Battlefield: Bad Company - Gen. Discussion & Info

I just got my hands on 100 codes for the Battlefield Bad Company beta that kicked off this week. I was going to give them away all in one shot, but to make it fair for people that don’t visit the blog every hour of every day here is what I am going to do: I am going to award 10 codes a day for the next 10 days. Since the beta will run until April 25th, that should everyone plenty of time to get in on the action.

How do you win? Simply send me an email (major at Xbox-dot-com) with BFBC Beta in the subject line and include your gamertag in the body of the email. Each day, I’ll choose 10 random emails and reply with a code to get you on the battlefield. No need to send me a new email every day. One entry is enough to be put into the running for the length of the contest. This opportunity is open to everyone who has Xbox LIVE. I’ll start sending out emails with codes tomorrow…Good luck!
P.S.You’ll need to have a gold membership to participate in the beta program.

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EA DICE announced today the multiplayer beta test for the upcoming Xbox 360 title Battlefield: Bad Company. To get yourself a chance to score a key, head over to Fileplanet's sign up page. Beginning March 25th, those who have secured a key will be able through their Xbox Live Gold accounts to go onto EA’s dedicated servers and battle with other beta testers In the brand new “Gold Rush” multiplayer mode, featuring two new maps, a host of new weapons and vehicles and all the unique tactical destruction you can handle. Also be sure to stay tuned to TeamXbox, as we will also have a set of our own keys that we will be giving away as well.

The new “Gold Rush” multiplayer mode that gamers in the beta test will get to put through its paces is an entirely new type of team-based multiplayer action. Split into two teams, attackers and defenders, players must either destroy or protect special gold crates by getting close enough to them to place a special explosive charge or by getting enough bullets pumped into them to destroy them. Destroying sets of crates gives a boost to an attacking team’s reinforcement pool and opens a new area of the map. Defenders must prevent this, and kill off all the attackers’ reinforcements before they can open crates and get more to the field. Once all of the crates are destroyed or all of the attackers reinforcements are depleted, it’s round over.

There will be two maps available to gamers on the beta test. The first, Ascension, is set in a mountaintop village, where attackers and defenders square off in close quarters combat as they fight from house to house and yard to yard through the small hamlet and up into the twisting, dark confines of an old, imposing monastery. The other is Oasis, and it’s a notably different kind of experience. The wide open expanses of a flooded desert valley will give player the chance to really play around with the game’s vehicles, including tanks, helicopters and boats, before ending culminating in a more claustrophobic-feeling city full of tight alleys. Both maps feature destructible environments that allow teams to create new and unexpected routes to the crates, giving the game a new and unique element to the tactical strategy of the game.

Even though the “Gold Rush” mode is an entirely new way to play, gamers familiar with the franchise should feel well at home with the trademark style Battlefield gameplay. Vehicles are abundant, and anyone can use them, but team coordination is still the best way to get the maximum amount of use out of them. So don’t just bogart that patrol boat sitting there, grab a couple gunners, maybe a water skier or two (we wish) and roll deep. Same goes for vehicles like the tanks and helicopters – always a better idea with a buddy or two aboard. There will also be artillery units in the game, though their use will be limited to the early assault phases to keep the gameplay in balance

There will again be classes, like support and assault, each with its own customizable weapon load outs and special tools. Some of those new tools and abilities will be on display in the beta including the tracer dart pistol used by the specialist class, which when used to tag an enemy unit will then serve as a homing beacon for guided missiles launched by the demolitions class. You’ll also be able to call in highly deadly mortar strikes on infantry, shredding them and any nearby buildings. Another handy aid will be the motion sensor deployed by your recon units, illuminating enemy units to your entire team within its sensing radius for a limited time. Once again, coordination is key to using these tools effectively.

In our line of work, we often get to play games ahead of the public. That’s so we can tell you if they are awesome enough to warrant your attention (that pretty much sums up the video game media’s job right there, doesn’t it?) So it’s nice to see EA and Battlefield developer EA DICE open up the fun to the regular paying customers for a change. But this is serious business, and EA DICE needs your help stress testing their servers, finding exploits in the game’s balance and basically showing them what people think is fun or not. So what are you waiting for? Get over to Fileplanet now to sign up for a chance at one of the many thousands of beta keys now. And if you can’t get in, don’t fret. TeamXbox will be giving some keys away ourselves in the near future, so stay tuned to this site.

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Battlefield Delayed
Bad Company pushed back to sometime in 2008.
by Jeff Haynes


January 23, 2008 - Looks like fans will have to wait a little bit longer to be part of Battlefield: Bad Company. The upcoming title, which focuses on a squad of renegade soldiers who are seeking gold and revenge behind enemy lines was originally scheduled to be released in March. However, according to a recent email sent out by Electronic Arts, the DICE FPS has slipped from its early 2008 ship date to a general 2008 release date. We contacted Electronic Arts but were not able to receive a comment as to why the game had been pushed back. We'll make sure to keep everyone informed as soon as we find out when the game has a firm date.

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The story begins in the near future. There's a war going on, but Bad Company isn't about the war. That's just a backdrop. Bad Company is about the soldiers on the ground. Specifically, it's about the four that comprise the B company that gives this game its name. These aren't your typical game heroes.

The company of four has spotted a truck carrying gold. In true Three Kings style, one of the inspirations for the game, the squad goes AWOL and decides that Uncle Sam doesn't pay enough for them to ignore this potential windfall. The level we played picked up with the group chasing the truck as it crosses the border into a neutral country. Orders from above tell them they can't cross the border, but those sorts of commands don't matter much to this unit.

The way specific mission objects are laid out is with markers telling you where the next rally point is. Rather than telling you how to get from point A to point B, Bad Company simply tells you to get there in one piece. With numerous vehicles and weapon kits at your disposal, the options for how you choose to tackle a situation are virtually endless.

....

Destructible environments have been done before. Company of Heroes on PC had physics based destruction, but it was an RTS. Red Faction had a good amount of the environment that could be blown to bits, but some surfaces were indestructible. Other first person shooters had similar features, but many of the explosions were pre-determined animations. For Bad Company, we didn't find a single thing we couldn't blow up.

Grenades tossed into a grassy field wipe out the underbrush, blacken the earth, and leave a small pocket in the ground where the blast went off. Buildings, walls, fences, statues, huts, vehicles, trees, and everything else we came across could be taken down with the right amount of firepower. Hitting a building with a rocket will send out a shockwave that shatters all of the windows as a hole gets blown out of the area where you hit it. Snipers can't hide in windows and pick you off from cover because the walls in front of them can be destroyed with a blast from a tank or a well placed explosive. Mortar strikes will level whatever they hit.

...

Unlike Battlefield: Modern Combat, Bad Company is staying true to the type of Battlefield that PC gamers have enjoyed for years. That means the hotswapping, directed missions, and challenge structure that Modern Combat sported will be out of sight and out of mind. As you can see by the above description, the single player game is just as much of a sandbox as the multiplayer game has traditionally been. The levels are huge with specific missions only having boundaries that encompass a small portion of the region. Shaders are stressed over highly detailed textures so that the constantly changing environment can realistically change in appearance. The goal, though, is to create a story driven experience that brings to life a real person rather than a traditional super soldier, with a bit of lighthearted humor tossed in for good measure.

If you're a Battlefield fan, you may be wondering what the fuss is over a single player game. That isn't what the series has traditionally been about. DICE isn't looking to ignore the online game. Instead, it is expanding the game in an attempt to draw in new players that don't see a multiplayer focused game as worth picking up. We were assured that everything we saw for the single player game would exist in the 24 player online modes.

Battlefield: Bad Company will ship for the PS3 and Xbox 360 simultaneously, but don't expect it to hit shelves soon. Bad Company won't be out until sometime in 2008.

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​

EA today announced the upcoming release of Battlefield: Bad Company on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Series developer Digital Illusions is once again at the helm for Bad Company, and is building the title from the ground up specifically for the next-gen consoles.

While previous Battlefield games have focused heavily on multiplayer action, it seems Bad Company will turn its attention to solo gamers. EA is promising a "deep, cinematic single-player experience" with a mix of action and dark humor. Players will assume control of a squad of renegade soldiers and infiltrate enemy territory to obtain riches as well as revenge. The carnage that ensues will take its toll on the environments as well, as 90 percent of the levels will be destructible.
Fans of online fragfests needn't worry. EA has said that the game will still sport "a full suite" of multiplayer modes familiar to fans of the series. Battlefield: Bad Company is slated for a 2007 release.

​

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6156101.html

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EA have been keen to emphasize that they are hoping to deliver the best single player campaign yet, whilst also maintaining the very high standards set online by previous titles in the franchise. EA have also reassured us that Bad Company is an all new title, and not a re-naming of the next PC Battlefield game, 2142. But besides these scraps of info, there is very little in the way of confirmed details available right now, with EA promising to furnish us with the whole 9 yards soon.
http://www.oxm.co.uk/articles/news/1st_person/ea_confirm_next-gen_battlefield_sequel!

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EA has said that the game will still sport "a full suite" of multiplayer modes familiar to fans of the series.

Click to expand...

EA today announced the upcoming release of Battlefield: Bad Company on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Series developer Digital Illusions is once again at the helm for Bad Company, and is building the title from the ground up specifically for the next-gen consoles.

Click to expand...

The story begins in the near future. There's a war going on, but Bad Company isn't about the war. That's just a backdrop. Bad Company is about the soldiers on the ground. Specifically, it's about the four that comprise the B company that gives this game its name. These aren't your typical game heroes.

The company of four has spotted a truck carrying gold. In true Three Kings style, one of the inspirations for the game, the squad goes AWOL and decides that Uncle Sam doesn't pay enough for them to ignore this potential windfall. The level we played picked up with the group chasing the truck as it crosses the border into a neutral country. Orders from above tell them they can't cross the border, but those sorts of commands don't matter much to this unit.

The way specific mission objects are laid out is with markers telling you where the next rally point is. Rather than telling you how to get from point A to point B, Bad Company simply tells you to get there in one piece. With numerous vehicles and weapon kits at your disposal, the options for how you choose to tackle a situation are virtually endless.

....

Destructible environments have been done before. Company of Heroes on PC had physics based destruction, but it was an RTS. Red Faction had a good amount of the environment that could be blown to bits, but some surfaces were indestructible. Other first person shooters had similar features, but many of the explosions were pre-determined animations. For Bad Company, we didn't find a single thing we couldn't blow up.

Grenades tossed into a grassy field wipe out the underbrush, blacken the earth, and leave a small pocket in the ground where the blast went off. Buildings, walls, fences, statues, huts, vehicles, trees, and everything else we came across could be taken down with the right amount of firepower. Hitting a building with a rocket will send out a shockwave that shatters all of the windows as a hole gets blown out of the area where you hit it. Snipers can't hide in windows and pick you off from cover because the walls in front of them can be destroyed with a blast from a tank or a well placed explosive. Mortar strikes will level whatever they hit.

...

Unlike Battlefield: Modern Combat, Bad Company is staying true to the type of Battlefield that PC gamers have enjoyed for years. That means the hotswapping, directed missions, and challenge structure that Modern Combat sported will be out of sight and out of mind. As you can see by the above description, the single player game is just as much of a sandbox as the multiplayer game has traditionally been. The levels are huge with specific missions only having boundaries that encompass a small portion of the region. Shaders are stressed over highly detailed textures so that the constantly changing environment can realistically change in appearance. The goal, though, is to create a story driven experience that brings to life a real person rather than a traditional super soldier, with a bit of lighthearted humor tossed in for good measure.

If you're a Battlefield fan, you may be wondering what the fuss is over a single player game. That isn't what the series has traditionally been about. DICE isn't looking to ignore the online game. Instead, it is expanding the game in an attempt to draw in new players that don't see a multiplayer focused game as worth picking up. We were assured that everything we saw for the single player game would exist in the 24 player online modes.

Battlefield: Bad Company will ship for the PS3 and Xbox 360 simultaneously, but don't expect it to hit shelves soon. Bad Company won't be out until sometime in 2008.

Click to expand...