Battlefield 1943 on Xbox Live now, on PSN tomorrow

Written on July 8, 2009 at 12:18 pm, by James Fudge

DICE has released Battlefield 1943 on Xbox LIVE Marketplace today, with its PlayStation Network launching tomorrow - both for a mere $15. Battlefield 1943 is essentially a redux of the popular team-based large-scale warfare game, Battlefield 1942 for home consoles and Windows. The game features all the wonderful combat on foot, in the air and on land of the original, but with streamlined play for Xbox Live and PSN, re-imagined classic maps and overall polish to make it appealing to a modern audience.

Battlefield 1943 also introduces two new modes that allow up to 24 players to compete across four classic WWII Battlefield maps: Wake Island, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Coral Sea. These maps are inspired by the selfsame maps from the Battlefield 1942 game, but have been redesigned and reengineered using the DICE Frostbite engine allowing for more destructive environments and explosive situations. The free trial version will feature Wake Island and give players the freedom to choose from the full arsenal of weapons and vehicles on both sides of the battle, either the US Marines or Imperial Japanese Navy.

Another battleground, the Coral Sea map, will be unlocked as part of a worldwide community challenge, where players will work together to reach 43 million kills on both Xbox LIVE and the PlayStation Network. The official countdown begins on July 10, 2009 at 19:43 GMT.

Download the trial now on Xbox Live and get started or wait for it tomorrow on PSN. More info can be found at www.battlefield1943.com.

Bad Company 2, 1943 Revealed

Written on February 5, 2009 at 5:55 pm, by James Fudge

A double dose of Battlefield news from Electronic Arts and DICE today: a sequel to Bad Company and a multiplayer-only Battlefield are on the way. DICE announced Bad Company 2, the follow-up to the first story driven Battlefield game that followed the antics of B Company as they tried to get out of the hot zone while trying to make a buck or two.

The new game promises more destruction and vehicular combat in addition to the run-and-gun missions the first game offered. My hope is that DICE has learned some hard lessons from last year’s game; better squad AI that, enemy AI that doesn’t put a bullseye on the player’s head and destructible terrain that offers full scale destruction. I have faith that DICE is ready to “bring it” this winter when the game is released.

Prior to that release DICE will give players the multiplayer only Battlefield 1943. Fans of the very first game in the series will no doubt be delighted with a return to the series’ roots. Using the same Frostbite game engine as Bad Company 2, Battlefield 1943 brings players back to World War II for some team-based action as either the Axis or Allied Forces in such locations as Wake Island, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima - fighting by land, sea, and air using a variety of vehicles and familiar classes.

Anyone attending the New York Comic-con this weekend will be able to get a first look at Battlefield 1943 by visiting Booth #1441.

EA Opens Up Korean Dev Studio

Written on January 14, 2008 at 12:00 am, by David Chapman

Electronic Arts is expanding once again, this time establishing an online game development studio in Korea. An article in the Korean newspaper, the Chosun Ilbo, broke the news on Friday, stating that EA plans to set up a development studio within the year and create three or four new online games. According to the article, EA will invest more than $21 million.

EA is also looking to secure Korean game developers to lay the foundation for a future advance into the Asian market. Senior producer Danny Isaac will head the new studio.

The article quotes an unnamed source within EA as saying, The size of the studio hasn”t been decided yet. First we plan to recruit dozens of workers to develop the ”NBA Street” and ”Battle Field” online games, but if we have more applicants than expected we may increase the size of the studio and develop another game.