DICE preps for Bad Company 2 PS3 multiplayer beta

DICE today announced the upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company 2 multiplayer beta, which is apparently an exclusively on the PlayStation 3. Starting November 19, PlayStation 3 owners will be able to experience the multiplayer action, destruction, vehicular warfare, squad play and open sandbox environments that make up the Battlefield recipe.

In December of this year a PC open beta will launch and early in 2010 DICE plans to release the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 multiplayer DEMO on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will be in stores on March 2, 2010 in North America and March 5, 2010 in Europe for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the PC.

Those interested in signing up for the beta should visit www.battlefield.com for beta key distribution details.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Limited Edition detailed

DICE and EA today announced plans for a limited edition version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The Limited Edition game features six special gameplay unlocks that give players a tactical advantage on the battlefield. Available while supplies last, the Limited Edition version of the game will be sold at the same price as the standard version of the game with participating retailers in North America on March 2, 2010 and in Europe on March 5, 2010.

This content includes the four vehicle warfare unlocks and two weapon unlocks including improved vehicle armor that decreases the effect of both explosive and penetrating warheads, significantly improving vehicle survivability; additional weapon packages for all armored vehicles; a vehicle motion sensor; a tracer dart pistol for vehicle tracking; the M1A1 Submachine Gun; and the M1911 Pistol.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will be available on March 2, 2010 in North America for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the PC.

Indie Game Challenge deadline looms

Indie Game Challenge (IGC) officials are reminding game developers interested in entering this year’s challenge to submit their games right now. Eligibility to win one of two $100,000 cash prizes and a chance to pitch an independent game to top publishers is highly dependent on submissions being post-marked by October 31, 2009. Of the 12 finalist teams that will be chosen, two will be selected as grand prize winners. One professional team and one non-professional team will each be awarded $100,000. But what might be the most valuable prize is the opportunity for all 12 finalists to have face-to-face meetings with executives from publishers including Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, Capcom, Microsoft, NAMCO/Bandai, THQ and Ubisoft.

Previously developed games, as well as new games are eligible for entry as long as they have not been professionally published in accordance with the complete rules found at www.indiegamechallenge.com. This includes the eligibility of games previously submitted to other competitions, whether or not those games placed, and online or self-published games that appear in the Apple store.

Read the rest of this entry »

Battlefield Heroes - Heroes of the Fall update released

Recently DICE released the Heroes of the Fall update to Battlefield Heroes, adding a bunch of fixes, tweaks and even some new content. The new content includes a new map called Riverside Rush, new items and new bundles. Changes and tweaks include the ability to get a title at level 10, an end of round screen with more information, and tweaks to the keg, hero shield, frenzy and other skills work.

A full accounting of all the new stuff and the fixes (there are a lot of them) after the break:

Read the rest of this entry »

EA petitions against Edge Games trademarks

You know that term “the shoe’s on the other foot now?” I would imagine that means that your left or right shoe is now on your opposite foot and you are having trouble walking, keeping your balance and looking like a complete and utter fool. That is probably how Tim Langdell, former International Game Developers Association (IGDA) board member and litigious CEO of Edge Games, must feel right now. In case you don’t recall, Langdell is known best for using people over the use of the term “edge.”

Well according to a GamePolitics report, today Langdell’s company is facing a Consolidated Petition for Cancellation filed by Electronic Arts and its wholly-owned subsidiary EA Digital Illusions CE AB. The petition calls for the cancellation of such trademarks as “The Edge,” “Gamer’s Edge,” “Edge” and “Cutting Edge.” These - and no doubt other “edge” related trademarks - are registered to Edge Games.

EA’s argument is a solid one and its interest is mostly due to Edge Games’ attempts to sue it for Mirror’s Edge, which it has a common law trademark for. But it seems like EA wants to make a point here in its argument: that Langdell’s company doesn’t have the rights to the trademarks it owns, using an old Snoopy computer game with “The Edge” clearly on its packaging as an example. This old game was discontinued years before the filing of the application in 1996.

For those that have been sued by Edge Games, EA must seem almost saint-like.

Battlefield Heroes - two million strong and growing

Battlefield Heroes, EA and DICE’s “Play4Free” third-person shooter has managed to attract two million registered players. Battlefield Heroes is EA’s latest web-based free to download and play title which generates revenue through advertising and in-game item sales. To celebrate this milestone, on September 30, EA will release a free Heroes of the Fall update for the game, including a brand new map.

Starting today, EA is accepting names from fans for the new map at www.battlefieldheroes.com. Players can submit a proposed name for the soon-to-be released map, which could be selected by the Battlefield Heroes development team.

If you haven’t experienced Battlefield Heroes first-hand, I encourage you to, because it’s a pretty fun little game. Battlefield Heroes is rated “T” by the ESRB and “16+” by PEGI.

Battlefield 1943 PC pushed to 2010

Are you a PC-only gamer who longs to fight in the South Pacific like you brethren on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network ala Battlefield 1943? Well, you’ll have to wait until 2010, says developer DICE. In a recent interview with G4’s The Feed, DICE Producer Gordon Van Dyke said that the game will take a lot longer for the PC because there’s a lot of work to be done to make things just right for PC gamers. The features still being tweaked include server support, an increase in the number players above and beyond 32 per session, Voice over Internet support, and plenty of other PC specific features.

And on a related note, some sad news for Xbox Live and PlayStation Network players looking for some new maps and other content for the game: nothing is currently in development, according to a report on Joystiq - also quoting DICE Producer Gordon Van Dyke. Apparently a lot of resources are being put into Bad Company 2. DICE is, however, working on the squad-swapping bug, which it hopes can be dealt with by a server side fix.