To celebrate the launch of Battlefield 3 Back To Karkand, we’ve got a brand new wallpaper for you. It’s based on the classic Back To Karkand wallpaper, however, this time it’s without the “soldier” art. Enjoy

DICE has revealed the official release times for Back To Karkand for PC and Xbox 360. In addition to the Back to Karkand release, an update will be applied to Battlefield 3 servers as well, on all platforms. The downtime is expected to be around 1 hour. Here are the launch times for Back To Karkand tonight:

• Xbox 360: 09:00 GMT (US: 1AM PST)
• PC: 08:00 GMT (US: 12 AM PST)

Owners of Battlefield 3 Limited Edition will receive the DLC for free. Otherwise, the price is $15. For more on Back to Karkand, check out the map overviews and the latest screenshots.

The Back To Karkand DLC brings something new to Battlefield 3 (in addition to new maps, weapons etc.): Assignments, which is a new way of unlocking the new weapons found in Back To Karkand. Here’s the full list of Battlefield 3 Assignments that you need to complete in order to unlock all ten Back to Karkand weapons:

FAMAS (“Best Friend Forever” assignment)

• 10 heals
• 10 revives

L85A2 (“Professional Russian”)

• 100 kills with assault rifles
• 20 kills with grenade launcher
• Win 5 rounds of Squad Deathmatch

MP5 / HK53 (“Fixing it”)

• 10 repairs
• 1 kill with repair torch

QBZ-95B (“It Goes Boom”)

• 50 anti-tank rocket kills
• 5 conquest round wins
• Destroy 1 enemy vehicle with repair torch

QBB-95 (“Let It Rain”)

• 20 kills with light machine guns
• 2 mortar kills

QBU-88 (“Specops”)

• 20 sniper rifle kills
• 5 laser designator assists

MG36 (“Keep Your Head Down”)

• 100 kills with light machine guns
• 50 suppression kill assists
• 50 ammo resupplies

L96 (“Creeping Death”)

• 50 headshots
• 50 spot assists
• 5 knife kills

PP-19 (“Familiar Territory”)

• Capture 10 flags
• Arm 10 MCOM stations
• Play 2 hours on Strike At Karkand

Jackhammer / MK3A3 (“Scarred Veteran”)

• 10 kills with PP-19
• 10 kills with BTR-90
• 5 kills with DPV jeep
• Play 2 hours on Gulf of Oman
• Play 2 hours on Sharqi Peninsula

With the release of Back To Karkand for PlayStation 3 players today, DICE also released a brand new trailer. This time, focus is on Wake Island, one of the most popular maps in the Battlefield franchise. And from the look of it, it’ll retain its popularity in Battlefield 3.

The first Battlefield 3 expansion, Back To Karkand, has been released on the PlayStation 3, and some members of the GameStop Power-Up service have received a mini strategy guide for Back To Karkand, which includes map overviews of all four maps, and for all versions of the maps.

It looks like Strike At Karkand will be more limited than in Battlefield 2, and will only have 5 capture points in its largest version. Wake Island will have 5 flags as well, while Sharqi Peninsula and Gulf of Oman on the other hand, will support 7 flags in 64 player mode. Full map overviews below.

Tomorrow on December 6, Battlefield 3 will be down between 9 AM CET / 12 AM PST until 1 PM CET / 4 AM PST. The downtime will bring updates to the servers and back-end of Battlefield 3, and will also coincide with the roll-out of a large PC patch at the same time. The patch weighs in at 2 GB, and includes the Back To Karkand content as well. Back To Karkand will be available for PlayStation 3 owners tomorrow, while it will be unlocked for PC and Xbox 360 players on December 13.

Back To Karkand will be released on Dec. 6th for PlayStation 3 owners and on December 13th for PC and Xbox 360 owners. We’ve gotten hold of a batch of new Back To Karkand gameplay screenshots that show new angles on Wake Island, Gulf of Oman, and Strike At Karkand. Full gallery after the break. READ ON »

We previously revealed that the upcoming Battlefield 3 DLC Back To Karkand would drop on December 7 on the PlayStation 3 and on Dec 14 on PC and Xbox 360. Now EA has revealed the official release dates, and it looks like we’ll be getting Back to Karkand one day earlier than we thought: the DLC will be available on Dec 6th on the PS3 and on Dec 13th on PC and Xbox 360.

Back to Karkand will be free to owners of Battlefield 3 Limited Edition, and will include 4 maps, 10 new weapons, 3 new vehicles, and a new way to unlock weapons, called “Assignments“.

There’s a lot of anticipation for the upcoming and first Battlefield 3 DLC/expansion, called Back to Karkand. While EA has teased us with several trailers and lots of screenshots, they’ve yet to confirm the release date for Back To Karkand. But according to a Sony page, the release date has finally been revealed.

Sony’s Asia PlayStation Store lists Battlefield 3 Back To Karkand with a release date on December 7, 2011. Since PlayStation 3 owners will get Back to Karkand (and all other DLC) one week earlier, that means that Back To Karkand will hit the PC and Xbox 360 platforms on December 14.

For more on the expansion, check out our Back to Karkand page, which has all the vehicles, maps, weapons and everything you need to know about Back to Karkand.

A few weeks ago we saw a Back to Karkand trailer showcasing Strike At Karkand for Battlefield 3, and this time, EA released a trailer for another Back To Karkand map: Gulf Of Oman, which looks just as impressive. Back to Karkand will be released in December, for more details, check out our full Back To Karkand page, which has all the info you need.