developers brought in ex-SAS operator Andy McNab to help with things like firing distance. In theory, rounds can’t go forever in the game. But I’m not convinced they lose trajectory over time. It felt more like they hit an invisible wall. EA says they’re looking into it for me.

It was a very distant enemy and not something I suspect you’d run into much in the campaign, so it felt more like an oddity than a problem.

Back in the game, I push Blackburn down the hill, into the gully and around the bend to face off with the enemies lying in wait. Running toward the enemies, a nearby blast momentarily blackens the screen, but I manage to take the enemies out quickly by switching to a shotgun.

Running Blackburn up a set of stairs out of the gully culvert and within sight of the target apartment complex. But first there’s a group of enemy shooting at us from a sandbox foxhole.

I take them out and proceed to the outskirts of the apartment complex.

Running up the entrance stairs, I’m walking toward the doors when another marine runs up and tosses a grenade through a side window. The blast shoots three or four bodies through a wall of windows. A second later the door bursts open and a burning man runs into the clearing dropping to my feet before dying.

I walk through the door and for a moment I’m distracted from the death, the gunshots, the timbre of war, by a floating piece of paper. I take my notes and then push Blackburn forward, down a dirty hall littered with newspapers, boxes, mattresses, furniture. I move him toward a door, noting for a second the bugs flying slowly around the light.

At the door, the game tells me to press a button to knock it in. When I press it, the door kicks not in, but back toward me, knocking Blackburn on his ass. Time slows for an instant and I see another man, not a Marine, standing over me with a rifle, he’s moving it down toward me, when I hear a gunshot and he’s blown off his feet and back.

As I fell I apparently pulled the trigger in surprise and hit the guy in the chest. Laying on my back I aim and take down two other men in the hall before getting back up.

I run through the hallway, past the dead and through a back door. A humvee awaits me. On the ground nearby a marine is on his knees leaning over the prone body of another, slowly, methodically giving him CPR. I count to 15 chest compressions in my head before turning away and boarding the vehicle.

Story by Luke Plunkett @ Kotaku.com.

A Japanese promotional poster for the upcoming Battlefield 3contains a few extra details we weren’t aware of before. Like, say, the fact the Xbox 360 version of the game will ship on two discs.

That’s all the info that can be gleaned from the pic, so there’s no idea just what content is spread across the two discs, or whether the poster is even accurate.

At a guess, though, I’d say one disc would have to contain the “campaign” stuff (singleplayer and co-op) while the other would have all the multiplayer content on it. Anything else would be bananas.

While the fact the Xbox 360 is becoming increasingly unable to keep games to a single disc is a pain in the ass, at least in this case it’s not too big a deal. It’s not like you’ll be changing discs in between multiplayer maps. We hope.

We’ve contacted EA for clarification, and will update if we hear back.

Story by Stace Harmon @ VG247.com.

Additional details reveal that the PC version’s main game menu will be the Battlelog home page. I feel like I’m kicking a hornet’s nest.

In a move that’s bound to cause some consternation amongst PC gamers, it’s been confirmed via the Battlefield blog and in a Twitter response that an in-game browser for finding game servers – a long-term staple of online PC gaming – has been included in the console versions of Battlefield 3, but not the PC version.

Further digging of senior gameplay designer Alan Kertz’s Twitter feed suggests that the PC version of EA’s upcoming shooter won’t have an in-game main menu at all. Instead, the homepage of the game’s online stat-tracking and social tools service, Battlelog, will serve as Battlefield 3′s main menu on PC.

From the Battlelog menu – which does feature a server browser – you’ll jump straight into a game with no loading of splash pages or title sequences. Fundamentally, however, it means that if you’re not best-pleased with the game you’re currently playing you have to quit out and look for another server, not see if there’s one that takes your fancy while you contemplate jumping ship.

Whilst the console versions will also make use of Battlelog’s stat tracking tools, they will otherwise behave in the usual way with the added bonus of an in-game server browser.

Battlefield 3 launches for PC, PS3 and 360 on October 25 in the US, October 27 in Australia and October 28 in Europe.

Thanks, AusGamers.

Story by: CritiKiL

Story by Stephany Nunneley @ VG247.com.

Battlefield 3 will contain 10 times the weapon unlockables as Battlefield 2, according to the latest entry to the Battleblog. These hardware unlocks will be spread over weapons, attachments, gadgets as well as a “huge unlock tree for vehicles alone.”

According to Valerian Noghin and Fredrik Thylander, the game’s persistence designers, there will also be medals, ribbons and service stars displaying “skill, commitment, and teamplay prowess,” handed out to players.

There are also a number ranks in the game, as with Bad Company 2, and badge ranks will show off the overall player progress in the game, and more ways to progress with “new concept of Service Stars.”

Service Stars basically “challenge the hardcore” and the more one plays, the more they are eligible for further promotion by getting Service Stars added to the weapon skill badge, vehicles, kits, and overall rank.

“Anytime your kill card is displayed, everyone will see exactly how experienced you are with your current equipment,” read the blog. “The ultimate bragging right would be for a player to be awarded the rank of Colonel with 100 Service Stars attached, and to have 100 stars in all weapons, kits, and vehicles. Getting there will be a massive task – consider that a challenge.”

You can read the full post over on the BFblog.

Battlefield 3 is out in late October 25 on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360, with an open beta expected next month.

Story by Richard Mitchell @ Joystiq.com.

It wouldn’t be a new entry in a popular series without retailer specific pre-order bonuses. As previously revealed, all pre-orders will receive the limited edition of Battlefield 3 and, thus, the “Back to Karkand” map pack DLC, though each retailer will also have some different additional bonuses.

GameStop is offering the (timed exclusive) “Physical Warfare” DLC and PowerUp Rewards members will also snag a copy of the Prima strategy guide. Best Buy pre-orders will receive the “SPECACT Kit,” a package of eight multiplayer skins. Finally, Amazon pre-orders include a pack of exclusive multiplayer dog tags.

Sadly not included with any of the pre-orders: Free time.

Story by Stephany Nunneley @ VG247.com.

DICE has posted over on the Battlelog blog information pertaining to the game’s new dog tag system, which allows players to choose an initial design based on an in-game stat that will be tracked dynamically in the game.

Dog tags, which were first introduced in Battlefield 2142, are basically a bragging tool and this will be even more obvious in BF3, especially now that DICE has added “extra weight” to these “calling cards”.

“Dog tags in Battlefield 3 go beyond just having your name on them,” explained Alan Kertz, senior multiplayer designer. “We have hundreds of dog tags that can be your personal calling card. Every time you kill an enemy, they see your tags. It’s your calling card – it’s your place to brag, and dynamic tags can show off how great you are with a knife, a jet, or even show off your personal play style.”

The only way to get a dog tag from from an enemy in the game is by performing one of the new knife takedowns which has you sneaking up from behind and performing a stealth kill.

DICE said that thanks to the ANT animation system, these special moves “add a dynamic visual flair,” and encourage players to get in close for stealth kills.

“[It] makes bringing a knife to a gun fight the risky but rewarding experience it was always meant to be,” said Kertz.

You can catch a glimpse of one of these stealth kills in the Paris multiplayer video released last week below.

Battlefield 3 is out in October, and the beta starts in September.

Story by: CritiKiL

For more info, check out this link, but WATCH THIS AWESOME VIDEO First! (below):

http://www.ea.com/uk/battlefield3

Story by Stace Harman @ VG247.com.

Two videos detailing an in-depth look at Battlefield 3′s weapon customization options, totalling almost thirty-minutes in length, have emerged. See below for a veritable gun-fest.

The videos are taken from the alpha version of EA’s upcoming shooter and have been posted by YourGamingTeam over on YouTube.

Story by Jessica Conditt @ Joystiq.com.

Battlefield 3‘s lock-and-key social gaming network, Battlelog, is scheduled to launch its beta in September, its full system in October, and is currently in an extremely selective alpha testing stage. But that doesn’t mean non-alpha players can’t see what it looks like, right now. The Robin Hood of Battlelog sent us some behind-the-scenes screens of the alpha social and profile system, all of which you can check out below. For more in-game alpha leakage, the BF3blog has you covered. In leakage. Gross.

Story by Battlefield3Blog.com

Over the past few weeks, a ton of new details have emerged on the squad system in Battlefield 3. On first glance, it appears to share a lot of similarities with Bad Company 2 squads, but there are a number of key changes, including the way members spawn in a squad. Here is the full list of the confirmed and unconfirmed details regarding Battlefield 3 squads.

Confirmed BF3 squad details

• Squads are limited to 4 members
• Squad leader can spawn on any member, while members can only spawn on squad leader
• The creator of the squad is the squad leader, and will be indicated by a star.
• On 64 player maps, a 32 player team will have 8 squads (8 x 4 = 32)
• Players will receive squad bonus points for helping the squad, much like in Bad Company 2.
• Players will receive bonus points for killing the opponent squad leader

Unconfirmed / rumored BF3 squad details

• The best/most active member will get promoted to squad leader.
• Squads won’t be lockable (unlike in Bad Company 2)
• Squad tools (squad leaders get to lock the squad, invite members, kick members, etc.)

Overall, the squad mechanics in BF3 appear to be refined and developed from the ones found in Bad Company 2, which overall worked pretty well. The new spawning structure will limit the amount of spawns and will give the squad leader a greater role to play.

DICE still hasn’t announced all the details regarding squads and multiplayer, but we’d love to see some form of squad management, especially since teams in BF3 will support 32 players and up to 8 squads.

Story by Adam Rosenberg @ G4TV.com

The first of a series of “Battleblogs” has been posted on Electronic Arts’ Battlefield 3 website, with lead multiplayer designer Lars Gustavsson offering a few details on the October 25 release’s multiplayer. The underlying idea behind all of the team’s efforts is pretty simple: “We’re not telling you how to play the game,” Gustavsson writes. “You choose.”

In the case of Battlefield 3‘s multiplayer, choice involves giving people a wider range of options to choose from when they want to shoot virtual people online. One example is the return of Team Deathmatch, a game type which has been absent from the series since Battlefield 1942. Players will also be able to opt for infantry-only matches, which cut vehicles out of the battlefield. The expected Conquest and Rush modes will be back as well, but that too ties in with the idea of giving players more flexibility.

Gustavsson is careful to note that there’s more to come beyond confirmation of TDM and infantry-only matches. Additional Battlefield 3 multiplayer details are promised soon, with more multiplayer modes and “new features that change how you can play the game” still to be revealed.

Story by Stephany Nunneley @ VG247.com

DICE has confirmed to PSM3 in the latest edition of the magazine, that there will be 10 maps for co-op players.

While co-op being included in the game is not news in and of itself, the fact that executive producer Patrick Bach told PSM3 that the dedicated co-op mode includes 10 maps, is indeed news.

That’s about all the new goodies the magazine got out of the producer, but since co-op details have been detailed a bit now, hopefully more information will be let of the bag soon.

BF3 is set for an October release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.