Battlefield 3

[shaft]

http://blogs.battlefield.ea.com/battlef ... eveal.aspx

• The 9 multiplayer maps in Battlefield 3 offer every style of gameplay from dense urban combat to all-out vehicle warfare on vast landscapes. Read on for the design ideas behind the multiplayer maps in Battlefield 3, straight from Niklas Åstrand, one of the level designers at DICE. The remaining maps will be revealed here on the blog tomorrow.
• OPERATION FIRESTORM
  
  WORKING TITLE> OILFIELDS
  DICE INTERNAL DESIGNATION> MP012
  SUPPORTED GAME MODES> ALL
  BRIEF> ALL-OUT DESERT WARFARE
  FICTION> U.S. AND RUSSIA LAUNCH LARGE-SCALE ASSAULTS TO CONTROL IRAN’S BIGGEST SOURCE OF OIL. SECURING THIS AREA WILL OFFER FULL CONTROL OF THE SECTOR AND ITS KEY FACILITIES.
  
  NIKLAS ÅSTRAND’S DESIGN THOUGHTS: One of our largest and most vehicle-friendly map, Operation Firestorm is the classic Battlefield gameplay taken to the extremes. Size-wise, and with some puzzle skills, you could actually place three Atacama Deserts -- one of the largest maps from Battlefield: Bad Company 2 -- within the playable area of Operation Firestorm. This is a wide-open desert map where the burning oil fields in one direction are contrasted by clear blue sky in the other direction. Construction sites dotting the area bring interesting possibilities for infantry to hide in elevated positions, spot vehicles, and take them down by mortar or RPG.
• OPERATION MÉTRO
  
  WORKING TITLE> METRO
  DICE INTERNAL DESIGNATION> MP015
  SUPPORTED GAME MODES> ALL
  BRIEF> INFANTRY FOCUSED COMBAT IN SUBWAY
  FICTION> HEAVY FIGHTING IS EXPECTED AS U.S. FORCES PUSH TO SECURE THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT IN CENTRAL PARIS. RUSSIAN ANTI-AIR EMPLACEMENTS IN CHARDONNAY PARK ARE LIKELY TO BE THE FIRST TARGET.
  
  NIKLAS ÅSTRAND’S DESIGN THOUGHTS: Operation Métro is the map from E3 and the Open Beta, so some of you are familiar with it already. It is a map that perfectly illustrates that we want to take our players on a journey. Especially in Rush, you can see how Operation Métro is almost three maps within one: You start out in a lush park, then move into a bombed-out section of the subway tunnels, to finally emerge in a dense urban environment outside the Paris stock exchange. It’s a map that asks you to constantly adapt your class and load out for the diverse situations you will find yourself in.
• TEHRAN HIGHWAY
  
  WORKING TITLE> HIGHWAY
  DICE INTERNAL DESIGNATION> MP003
  SUPPORTED GAME MODES> ALL
  BRIEF> INFANTRY FIGHTING IN TIGHT CITY STREETS
  FICTION> A FIGHT FOR CONTROL OF ACCESS ROUTES NEAR TEHRAN. U.S. FORCES MAKE A PUSH FROM THE HILLS UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS WHILE RUSSIANS HAVE SET UP DEFENSIVE POSITIONS ALONG THE MAIN ENTRANCE POINTS.
  
  NIKLAS ÅSTRAND’S DESIGN THOUGHTS: One of the inspirations for this map was a photo of a night time skyline of Tehran which now is basically the same vista that is available in the game. You start up on the hills above the city outskirts and eventually work your way into town. This atmospheric night-time map, where you can see rockets lighting up the sky, has a balanced mix between vehicle and infantry focus. It plays length-wise and starts semi-open with plenty of room for vehicles, but ends on a much more urban and tight note with less focus on vehicles and more on infantry.
• DAMAVAND PEAK
  
  WORKING TITLE> BASEJUMP
  DICE INTERNAL DESIGNATION> MP013
  SUPPORTED GAME MODES> ALL
  BRIEF> FIGHTING IN WINTER MOUNTAINS
  FICTION> A RUGGED MOUNTAIN AREA PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE IN DECIDING WHETHER RUSSIAN OR U.S. TROOPS ARE SUCCESSFUL IN COMBAT OPERATIONS IN THE SECTOR, AS THE AREA IS HOME TO KEY RADAR INSTALLATIONS.
  
  NIKLAS ÅSTRAND’S DESIGN THOUGHTS: Damavand Peak, internally known as Base Jump, is built on the idea that we want players to be able to base jump, and features our most extreme height differences ever in a Battlefield map. Attackers in Rush and Squad Rush will start high up on a mountain ridge above a mining facility. The only way down into the valley is to somehow make the 500 meter descent. The further the attackers progress in the map, the more vehicle warfare will be present. There is also a large tunnel section dug into the mountain side at the bottom of the map, and the view when you look up at the starting location is spectacular.

[Tsakali]

base jumping FTW

[andyman]

that last one looks awesome. preordered, btw

[phantasmagoria]

just ordered a 6970. Bring this shit on.

[shaft]

http://blogs.battlefield.ea.com/battlef ... rt-ii.aspx

• Ready to see the final five multiplayer maps included in Battlefield 3? We talked to the multiplayer team at DICE about the concept behind each map, and how they decided which maps made the cut into the final game.
• GRAND BAZAAR
  
  WORKING TITLE> BAZAAR
  DICE INTERNAL DESIGNATION> MP001
  SUPPORTED GAME MODES> ALL
  BRIEF> TIGHT URBAN COMBAT
  FICTION> THE BATTLE FOR CENTRAL TEHRAN HAS REACHED ITS SECOND WEEK, AND WHAT WAS EXPECTED TO BE OVER WITHIN DAYS NOW CONTINUES AS RUSSIAN AND U.S. FORCES CLASH FOR CONTROL OVER THIS ANCIENT CITY.
  
  DESIGN THOUGHTS> We knew we wanted to do something very urban in the city center of Tehran. The fiction has you coming in two weeks after fighting started, so the tight and narrowly built city has a great deal of destruction already when you spawn into the game. Grand Bazaar is a classically mirrored map where both sides have very similar pathways, sideways, and possibilities to traverse heights to get a better view of the action. It’s a very short range close quarter combat map where shotguns tend to be favored.
• CASPIAN BORDER
  
  WORKING TITLE> FOREST
  DICE INTERNAL DESIGNATION> MP007
  SUPPORTED GAME MODES> ALL
  BRIEF> VEHICLE WARFARE IN LARGE VALLEY
  FICTION> A RECON RUSSIAN FORCE HAS SET UP CAMP ON THE TURKMENISTAN SIDE OF THE IRANIAN BORDER AND PROCEEDED TO TAKE OVER THE HEAVILY BUILT UP BORDER CHECKPOINT.
  
  DESIGN THOUGHTS> Caspian Border was meant to encapsulate the classic Battlefield all-out vehicle warfare gameplay, and also to be a lush and green contrast to the more urban and desert maps in Battlefield 3. The border control splitting the map in two was introduced to add an interesting break both visually and gameplay wise in the otherwise beautiful and open landscape. Caspian Border is one of the obvious map choices if you are after the full vehicle experience, as base distances are generally too long to cover by foot. Pretty much every type of vehicle is available in this map.
• SEINE CROSSING
  
  WORKING TITLE> PARIS
  DICE INTERNAL DESIGNATION> MP011
  SUPPORTED GAME MODES> ALL
  BRIEF> VEHICLE/INFANTRY COMBAT IN DOWNTOWN PARIS
  FICTION> THE AMERICAN INVASION OF RUSSIAN OCCUPIED PARIS IS IN FULL MOTION. THE UPSCALE AREA IN THE 7TH DISTRICT OF PARIS SERVES AS THE BATTLEGROUND.
  
  DESIGN THOUGHTS> Seine Crossing has two sections of Paris split in the middle by the river Seine. Seine Crossing has a number of larger roads for vehicles to patrol, while infantry can sneak through tight alleyways and climb staircases to reach second or third levels inside buildings to reach a better tactical position – unless the enemy takes down the building facades. The final M-COM stations in Rush are placed inside a bank building, which is the largest indoor environments of this map and forces the attackers to slightly change tactics.
• NOSHAHR CANALS
  
  WORKING TITLE> CANALS
  DICE INTERNAL DESIGNATION> MP017
  SUPPORTED GAME MODES> ALL
  BRIEF> MIXED COMBAT IN INDUSTRIAL SETTING
  FICTION> U.S. MARINES LAUNCH A STRIKE ON A MAJOR HARBOR BY THE NOSHAHR CANALS ON THE IRANIAN COAST. THE STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT PORT ALLOWS FOR DEEP WATER VESSELS TO OFFLOAD ESSENTIAL MATERIALS.
  
  DESIGN THOUGHTS> When we set out to do Noshahr Canals, we wanted to contrast the urban and rural with something more industrial. So we set Noshahr Canals up as an industrial harbor, featuring a mix of infantry, land vehicle, and boat gameplay. The attackers in Rush start out on an carrier ship and can reach the beachhead by amphibious vehicles, boats, and helicopters. All of the bases on the map have an industrial theme but still have different styles, like a train yard, dry dock, or airfield. Compared with the larger vehicle maps in the game, this allows for tighter infantry combat.
• KHARG ISLAND
  
  WORKING TITLE> KHARG
  DICE INTERNAL DESIGNATION> MP018
  SUPPORTED GAME MODES> ALL
  BRIEF> AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT
  FICTION> KHARG ISLAND IS IRAN’S BIGGEST OIL EXPORT TERMINAL. IF THE U.S. CAN STAKE CONTROL OVER THIS ISLAND, IT WILL DENY THE RUSSIANS CRITICAL ACCESS TO IRANIAN OIL RESERVES.
  
  DESIGN THOUGHTS> Kharg Island is our second map with boat gameplay. Thematically it’s representing an assault against Kharg island in the Persian sea, an industrialized island not far from the Iranian coast. The map is slightly more focused on vehicles with longer distance between flags than for example Noshahar Canals. In the Rush game mode, the beach assault begins on the coastline with a well-defended beach you need to break through to create a beachhead for further attacks on the island, before it opens up wider in the later part of the map.
• THIS IS HOW WE DO IT
  Creating levels at DICE is a democratic affair, and a process that is ruled in equal amounts by art and gameplay design. This in order to not only get a balanced mix of gameplay variations in the game, but also a variety of visual impressions.
  
  At the start of the design process, the artists mocked up a number of creative briefs together with level designers Inge Jøran Holberg, Diego Jimenez and Niklas Åstrand. These briefs explain the gameplay type and idea, story and visual theme. Everyone on the Battlefield 3 development team was encouraged to vote for their favorites among the briefs and also add ideas of their own. From there, prototypes of the favorite levels were produced in so called “pods” -- pairs with a level designer and artist per map -- so the team could play them to see which ones were the most promising.
  
  Then, the team as a whole weighed the maps against one another to see which ones would make the most compelling and diverse package to ship the game with. We finally ended up with the 9 cherry-picked multiplayer maps you can read all about here today and in yesterday’s blog post. They’re the best of the best, the maps that shone the brightest in our playtests, and the ones that combined bring out everything we want both veteran and new Battlefield players to experience in Battlefield 3 multiplayer.
  
  
  Oh, and did you know there's a sand castle on one of our maps in Battlefield 3? This classic easter egg has been present in many Battlefield maps through the years. See if you can find it!
  
  THE COMPLETE BATTLEFIELD 3 MULTIPLAYER MAP LIST
  (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
  Caspian Border / Level Designer: Diego Jimenez
  Damavand Peak / Level Designer: Niklas Åstrand
  Grand Bazaar / Level Designer: Niklas Åstrand
  Kharg Island / Level Designer: Inge Jøran Holberg
  Noshahar Canals / Level Designer: Niklas Åstrand
  Operation Firestorm / Level Designer: Inge Jøran Holberg
  Operation Métro / Level Designer: Inge Jøran Holberg
  Seine Crossing / Level Designer: Diego Jimenez
  Tehran Highway / Level Designer: Niklas Åstrand

[andyman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geTOvrUVPTE

neat map, however watching someone play who absolutely SUCKS will make you want to pull your hair out

[shaft]

[Tsakali]

are these fags doing dx11 or what?

[shaft]

"if you have a DX11 card then yes tessellation (and more importantly: displacement mapping) is used for the terrain"
http://twitter.com/#!/repi/status/126457093413814273

[Tsakali]

better than nothing

[andyman]

that basejump part looks awesome

[reefsurfer]

Holy crap!
Pre-ordered since ages back.. i can't wait til next thursday (U.S get's it 2 days ahead of Europe)

[andyman]

Got the mixamp hooked up... it's pretty sweet. Not the greatest quality but it did come with every cable/adapter I would need. It's plugged in to the computer, so I can listen to music from that while in the game on xbox (via optical/dolby digital) and supports pc headphones (using the siberia v2). battlefield is gonna be awesome

[shaft]

Astro mixamps are the shit

[andyman]

I like the game/voice dial. it also controls the mix on the feed from the computer. Although anything over half volume on the main volume knob creates static, albeit very light static that can only be heard when nothing is playing.
The beta sounded really really good on war tapes mode as well as the others, even though it was buggy. super duper surround sound ftw

[Tsakali]

you morons know about this?

"Battlefield 3 on 360 is 'standard def' without HDD install"
http://www.shacknews.com/article/70701/ ... dd-install

[andyman]

wonder hos big the game is... i still have the original hard drive

[shaft]

i have zero static on mine, first gen mixamp pro. maybe you should exchange it.
Some people suggest putting batteries in it even if you arent using them.

[Eraser]

Battlefield 4 trailer

[shaft]

reviews are coming in. mediocre sp, great mp.

[scared?]

can u bind keys in final version or is that dlc?...

[andyman]

can u bind keys in final version or is that dlc?...

nope, you're screwed

[shaft]

Last day to preorder and get the Karkand expansion ($15) for free.

[MKJ]

ic

[shaft]

NVIDIA released their 285.62 drivers today, which have many Battlefield 3 performance enhancements as well as a new 3d Vision game profile.

http://planetbattlefield.gamespy.com/fu ... ?id=165591