Brief Look at Bad Company's Conquest Mode

Earlier this morning Fahey filled us in on Bad Company's upcoming conquest mode which you can download later this week. In this video EA Dice Producer Gordon Van Dyke illustrates what you can expect. It marks a return to very a familiar style of gameplay for those who are veterans of the Battlefield series. Best of all it's coming to you free of charge!

Battlefield Heroes Not Coming This Summer

EA's gritty, nay, visceral take on free-to-play modern combat - Battlefield Heroes - was originally slated to appear over the Summer. Thing is, Summer's already here, so what gives EA, you holding out on us? Oh, it's been delayed? Right. Noted. The announcement came during EA's conference call yesterday, with the promised addition of new "social networking features" meaning it's being held back until the end of the year. In the mean time, we've never seen this screen before, showing the game's "bad guys". Cartoon Nazis or the Max Headroom Army? You be the judge.

The Magical Disappearing Battlefield: Bad Company Stats

Battlefield: Bad Company players around the world just about had a heart attack last night as they logged onto the game to discover their ranks, unlocks, and medals had all been completely reset. Purchasers of the Gold Edition of the game even found that their five very special guns they got for paying an extra $10 had disappeared. Oh no! What are we to do when our stats are erased!?

In the words of the greatest literary mind of our time, don't panic.

My stats were down last night as well, and when I logged into the game just a half hour ago, everything was back to normal. This was an issue that occured on a regular basis with Battlefield 2, and we can probably assume that it will happen on and off with Bad Company as well. The servers go down, and when they come back up it takes time for all of the stats to return. You didn't really think EA DICE would screw up that big, did you?

I've always been of two minds regarding EA DICE's Battlefield series. While I've enjoyed countless hours finding creative ways to destroy my fellow players in gigantic military conflicts, overall the games lacked a certain charisma. The sort of personality and immersion that can only come from having experienced a compelling backstory to the conflict you're involved in. Just like the Metal Gear Online experience is enhanced by playing through MGS4, Battlefield needed a story mode to add a little life to the party.

Battlefield: Bad Company addresses just that issue, adding a full single-player experience to the Battlefield series, complete with colorful characters and questionable moral choices on top of the usual multiplayer mayhem. It's uncharted waters for EA DICE – lets see if they sink or swim.

EA DICE's Battlefield series has been providing PC gamers (and eventually console owners) with solid, entertaining online multiplayer battles for a good six years now. Now that they've proven they can deliver the multiplayer goods they've taken on the single player experience with Battlefield: Bad Company, seeking to provide an offline story mode that is every bit as compelling to the solo-player as the massive multiplayer battles are to the more competitive gamer.

Has EA DICE managed to provide a combination of solo and multiplayer experiences worthy of your gaming dollar, or has the mixed focus resulted in mix review scores? The critics arm themselves after the jump.

Can Too Much Hype For Good Games Kill The Buzz?

I got a call from an Electronic Arts representative yesterday asking me about my coverage plans for Battlefield: Bad Company. I'm busy, and, right now I don't have any.

Honestly, it's possible that seeing so much of the game at so many press events played a part in that.

I try to be curious about everything, but seeing a game — even a good one — so many times can kill the buzz for me.

I've heard other reporters say the same thing about the long-hyped Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway. To be fair, I'd grown weary of the many Spore demos, but I've re-warmed to the game after recent showings (two private demos in the last month — I'm not bragging, just making a point about how it gets around to the press.)

On the other hand, I was asked by a Microsoft representative yesterday what I was most interested in seeing at E3. I said, from a reporter's standpoint: Nintendo's line-up. Because I don't know anything about it.

Nintendo's been shortening its hype cycle. Some developers have called for a shortened cycle too. We gaming reporters certainly need to ask ourselves if long hype cycles are affecting our coverage. My question is if it's affecting gamers as well.

Would you rather know about a game for a shorter period of time?

Yeah, there are two Battlefield games on the way. that we know of. Battlefield Heroes and Battlefield Bad Company. So that's enough, right? EA's and DICE's whistles are well and truly wet, right? No. No, no, not even close. Speaking at GDC paris yesterday, DICE's Ben Cousens has said that the company are working on a further three Battlefield titles. One is a "core game" for consoles. One is a secret. The other is a collaboration with Korean company Neowiz, targeted at the region's online market. That's, you know. Five Battlefield games in development. Never let it be said EA don't know how to make the most of a franchise.

DICE confirms five Battlefield titles in development [GI.biz]

netGameRadio's Inside Battlefield show spoke to
John Hargelid of Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment (the developer behind Battlefield 2), and he dropped word that a new Battlefield 2 patch is coming, and it will include a new map pack with the update. An official announcement is set for Monday.

It's a lengthy podcast. The comment It's at timestamp 37:22 if you want to hear it for yourself. netGameRadio is suspender-popping proud at all the attention this has earned, but all that attention has put a whammy on its servers.

The entire podcast can be retrieved from TotalGamingNetwork, too.

The Inside Battlefield Show [netGameRadio via TotalGamingNetwork

Bad Company Now Spoofs Gears, Rainbow Six

Fresh off a sendup of Metal Gear come two more amusing trailers flacking Battlefield: Bad Company. One (above) cracks on Gears of War's haunting "Mad World" campaign. The second (below, after the jump) goes after Rainbow Six.

Battlefield: Bad Company Mocks Metal Gear

The promised demo of Battlefield : Bad Company is now live on Xbox Live, alongside a demo of Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution, giving gamers a lovely choice between creating and destroying. The Bad Company demo comes in both single and multiplayer flavors, with the single player giving you a taste of story-driven sandbox gameplay, while the multiplayer portion lets the more competitive among us battle it out in the objective based Gold Rush mode of the game.

The Civilization Revolution demo also contains both multiplayer and single player gameplay, and while I am no expert I am going to go out on a limb and say there is some civilization building going on.

Both demos weigh in on the hefty side, with Battlefield at 1.5 GB and Civ at a slightly more modest 1.25 GB. Enjoy!

Demo: Battlefield: Bad Company [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]
Demo Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution [Same Guy]

Is the gritty realism of Battlefield: Bad Company not your particular cup of tea? Chris over at EvoGamer shares with us the website where you can sign up for the beta test of EA's cartoony alternative, Battlefield Heroes. Of course the main game will be free when it comes out, but it always helps to get a leg up on the competition while keeping an eye out for bugs you can keep to yourself and exploit at a later date.

Hit the link below to sign up, and be sure to read through the entire exhaustive agreeement before putting your name to it, as that is the responsible thing to do.

Skim away!
Battlefield Heroes Beta Sign Up Page [QABoss via EvoGamer]

Before the whole shebang took off last night and Electronic Arts kicked off their Spring Break Games Day, I managed to sneak my way onto a computer loaded up with Battlefield Heroes to check out a bit of gameplay and mess around with the game's interesting customization settings.

DICE's free-to-play upcoming shooter features Team Fortress 2-like graphics and a definite Battlefield Lite feel, but what really captured my interest was the game's use of customization.

New Commando 3: Wolf of the Battlefield Footage Is Shootalicious

The best thing about Commando 3: Wolf of the Battlefield isn't the demo for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix—god those are some verbose game titles—it's the ability to shoot lots and lots and lots of things. The sequel to Commando and Mercs is coming to Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network soon (we hope). Let's revisit Forgotten Worlds soon too, Capcom. Please?

Bad Company Gets More Free DLC