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Chariot, Darksiders 2 join Games With Gold in October
Microsoft announced its Games With Gold lineup for October, revealing that Xbox Live Gold members will receive free access to Frima Games' co-op platformer Chariot upon its launch next week. Chariot will be available as a free download for Xbox One subscribers from October 1st through the 31st. Xbox 360 owners will get EA's 2010 FPS Battlefield: Bad Company 2 free of charge on October 1, along with a free copy of Vigil's hack-and-slash action-RPG Darksiders 2 starting on October 16. This month's featured games Crimson Dragon, Super Time Force, and Halo: Reach are still up for grabs through September 30, so act fast if you haven't yet claimed your free downloads. [Image: Frima Games]
EA won't let a server shutdown turn out the lights on old Battlefield games
Video games and movies crib ideas from each other quite a bit these days, but seeing Electronic Arts go back and save some of its fallen comrades is a bit unexpected. The outfit's announced that in the wake of GameSpy's back-end multiplayer tech going dark, it's transitioning three Battlefield games to different servers so they can (virtually) live to fight another day. Which ones specifically? Battlefield 2142, Battlefield 2 and the superb Battlefield Bad Company 2. As IGN notes, though, plenty of EA's games that are listed are annual sequels and may not see the same treatment. However, this shows signs that GameSpy's closure won't kill everything under its umbrella. We've reached out to EA for confirmation and a statement about why these three games were picked over others, and will update this post should we hear back. In the meantime, if you feel like celebrating, we recommend a few rounds of squad rush on "Port Valdez" -- it's good for the soul.
Bad Company not in active development right now, FYI
By the way, DICE isn't working on any games in the Battlefield: Bad Company universe right now. "We love the Bad Company series, but don't have it in active development," the Battlefield Twitter says. "Battlefield 4 is our main focus for the year." Sorry to ruin your day.
Battlefield series on sale today through Origin
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Battlefield franchise, Electronic Arts has deployed a sale for the series on Origin, with each installment available at $10 apiece. That means Battlefield 2 through Battlefield 3 (standard edition), which sounds like it would only be two games, but is actually several, are all the same price.The discount is only available today, so you better oscar mike to Origin if you're interested. Did we "oscar mike" that right? No?! We've learned nothing!
Battlefield 3 and Bad Company 2 lead designer David Goldfarb exits DICE
Having worked on mostly Battlefield games for the past five years, the man who lead design on both Battlefield 3 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2, David Goldfarb, has left EA's DICE studio. "5 years, 4 games. Grateful to have worked with such awesome people on awesome games. Farewell + Onward," he tweeted yesterday afternoon.Goldfarb told Joystiq of his exit, "I was ready to move onto new things and do something different." He wouldn't tell us where he's headed next.Goldfarb's not the first high profile DICE dev to leave the company in the past few years. Gordon Van Dyke left back in 2010; he's now with Paradox Interactive working on a Battlefield-flavored third-person action game from developer FatShark, War of the Roses. The other third of Battlefield's recent dev leadership, Patrick Bach, is currently serving as company CEO while Karl Magnus Troedsson takes paternity leave.Beyond various DLC plans for Battlefield 3, it's unknown what DICE is currently working on. The studio's Frostbite 2.0 game engine is used in several EA properties (including the other first-person shooter from EA, Medal of Honor: Warfighter), and the only other game it has made outside of Battlefield in recent years is Mirror's Edge. Troedsson told us during GDC that DICE has "ongoing plans" to differentiate its game portfolio, but we've yet to see that promise play out. EA Studios president Frank Gibeau has repeatedly noted his interest in a sequel to ME, but we've yet to hear anything more official than that.EA reps didn't respond to request for comment regarding Goldfarb's exit as of publishing.[Image credit: 'jontintinjordan']
Amazon offering dramatic discounts on digital EA games starting this Sunday
Amazon doesn't care for your silly stack of unplayed, unopened games -- it simply wants to trick you into buying more with a variety of impressive deals, albeit on games that exist only in the digital realm. Starting this coming Sunday (the 15th) and running through the end of the week (the 21st), individual EA titles will be offered day by day at ridiculously discounted prices: Bulletstorm and Dead Space 2 for $7 a pop, for instance. The daily itemized list is just after the break, should you be preparing for yet another (admittedly minor) assault on your bank account in the effort to catch up on 2011's best games. Might we suggest conquering the concept of time scarcity first?
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.
EA suffers Q2 loss, revenue propped up by FIFA and Madden
EA's net performance during its second fiscal quarter, ended September 30, 2011, was either good or bad, depending on which net you're referring to. EA reported a net loss of $340 million, but scored a significant goal in shipping "nearly" 8 million copies of FIFA 12 -- half of the 16 million shipped in the game's lifetime. Overall sales of the footie franchise improved 25 percent year-over-year. Madden NFL 12 was another standout performer during the quarter, shipping more than 3 million units. EA also pointed out continued strong performance of 2010's Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (with shipments at 11 million so far). In a follow-up investor call last night, EA predicted similar fortunes from this quarter's Battlefield 3 launch, with store shipments already hitting 10 million. Though EA's bottom line certainly didn't improve for the quarter (net loss for Q2 2010 was $201 million), revenue was up overall to $715 million. The biggest increase was in net digital revenue -- the realm of add-ons and online passes -- which rose over 40 percent to $234 million compared to the same period last year. EA's next Q3 will provide a crucial look at the company's future, as it'll divulge Battlefield 3 sales and an early performance indication for BioWare's big-huge investment in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Xperia Play makes itself more enticing for the holidays with four free EA games
EA is offering four big mobile titles for free for all the tens of people who own Sony's Xperia Play: Dead Space, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Need for Speed: Shift and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. The offer runs through Jan. 15, 2012, meaning you still have time to throw the PlayStation Phone on your holiday wish list and snag these suckers for free. If it helps, think of it as getting four games with a handy smartphone case thrown in for free.
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 3 preorders over 1.25 million already, beating Bad Company 2
EA's CFO Eric Brown announced at the Citi 2011 Tech Conference today that Battlefield 3 has already racked up 1.25 million pre-orders, putting it "well ahead" of the previous Battlefield title, Bad Company 2, at the same time leading up to launch. Over ten times more, in fact. That game sold 2.3 million copies in the first month of release, and has sold over 9 million copies according to the most recent financial reports. Presumably, Battlefield 3 is on track to do even better than that. Brown said that EA expects to make full use of "the advantage of a two-and-a-half week early launch window versus our competitor," Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Brown also spoke about pre-orders for EA's other big release this fall, Star Wars: The Old Republic, though declined to provide actual numbers. Star Wars: The Old Republic will have a smaller marketing budget than Battlefield 3 at launch, and EA expects to support it over a longer length of time. Brown said that SW:TOR would have "a different spend curve," -- so far, that demand "is tracking consistent with our expectations."
Help Somalia hunger crisis by playing Bad Company 2
Somalia is in bad shape, you guys. Two back-to-back seasons of inadequate rains have prevented the country's agricultural infrastructure from producing enough food to cover the needs of its people, and as a result roughly 3.7 million Somali citizens are in need of assistance. The situation is so dire in some parts of Somalia that the UN has declared it a famine, which could spread throughout the entire country in as little as two months. It's bad, and once again, a group of intrepid gamers have taken it upon themselves to help when help is needed most. Battlefield community site Don't Revive Me Bro has joined forces with pro gaming organization Quantic Gaming, fellow community resource Battlefieldo, and DICE's own Daniel Matros to produce First Person Saviors, a 24-hour Battlefield: Bad Company 2 event benefiting Somalia's people. The event, which started this morning at 9 AM GMT (5 AM EDT) and runs until that time tomorrow, urges players to join specially-marked "Somalian Hunger Relief SHR" servers, rather than their usual virtual homes. Donations will be accepted by Gamers Outreach, 100 percent of which will be passed along to the World Food Programme to aid in their humanitarian efforts. In addition to the warm, fuzzy feeling you'll get from knowing you've done a good thing, people who donate are also automatically entered into drawings for prizes and giveaways, held at specific donation intervals. The event is also an opportunity to test your mettle against some of the best Bad Company 2 players in the world, as well as actual DICE employees. So get to it! Go kill some dudes, and help save millions.
36 Origin PC games on the cheap until Sunday
When it comes to digital distribution services, EA's Origin is the new kid in school. And who wants to hang out with the new kid? Nobody, that's who, unless the new kid has pockets full of candy. And by candy, we mean really cheap video-games. From now until tomorrow, you can promise to be Origin's best friend forever in exchange for 36 PC games and/or expansion packs on sale for $4.99 each, including Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Spore, Mirror's Edge, Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box, and Littlest Pet Shop. Whether or not Origin's popularity on the playground will last when the candy runs out remains to be seen, but for right now we're willing to trade our chocolate milk for a copy of Sim City 4. [Thanks, Thomas!]
PSA: Steam Summer Camp Sale ends today
It's time to strip down your bunks, throw your macaroni necklaces in a suitcase and get back to town -- it's the final day of the Steam Summer Camp Sale. Today Steam is featuring some of the sale's biggest titles (which means you probably already have them), including franchise deals on Fallout, Battlefield, Borderlands, Just Cause and Assassin's Creed. One game you may not have bought yet, Terraria, is also 50 percent off today. If there's a better way of forming one last Summer Camp memory than a 2D, Minecraft-inspired sidescrolling goldmine of fun, we can't think of it.
Deal: Amazon and Steam share some Bad Company 2 with $5 PC download [Updated]
You and your friends have been bad, but lucky for you Amazon is into that sort of thing. You can snag (or steal, pillage or plunder, you naughty dog) a PC download of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for $4.99 in Amazon's Deal of the Day, today only. Run over some puppies and get to Amazon now! Battlefield: Bad Company 2 $4.99 (Amazon) Update: As our forever-kind and generous commenters have spotted, Amazon's sale is for the PC download and Steam is also selling Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for $5 today as part of the Summer Camp Sale. Thanks! Keep those eyes and comments sharp. [Thanks, Duc748s!]
Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Rainbow Six and more announced for Xperia Play
Though much of the future of Sony's Xperia Play smartphone/gaming system still remains shrouded in mystery and indecision, the system's upcoming software catalog was announced by Sony Ericsson earlier today. The announcement was predictably Minecraft-centric (check out some new gameplay footage after the jump!), but there's a few notable newcomers in the list -- namely, Battlefield Bad Company 2 from EA and Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Shadow Vanguard from Gameloft. Check out the full list of exclusive titles and Android ports that are headed to the Xperia Play after the jump! We'll try to get our hands on as many of them as we can at E3 next week, though, knowing us, we'll probably just start playing Minecraft the first day we get there, and then look up, and -- oops! -- E3's over.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on iPad, X-Men Arcade out now on iOS
It's Thursday again and that means more big profile releases in the App Store. This week there are two big titles out to play with, in addition to lots of other smaller releases. First up, Konami has released a port of the old X-Men: The Arcade Game on iOS, the side-scrolling beat-em-up from way back in 1992. It's been updated with Game Center, but as with most of these old school games, the controls consist of a couple of onscreen buttons -- not exactly ideal. Still, fans of the title will enjoy it, and the US$2.99 download price ain't bad at all, especially since it's a universal version. And EA's Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is now available on the iPad. It's been out on the iPhone for a little while, but this high budget FPS is now playing on the bigger screen as well. There are three different control setups to play with, Game Center integration, and even full 6-player action on both Wi-Fi and 3G. At $9.99, it's the very definition of a premium title, but as you probably know, EA has a big sale nearly every holiday, so just wait a while and you'll probably see it cheaper.
Battlefield, Medal of Honor series discounted on Steam today
Today's edition of Steam's EA Week sales doesn't focus on one of the company's franchises, but two: Battlefield and Medal of Honor. Check out the many one-day discounts on Bad Company 2, Bad Company 2: Vietnam, Battlefield 2: Complete Collection, and plain ol' Medal of Honor below!
EA grows digital sales in Q4, stems losses for fiscal year
EA enjoyed solid growth in the final quarter of its 2011 fiscal year (ending March 31), thanks in large part to a bump in digital revenue. Digital sales were up $67 million from the same period a year ago to $211 million. Good ol' boxed games weren't slouching though, as packaged goods revenue increased $44 million up to $838 million. In all, EA rebounded from its rough Q3 to record $151 million in profit during the fiscal fourth quarter. The engine for that growth was a surprisingly impressive quarterly lineup for the company. Seven of its titles from fiscal Q4 have surpassed 1 million units shipped, with Crysis 2, Dead Space 2 and Dragon Age 2 all over the 2-million-shipped mark. DLC for those titles (like Dead Space 2's "Severed" add-on) was the cornerstone of digital profits, as well. Over its entire 2011 fiscal year, EA shipped 12 million units of FIFA 11, 7 million copies of Bad Company 2 (released at the tail end of FY10), and five million each of Medal of Honor, Hot Pursuit and Madden 11. But it seems that, in the grand scheme, these titles weren't enough to alter EA's fortunes for the fiscal year, which ended in a $267 million loss for the company. We suppose there's still a bit of a silver lining, however -- those losses would seem to sting considerably less than the $677 million lost by EA just one year prior.
XBL Deal of the Week: Bad Company 2 DLC
We're sure you marked your calendar when we first reported the Xbox Live schedule for April, but we figured a reminder was in order (just in case!). The latest Deal of the Week is for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 DLC, which is available for half price and includes both Onslaught mode and the Vietnam expansion. And, if Vietnam is just too recent historically for you, Battlefield 1943 has also been discounted. The deals expire after April 11. Check out the available savings after the break.
