This seems to be a hot issue in the Battlefield 3 community: whether to have regenerating health or not. Back in the old days of gaming, you had a certain amount of health and had to frequently find health packs. Games like the original Halo and Call of Duty popularized the regenerative health system, where you only needed to take cover for a few moments, where your health would regenerate and you’d be ready for action.
In singleplayer games, this method works great, but what about multiplayer? Having regenerative health eases the pressure on the player, but is that necessarily a good thing? Walking around with low health creates a lot of tension and suspense for players, as they know a single bullet will spell death to them. I makes them think twice about storming a position or engaging an enemy. Instead, they might consider trying to find teammates to help them, or better yet, in the case of Battlefield: find a medic. Which leads us the main issue with regenerative health in Battlefield multiplayer:
Regenerative health in multiplayer means there’s less need for Medics to heal, where Medics are mostly used to revive fallen teammates. In BF2 for instance, Medics played a crucial part because there was no regenerative health — the only way to restore health was if Medics helped you with health packs. Compare that to Medics and their role in Bad Company 2, a game which has regenerative health.
What do you think about regenerative health in Battlefield 3 multiplayer? Do you want it or not? And why?
If you’re on Twitter — and you probably are — you might have noticed some folks out there claiming they just signed up for a Battlefield 3 beta, and offer you a link to click. Do not click these links. They’re gateways to scams, hijacks, spyware and a lot of stuff you don’t want on your computer. If you come across these links, simply click “Block and report”, and hope that Twitter will remove these accounts.
Keep in mind that there is no beta sign up (yet), and anything that looks too good to be true on Twitter, usually is. And don’t click those links.
There has been some criticism from the hardcore Battlefield fans (us included), that the recent Battlefield games, Bad Company 1 and 2, have been somewhat “consolized” and “dumbed down”, in order to lower the bar of entry. For instance, there were 7 classes in Battlefield 2, while only 4 in Bad Company, and it’s been confirmed that only 4 classes will be in Battlefield 3. In a recent interview with OXM, Battlefield producer Patrick Bach said,
“We do not think we have to dumb Battlefield down in any way to let more players enjoy it.”
Some would argue against that, seeing as Battlefield 3 will already lack some of the features found in the six year old Battlefield 2, features like the Commander. However, there’s still a lot to be revealed regarding BF3 — we certainly hope the game isn’t dumbed down more than it appears to be. Judging by how close DICE is keeping their cards to their chest when it comes to multiplayer, it looks like they’re gearing up for some big reveals in the upcoming months.
Battlefield 3 is expected to be fully unveiled at E3 this year, which kicks off in early June.
Here at BF3blog.com, we’re trying to update the site as often as we can, with the best content available. Unfortunately, we have hosting costs which our ads don’t cover fully (yet), and since we’ll be expanding our writing staff soon — and we’d love to pay them — we’ve added a PayPal button where you can donate to us to help keep maintain the site.
Any amount is welcome, as in the end, it all adds up and helps us pay the bills.
Predicting how well games will do is often a tricky business, the same way it is when it comes to movies. However, some titles you just know will do a lot of business because they’re part of a franchise, and according to industry analyst Doug Creutz from Cowen and Company, Battlefield 3 will sell 10 million copies, he recently predicted in a note sent out to investors. He based his estimate on the fact that the previous Battlefield game, Bad Company 2, sold 7 million units worldwide. Battlefield 3 is a highly anticipated title with a lot of marketing money behind it, so sales should certainly eclipse those of Bad Company 2.
However, Creutz also points out that he expects Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 to sell a whopping 25 million copies, 1.5 times more than Battlefield 3. He based his estimate on sales of the previous CoD title, Black Ops, which topped 14 million copies.
Both EA and Activision will spend a lot of money this Fall marketing their games, with EA’s CEO repeatedly saying that Battlefield 3 is designed to specifically compete with Modern Warfare 3. EA intends to spend $100 million in advertising on Battlefield 3.
Dear Battlefield fans, BF3 Blog is still quite new, but we’re growing fast and are quickly becoming the top news source for Battlefield 3 news — thanks to all of you! We’re seeing thousands of daily visitors to BF3Blog.com.
Which means it’s about time we expanded our writing staff and forum presence, so we’re looking for a few new writers, who are die hard Battlefield fans, know the history of the series, and are interested in contributing to BF3Blog.com. And of course, you need to be in the loop on the latest Battlefield 3 news and updates
We’re interested in contributors to write articles and participate in our forums, so you need a good grasp on grammar and punctuation, and finally, you need to be 18 and over. In addition to Battlefield news coverage, we’re very keen on opinion pieces (like Top 10 things we wish to see in BF3 and Why Back to Karkand” DLC at launch is a bad idea for BF3). Later we plan to expand with videos and a Wiki.
This is not a paid position, but will be later on as the site expands. If you’re interested, send us a sample article you’ve written, links to your previous work, or just a writing sample.
P.S. If you have experience drawing web comics, we’d love to hear from you as well!
One of the most annoying parts which has been with several Battlefield games, including BF2, BF2142 and Bad Company 2, has been the anti-cheat software Punkbuster. The Internet is filled with anecdotes of just how awful the software is, and support forums constantly light up with new issues, with players been kicked randomly for Punkbuster issues. On top of that, Punkbuster has never been known for preventing many hacks and exploits in the first place.
The issues with Punkbuster and its developer, Even Balance, goes deeper than just minor annoyances. A lot of gamers have experienced being banned for no apparent reason, and because Punkbuster can now ban hardware IDs, it means that the user has to buy new hardware (like hard drive and CPU), in order to play again. If a player uses Steam for instance, which features Valve’s VAC system, it can interfere with Punkbuster. What’s worse is that Valve tried to reach out to Even Balance to work on the issue, but Even Balance refused.
We find it surprising that a developer of DICE’s caliber and talent does not make their own anti-cheat software. After all, who knows the game better than the developer?
Punkbuster is aging technology that doesn’t work, has frequent false positives, inhibits gameplay and is simply annoying. It’s about time DICE made their own anti-cheat software for Battlefield 3.
For more BF3 wishes, check out our previous posts in the series:
DICE has released the full 12 minute trailer with commentary from DICE producer Patrick Bach. He comments on the video and gives a few words here and there as we go through the trailer, but nothing major is revealed that we didn’t know yet. But it’s good to put some words on things in the trailer, from someone who’s actually involved with the game.
We’ve finally gotten our act together and created a page on this little-known website called Facebook. Yes, you read that right, we’re now on Facebook, and we intend to keep the page alive and updated regularly.
So far we have the net sum of “0″ — that’s zero — Likes on Facebook, and we’re sure you guys can help us improve that miserable record. So click on to the Facebook page, Like it, comment and send us your thoughts.
While it’s almost certain that Battlefield 3 will launch early this November (at least according to EA CEO), it’s set to take on its main rivals on the FPS scene, which begins with the third installment in the Call of Duty Modern Warfare franchise. Here are the release dates for FPS games that Battlefield 3 will be up against this Fall:
Fall 2011 release dates for FPS/shooters in competition with Battlefield 3:
As you can see, there are clearly a lot of heavyweights on the list set to compete with Battlefield 3, chief of which are Modern Warfare 3, and ID Games’ highly anticipated Rage. On top of that, Battlefield 3 will feature competition on both consoles with two big franchises for Sony and Microsoft: Uncharted 3 on the PS3 and Gears of War 3 on the Xbox 360.
The competition for gamers’ money will be be fierce this Fall.
BF3 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
This seems to be a hot issue in the Battlefield 3 community: whether to have regenerating health or not. Back in the old days of gaming, you had a certain amount of health and had to frequently find health packs. Games like the original Halo and Call of Duty popularized the regenerative health system, where you only needed to take cover for a few moments, where your health would regenerate and you’d be ready for action. 
One of the most annoying parts which has been with several Battlefield games, including BF2, BF2142 and Bad Company 2, has been the anti-cheat software Punkbuster. The Internet is filled with anecdotes of just how awful the software is, and support forums constantly light up with new issues, with players been kicked randomly for Punkbuster issues. On top of that, Punkbuster has never been known for preventing many hacks and exploits in the first place. 
While it’s almost certain that Battlefield 3 will launch early this November (at least