THE OPEN BETA STARTS SEPTEMBER 29TH ON XBOX 360, PLAYSTATION 3, AND PC. THOSE THAT HAVE ALREADY PRE-ORDERED THE PC DIGITAL DOWNLOAD VERSION OF BATTLEFIELD 3 THROUGH ORIGIN OR OWN THE LIMITED/TIER 1 EDITION OF MEDAL OF HONOR FOR XBOX 360, PLAYSTATION 3 OR PC, WILL HAVE EARLY ACCESS STARTING ON SEPTEMBER 27TH. THE OPEN BETA ENDS ON OCTOBER 10TH.

WHAT ARE THE MINIMUM AND RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR PLAYING ON PC?

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

OS: WINDOWS VISTA (SERVICE PACK 2) 32-BIT
PROCESSOR: 2 GHZ DUAL CORE (CORE 2 DUO 2.4 GHZ OR ATHLON X2 2.7 GHZ)
MEMORY: 2 GB
HARD DRIVE: 20 GB
GRAPHICS CARD (AMD): DIRECTX 10.1 COMPATIBLE WITH 512 MB RAM (ATI RADEON 3000, 4000, 5000 OR 6000 SERIES, WITH ATI RADEON 3870 OR HIGHER PERFORMANCE)
GRAPHICS CARD (NVIDIA): DIRECTX 10.0 COMPATIBLE WITH 512 MB RAM (NVIDIA GEFORCE 8, 9, 200, 300, 400 OR 500 SERIES WITH NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800 GT OR HIGHER PERFORMANCE)
SOUND CARD: DIRECTX COMPATIBLE
KEYBOARD AND MOUSE
DVD ROM DRIVE

RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

OS: WINDOWS 7 64-BIT
PROCESSOR: QUAD-CORE CPU
MEMORY: 4 GB
HARD DRIVE: 20 GB
GRAPHICS CARD: DIRECTX 11 COMPATIBLE WITH 1024 MB RAM (NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 OR ATI RADEON 6950)
SOUND CARD: DIRECTX COMPATIBLE
KEYBOARD AND MOUSE
DVD ROM DRIVE

Head over to EA Origin and download the Demo today.

The NGRU will be making a strong showing back on the Battlefield with this installment.

Game Info

Battlefield 3 leaps ahead of its time with the power of Frostbite™ 2, the next instalment of DICE’s cutting-edge game engine. This state-of-the-art technology is the foundation on which Battlefield 3 is built, delivering enhanced visual quality, a grand sense of scale, massive destruction, dynamic audio and incredibly lifelike character animations. As bullets whiz by, walls crumble, and explosions throw you to the ground, the battlefield feels more alive and interactive than ever before. In Battlefield 3, players step into the role of the elite U.S. Marines where they will experience heart-pounding missions across diverse locations including Paris, Tehran and New York.

Frostbite 2 – Battlefield 3 introduces Frostbite 2, the incredible technology that takes animation, destruction, lighting, scale and audio to new heights. Built upon this powerful game engine, Battlefield 3 immerses players physically and emotionally to the world around them like never before.

Feel the Battle — Feel the impact of bullets and explosions, drag your fallen comrades into safety, and mount your weapon on almost any part of the terrain. Battlefield 3’s cutting edge animation, spectacular visuals and real as hell battle gameplay attack your senses and make you feel the visceral warrior’s experience like no other FPS.

Unparalleled Vehicle Warfare — The best online vehicle warfare experience gets even better with a fitting sonic boom as fighter jets headline an impressive lineup of land, air and sea vehicles. Other returning fan favourite features include 64 players for PC and prone.

Urban Combat — Take the fight to iconic and unexpected places in the USA, Middle East, and Europe including claustrophobic streets, metropolitan downtowns, and open, vehicle-friendly landscapes as you fight your way through the war of tomorrow.

source: BF home site

Players can also compete in 4-player teams in 2 exclusive squad-only game modes, fighting together to unlock exclusive team awards and achievements. Spawn on your squad to get straight into the action and use gadgets such as the tracer dart in conjunction with the RPG to devastating effect. Excellence in the battlefield is rewarded with an extensive range of pins, insignias and stars to unlock along with 50 dedicated ranks to achieve. Variety also extends into the range of customizable kits weapons and vehicles available. With 4 distinct character classes, dozens of weapons, several gadgets and specializations, players have over 15,000 kit variations to discover and master. Players will be able to fine-tune their preferred fighting style to give them the edge in combat.

All of these features combine to deliver spectacular and unpredictable action moments found nowhere else in a modern warfare experience. The game also sees the return of the “B” Company squad in a more mature and intense single player experience where the stakes are higher than ever.

March 2, 2010

IGN Source: http://pc.ign.com/articles/100/1002359p1.html

Piranha Games, in conjunction with Smith and Tinker Inc have acquired the rights from FASA Studios and Microsoft to produce and base games off of BattleTech’s MW franchise.

more details as they are released!

“============
Battlefield 2 Update v1.50
============
FEATURES
- Additional support for Windows Vista.
- Added Highway Tampa as a required map.
- Added a new map called Operation Blue Pearl.
- Added support for Widescreen resolutions
- Added support for the Novint Falcon controller – http://www.novint.com

GAMEPLAY TWEAKS
- Changes made to both the J10 and F35B to make them more balanced. Please note that the J10 is a superior dogfighter to the F35B and as such these two aircraft will never be equally matched.
- AA targeting tweaked to make it more effective.
- Added checks to prevent “runway grieving”.
- Various changes made to prevent cheating.
- Tweaked the hit detection, hits will be more accurate to the model
- Increased the time to go prone after jumping from 0.3 seconds to 0.7 seconds
- Fixed G36E HUD during sprinting to match other weapons.”

In another interview, the developer mentions that the third map will be Guadal Canal, and he says its his favorite. He says he didn’t like it in 1942, but now they’ve made some changes, and its now a “good blend of vehicle warfare, sniping, and infantry warfare”.

The teaser is fairly abstract and mostly comprised of sound. But judging from the sound… it ’sounds’ like this game is going to live up the the legacy of its predecessor.

The technology streams games directly to your system at lightning fast speeds.  This means many things:

• You’re system specs are irrelevant. You’re basically streaming an interactive high quality movie.  So no more upgrading.
• The game is saved on the servers, not your HD, so no more installing/updating/uninstalling etc.  Its all server side.
• No more trips to Walmart at midnight either…
• Platform is irrelevant.  You can play on PC or stream to your TV and use an XBOX-like controller.  Everyone’s playing the same game, together.
• You can play demos or rent games to try them out before you buy. No installs, just stream and try.
• System wide spectate that allows you to watch anyone, anywhere, in any game, whether you have it or not.  Watch a tourney or epic battle in a game you don’t even play.  Watch a friend play to see how the game works before you try it.
• And many more things…

Its all theory until its proven in the real market, but the creators are already backed by most of the largest developers such as EA, Activision, Ubi etc. and plan for a Winter 2009 release.

Watch the videos below for more info.