EA Confirms Fixes to Battlefield 3 Bugs After Blackout Threats
EA showcases over 200 planned fixes to Battlefield 3′s multiplayer, right after the threat of a blackout from its userbase.
Battlefield 3
Players: 1 Offline player, 32(64-PC) Players Online
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genres: First-person Shooter
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genres: First-person Shooter
Release Date: October 25, 2011
Developer: EA Digital Illusions CE
MSRP: $59.99
Developer: EA Digital Illusions CE
MSRP: $59.99
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.
Battlefield 3 Beta a Month Old Build
Posted By Johnny Maloney about 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Wherever players are falling through the world… we’ll find them.
After getting access to the Battlefield 3 Open Beta, I’ve been approached by a lot of my friends asking if I plan on picking up the game, given the state of the beta. I try to find the words (despite my dislike of the Battlelog website system) to remind them that rather than the occasional “beta” that doubles as advertising we’re used to seeing in games, DiCE appear to be taking their beta seriously, and using it to eliminate bugs. DICE general manager, Karl Magnus Troedsson has said just that.
In a post made to the Battleblog yesterday, Troedsson lays bare that the purpose behind the open beta is to test “the new back end dedicated server structure we’ve built. Not only have we built a new game engine, but an entirely new back end system so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of dedicated servers on all platforms.” Troedsson even confesses that the software we’re playing in the open beta is a month old build of the game.
He also admits that they’re seeing six times the numbers of participants in the Battlefield 3 open beta in comparison to the Bad Company 2 beta, cementing the idea that an open beta was a necessary act to release a functional game. “The fact that Battlefield 3 is clearly our biggest game launch ever by a magnitude of 6 makes it doubly important to test everything,” he adds. With 21 days until the predicted release date, it may well be enough time to finalize a proper build if the open beta is already a month behind. Does this come as good news to you, or have you already made your purchase decision based on your first sky walk?
Source: Battleblog
Three British Idiots Play Battlefield 3 Beta (Wez, Larry & Ian)
Wez, Larry and Ian glitch their way through the Battlefield 3 Beta in this very funny video!
Battlefield 3 Video Review - ZGR
Is Battlefield 3 the next best shooter? Daniel from ZGR gives you his thoughts!
Battlefield 3 Review (PC)
In one of the only examples ever where Frostbite sends Johnny somewhere he'd wind up getting sand in his crotch, his charged task of reviewing Battlefield 3 is now complete. By reading it, you'll be taking part in the initial stages of "Operation Sugar Pants!"
Angry Joe Plays Battlefield 3
Angry Joe and Johnny M. of Blistered Thumbs tackle BF3's Cooperative missions together while discussing this highly anticipated FPS heavyweight!
Sage Reviews: Battlefield 3
Battlefield may have beaten Call of Duty to the punch, but does that mean it's any good?
First Look at Battlefield 3 "Back to Karkand" Vehicles
A STOVL fighter jet, a desert buggy, an APC, and a… bulldozer?
Battlefield 3 Angry Review
Angry Joe gives the final word on Battlefield 3. How much does it improve upon
Sage Reviews: Battlefield 3
Battlefield may have beaten Call of Duty to the punch, but does that mean it’s any good?
Angry Joe Plays Battlefield 3
Angry Joe and Johnny M. of Blistered Thumbs tackle BF3′s Cooperative missions together while discussing this highly anticipated FPS heavyweight!
Battlefield 3 Review (PC)
In one of the only examples ever where Frostbite sends Johnny somewhere he’d wind up getting sand in his crotch, his charged task of reviewing Battlefield 3 is now complete. By reading it, you’ll be taking part in the initial stages of “Operation Sugar Pants!”
Battlefield 3 Video Review - ZGR
Is Battlefield 3 the next best shooter? Daniel from ZGR gives you his thoughts!
EA Confirms Fixes to Battlefield 3 Bugs After Blackout Threats
EA showcases over 200 planned fixes to Battlefield 3′s multiplayer, right after the threat of a blackout from its userbase.
First Look at Battlefield 3 "Back to Karkand" Vehicles
A STOVL fighter jet, a desert buggy, an APC, and a… bulldozer?
Battlefield 3 Angry Review
Angry Joe gives the final word on Battlefield 3. How much does it improve upon
Sage Reviews: Battlefield 3
Battlefield may have beaten Call of Duty to the punch, but does that mean it’s any good?
Angry Joe Plays Battlefield 3
Angry Joe and Johnny M. of Blistered Thumbs tackle BF3′s Cooperative missions together while discussing this highly anticipated FPS heavyweight!
Battlefield 3 Review (PC)
In one of the only examples ever where Frostbite sends Johnny somewhere he’d wind up getting sand in his crotch, his charged task of reviewing Battlefield 3 is now complete. By reading it, you’ll be taking part in the initial stages of “Operation Sugar Pants!”
Battlefield 3 Video Review - ZGR
Is Battlefield 3 the next best shooter? Daniel from ZGR gives you his thoughts!
Battlefield 3 Review (PC)
Posted By Johnny Maloney about 6 months, 3 weeks ago
Battlefield 3 Review (PC)
Battlefield 1942 marked a turning point for my online gaming. Not in the sense that I started to play online with larger groups of people on larger maps, rather that I continued to play online with the same small group of people and just discovered there were more ways to arse around in Battlefield 1942 than in your regular first person shooter. “A first person shooter that lets me fly a twin engine bomber over enemy lines just so I can jump out, wreck the plane, and get shot in the face on my way down? That sounds like a great way to spend a hundred hours!” As the saying goes, that was then and this is now, and Battlefield has had more than just a few incarnations of actual wars, future wars, and the scaaaaaaaary wars that could be happening RIGHT NOW!! Perhaps not that scary, but everybody’s been giving me grief about not getting in the Halloween spirit. Battlefield 3 now marks Electronic Arts’ latest entry into the series, with the lofty goal of toppling “the (apparently) most anticipated game ever” of Modern Warfare off whatever decadent throne it now sits atop.
| PROS | It’s gorgeous, it sounds amazing, its variety, FROSTBITE 2! |
| CONS | Short campaign, some weird AI paths, PC specific functionality problems |
| WTF?! | I swear I’ve seen THAT guy in Transformers. |
He’s been in 24, CSI and Bones as well.
No, seriously… I’ve seen that guy in Transformers. What’s even stranger, is that he’s also going to be in Modern Warfare 3 – what a racket! There’s even a fighter pilot that bears a strange resemblance to Michael J. Fox. That’s all immaterial however, we’re here to talk about the game.
Battlefield 3 is a game about shooting people with a variety of weapons. Got that? Good. Roll credits!
Now that’s out of the way, let’s dig out the core. Describing the gameplay of Battlefield 3 in detail is a fairly pointless affair, because if you’ve played any other multiplayer Battlefield game, you’ve played something quite similar to this. That’s not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but it pretty much primes you for what you can expect: conquest, rush, and a variety of deathmatch options in a variety of climate regions, with vehicles, a cavalcade of unlockable items, awards, badges, dogtags to collect, perks, and so on. A change or two has been made, such as the amalgamation of the medic class into the assault class, starting you out with medic packs and unlocking defibrillator paddles in what I think was the first rank advancement. PC players too are witness to the return of jets, as well as the 64 player conquest maps which can get pretty hectic (so long as you’re not walking everywhere).
Even if you did decide to walk everywhere, aesthetes would certainly enjoy themselves most of the time. Right out of the gate, it’s pretty obvious that this is one of, if not the, best looking game to hit the market this year. Previously I had awarded that honor to CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 2, but some of the sprawling outdoor areas throw my admiration for it and other open world army games like ARMA II under the truck, run it over several times, and rub broken glass in its face, all before I remember that I loved ARMA II as a game before I could make her pretty. (I still love you baby… we’re a team, you an’ me!) While good looking however, Battlefield 3 does adhere to a strange habit games appear to be taking these days, in that it’s not necessarily trying to look more realistic, rather than how people perceive war as “realistic” through pop culture. The strangest example of this here to me is the grit and dust on the screen that in any real situation would likely cause a horrible conjunctivitis infection doesn’t seem to bother anybody. It’s still an impressive graphic effect, obviously taken from camera effects in movies and TV, but I screw my eyes up in confusion sometimes, wondering why it’s there.
I do believe somebody should have taken that left turn at Albequerque.
These excellent visuals are brilliantly punctuated by immaculate sound design. The distant snap sounds of guns change incrementally the closer you get to them, echoes ringing in valleys pour through the speakers, and the delays between firing noises and the sounds of rounds striking your cover as the dull hum of an unfriendly motor whirrs closer to your desperate position strike phenomenal reactionary responses. Even conversations carried out in the campaign bounce off environments impeccably, with the small touches of chairs squeaking, or papers shuffling. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that many of the cutscenes were filmed, and then animated over in a rotoscoping-like fashion.
8/10
Three British Idiots Play Battlefield 3 Beta (Wez, Larry & Ian)
Wez, Larry and Ian glitch their way through the Battlefield 3 Beta in this very funny video!Battlefield 3 Video Review - ZGR
Is Battlefield 3 the next best shooter? Daniel from ZGR gives you his thoughts!Battlefield 3 Review (PC)
In one of the only examples ever where Frostbite sends Johnny somewhere he'd wind up getting sand in his crotch, his charged task of reviewing Battlefield 3 is now complete. By reading it, you'll be taking part in the initial stages of "Operation Sugar Pants!"Angry Joe Plays Battlefield 3
Angry Joe and Johnny M. of Blistered Thumbs tackle BF3's Cooperative missions together while discussing this highly anticipated FPS heavyweight!Sage Reviews: Battlefield 3
Battlefield may have beaten Call of Duty to the punch, but does that mean it's any good?- November 07, 2011 at 12:08am
It seems like Modern/Near-Future war shooters are now like WW2 shooters in how there are so damn many of em.
As for this game, I definitely liked it, despite its annoyances like the Battlelog issue and if a server has a bad latency rate, its unplayable due to the player keep back-stepping while you move and shots will miss even if up close on the target. With that, the MP is pretty good and I like the feeling of the sniper class.
The campaign definitely ain’t worth writing home about, I’m probably willing to say its slightly better than the MW2 and BO campaigns, but nothing I’m going to play twice (though I could say that even to the great campaigns, guess the momentum of the first playrthrough just can’t be captured again.) For the most part, I think its worth the score it got, still got plenty more games to play this year though.
- October 31, 2011 at 02:18am
(About the video review:)
Judging a Battlefield game by it’s singleplayer is like judging Yoda by his size. Sense it makes not. - October 28, 2011 at 04:03pm
Personally, Battlelog is a non-issue. It doesn’t hamper my experience, it has some nice features, and it works great to get me into a game. I’ve seen people go totally negative on it and I don’t think that is fair at all. You get into games much quicker than you would an ingame browser and generally everything works as it should. Some things can be a tad iffy, but when I hear people say that Battlelog is the reason they won’t get BF3, I laugh at how they are missing out on a game for a simply ridiculous reason.
A great review though as I would pretty much agree with this. While the singleplayer is competent, it doesn’t really do anything new and is way too familiar to what Black Ops did last year, though with abit more realism than that, but still an idea already used. I actually don’t know why they have those cutscenes there as to me, it seems like they could’ve almost removed the flashback stuff entirely and not hurt the game, though I still am a few levels from completion.
The multiplayer is top notch though. It does MANY things better than Bad Company 2, though people who played that will still be familiar with the game, same for BF2 veterans, though it’s very much an amalgam of both series. This game is gonna keep me hooked for a long time, especially with consistent expansion packs over the next 6 months, starting with Back to Karkand in December.
- October 28, 2011 at 05:03pm
Might be just that it screwed up in the beta most of the time (1 out of 5 attempts to join a game succeeded for me, this is not counting when I got in and was immediately kicked or lagged out for whatever reason), but I got fairly irritated by it and I have no intention of going through that again.
Also the fact that you have to actually start a game to change your settings, then in case of some graphics settings leave and start another one if you actually intend to play with those settings is ridiculous. - October 28, 2011 at 07:50pm
Well that was because of Beta. I haven’t had any issues with Battlelog since Beta and it all seems to work just fine, though of course it’s hardly perfect. The settings thing again, isn’t an issue, that your kinda trying to make it out to be. Even if the game had an ingame menu instead and you are able to change your settings, you would have to restart your game anyways if the settings said so, so I’m not really seeing the problem here. And really, how often is a person changing his settings? You do it once till you get it running right, if it isn’t already doing so, and then you never touch them again.
- October 28, 2011 at 03:32pm
It amazes me how these companies can continue to produce these straight-faced, military themed shooters and how people can keep buying them up like hot-cakes. I know it’s old hat to hate on shooters right now, but I still don’t get it. How can people NOT get bored of this stuff? I can only hope that soon enough shooters will go the way of the JRPG when people get tired of playing through the same old archetypes with a fresh coat of paint and the releases will become farther and fewer between. Maybe the next gaming trend will appeal to me more.
Saying it out loud, that does sound a bit selfish, but oh well. I doubt it will happen anytime soon, anyway.
- October 28, 2011 at 05:51pm
I originally hadn’t intended to buy this, but because of a reviewing schedule snafu, it got dropped in my lap. I do agree with you that the military shooter has been played out, and I don’t nearly enjoy them as much as I do other genres these days. That said, I felt like it would be unfair to review BF3 against a backdrop of other genres of games. It’s almost as if the “war fps” has become a genre independent of the fps altogether. I wouldn’t recommend people buy it until there was a price drop, but then as time goes on and I see more and more $60 titles from companies like Ubisoft, Activision and EA, I’m feeling I have to draw a hard line in the sand.
It goes without saying that if you’re sick and tired of war fps games, then BF3 does *not* deserve an 8. But if we were all to review games on whether or not they tread familiar ground, it’d be a much crueller profession indeed. Judging from your comment, you’d do well to save your money… it doesn’t do anything new or groundbreaking.
- October 28, 2011 at 11:28pm
I asked this question to someone else a few weeks ago who said pretty much the same thing (and they never answered me). How would you change shooters to be more original and “not Boring”
I will be honest, I don’t buy shooters for the campaign, bought BF3 on 360 and havnt even used the campaign disc. Its all about the multiplayer and while the general mechanics of shooters remains the same, it is the new maps, weapons, gadgets etc that change the overall experience. Plus upgrades to the game engine and graphics play a part too. that is just my opinion though, and I am generally curious about your opinion.
- October 29, 2011 at 03:14am
People like what they like I suppose.
I’m still not bored with zombie games for example.
Funny enough, unlike King Walrus, I pretty much only buy shooters like these for the campaign, which is why you’ll never see me buying them at launch, I gotten all the recent CoD games for under 20 bucks each. I just don’t care about competitive MP, it’s just not for me.
It just seems to bring out the worst in people, I don’t buy games to get online just to be insulted by racist 12 year olds.
- October 30, 2011 at 01:10am
don’t worry man, battlefield doesn’t have any kids playing it and no body really mic spams either
- October 30, 2011 at 01:14am
yeah, but what about other genres like fantasy RPG’s, there are mostly the same, especially the free to play ones. oh, and how about racing games, most of them are all the same right? just like shooters?
- October 30, 2011 at 12:58pm
First of all, we’re not talking about online games here at all, that’s a whole different animal entirely. Anyway, look what happened to the JRPG. Same goes for racing games. They’re not nearly as popular or frequently produced as they once were. When the innovation and creativity stopped, so did the sales. You’ll notice that a lot of modern racing games also have a somewhat creative hook to help sell them. Sports games are obviously a bit different because people have more of a real world investment in what they represent, which allows the producers to be lazy. Fantasy WRPG still aren’t as released nearly as frequently as military shooters and tend to have more variety or creative ideas. I mean, I could easily tell the difference between Skyrim, Witcher 2, Fable. Not so much the case for BF3 and MWF and any other generic military shooter I can think of. I’m aware that all genres are guilty of this, but the military shooter is the only sub-genre I can think of that can garner such great sales while doing so little to innovate. Space marines are getting pretty fuckin’ old too. The only “shooters” that interest me are the ones that aren’t just shooters anymore. They’ve mixed themselves in with other genres (like Bioshock, deadspace, uncharted, Deus ex, Mass Effect etc. ) and attempted to actually do something different. Besides, to imply it’s okay for shooters to do it because other genres are guilty of the same is a tu quoque fallacy.
- October 31, 2011 at 05:56am
I am in full agreement with you, in all honesty… I don’t pimp ARMA II because I get paid to, I write about it because it supercedes my military-shooter desire by measures I cannot express.
The videogame industry is becoming more and more like the movie industry. The lowest common denominator is becoming increasingly more lucrative. Bad games DO get made, and they get made frequently for the risk/reward return. When gamers become tired of pretending to be people who demonstrate their skill (the unlock system is now ALL about making gamers feel better about their level of skill) in environments that are “realistic” we’ll see a change.
I wonder about Michael Bay movies similarly.I would also counsel you to edit your litany of games that “actually do something different,” including Bioshock and Deus Ex.
EDIT: upon re-reading, that last bit reads a bit bitchy. I apologize for my tone, I do believe I’ve been a little distracted and stressed lately. Mea culpa.
- October 28, 2011 at 01:16pm
I absolutely hate punkbuster. Back when I was playing a lot of PR I swear that stupid little application caused hours of grief because it doesn’t update properly, and even though I’ve opened all of the pertinent ports in my firewall to allow it to do its thing, it still would randomly boot me off of servers, not allow me to connect at all, and generally be unpleasant.
As for the game, sounds good – but also sounds and seems a lot like BFBC2. I’m not sure jets & 64 player maps make it different enough for me to want to come back.. espescially since I played a ton of BFBC2. Not at $60.00 at any rate.
- October 28, 2011 at 12:49pm
Battlelog. That’s why this is the first Battlefield title I’m going to skip.
- October 30, 2011 at 01:06am
you can’t be serious? also, the reply system in blistered thumbs suck ASS
- October 28, 2011 at 11:36am
I’m really enjoying this one. I can really see why people dislike Battlelog though. It can be a nuisance having to load Orgin, a Browser, just to click on the game, even for single player.
That said, I really do like the game. - October 28, 2011 at 10:54am
Awesome I was hoping to see your review of this game, great as always.
And to the comment from Lowlander about Payday Id say that both games are great multiplayer games but are apples and oranges when compared, I think there is space to enjoy both games multiplayer separately but equally. - October 28, 2011 at 11:02am
Oh certainly. But I’m fine with what I’ve got.
Or at least, I would be if more people were playing it. GET ON IT, GUYS!
No Posts
Battlefield 3 Angry Review
Angry Joe gives the final word on Battlefield 3. How much does it improve upon
Sage Reviews: Battlefield 3
Battlefield may have beaten Call of Duty to the punch, but does that mean it’s any good?
Battlefield 3 Video Review - ZGR
Is Battlefield 3 the next best shooter? Daniel from ZGR gives you his thoughts!
Three British Idiots Play Battlefield 3 Beta (Wez, Larry & Ian)
Wez, Larry and Ian glitch their way through the Battlefield 3 Beta in this very funny video!
Three British Idiots Play Battlefield 3 Beta (Wez, Larry & Ian)
Wez, Larry and Ian glitch their way through the Battlefield 3 Beta in this very funny video!
I was expecting something… ummm… I dunno what I was expecting, but with all the hype I guess I was just expecting more than the buggy generic run of the mill fps we got. Being a month old build doesn’t change anything either… for the amount of bugs and glitches I encountered… I really don’t know how its gonna be possible for them to fix and find all of it by launch. I dunno, all I know is that I canceled my pre-order just to be on the safe side… See what BT has to say about it first.
I’d heard rumors of this being a month old build, but it’s nice to actually hear it. Yeah, I’ll agree the beta is buggy, but the core experience there is still pretty fun. Frankly, I would rather play a buggy, but still playable mess then deal with server issues that would come from not doing a stress test of this magnitude.
Yeah, they’re going to lose sales, but I’m not sure if the people who sales have been lost would have enjoyed a version of the game that wasn’t tested anyway. That being said, it’s free and no one’s forcing you to buy the game if you don’t like what’s here. Me? I’ve still got my copy paid off and I’ll reserve any judgements of quality until the final game is out and in my hands. Besides, DICE is one of the few developers I know who is constantly working on balance (at least with their more popular games, but BF3 is their baby, they aren’t gonna let it be exploited.).
I don’t know what to feel.
To me this looks like damage control…
I’ve played the beta and uninstalled it within a day. The Bugs, the lack of inspiration, the imbalance of the map and the classes and not to mention Origin, is too much for me.
I got a real problem with Origin and the web based, bug infested, 20 million tabs in your face game starter-friendlist-log-thingy. Too much trouble to just play a match or two with your friends. I have Steam and Impulse, I don’t want ANOTHER program mandatory for just one game that I happen to own.
That’s the reason i only have the beta on consoles… the PC thing was just horrendous… and i never got it to work either!
The game itself is pretty damn amazing though… but all things around it get’s pretty damn tiring with origin… if they’d dropped the horrible browser thing and just made an easy to use interface like on the consoles, this would be a day-1 PC buy… but now i thing it’s just a console shooter
Can’t agree more. If you like the game or not is one thing but Origin + a web based game launcher feels like a ball on a chain for it. Why do you need Origin? All it does is launching your browser on the battle log site.
Got to admit, while its cool that we get to help test it, that’s pretty dumb since it might give people a bad impression to this game even though knowing its a Beta
Nice work. Making the players your QA testers. Not like that’s going to sacrifice a few sales or anything.
I’m sure it would; on the other hand, not having to pay quite as many beta testers? Somehow I get the feeling they’re coming out on top financially.
Well that explained a few things. I was thinking to myself that this HAD to be the mostly buggy beta I’ve ever played. I thought I was playing an Alpha version or something. Now that I know that it’s an old build, I can sigh a little relief knowing they don’t have this many problems close to release.
I personally wonder if Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 are going to trip each other up trying to get out so fast…