- September 8, 2011 10:49 am
With a little bit over 1 1/2 months until the much anticipated first-person shooter release, pre-orders have already toppled the 1.25 million mark. This number has been said to put it “way ahead” of the previous title - Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Being at the same point we were before the BC 2 release, Battlefield 3 has already ten times more pre-orders.
Bad Company 2 went on to sell more than 5 million copies as of May, 2.3 in the first month. So EA’s newest title is definitely on track to beat that. October 25, 2011 is the date we get experience the newest edition to what could be one of the best shooters of all time. EA’s CFO Eric Brown said this release date, which is 2 1/2 weeks before Activision’s Modern Warfare 3, will be used to their advantage.
Battlefield 3 has already taken the crown as The Game of the Show at Gamescom in Germany. Expect a review of this game upon release. Us here at GS are stoked to get our greasy fingers all over it!
Like DRM? Of course not. No one does. Yet somehow it supposedly makes the world a better place. The last couple of years, especially the last year in particular, game developers have been downright nazi-like in their determination and affinity for this digital cancer that plagues so many digitized services and devices. EA’s SecuROM DRM in particular is a pretty big PITA as it it requires a net connection to “validate” your game each and every time you fire it up. No net connection = no gameplay for you. It’s not quite as bad as Ubisoft’s always-on-don’t-ever-interrupt-me-or-I’ll-cut-you-off DRM. Still, the fact of the matter is, DRM is bad for everyone.
So it’s with great jubilee that I share with you all the good news of the death of SecurROM from Battlefield: BC 2. That disk checking BS has gone the way of the dodos after the latest update/patch which besides killing the cancer, more likely than not tosses in a few bug fixes and other minor housekeeping things to boot. I certainly won’t complain. Anyone else feeling a bit more liberated tonight?
CrunchGear
Well, after trolling the interwebs for more info on the Steam for Mac releases this Spring, I happen to stumble on some more great news, Karl Magnus Troedsson from DICE has tweeted the follow;
Steam for Mac - Gabe, we like it!
In response to a tweet asking for a quote, he responded with;
“We’re currently investigating the possibility of making BFBC2 available on Mac.”
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is currently boasting more online players then the 360 and PS3 consoles COMBINED. Those are some impressive numbers, and if a Mac version is released, and a cross-platform gameplay is available as Steam is reported having, those numbers will increase massively. We haven’t seen a Battlefield release to the Mac in almost 2 years, with the release of Battlefield 2142, and I don’t know if any of you played it, but it wasn’t a bad game. I don’t remember being able to play with those on a Windows machine, but I do remember the servers being quite full, and if that was with only Mac users playing, add the epicness of Bad Company 2, I think DICE will have something amazing on its hands. We’ll just have to wait and see what they come up with, and if they release an official announcement.
It has already turned out to be an amazing week, and it is only the start of Tuesday. I really can’t wait to see what this week at the GDC will bring. Stay tuned for some posts about awesomeness through out the week.
UGDB.com
If there were anything that would make Uncle Sam angry, blatant ignorance and greed when lives are at stake is probably up near the top. Now keep the upcoming text light hearted as this hasn’t been confirmed in any way by Microsoft (as if they’d admit blocking the military…).
The military is growing increasingly digital these days. With that growing reliance on digital services and applications naturally comes the increased need for more and more personal computers. You typical military spec computer is easily $1,000+. Much like the rest of the country is pinching pennies in tight times, so is the Army, as they’re looking for ways to increase “digital presence” without busting the bank. Welcome to the wonderful world of the Xbox 360.
Argue if you want, but the Xbox 360 with it’s cheap hardware, massive online gameplay and options for scenarios, and rather robust library of war games means it’s a pretty good fit as a training tool for the fine men and women training our country. Common sense also makes a might appearance. It’s simple actually. Why should the Army spend upwards of $1,000 on training computers for each and ever soldier if an Xbox 360 can be had for significantly less and be used for multiple soldiers? It’s basic math.
That wonderful plan was killed however by the most unlikely of people — Microsoft. According to Roger Smith, CTO for PEO STRI (the Army command responsible for purchasing training equipment), Microsoft refused to sell him or the Army any consoles. No direct reason was given. Roger however speculates the denials happened because of one of three reasons:
* Microsoft was afraid that the military would buy up lots of Xbox 360s, but would buy only one game for each of them, so MS wouldn’t make much money off of the games.
* that a big military purchase would create a shortage of Xbox 360s.
* that if the Xbox became an Army training device, it would taint its reputation. Microsoft was concerned that “do we want the Xbox 360 to be seen as having the flavor of a weapon? Do we want Mom and Dad knowing that their kid is buying the same game console as the military trains the SEALs and Rangers on?” Smith told me during an interview for Training & Simulation Journal.
The above are Almost valid reasons until you think about the fact it’s the US Army asking for a tool that could help soldiers *not* die on the battlefield. Microsoft PR of course claimed to have absolutely no knowledge of the incident. All in all, if the account by Roger Smith is in fact 100% correct (and there isn’t any real reason to doubt him), I can guarantee that Microsoft’s PR is going to be dealing with a PR shit storm.
To be fair, Microsoft’s side of the story followed soon after:
has multiple avenues to pursue building simulations. They can team up with a professional Xbox 360 publisher and development studio that have the expertise to assist them with development of a complex simulation. In fact, the Army has successfully done this in the past by working with publishers such as Ubisoft (’America’s Army’) and THQ (’Full Spectrum Warrior’). Or, if the Army prefers to build a simulation without engaging game development professionals, Microsoft has also enabled independent developers to create games for the Xbox 360 using the XNA Game Studio development tools, and deploy and play them on retail Xbox 360 consoles using an XNA Premium Creator’s Club membership.
As you can see, Microsoft skirted around the million dollar question: Did they block the military from buying up a large quantity of Xbox 360s?
Unfortunately for Microsoft, the certain truckload of cash they’d have made on a mass Army purchase of Xbox’s is now “of little interest” to Smith and the Army in general anymore. Though Smith does mention that if Microsoft were to ever broach the subject again, he’d be more than willing to reopen talks.
Disappointed in Microsoft’s stance? Do you think it was all because of the money?
Gizmodo > DangerRoom
