Battlefield 4 looks to continue leading the charge on Electronic Arts' FPS offerings, and producer Patrick Bach has opened up a bit about the single-player campaign. Most significantly, he talked about the desire to give players more agency instead of relying on scripted events--one of the common criticisms of the series' chief competitor, Call of Duty.
Read more: 'Picking your tactics, much like you do in multiplayer' »
With the next generation of consoles now revealed, EA has announced that Battlefield 4 will, surprise surprise, hit both Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It also confirmed a release date for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 of October 29 but, as neither new system has a launch date yet, merely said it'll be on them this holiday season. The pre-order bonus will be BF4's first multiplayer DLC pack, named 'China Rising.'
Electronic Arts has announced a new studio for DICE, located in the United States instead of its native Stockholm. The Los Angeles-based location will complement its other studio, and will be used to recruit talent as it prepares for its new Star Wars game development.
Read more: 'It's no secret that our main competitor is there' »
Battlefield 3 servers and the associated Battlelog service have been the target of a denial of service (DDOS) attack, and a planned double XP weekend planned to start today has been delayed as a result. EA and DICE are working to restore the services.
The Battlefield series has thrived on multiplayer, so fans were a bit disappointed to see Battlefield 4's debut would focus on the single-player campaign. However, developer DICE says it wants to create more than just a shooter experience and have players form a bond with the characters.
"For us, it's important to grow up a bit and create a great story, a character you care about, where you feel involved in their actions and that's based on the core idea of the whole game," executive producer Patrick Bach said.
Read more: Wants single-player to 'mimic' the feeling of multiplayer »
EA wasn't just showing off Battlefield 4 at GDC last week. No, they were also showcasing the power of its new Frostbite 3 engine. And while the visuals are pretty, some believe that the visuals aren't a significant enough jump to warrant a brand new number. But, pretty visuals aren't exactly what Frostbite 3 is all about, DICE argues.
"So the Frostbite 3 engine is...of course it has the latest and greatest when it comes to how you create good looking graphics (as you can see in the demo)," executive producer Patrick Bach said. "But it's also about creating a better toolset for the developers, so we can stop talking about how to build stuff, and focus more on what we want to build."
While Battlefield 4's debut suggests you'll be accompanied by a squad throughout the campaign, the upcoming DICE shooter won't sport a cooperative mode. DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson says the decision was made so that the developer can focus more on new single player and multiplayer modes.
Mention of the Wii U was conspicuously absent from yesterday's official announcement of Battlefield 4, even though it would seem to have enough muscle to carry the Frostbite 3 engine. Developer DICE is skipping Nintendo's new console, creative director Lars Gustavsson has said, so it can focus on making a solid game with what it knows rather than stretching too far and risking failure.
Read more: "focus on what you do well and what you know well" »
Electronic Arts has officially "revealed" Battlefield 4, a more "human, dramatic, and believable" action game powered by the new Frostbite 3 engine. The upcoming shooter will be released this fall, according to EA.
According to the press release, "multiplayer game design elements are incorporated into the single-player campaign." That means you'll be able to direct squad mates, play through "huge environments," and ride vehicles all in the campaign. The single-player mode will also track player progress, much like in MP.
Although EA has yet to officially reveal Battlefield 4, the leaks keep on coming. After screenshots of DICE's latest shooter surfaced, it appears that an early trailer for the game has also leaked. Update: Now with official trailer!
Later this evening, Electronic Arts plans to unveil Battlefield 4. However, an early leak of screenshots from the Battlefield blog appears to have spoiled some of the surprise (via Polygon). Our John Keefer will be attending the debut event later tonight, but for now, let's take a look at these images.
We all know Battlefield 4 is a thing. And supposedly a remarkable thing, at that. But finally, we'll get a good hard look at DICE's shooter at the Game Developer's Conference later this month. According to an invite sent by EA, the reveal will happen on March 26th. Assuming there's no embargoes, you'll see if DICE was able to add any new innovation to the modern war-fighting genre.
Virtual reality and 3D goggles have been seen as something of a joke for positively yonks, but the Oculus Rift seems to be changing opinions. Industry figures including John Carmack, Valve's Michael Abrash, and Cliff Bleszinski have all endorsed the VR headset, and now DICE is giving a good looking-over. The Battlefield developer wants to investigate Oculus Rift support in Frostbite, its engine which also powers games from Dragon Age 3 to the new Command & Conquer.
Read more: Multiple Frostbite games coming "that would be awesome with the Rift" »
EA and DICE have done plenty of promotion work for Battlefield 3's upcoming and seemingly final downloadable content, End Game. Curiously missing from the various bits of promotion was any word of a release date, but that just left us open for a sneak attack. The DLC starts hitting tomorrow.
Battlefield 3 is preparing to wrap up it season of downloadable content this month, with the release of "End Game." To promote the DLC, EA and DICE have released a new trailer featuring lead designer Niklas Fegraeus explaining and showing off the new maps and vehicles.
"I mean it's also perfectly acceptable to not play a game because of issues with the platform ..."
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