In an announcement today, general manager of the Battlefield series Byron Beede announced that Ridgeline Games, the new EA studio led by Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto, is developing the next singleplayer campaign in the series.
Beede also wrote that they are "all-in on Battlefield", with DICE continuing to work on Battlefield multiplayer and a third studio, Ripple Effect, "creating an entirely new Battlefield experience."
]]>Six classic maps are returning in Battlefield 2042 as part of a tool for making your own game modes. The maps include Caspian Border from Battlefield 3 and Arica Harbour from Bad Company 2. The mode-editing tool is called Battlefield Portal and it works in a web browser, letting players create shareable game modes on a selection of old and new maps. You could make a mode that allows only repair tools, for example, or pits teams from distinct eras of warfare against one another.
In other words, you might force a bunch of World War 2 Germans armed with knives to fight squads of US soldiers from Battlefield 3 armed with modern LMGs. The important thing is they can duke it out in a fancy new version of El Alamein from Battlefield 1942.
]]>EA and Dice today announced Battlefield 2042, as had been rumoured. Watch the reveal trailer here and check out our preview for more info.
]]>The official Battlefield Twitter account not-so-subtly hinted that the new Battlefield would be revealed in June. The same Twitter account has now confirmed that June 9th is the date to tune in for.
]]>It looks like we're going to see the new Battlefield soon, if a hint tweeted earlier today by the game's official Twitter account isn't a ridiculous fake-out. The timing suggests it might coincide with June's virtual E3 on June 12th-15th, but EA's own event, EA Play Live, isn't happening until July.
]]>Electronic Arts aren't done shuffling around their studios and projects for 2021 just yet. EA have now announced that they're delaying the next Need For Speed game so that Criterion can assist Dice with the next Battlefield game. The NFS series isn't being shut down and the reassignment is only a temporary one, EA say, partly to relieve pressure created by the Covid-19 pandemic.
]]>Electronic Arts left Steam nine years ago to do their own thing with Origin, but over the last few months their games have been returning. Now, their subscription service, EA Play, is on Valve's platform, too, allowing you to play games like the Dragon Age series, Battlefield V, and more on Steam for a monthly or yearly fee. It's not just the old stuff EA are letting Steam have though, because you'll be able to access some of the publisher's new releases through the service as well.
]]>Electronic Arts have rebranded their Origin Access subscription service to EA Play, and announced that it will launch on Steam on August 31st. As before, it lets people play many of EA's games for as long as they pay, with a pricier tier giving access to their newest games. However, it seems only the basic version of EA Play is coming to Steam - EA are keeping their Pro tier to their own platform, Origin, for now.
]]>For Battlefield V, the war is finally over. Oh, internet strangers will be blasting each other for months to come, don't worry about that. But today's final major update marks the last new front in Dice's World War 2 campaign with two new maps and a warehouse of new vehicles, guns, gadgets and grenades. Make 'em last, because from here on out that's all you're getting - at least, until the next game rolls around.
]]>War never changes, but sometimes old wars wind down so we can have a bash at new ones. Dice are waving goodbye to Battlefront 2 with today's final update, letting people duke it out on Scarif - better known as 'that planet from the end of Rogue One'. There are other new bits and pieces, but the big picture news is that Dice are shifting their efforts to the next Battlefield. The end of Battlefield V is nigh too, you see, with one last big update due in June.
What lies over yonder war horizon? We don't exactly know, but we do know something with Battlefield in the name is planned for next year.
]]>We did it, team. The war's almost over. The lads at Battlefield V HQ have declared that it's time to sign some treaties, shut down the factories, and put an end to this virtual war. Before you start hanging up the red, white and blue bunting, though, there's one last operation to get out of the way - bringing "new content, weapons, and game tweaks" to BFV in one final airdrop this June. That'll keep the fires of war burning for a good while longer, then.
]]>The next chapter in Battlefield V's Tides of War campaign takes players into the tropical wilderness of a brand new map, Solomon Island. Appropriately named, Chapter 6: Into the Jungle, the update landing on February 6th is bringing a bunch of new weapons and gadgets, as well as three new Elite soldiers.
]]>It's almost as if they planned it. Here I am, lamenting Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare's lacklustre attempt to mirror Battlefield's large scale conflict with its new "Ground War" mode. There go Dice, whacking in two new maps plus a handful of weapons and vehicles to Battlefield 5 as part of yesterday's update. They've opened up the Pacific front, and my pals are murmuring about returning.
In a two-pronged attack, Dice have also opened their war doors for free 'til Sunday. I think those murmurs might be widespread.
]]>HDR on PC hasn't improved much in 2019. Despite there being more HDR gaming monitors than ever before, the very best gaming monitors for HDR continue to be quite expensive compared to non-HDR monitors, and the situation around Windows 10 support for it is still a bit of a mess. However, provided you're willing to fight through all that, then the next step on your path to high dynamic range glory is to get an HDR compatible graphics card.
Below, you'll find a complete list of all the Nvidia and AMD graphics cards that have built-in support for HDR, as well as everything you need to know about getting one that also supports Nvidia and AMD's own HDR standards, G-Sync Ultimate and FreeSync 2. I've also put together a list of all the PC games that support HDR as well, so you know exactly which PC games you can start playing in high dynamic range.
]]>Electronic Arts are returning to Steam after a long hiatus. The first game to come over to the dark side is, appropriately enough, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on November 15. It'll be followed by the EA big guns of FIFA 20, Battlefield V, and more next year. And they're bringing their subscription service, EA Origin Access, which is a real surprise.
]]>Oh god, Operation Metro is back. Battlefield V's newest map, Operation Underground hits the WW2 shooter today, bringing back Battlefield 3's most infamous below-ground bloodbath. Grim-faced veterans will shudder at memories of Paris stalemates. A Sisyphean death march for on the offence, a point-and-click machine gun adventure for defenders. Fortunately, Dice have invested in public infrastructure this time around, and promise a more seamless trip on your commute to carnage.
]]>The Battlefield games have long been nests of Easter eggs, hiding everything from rare reload animations where you perform magic tricks on guns to giant prehistoric sharks who'll leap up and git ya. Battlefield V still had a few to hide, it seems, and may yet have more. But what's most got my attention is the horrible finger gun found this week, fired by having the soldier point their finger and shout PEW! POW! And the reload animation is... even as a habitual knuckle-cracker, I winced.
]]>Trying to keep up with E3 2019 is a fool's errand, and the foaming river of content streaming down the internet's face doesn't always make it easier. So here's a round-up of every news story from the show we think matters to you, with links to our full stories (and bantful liveblogs) where relevant. We'll be updating this hourly, so keep coming back.
]]>After scrapping around Europe and North Africa, Battlefield V will next bounce over to the far side of World War 2, headed to the Pacific theatre later this year. US and Japanese armies will arrive to scrap with new weapons and vehicles on new maps, including vintage Battlefield map Iwo Jima. EA have shown wee teasers of this before but it's proper official now, blasted out during their E3 show.
]]>The good side of Battlefield V dropping season passes is that everyone gets free maps. The trade-off is that, being a World War 2 game, any cosmetic gubbins they sell, including 'elite' character skins, is going to include Nazis and Nazi memorabilia, even if the swastikas are painted over. That's bad enough, but earlier today, Vice published a piece pointing out that premium Nazi Wilhelm Franke shares a name with a famous WW2 resistance fighter who fell foul of the Gestapo. EA have since contacted Vice saying that Wilhelm will be renamed. Also that he's not a Nazi. Oh. Oh dear.
]]>Battlefield V had a rocky launch, but Dice are sticking to their promise of big, regular updates to the online shooter without needing anyone buy a season pass. Today, we got our first video peek at the maps coming in Chapter 4: Defying The Odds and beyond. Over the next six months we've got at least five maps due, including the hellish-looking Metro reprise Operation Underground out in October. This month, we get the sprawling North African battlefield of Al Sundan, and in July we're heading back to Greece with Marita. See them and a Pacific theatre teaser in a trailer below.
]]>If you're going to die (repeatedly) somewhere, it may as well be scenic, and I'm happy to describe Battlefield V's new map - Mercury - as a treat for the eyes. Released today in a free update, it's inspired by Operation Mercury in 1941, a German assault on the island of Crete. What this means is a large map that equally suits infantry, aircraft and armour. DICE reckon that fans of Guadalcanal from Battlefield 1942 might feel a pang of nostalgia playing this one. Below, an update trailer where they do that clever Battlefield thing where the guns are percussion.
]]>Dota 2's International 2019 Battle Pass has plenty of issues. As Matt wrote earlier this month, alongside a waterfall of cosmetics and a special mode, the pass will unlock an in-game assistant that seems to give owners an advantage over those who haven’t forked over at least £7.50/$10. But (as reported by The Verge) the pass is paywalling another key feature – the ability to avoid players.
Obviously, you shouldn’t have to pay to access the ability to not group up with abusive players. Valve calls this an “experimental” feature (by many accounts it’s not working well), suggesting that it could be extended out to all players after this test on Battle Pass owners. More surprising, then, is the fact that Dota 2 has been out for six years without the option to not have to play with someone ruining the fun, whether it be throwing games or yelling slurs. And yet, even though how other people act is a huge part of the experience of many online games, giving players the ability to regulate their interactions often seems to be a secondary concern for developers.
]]>Battlefield Royale, or Battlefield V Firestorm if you're an EA executive who shouldn't be trusted with naming things, is terrific. Sometimes. When you're oh-so-slowly tiptoeing through a building, anxiously attempting to outflank a foe as they do the same. Or when you spend a solid five minutes laying in a ditch, your patience pays off, and you spectacularly blow up a tank with your last stick of dynamite. Most of the time, though, you'll be killed before you can do diddly squat.
I've never battled in a royale where I'm this fragile, and it's awful. But it's brilliant. (But it's awful.)
]]>I still cannot tell you why Battlefield V's battle royale mode is not named Battlefield Royale, but I can tell you that this so-called 'Firestorm' has launched today. It's a battle royale game, right, but in Battlefield - and with a swish ring of fire closing around you, an inferno on the horizon that eats through buildings in that pleasing Battlefield destruct-o-tech way. I wouldn't say I'm motivated solely by cool explosions, but don't video games exist primarily because at a certain age it's considered inappropriate to chase your pal with Roman candle, put a Catherine wheel on your bike's wheel, or launch bottle rockets from your shoulder out a length of copper pipe you found down the back of the garden?
]]>DICE appeared to drop the ball when they didn't call Battlefield V's upcoming battle royale offering 'Battlefield Royale'. They called it Firestorm instead, which sounds like a terrible Steven Seagal film you'd buy for 99p at a petrol station. Having now played the mode, due as a free update next Monday, I can see why they went with it. The titular blaze dominates the whole affair, looming on the horizon, chewing the map into tiny chunks of Frostbite engine and breathing its magma-hot breath down the back of your neck like some creep on the London underground. Here, why not watch it incinerate me in a handy impressions video...
]]>What happens if you fall into a burning ring of fire? It's a given that you'll fall down, down, down while the flames climb higher and that doubtless burns, burns, burns. What many don't expect is that you'll then lark about on a big red tractor with your pals and blast other firefools to pieces with some serious artillery. That's how it'll go in Firestorm, the battle royale mode coming to Battlefield V - on March 25th, EA confirmed today. You can see this antics and banter in a neat-o new trailer which also answers the question "What if Talking Heads had replaced bassist Tina Weymouth with Battlefield bwomps?"
]]>Fire! Doobey dooo! I want you to burn, and it looks like my wish will soon be granted. A leaked trailer for Battlefield V's upcoming battle royale mode (foolishly called Firestorm rather than Battlefield Royale) hit the net last night. There are tanks. There are guns of different tiers. There is fire.
There are no surprises, in other words, but I'm still keen to warm my mitts on this. And hope they don't burn.
]]>It's been a long time coming, but the list of games with proper, honest-to-goodness RTX support you can actually take advantage of in-game is finally getting a teensy bit longer today, as Nvidia have announced their performance-boosting DLSS tech is coming to both Battlefield V and Metro Exodus as part of their next graphics driver update - just in time for budding RTX card-owning Metro fans to get ray tracing and DLSS support when the game launches this Friday on February 15.
]]>Tomorrow is unpatch day for Battlefield V, after a messy storm of backlash last week from players over tweaks to its time-to-kill. In an attempt to make the game more accessible to newcomers who might have been dying too quickly, Dice tweaked damage figures - detailed here - to make bullets just plain less deadly than before. Unfortunately, this went down about as well with existing fans of the game's balance as you'd expect. In an apologetic statement on Reddit, the developers have announced that tomorrow the game will be reverting back to its original deadliness.
]]>This article contains some spoilers for the Battlefield V campaign story Tirailleur.
It’s a shame that the opening of Battlefield V is a bit of a po-faced mess, because it provides a wildly inaccurate idea of what you can expect from its singleplayer portion. The Battlefield V vignette campaigns are, together, one of the best FPS campaigns in years. One of its tales, about colonised soldiers sailing thousands of miles to fight for a land they’ve never known, proves it.
]]>It is a good day for tanks. Though now that I think about it, the tanks themselves in Battlefield V's freshly released Overture update are doomed to an eternal cycle of being murdered, then plucked from silicon heaven to fight one of humanity's damnable wars once more. It's a good day for people who would like to blow up tanks.
After yesterday's launch hiccup, the tanks have now rolled out. This first 'Tides of War' update includes a new vehicle-focused multiplayer map, a vehicle-focused singleplayer 'War Story', and a practice range that should probably have been in the game from the get go.
]]>Tanks in single-player, tanks in multiplayer and probably some bonus tanks just for fun. Battlefield 5's first episodic update, Overture, is out tomorrow - December 4th - and all about the armour. There'll be a new and grim-looking War Story called The Last Tiger, a new multiplayer map called Panzerstorm, a handy practice range to hone your sharpshooting on and a tank cosmetics system. Below, an update trailer.
Update: Dice have announced via Twitter that some eleventh hour issues have delayed the rollout of the Overture update. They "don't anticipate a long delay" though.
]]>Sorry, not those kind of ducks. Even better ducks! In a Battlefield first, as of Battlefield V's next patch you'll be able to dodge behind cover when you're in a tank's top gunner slot. It's one of those minor tweaks that could wind up having a major impact, encouraging more people to hop into bullet-spewing death machines. I imagine you'll still get sniped a lot, which I'm fine with as the person usually doing the sniping.
That's the news, pretty much. Now, I've got some beef with Origin and bugs.
]]>"Taken on its own terms, Battlefield V is an incredible achievement that's absolutely worth your time and its AAA price tag," young Matt said in our Battlefield V review. That sounds good! "Taken in the context of every battle that's gone before, what's on sale is the all-too familiar fantasy of being one insignificant drop in a sea of raging war-soup." That sounds... fine? You can see for yourself today as, after a string of early launches for various subscriber services, Dice's new World War 2 FPS is now properly out.
]]>Croutons adrift in war-soup. If you want an analogy for playing soldiers in Battlefield V, it’s hard to do better than that.
That soup is delicious, but it’s also very easy to drown in. You’re one tiny ant in a conflict that’ll crush you without even realising you’re there, in an arena dominated by disposability. None of this is new.
]]>You can tell EA aren't afraid of no ghost, goblin, nor ghoulie nuh uh because on Halloween they were casually reeling off lists of technical specifications and not mentioning monsters at all, which definitely wasn't a nervous tic to distract them from the feeling shivering up their spines that ｔｈｅｙ＇ｒｅ ｎｅｘｔ. No, they simply chose the spookiest day of the year to announce final PC system requirements for Battlefield V. Plenty of people spend Halloween hugging their knees and burbling about gigaherz and gigabyte, you know, just like Square Enix announced the Just Cause 4 system requirements yesterday as well. Are you saying they're chickens too? How dare you!
]]>During my first five seconds playing the Battlefield V beta, I shouted "YES! BATTLEFIELD!" at my screen. I am not entirely sure why I did this.
]]>Battlefield 5's open beta is over, but the battle for objective points is eternal. As promised last week, EA have made the DLC Premium Pass for Battlefield 1 free today and for the next week. You'll need the game itself to use it, but it expands the (questionably) historical World War 1 FPS from 12 multiplayer maps to 26, featuring new classes, vehicles and weaponry. Not a bad giveaway.
Even if you don't own Battlefield 1, you can still add the Premium Pass to your Origin account now. You can grab it here, and the game itself is 88% off on Origin too.
Update: Battlefield 4's Premium Pass is also free on Origin. No reason not to pick that one up, too.
]]>The Battlefield V beta is raging right now and I can confirm: war is indeed hell. According to Dice, though, war is also full of some incredibly stunning vistas just begging to be screenshot. Handily, they’ve also allowed you to turn off almost all the UI (except that ‘BETA’ notice in the corner, and the fact you can’t holster your weapon), so I spent several matches documenting views and action alike as an amateur wartime photographer. I can only apologise to my teammates, but with the consolation that my aim is terrible so I wouldn’t have been much help anyway.
]]>Last night, I stopped thinking about Battlefield V's battle royale mode as a semi-interesting inevitability and started getting excited. I'd just finished a three-hour stint in the open beta, when my fading memories of Battlefield's mesmerising war soup had been replaced with fresh ones. I quit out to find EA had dropped the first concrete details about what their spin on battle royale would involve, and now I can see myself ditching grandiose battles in favour of Firestorm.
]]>Keep it on the down-low, but I hear that there's a new Battlefield game coming soon. Even more shocking, this 'Battlefield 5' will be running a free open beta, starting tomorrow. No, really - I heard it on the grapevine. Better yet, you can start preloading it now if your connection threatens to buckle under a 12.5 gigabyte download on the day. Don't say we never get the scoops.
In all seriousness, I'm looking forward to this one. As grim as its subject matter may be (especially Battlefield 1), the series has always been a bright and breezy multiplayer shooter, mechanically, and this one looks to add some fun bits to the mix. Below, a video giving us a peek at some of the stuff coming in the beta and final game, including the 64-player battle royale mode, Firestorm.
]]>Any battlefield is as good as another, once you've got the taste for blood. Sound reasoning for a generous giveaway next week, at least. Despite the full game's delay, Battlefield 5's open beta is still scheduled for Thursday, September 6th (with early access for some tomorrow on the 4th), to run until September 11th.
Rather than leave players desperate for more soldiers to shoot post-beta, EA will be giving away Battlefield 1's Premium Pass (which includes all expansions, plus a few perks) free for a week until September 18th. Grab it during the giveaway, keep it forever. It's not quite the retroactive death of season passes I've wished for, but I'll take it. Update: To clarify, the Premium Pass is a DLC Season Pass. Not the base game.
]]>World War 2 drive-o-fly-a-FPS Battlefield V will launch one month later than previously planned, developers Dice announced today, delayed from October 19th to November 20th. Dice say they want more time to tweak it and make sure it's proper good, see. The open beta test planned to start September 6th is still going ahead on schedule, but the wait between that and the full game launching will be a whole lot longer.
]]>You don't need me to tell you that war is good for absolutely nothing, but you might be wondering: is this terrible waste any fun? See for yourself from September 6th, when Battlefield V will launch a short free open beta testing inviting all and sundry to investigate their shiniest version of World War 2 yet. Or earlier if you pay EA extra. Don't do that.
]]>Turns out, Battlefield V's Grand Operations mode actually will be playable when the game launches. Delayed outrage shook the cybersphere last week after Internauts noticed EA had said on June 9 that the multi-'day' mode would arrive "shortly after launch", which seemed mighty cheeky given that EA have touted Grand Operations as a headline feature and even let people play it during recent closed alpha testing. Well, EA now say, plans have changed since June and Grand Operations will indeed be in at launch.
]]>EA are retiring season passes for the Battlefield series starting with Battlefield V, and it seems that they're gradually making that change retroactive, at least in part. Today, owners of Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 4 who only have the base games can pick up the Turning Tides and Second Assault expansions respectively for the always-reasonable price of free, although you'll need to grab them via Origin.
]]>Has it really been six months? 2018 is passing in a blur of frozen architects, drug-pushing prophets and accordion duets. Hell, six months ago the RPS Video Department was but a glint in Graham’s eye. You may also recall a gathering of the most exciting games of 2018, a rundown of the year as it looked back in January. With E3 done there’s a clearer picture of what the rest of 2018 looks like. Many games have slipped to February 2019 - the stampeding bandits of Red Dead Redemption 2 have them running for the hills - but we’ve rustled up 15 of the remaining games that fellow video person Noa and I are looking forward to.
]]>Microsoft had a lot of games to announce at E3 2018, but it's a little murkier this year to find out what was relevant for PC users. Some games were coming to both, others only to their Xbox One consoles. You could of course watch the entire conference right here, but for some there just isn't enough time to wade through the entire show.
Not to worry though, here are all the trailers and news for you in one place. There's a surprising amount of variety in the announced titles: from an old favourite making a return, much celebrated developers showing off their new series, to even a completely free game launching very soon. The games below aren't in any particular order but you're in for a long ride.
]]>This being the year of our Molyneux 2018, yes of course Battlefield V will have a battle royale mode. Dice announced the mode during their E3 presentation, and sure, that's no surprise, especially as Cod Blops 4 will royale it up too. Battlefield Royale (as I imagine they'll call it?) won't be in the WW2 FPS at launch, arriving some time after, and details are thin for now. In the meantime, it's time to watch an E3 trailer.
]]>I came away from my Battlefield V first look surprisingly ready for another tour of the Western front - prosthetic-armed Cockneys and all - but with a number of nagging questions. Firstly, how exactly is EA DICE approaching monetisation right now, in the wake of the uproar over Star Wars: Battlefront 2's rubbish launch-day microtransactions? I was treated to an hour-long presentation on the game's service elements, but the in-game purchases this service will facilitate were conspicuously absent from discussion - it felt a bit like the part in the bombing run before the sky lights up with flak. And secondly, does the developer have any plans for a battle royale mode, given Call of Duty's recent jump upon that bandwagon? Because if any existing shooter is built for Fortnitey/Plunkbatty shenanigans, it is surely Battlefield, with its giant maps and headcounts.
Burdened by such thoughts, I sought out senior producer Lars Gustavsson and tried to get a clear answer out of him. The results, which include a discussion of what I suspect will prove a controversial squad focus, are below.
]]>World War 2 has broken out once again as EA DICE heads back to the 1940s with Battlefield V, a theoretically safe sequel with some curious, and possibly divisive, ideas at its core.
After the thematic reset that was Battlefield 1 I wasn't expecting much from this year's instalment of the long-running shooter series – class tweaks, new period accessories and still-higher fidelity explosions, all of it fed through the same mix of giant, vehicle-strewn maps and objective modes. There's certainly a lot here that's familiar, but EA DICE has made some dramatic changes to Battlefield's squad system that shunt an already team-oriented game even further away from lone wolf play. That's in addition to the ability to rebuild trashed structures, fortifying maps that hitherto existed only to be ripped apart, and, less attractively, a tsunami of live service and earning mechanisms gathered under the banner of the “Tides of War”. As I discovered during a two-hour presentation today in London, it's a riskier, more stimulating prospect than the “return to roots” messaging suggests.
]]>Update: We've now got an article with more information from today's press-only reveal event, including insight into the game's new modes, character progression, and Fortnite-like building.
Alright kids, settle down. There's a new Battlefield game coming, and that's kind of a big deal. While Call of Duty may have fallen from grace somewhat on PC, older Battlefield games still remain decently populated. You'll never have trouble finding people to play Battlefield 3 with, and that came out in 2011. At 8pm GMT (30 minutes from now, at the time of writing), EA will be unveiling Battlefield V live via the YouTube stream that we've handily embedded for you within. Come watch with us. I'll put the kettle on.
Post-stream update: It was a bit cheeky for them to open the show with a montage of all the previous Battlefield games, including the ones that EA have shut down and you can't play anymore no matter how much you'd like to. Within, some thoughts on the stream, plus a bombastic debut trailer.
]]>With the glitz and glamour of Eurovision fading into memory, it's almost time for That Other E Event, the Electronic Entertainment Expo. E3's marketing blitz seems to begin earlier each year, and I've a sneaking suspicion I'm already in it but haven't fully realised yet, and now here come Electronic Arts teasing the formal announcement of Battlefield V. Coming ahead of a big livestreamed event on Wednesday, the wee teaser video shows a steampunk gesturing for us to shut up. Or maybe inviting us to put our fingers in his mouth? I'm not quite sure. At the very least, it lends credence to rumours that developers Dice are taking the series back to World War 2 with this year's game.
]]>Years of growing discontent over loot box monetisation in games came to a head with 2017's Star Wars Battlefront II's lousy loot-based unlock progression system, raising such a stink that governments weighed in on arguments and EA disabled the microtransactions.
"We can shy away from it and pretend like it didn't happen," Patrick Söderlund, EA's new chief design officer, told The Verge, "or we can act responsibly and realise that we made some mistakes, and try to rectify those mistakes and learn from them." He swears blind that they've chosen option B, and they'll try real hard not to guff up games like Anthem and the mysterious next Battlefield.
]]>How do war game makers pick which war to fight in their next game? It's a little-known fact that the games industry unites every year to settle this by drawing balls. It's important that games don't all pick the same war, after all, and draws were deemed the best method after several disastrous years of paintball tournaments. Call of Duty got the much-coveted World War 2 ball last year, and rumours are now saying that DICE are the lucky ones in 2018. Battlefield V will take the series back to World War 2 this year, rumours say. They're only rumour, mind.
]]>Electronic Arts quietly notannounced a new Battlefield game during their conference call last night, alongside notdelaying BioWare's Anthem. They said very little about it, because they acknowledge its existence but haven't formally announced it, see. Will it be set in the past, near-past, present, near-future, or future? Battlefield 5? Bad Company 3? Hardline 2? 1944? 2143? Hut hut! It's all a big mystery for now. Assuming EA follow their traditional Battlefield behaviour, they'll likely formally announce the game in May or June then release it in mid-to-late October.
]]>Abandoning modern warfare for the brutality of World War I was a bold move for Battlefield 1 [official site], and now developers DICE have revealed more details on how that change in setting will affect what Battlefield does best: shooting. Along with a small teaser trailer earlier this week, DICE have posted a Q&A with weapon designer Julian Schimeck hinting at some of the more nuanced changes.
]]>Battlefield 1 [official site] will be this year's new game in EA's FPS series, set in World War One, earlier than ever before. I suppose this means that all the hilarious jokes people have made about "not playing Battlefield 2142 until they've played the previous 2141 games" were actually eerie predictions. All Battlefield games until this have been part of an incredibly ambitious plan to create over two thousand virtual wars. That's at least four millennia of games at this pace. Heck, the series started with its 1,942nd part - George Lucas can suck an egg. So! Yes, BF1, WW1, coming on October 21.
]]>At 9PM BTS/4PM ET, we'll find out whether the new Battlefield game is Battlefield 5, Battlefield: More Uncomfortable Police Brutality Allusions, or something else entirely. I'm wondering if it could be something a little science-fictional, in order to go toe-to-toe with what COD is up to. Also, wild speculation funtimes: the seconds-long teaser trailer below suggests that its Big Face Man is looking up at something enormous and maybe a little scary. Maybe a mech? We're overdue a return to 2142. Although the rest of the internet seems to think we're going back to 1942 at long last.
]]>It’s no surprise to see DICE continue to support Battlefield 4[official site]. If you compare its stats with those of the more recently released Battlefield Hardline, it’s clear BF4 is the PC owner’s Battlefield of choice. With the upgrades made in the upcoming Spring Patch, releasing “late May”, those players will probably be sticking around a while longer. With rebalanced weapons across the board, this could feel like an entirely new game.
]]>Whatever to do about a game like Battlefield: Hardline [official site]? I had a lot of hope for it to begin with, slowly chipped away by a disappointing beta and unenthusiastic previews. It was a great opportunity for either some introspection on the nature of law enforcement (unlikely) or a 70s buddy cop style tale about half a city getting blown up to stop some robbers. Trailers have taken themselves too seriously and the multiplayer didn't seem to want to scale down to its new setting, instead feeling like an urban map pack for an older game. But hope(line) springs eternal: the launch trailer, embedded below, ahead of release on March 20th is bombastic, fun and almost too sweary even for me.
]]>After a mixed reaction to the beta, including from our own Graham, Battlefield Hardline [official site] is looking to prove that it isn’t simply a reskin of Battlefield 4 with policemen instead of soldiermen. In many ways, it looks like it is going to have trouble shaking that assumption. But in one particular way (a single game mode called Hotwire), it is going to come out fighting. I visited EA to take a look.
]]>Battlefield Hardlines, originally slated for 21st October this year, has now been given a significantly later release date. The Space Year 2015. "Early" 2015. On a slippy day for EA, which also saw the announcement of Dragon Age: Inquisition sliding into November, DICE's cops-n-robbers reinvention of the Battlefield series seems to have taken a much more serious hit. Apparently in response to what maybe wasn't that brilliant of a beta test in June.
]]>In an interview with Game Informer, DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson stated that the beta process for future Battlefield titles may resemble an Early Access release. "We have nothing to announce, but we are having discussions when it comes to [early access]...It comes not from a business perspective, but more from a perspective of if it would help us have a stable launch of the game." The joke writes itself, of course, given the many complaints about Battlefield 4's various issues at launch. Is this just a branding exercise that aims to legitamise the unstable first months of a game's existence or would it be a useful learning experience for the developers. Probably a bit of both.
]]>EA are a company that thinks ahead. The Battlefield series may only be working on its 4th pure edition right now, but the publisher has just registered domains for www.battlefield13.com to www.battlefield20.com, ensuring that they're secure for at least the next few Christmasses.
But Rock, Paper, Shotgun is a company that thinks further ahead. RPS is a business that doesn't rely on such medium-to-long-term thinking. And so it is that we will be the first place for all your www.battlefield21.com news.
]]>As the decidedly not very good Medal Of Honor: WARFACEFIGHTER received its critical pannings, one refrain was repeated again and again: they're the games EA puts out on the year's DICE don't have a new Battlefield ready. That may well be true, but EA are now at pains to point out (not necessarily in reaction, I should say) that DICE are not "a Battlefield factory". (Imagine a non-gamer reading those words. "Dice are not battlefield factories? And you say FPS games HELP your minds?") There's more to the Swedish team, they insist to OXM today. And in response rumours that Mirror's Edge 2 is in development have once more bubbled to the surface.
]]>It's easy to feel cynical about DLC. John took a stroll through that particular minefield a couple days ago, and while he found plenty of good buried beneath all the righteous fury, worrisome practices still abound. Day-one DLC, season passes, and the like litter the current landscape, and - despite what some might claim - business models do influence game design. It's unavoidable. With some fervent passion, Paradox senior producer (and former Battlefield maestro) Gordon Van Dyke, however, argues that this doesn't have to be a bad thing, and lets rip at others who make it one. It's only when companies lose sight of what's best for their communities, he told me during a recent interview, that we have a serious problem.
]]>Battlefield Play4Free is unacceptable. The title, I mean. It looks like it should be some ramshackle shop that briefly appears on the road that runs behind the high street. The one with offers in the window written in pen, and a guy behind the counter with a recent prison tattoo on his knuckles. "Yeah, I can yet ya Battlefield. Nah, sorry, I only take cash."
However, that's what those shifty-looking sorts at EA and DICE have chosen for the second free-to-play incarnation of Battlefield, following on from the slightly disappointing (but highly populated) Heroes. All serious this time. There's a new trailer for it - a proper one, not some shaky cam footage - below.
]]>Who's excited about Battlefield Play4Free? I'm not, but only because as Ben Cousins, Senior Producer of EA Dice says, "It's much more aimed at a traditional First Person Shooter fan." Me? I like contemporary first person shooters. I like to scald myself by taking fat bites from the endless chili pepper of innovation. Battlefield: Even Better Destructible Terrain, that'd be the game for me.
Below you can watch the first in-game footage from Play4Free, as well as hear Cousins talk about what they're doing with the game, why they went free, and why that might be a pretty good idea.
]]>EA has announced Battlefield Play4Free, which will be released in Spring 2011 and will offer you guys Battlefield... for free! It's from the makers of Battlefield Heroes (which you can also play for free), will feature 32 player action and will combine "the most popular maps from Battlefield 2 with the familiar classes and powerful weapons of Battlefield: Bad Company™ 2."
Fighting will "earn in-game currency to spend on a massive array of devastating weapons and equipment." Are you ready for my guess? Here's my guess: You will be able to buy in-game currency with real money. Pow. A teaser trailer lies in the grubby foxhole below.
]]>EG report that Easy, developers of Battlefield Heroes, will be announcing a "completely new" Battlefield title this Friday. Easy's general manager also let it be known that the title won't be (a) Battlefield 3, or (b) Battlefield Assault, which is the name of a domain EA picked up recently.
]]>God, Battlefield 2142 takes a really long time to install. It takes an even longer time to patch (a good 20-odd minutes for the most recent one), which makes me shout "so exactly what is it that's so special about you?" at my supposedly super-fruity quad-core CPU. This rather complicated my plan to take a quick look at First Strike, an interesting and just-released Star Wars mod for DICE's most recent teamshooter. Awful name, of course, but: spaceships!
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