A multiplayer beta for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will be available on PlayStation 3 come November 19 and then hit PC in December, developer DICE announced today.

Those in North America can gain access to the PlayStation 3 beta by pre-ordering the game from GameStop, with those in Europe and Asia told to be on the lookout for "local opportunities." The December-due PC beta, meanwhile, will be open to all.

But that's not all, as a downloadable multiplayer demo will hit PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 "early next year," presumably before the shooter's retail release on March 2.

The beta includes one map, Arica Harbor, as seen in the below trailer... Read more

EA has released new Battlefield: Bad Company 2 screenshots and a trailer showing off six of the multiplayer unlockable items in DICE's squad-based shooter, which will be available off the bat in a 'Limited Edition' costing the same as the regular release.

The limited edition will be available for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 "while supplies last" when Battlefield: Bad Company 2 hits all three platforms on March 2, 2010.

Players who end up lumbered with the regular edition will presumably still be able to gain the unlocks--detailed below--the old-fashioned way by ranking up in multiplayer.

Four vehicle warfare unlocks

• Improved Vehicle Armor - An up-armor package is mounted on all vehicle types, decreasing the effect of both explosive and penetrating warheads, significantly improving vehicle survivability... Read more

Instead of having developers wax poetic about their game or offering up a heavily edited cinematic trailer, our latest glimpse of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 packs a minute of continuous unedited gameplay, complete with the in-game interface and swearing.

EA DICE's squad-based shooter sequel hits PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on March 2.

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Three soldiers escape a terrifying explosion, only to meet an unexpected friend and ultimately learn a valuable lesson. Starring Rob Schneider, Rob Schneider and Rob Schneider. And featuring Seth Rogen as The Tank.

Battlefield: Bat Country 2. Coming soon to a game store near you.

Having announced earlier today that Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will be released on March 3, 2010, EA has released new screenshots and a trailer for DICE's shooter.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is slated to hit PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Click on through for a dramatic trailer in the same vein as BC2's first, showing how a simple mission can escalate into a delightfully explosive situation... Read more

EA DICE's shooter sequel Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is to arrive in North America on March 2, 2010 and in Europe on March 5, 2010, the company has revealed. Electronic Arts made the announcement today during its GamesCom press conference, but did not specify if all three versions--PC, PS3, Xbox 360--will arrive simultaneously.

Quad bikes, machineguns and tanks are the order of the day in the winter wonderland of DICE's Battlefield: Bad Company 2, delivered crisp and fresh today by publisher EA.

Of course, screenshots are all good and well but some destruction begs to be seen in motion, hence the handy first Bad Company trailer which follows below... Read more

A week ago, I had no idea I was only running Destruction 1.0, or that I was in need of an upgrade. But so goes the industry: just when you think your explosions are big enough, the Joneses come along with their fancy 2.0 mushroom clouds.

It's not a stretch to say the original Battlefield: Bad Company received attention mainly for its Frostbite engine, which allowed battlefielders to blast through brick walls and level buildings piece by piece. DICE's sequel predictably improves on the technology, while increasing the scale of said explosions. The Battlefield developer seems to be following the Gears 2 school of sequel design with this one--watching a ten minute stretch of gameplay last week, the "bigger, better" mentality was clearly on display.

Bad Company 2 continues the series' fictional war between the United States and Russia, a conflict established in the first title. This time the Russians... Read more

Electronic Arts studio DICE today confirmed that Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is in development, as Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello revealed a few days ago. In addition, the company revealed the development of Battlefield 1943.

Unlike the first Bad Company, which was only released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Bad Company 2 will also get a PC release. DICE promises a "level of fervor to vehicular warfare never before experienced in a modern warfare action game."

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is not expected until early next year, but gamers will still get their Battlefield fix this year as Battlefield 1943 will be released this summer.

A presumably budget-priced release, Battlefield 1943 is a downloadable multiplayer-only title coming to PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It will feature 24 player action, three classic Battlefield locations--Wake Island, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima--and uses the same Frostbite engine that powers Bad Company 2.

"Bad Company 2 takes everything that players liked in the original and ups the ante - more vehicles, more destruction and more team play," said Battlefield franchise executive producer Karl Magnus Troedsson. "Battlefield 1943 is a new take on a blast from the past classic coming to life with brand new technology."

DICE is also working on the free-to-play Battlefield Heroes, which is expected by April.

BioWare's Mass Effect 2 and a sequel to DICE's Battlefield: Bad Company will arrive in the first three months of 2010, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has revealed.

In today's conference call, Riccitiello said that Mass Effect 2 will arrive on multiple platforms, which means it could hit both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 at launch.

The first Mass Effect was a console exclusive for Xbox 360, trailed by a PC release a few months later. BioWare has suggested the sequel may follow that model.

When asked about specific platforms for Mass Effect 2, an Electronic Arts representative told Shacknews that no details were available at this time.

The Battlefield: Bad Company sequel will presumably follow in the footsteps of the console-only original, which hit PS3 and Xbox 360 in the summer of 2008.

Both games will be released during the fourth quarter of the publisher's 2010 fiscal year, which runs from January 1 to March 31.

Adding to the recent revelation that EA DICE's upcoming Mirror's Edge is part of a trilogy, EA Games president Frank Gibeau and Dead Space executive producer Glenn Schofield have disclosed that the company is planning a number of other sequels.

Both EA Montreal's co-op action game Army of Two (PS3, 360) and EA DICE's shooter Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3, 360) have "sequel ideas planned," Gibeau told Variety Meanwhile, Schofield revealed that EA Redwood Shore's sci-fi survival horror game Dead Space (PC, PS3, 360) already has a sequel in the works.

Dead Space debuted at retailers last week, with Army of Two and Battlefield: Bad Company arriving earlier this year. Since its release, Army of Two has been one of the year's best-selling Xbox 360 titles thus far.

Gibaeu also noted that EA's expansion into game-inspired films, books and television shows stems from the somewhat-recent return of EA CEO John Riccitiello, who, in Gibaeu's words, explained that "our fan base would love to experience or learn more about them in linear forms."