BF3 is coming????

[oldrocker]

http://www.kombo.com/articles/Battlefield_3_PC_Details_Emerge/

Recent comments from DICE following Battlefield 3’s announcement are starting to paint the PC version of the game as a slightly different beast from the console versions. This may alleviate the fears of some long time Battlefield fans.

Posts and interviews from the developer have shed light on how DICE intends to use the hardware of each platform to push Battlefield 3 as far as they can. This is especially true in how they are further optimizing Battlefield’s latest engine for the PC.

Even though Battlefield 1943 and the Bad Company games have recently helped the franchise make inroads to the console space, many still see Battlefield as mainly a PC game. Because of this, fans of Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2 became worried when DICE announced Battlefield 3 for consoles as well as PC that the game would be technologically dumbed down for consoles.

Battlefield 3 will be the first full-fledged Battlefield game on consoles. The last console attempt – Battlefield 2 Modern Combat was a completely different (and many say inferior) game.

Bad Company 2 – the sequel to the console-only Bad Company, was the first time DICE used their new Frostbite engine on the PC, and they weren’t able to take full advantage of the more powerful hardware. One result of that for example (along with the bandwidth of console online networks) was the lower maximum player count compared to Battlefield 2. DICE is working to fix these shortcomings in Battlefield 3.



The next major entry in the franchise will mark the debut of the Frostbite 2.0 engine. According to tweets from DICE they are basing it from the ground up on DirectX 11. It won’t support DirectX 9 on PC and therefore won’t run on Windows XP.

A lengthy interview between a DICE rendering architect and AMD has revealed much of the raw tech behind what DICE is doing with Frostbite 2 on DX11. It sounds like Battlefield 3 visually on PC will be a sizable leap over Bad Company 2.

Furthermore, DICE has hinted that they want to adjust Battlefield 3’s multiplayer player count from that of Bad Company 2. "For Battlefield it's bandwidth; we are bandwidth capped on the consoles,” said senior game designer Alan Kertz to a fan inquiring about Bad Company 2’s lowered player count. “For PC, I'd like to get back to big scale 64 player,” he said in regards to Battlefield 3.

If that happens, it wouldn’t be the first time a multiplayer game has had different player caps for consoles and PC. Bad Company 2 allowed a maximum of 24 players on consoles and 32 on PC – Battlefield 2 allowed for 64 players. Other games like Call of Duty 4 allow matches with up to and more than 32 players on PC while the console versions are always limited to 16 players.

The most mysterious part about Battlefield 3 is probably what DICE is doing for the console versions.

http://www.ea.com/1/beta

Get Access to the Battlefield 3 Beta

Want to be among the first to get hands-on with Battlefield 3? If you own Medal of Honor Limited Edition you will receive an invitation to the Battlefield 3 beta within 12-months following the release of Medal of Honor.

Medal of Honor Limited Edition features other special content out-of-the-box including the MP-7, a weapon utilized by real-world Tier 1 Operators in the field. With its light weight, high rate of fire as well as its ability to penetrate body armor, the MP-7 handles like a pistol yet allows targets to be engaged like a rifle.