DICE on building Battlefield 3 from the 'gun out'

Four new screenshots have been released for Battlefield 3, along with a long blog post outlining the importance of weapon realism in the upcoming shooter from DICE.

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Four new--frankly, stunning--screens from Battlefield 3 have been released, showcasing the Rolling Thunder single-player level shown off during E3 2011 and the Metro map available during the short-lived alpha test on PC. Additionally, the Battlefield Blog has been updated, discussing the importance of authenticity in the upcoming shooter from developer DICE. The first element the team feels it must perfect are the weapons, the blog notes. "We know our players look critically at the guns in our games, so we brought in experts," senior designer Alan Kertz wrote. "Is the exit smoke from this RPG large enough? Is the precision increase when adding a heavy barrel to this rifle noticeable enough in semi-burst fire mode? How does the addition of a foregrip to this rifle affect the stability when firing in fully automatic mode?" Kurtz postulates, as the team continues to tweak and test the weaponry available in Battlefield 3. "Our military advisors not only help us get it right, they help us understand why it's right."

Battlefield 3 'Metro' multiplayer map

Comparing the process of ensuring weapon authenticity to both Battlefield 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Kertz says there is a "larger focus" on getting all of the details right in Battlefield 3. "This comes down to details like reloads, mobility, bullet trajectories, and even how the caliber and barrel length of a gun determines muzzle velocity and energy. For Alan, this approach clearly leads to better gameplay." Kertz notes that the army selects a different weapon for different reasons, and that DICE hopes to give the same strategic choice to players when the game ships later this year. The arsenal will be built from real life selections made by the U.S. Marine Corps and Russian Army; however, built upon that "base" of firearms, a number of "returning classics" have been added into the fold. "We’re not just giving you weapon A or B, take it or leave it, though. Each main weapon will be heavily customizable to suit different roles. The majority of weapons in Battlefield 3 can be tailored by the player to fit anything from close quarter to long range combat, or something in between. But we’ll save that for a later Battleblog post, when we will go deep into weapons customization." Battlefield 3 launches on October 25 for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. A beta test is planned prior to the game's launch.

Xav de Matos was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    August 11, 2011 3:30 PM

    Xav de Matos posted a new article, DICE on building Battlefield 3 from the 'gun out'.

    Four new screenshots have been released for Battlefield 3, along with a long blog post outlining the importance of weapon realism in the upcoming shooter from DICE.

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      August 11, 2011 3:43 PM

      Maybe in Battlefield 4 we'll get realistic terminal ballistics, sporting a modern equivalent of GHOUL 2.0. Bet that'd spark a new debate.

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      August 11, 2011 3:49 PM

      Dice is great, wish EA had nothing to do with them

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      August 11, 2011 4:01 PM

      what about the guns on a battleship? those are important guns too

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        August 11, 2011 4:23 PM

        How many maps in BF2 had that? I can only think of one. it was popular though so hopefully they'll recreate it.

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          August 11, 2011 4:34 PM

          I was in my fantasy world where it's more BF1942 than anything else

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          August 11, 2011 7:43 PM

          Wake Island, Gulf of Oman.

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      August 11, 2011 7:16 PM

      [deleted]

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      August 11, 2011 8:33 PM

      I appreciate the fact that they're paying extra attention to how the guns handle, buuuuut...that's not going to do them much good if the hit detection is still as bad as it has been in pretty much every Battlefield game ever released.

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      August 13, 2011 7:01 PM

      realism is not always fun. I hope they kept that in mind.

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