Battlefield-1943
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PSN's best selling games of 2011 list dominated by games not from 2011
We're practically knee deep in 2012 at this point, and yet 2011 still refuses to give up the limelight, dropping financial data and sales reports on its way out the door in a desperate final attempt at relevance. So here we are, with a list of 2011's top sellers on the PlayStation Network ... and we've got two lists dominated by one game from 1985, and one from 2010.Speaking only in terms of full games, not "paid downloads" (like DLC packs for Black Ops) and PS Minis, the list is a hodgepodge of nostalgia-fueled favorites from yesteryear (like Tetris in its curiously lofty number one spot), and digitally distributed future-classics like Castle Crashers and Limbo, which ranked in at six and seven respectively. There's on important thread tying those together: none of those games launched in 2011.When all digital sales are taken into account, however, the list becomes an entirely different beast, and the only actual game present within the top 10 is Angry Birds, of all things (a PS Mini). In fact, the three best-selling anythings on the PlayStation Network in 2011 were Black Ops DLC packs, followed closely by a cavalcade of FIFA Soccer 12 and MLB 11 sundries. At least the DLC came out in 2011! Hop past the break for the full breakdown of both lists, care of Game Informer.
EA giving Battlefield 1943 vouchers to PS3 Battlefield 3 owners
"There have been some misunderstandings around Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield 3." That's according to a rather diplomatic missive posted on EA's support website. If it was your understanding, shall we say, that PlayStation 3 copies of Battlefield 3 would include a free download of DICE's downloadable skirmish, you may have been disappointed to find that freebie ... slightly amiss. After deflecting the deal with a lame DLC consolation -- and hearing about a class-action lawsuit -- EA has decided to dole out vouchers for the MIA Battlefield 1943. The process requires you to log in to EA's redemption portal, 1943redemption.battlefield.com, with your Origin ID and request a download code for your region. Codes will be available for European customers as of November 26th, and for Americans on December 10th. With all that done, you'd better find some time to play it!
EA facing class-action lawsuit over lack of BF 1943 in BF3
Remember how EA originally planned to include a free copy of Battlefield 1943 with every new PS3 copy of Battlefield 3? So do a lot of other people, and they're so upset over EA's replacement "bonus" that they've filed a class-action lawsuit against the publisher, according to Kotaku. Rather than monetary compensation, the firm representing those involved with the lawsuit (Edelson McGuire) is looking only for the free copies of Battlefield 1943 originally advertised; a promise which EA "could not, and never intended, to keep," according to the firm. As is the way with any legal proceeding involving the entertainment industry, it'll likely be years before any sort of progress is made in either direction.
Editorial: The broken, sputtering launch of Battlefield 3 online multiplayer
Let's play a little game, folks. Here are three separate quotes from EA/DICE, each given soon after the launch of a major Battlefield. Can you tell which is for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which is for Battlefield 1943, and which is for Battlefield 3? No Googling! "Despite having a major infrastructure in place, the peak traffic ... has been huge, 400% higher than any other Battlefield's peak simultaneous users. The teams will continue to monitor the services closely. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates on the latest developments as they are relevant."1 "In terms of the network services, we have had unprecedented and historic peaks in terms of the activity that we're getting from the Battlefield community and players, and it's caused parts of our networks to experience some outages."2 "We have full support of EA to add as many servers as takes and then some so that everyone can play. This work has already started and servers will be added around the clock with teams working to cover this 24 hours a day so not a moment is wasted. You will be able to play this game and play it lag free!"3 If you weren't able to distinguish them from one another, I forgive you -- they all sound remarkably alike, don't they? That's because, for three Battlefield games in a row, the same scenario has played out at launch: gamers purchase said Battlefield iteration in great numbers, resulting in no one being able to play the game due to overloaded servers.
Battlefield 3 PS3 ships sans Battlefield 1943 bonus, EA counters with early DLC
EA and Sony have made a pair of announcements regarding exclusive goodies linked to the PlayStation 3 version of Battlefield 3 -- and we failed to realize that one invalidated the other. The free copy of Battlefield 1943, DICE's de facto console-exclusive shooter, didn't make it into PS3 copies of Battlefield 3 as originally intended. Responding to questions on Twitter, the official Battlefield account offered the following: "In lieu of 1943 being available on disk for PS3 customers, EA has made all BF3 expansions available early to PS3 customers." This refers to Sony and EA's ongoing exclusivity deal, which sees Battlefield 3 add-ons become available (for purchase) one week early on PS3. EA's switcheroo lets you buy new maps for Battlefield 3, then, at the expense of the game for which you never could. Thanks?
DICE on the lack of vehicles in BF3 beta, future Bad Company possibilities
Speaking to The Guardian, Battlefield 3 producer Patrick Liu discussed the game's ongoing beta as well as other projects DICE may (or may not) have in the works. When asked about the disappointment expressed over the lack of vehicles in the beta, Liu put it down to the fact that it is indeed a beta test (we certainly hope so). According to Liu, "We ran the alpha tests with a Rush map and we wanted to have some sort of reference so we could compare results – so we needed to have more-or-less the same map." Evidently this led to including Paris Metro – a linear Rush map with no vehicles – as the only map in the beta. For what it's worth, PC players will have a chance to try out Caspian Border, a much larger map with vehicles, throughout this weekend. Liu also answered questions regarding the Battlefield: Bad Company series, saying that "we haven't killed Bad Company." He added that DICE doesn't plan on making Battlefield an annual title, largely because they don't want to hand development of any Battlefield game to another studio. "No studio can make an annual franchise by themselves," said Liu. Other topics in the interview include the possibility of another downloadable Battlefield title and the learning curve involved in piloting (virtual) jets. Head over to The Guardian for the full interview.
Battlefield 1943 and Bad Company 2: Onslaught canceled on PC
Battlefield 1943 for PC is not going to happen. Posting on the official Battlefield blog, Karl Magnus Troedsson, general manager of DICE, confirmed that both 1943 and Onslaught, a co-op add-on for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, have been "officially canceled." He states that the team is focusing all energy on Battlefield 3 in order to make it "the best Battlefield game ever" and "the biggest launch in DICE's history." (Good luck getting into a game during the first three days!) Battlefield 1943's delayed trek to PC had become hopeless in recent months, though company reps believed it was still set to deploy at some point when we followed up last summer. The downloadable experiment has been a resounding success on consoles, netting $16 million for Electronic Arts.
Battlefield 1943 has earned EA $16 million
We've known for quite some time that Electronic Arts' Battlefield 1943 "experiment" was successful, selling over a million units on Xbox Live alone, but now CFO Eric Brown has revealed some numbers on the game's development cost and revenue. The EA exec stated at UBS's 39th Annual Media and Communications Conference that the game cost "single-digit millions" to create and netted (after Sony and Microsoft took their cuts) a healthy $16 million for the publisher. Brown explained that EA expects digitally distributed product to make up 20 percent of the company's revenue this fiscal year. Beyond Battlefield, Brown also noted significant revenue from FIFA's Ultimate Team mode, along with full-game PC downloads. With BF:1943's success, it'll be interesting to see how the Battlefield: BFBC2 Vietnam expansion experiment works out. Boiled down, Vietnam is essentially the same downloadable game concept as 1943, but called a "multiplayer expansion" that requires a copy of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 to play.
December XBLA deal: Buy two games, get 400 MS Points free
In yet another Xbox Live Arcade deal, Microsoft is now offering a free batch of 400 MS Points for purchasing two qualifying XBLA games. Don't run off downloading games just yet though, because you'll need to head over to the Xbox Live Events page and download the Arcade Offer gamer picture to register for the giveaway first (the direct link to the gamer picture is currently broken, but it's the first one listed on the events page). Once that's done, snag two of the games listed after the break (including favorites like Limbo, Lara Croft, Monday Night Combat, Super Meat Boy and more). Within four weeks, the free points will be added to registered Live accounts automatically or sent as redemption code via email. If you're planning to pick up any of the eligible games, you might as well get some free points too, right? The promotion ends December 20, so get to it. [Thanks, Grand Kerfuffle]
Battlefield 1943 for PC remains on track, still no release date
Still waiting for your PC version of Battlefield 1943? Okay, first, we feel obliged to tell you that you should probably check out Battlefield: Bad Company 2. But second, you might want to know that EA is apparently issuing refunds for pre-orders of the title to folks who reserved the PC release. VG247 asked EA about said refunds, and was told, "All pre-orders can be canceled with refund at any time and we do not have any further information at this time about a release date for the PC version of Battlefield 1943." We asked an EA rep for clarification this afternoon and were told that pre-orders for any game can be refunded at any time -- furthermore, the rep specifically pointed out "Battlefield 1943 is not canceled, but we don't have any news about a release date at this time." Last we heard, the game was on track for release sometime this year and the game's producer even assured us that the PC version was still in the cards as recently as last March. So, while unfulfilled PC fans eagerly awaiting the game's release may ask for their pre-order money back, it also appears that whatever interest EA earned on your money since last October when pre-orders opened will remain in the publisher's hands. How nice of them! Perhaps it'll be used to support the game with DLC? Yeah, we're not holding our breath either.
It's an XBL Deal of the Week extrabonanza
If Xbox Live were a used car lot, it would be positively festooned with colorful flags and packed to the brim with giant, inflatable animals this week. Six XBLA games have reduced prices this week and, what's more, each one is actually worth your attention. Worms 2: Armageddon, Peggle and Duke Nukem 3D have all seen their prices knocked from 800 ($10) to a pittance: 400 ($5). Meanwhile, Serious Sam HD, Battlefield 1943 and Call of Duty Classic have dropped from 1200 ($15) to 800 ($10). Add all those up and you've got six nutritious, filling games for $45 (through Sunday). Seriously though, Peggle? For $5? And Worms 2? You'd have to have heart of stone (or a wallet filled with moths) to turn that down. [Via Major Nelson] Xbox.com: Add Worms 2: Armageddon to your Xbox 360 download queue ($5) Xbox.com: Add Peggle to your Xbox 360 download queue ($5) Xbox.com: Add Duke Nukem 3D to your Xbox 360 download queue ($5) Xbox.com: Add Serious Sam HD Xbox 360 download queue ($10) Xbox.com: Add Battlefield 1943 to your Xbox 360 download queue ($10) Xbox.com: Add Call of Duty Classic to your Xbox 360 download queue ($10)
EA: 'We're going to be in the Medal of Honor business for a long time'
EA's upcoming reboot to the Medal of Honor franchise has a few major contenders, one of which EA itself created, to compete with when it arrives at retail this October. But EA Games prez Frank Gibeau remains confident in MoH, telling Gamasutra in a recent interview that, "With Medal of Honor, we're rebooting the series to get into the top 10." Gibeau lays out plans for an extensive marketing campaign first aimed at "core shooter fans," then branching out to a "true mass-market campaign." Speaking frankly, he claims "It'll be a big launch with a lot of dollars behind it. We're going to go in and we're going to compete." He believes that, between the IP's pedigree and the quality of this reboot, EA's " going to be in the Medal of Honor business for a long time." Meanwhile, executive producer Greg Goodrich and senior creative director Rich Farrelly do their best to assuage worries of internal competition between themselves at EA LA and DICE, the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 developer now working on MoH's multiplayer mode, or the ex-Infinity Ward founders' new studio that EA recently inked a deal with. Goodrich says, "Battlefield and Medal of Honor are two very different franchises. They have a certain tone, and we have a certain tone for our game. We think there's room for both, not only in the genre, but within EA." Also of note, apparently DICE has been working on MoH's multiplayer since "right after Battlefield 1943 came out" (last July), which might help to explain why we've seen such little post-launch support for the downloadable title. That said, with Medal of Honor's development assuredly nearing completion, we're holding out hope that those folks will have some time to invest in the other downloadable title we heard about recently.
Battlefield 1943 recruits one million on Xbox Live
We're glad you like Battlefield 1943 so much ... because that's all you're going to get from it. Even though DICE's XBLA multiplayer shooter has reached one million downloads on Xbox Live this week, producer Gordon Van Dyke told us at PAX that there really aren't any plans for DLC. It's extra surprising when you consider that it's also the fastest rise to one million downloads for any Xbox Live Arcade game in existence, releasing back in July 2009. We wonder how many people waited until it was $10 to buy?
No further plans for Battlefield 1943, 'another type of 1943' possible in future
Just exhale if you've been holding your breath for any Battlefield 1943 DLC, because it seriously sounds like the sun has set on the Pacific war. Speaking with DICE producer Gordon Van Dyke at PAX East, we asked if he could finally end the hopes and dreams that its successful downloadable experiment would receive more content. He informed us, "There's no plans. There's no plans for DLC." However, the PC version is still planned, and there is a patch incoming to address console issues, including mic problems on PS3. Van Dyke told us that Battlefield 1943 was a cool way to express a classic game like Battlefield 1942 using the company's Frostbite engine. He said that it opened up a lot of eyes to showing off what an older Battlefield game could be like with the new engine. When asked to elaborate if other classic Battlefield games would receive a reimagined bite-sized release he said, "I can't. There's no specific plans. The success of [1943] has given it an existence within our lineup, in our thoughts. You could possibly see another type of 1943 in the future. But it doesn't mean it's going to be based on 1942." When pressed, he continued, "Seriously, all options are open. We haven't closed our mind off to anything and we haven't locked down that we'll do anything specific." %Gallery-63331%
GDC: EA DICE on building a bite-sized Battlefield
EA DICE has been a fairly prolific developer during the current console generation, churning out both a high-profile title based on original IP (Mirror's Edge), as well as ones based on established franchises like Battlefield. EA was searching for a way to capitalize on the downtime between these blockbuster releases -- a game which would be relatively quick and painless to create, while still standing up to the quality standards set by their previous releases. Thus, the idea for Battlefield 1943 was born. Battlefield 1943 producer Patrick Liu explained the studio's unique design philosophy while making the game, which boiled down to "make the game as long as resources last." They maximized the amount of content they produced under this strategy by settling on the somewhat smaller scope of the game early, and focusing on recreating the Battlefield experience to adhere to that scope. Some decisions made under this philosophy include making ammunition and health auto-regenerate, cutting down on tiresome resource runs back to your home base. This decision led to others, including the removal of the medic and engineer classes. It also let them focus on perfecting a handful of maps and gametypes, which, while iterated from previous installments in the franchise, also saw major adjustments in 1943. The result was a project developed by 15 series veterans at once, at one-tenth of the cost of a full DICE game, which broke day one, week one and month one downloadable sales records. It's no surprise that Liu expressed interest in developing more "games of this size and scope" -- when handled correctly, it sounds like a miniature entry in a major franchise can be quite the profitable cash cow. %Gallery-63331%
Xbox Live Deal of the Week: Battlefield 1943 for $10
This week's Xbox Live deal is none other than DICE's downloadable destruction sim, Battlefield 1943. Major Nelson reports that, for this week only, you can snag the game for $5 off the usual asking price. For one lone Hamilton ($10), you can experience all of the mayhem of the Frostbite engine across several islands in the Pacific, where vicious World War II battles were waged. That is, unless you fancy yourself a pilot, in which case we hope you like standing around a whole bunch.
Xbox Live Marketplace Feb. schedule includes $10 Battlefield 1943 [update]
Update: Microsoft has issued a correction on this schedule. The Misadventures of P. B. Winterbottom will be priced at 800 ($10), not 1200 ($15). Major Nelson has a dropped a partial February schedule for Xbox Live Marketplace content, including a particularly nice Deal of the Week. Specifically, next week's deal, beginning February 15, will be Battlefield 1943 for only 800 ($10). If you've yet to pick up the game, $10 is definitely a good price. Also starting next week, both Resident Evil 5 and Beautiful Katamari will hit the Games on Demand service. The post also notes that this week marks the end of the second season of 1 vs 100. Tonight's episode (9:00pm ET/6:00 pm PT) will feature Magda Apanowicz from SyFy's series Caprica. For the season finale this Friday (10:00pm ET/7:00 pm PT), the game will feature 343 Industries' Frank O'Connor and Bungie's Marty O'Donnell. See the full XBLM schedule after the break.
Call of Duty DLC tops PSN's 2009 sales
So you've learned what dominated December's PSN sales. But what about the other eleven months of the year? Sony has released a list of the top 10 premium downloads from the PlayStation Store for 2009. 1) Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 1 2) Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 2 3) Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 3 4) FIFA 09 Gold Pack 5) Final Fantasy VII (PS3/PSP) 6) Battlefield 1943 7) Fat Princess 8) MARVEL VS CAPCOM 2 9) Flower 10) Mortal Kombat II Looks like people answered the Call of Duty ... by opening up their wallets. Undoubtedly, Modern Warfare 2 DLC is likely to top 2010's sales figures. Finally, Battlefield 1943 claims the award for top PSN game of the year, besting the PSN-exclusive Fat Princess.
Best of the Rest: Kevin's Picks of 2009
Halo Wars Yeah, that's right, Halo Wars. I've already caught enough flak for putting this on my best-of list for 2009 (it's hard to even remember that it came out way back in February), but it deserves to be recognized ... so pay attention once your laughter has died down. Ensemble Studios (RIP) proved that you could bring a real-time strategy game to a console, and still make it enjoyable. Sure, you'll never have 1:1 parity mapping everything a full-sized keyboard offers onto a controller, but this game came close. It's a pity Ensemble closed, since we'll never see any expansion packs or a sequel. The good news is that, since it wasn't received with blaring trumpets and the sounds of cash registers ringing, you can pick this up for under 20 bucks for some good fun.
Best of the Rest: Alexander's Picks of 2009
Valkyria Chronicles "BUT THAT GAME WAS 2008!!11one!1!" Well, yes, in the strictest sense. Sega's strategy role-playing game, an epic tale chronicling the hardships and victories of Gallian militia Squad 7, was sent out to die by the publisher when it released in November 2008. However, word-of-mouth, critical praise and some discounted pricing helped the saga find a place in many people's lives (and hearts) by mid-2009. One of the most endearing mechanics implemented in the game was giving all the playable members of Squad 7 bonuses (or flaws) based on their neuroses, relationships and desires. Also, every character had a different personality that shined during their turn through little quips and order recognition comments. It gave the entire cast more depth of character, even as the player only saw a handful of the troops during cutscenes. Despite the requisite Japanese RPG flair and melodrama, there was a simple beauty and charm in the storytelling, while the gameplay introduced a great basis for iteration. Valkyria Chronicles is a series that, with love and attention, could become so much more. I look forward to returning to Gallia and hope future installments recognize that the delightful characters are as important to the series as the strategic gameplay.
