Battlefield 3 to be revealed

Raze_them_all

it has javelins and that, should pretty much get rid of the need for them

heebusjeebus

Regarding the Battlelog gubbins,
Alan Kertz from DICE has said that Battlelog will be the main menu for BF3:

http://twitter.com/#!/Demize99/status/104449637829705728

Battlelog IS the PC main menu. You go straight from Battlelog to playing. No splash screens, no menus. Just straight to the playing.

Ponster

heebusjeebus wrote: »

Regarding the Battlelog gubbins,
Alan Kertz from DICE has said that Battlelog will be the main menu for BF3:

http://twitter.com/#!/Demize99/status/104449637829705728

Excellent. Looks like third-party server browsers will work (like BF2 pre-1.3 patch)

grizzly

Raze_them_all wrote: »

it has javelins and that, should pretty much get rid of the need for them

So they would auto lock-on? How is this countered?

Jaafa

grizzly wrote: »

So they would auto lock-on? How is this countered?

Flares I'd imagine. Probably a longer reload time too.

5uspect

Possibly some new info here:
http://www.destructoid.com/talking-battlefield-3-s-battlelog-with-dice-209445.phtml

Spear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpqk54aHFbQ

The painting of the BF3 mural for Gamescom (over the Black Ops one).

grizzly

kotaku have done a short write up of their multiplayer experiences on 64 player Caspian and have offered to answer questions in the comments.

Battlefield 3’s Multiplayer Blows 128 Socks Clean Off
Battlefield 3's booth at Gamescom was not ****ing around. Inside its cavernous hall, at the end of an hours-long wait, were 64 personal computers and an 18-minute round of the game's multiplayer.

It's quite the experience.
Taking place on the game's Caspian Border map, an enormous expanse of creeks, hills, plains and buildings, the demo throws 32 American soldiers against 32 Russians in a classic game of Battlefield's multiplayer, each side scrambling to control points on the map.

This is a map that's been shown off before in trailers and screenshots (like the one above). It looked great there, and in person (admittedly, on a monster machine), it looked...just as great. It's not often you get shot in a multiplayer game because you got caught staring at the effect a tree's shadow had on the running water in a small stream.

More importantly than its looks, though, this played like the same old Battlefield. Playing as infantry, aiming is sharp and responsive. Vehicles were easy to learn but hard to master (though I did shoot a helicopter down with an Abrams at first attempt). There's great and constant visual feedback on where everybody on your team is and, more importantly, where all the spotted bad guys are as well.

Prior to the match kicking off, I had access to the customisation system, which had many items and weapons already unlocked. There was a great deal of scope for individuality here, players able to create their own ideal loadout of weapons, gear and powerups but since I only had one game to try it out on, there's not much more to report on it.

Amazingly, considering I only had 18 minutes of play time, I managed to man a buggy's machine gun, drive a tank and even stroll uncontested into the cockpit of an F-18 (then fly uncontested into the side of a building). Just like the infantry, control of a vehicle and the aiming of their weapons was smooth as butter, especially the tank.

Scruff

battser wrote: »

Well I was gonna get it on the xbox meself but havin seen the last trailer I am now going to buy a new PC at the start of october cause fook that if I am only going to play that 12 v 12 ****e now! It looked feckin EPIC in that trailer :eek:

after leaving the pc gaming scene and going with just the xbox for the last 4+ years i was thinking the exact same thing!
wonder how much it would cost to build a htpc style pc that could do 720p or 1080p...

Jaafa

Scruff wrote: »

after leaving the pc gaming scene and going with just the xbox for the last 4+ years i was thinking the exact same thing!
wonder how much it would cost to build a htpc style pc that could do 720p or 1080p...

If your on a budget 500-600 would do ya.

Spear

Best keep the build/spec requests over in building and upgrading:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=842

cherryghost

Love the last bit

even stroll uncontested into the cockpit of an F-18 (then fly uncontested into the side of a building)

Burgo

should be fun :pac:

Scruff

Spear wrote: »

Best keep the build/spec requests over in building and upgrading:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=842

yeah no worries, its probably more wishful thinking anyway. will more than likely just stick to the xbox version and forget i saw that trailer :rolleyes:

Headshot

Burgo wrote: »

should be fun :pac:

timberrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I reckon if that falls it will definitely make a sound

5uspect

It's raining snipers!

BULLER

Wow. They really weren't lying when they said nearly everything is destructable!! Everyones gonna run towards that in the first week of the game trying to blow it up!

BULLER

Scruff wrote: »

yeah no worries, its probably more wishful thinking anyway. will more than likely just stick to the xbox version and forget i saw that trailer :rolleyes:

No! Dont. Get a cheap computer with a good graphics chip and you'll be away! You need to get a new computer anyway, that laptop is as slow as a snail

grizzly

Another 64-player Caspian hands-on, this time from the guardian. I like this part about the audio;

The key is in the audio. Those echoes of distant gunfire, the metallic ringing din of your own assault rifle. Everything sounds as though it is being generated within a true 3D environment. The award-winning Dice sound team has been using a technique known as high dynamic range audio, which mixes sound effects in real-time for each player so that they hear the important stuff, rather than a barrage of noises all at the same amplitude. (There's a good slideshow of a GDC talk on the subject here.)

"In reality you don't hear all the sounds in your environment – you brain picks out a certain amount of sounds for you, which it thinks are important," says Liu. "That's what HDR audio does. There are footsteps, people talking, gunshots… but usually what really matters is the fact that you're being hit by bullets; when that happens it has a higher priority than all other sounds!"

The sound team has also structured the audio effects for different environments. Each weapon has a range of samples, depending on where it's being used, so that firing it in a forest will contrast heavily with firing it in a subway station, while a claymore will sound different on a dirt surface than on concrete. It's not a major gameplay feature, but it adds to the sense of detail and – that word again – authenticity.

cherryghost

I wonder if the audio puts extra strain on the CPU. Have a spare sound card at home so I'll have to try it out and see if there's any difference on CPU load

the_syco

grizzly wrote: »

Another 64-player Caspian hands-on, this time from the guardian. I like this part about the audio;

Sounds like the "war tapes" audio option in Bad Company 2?

kearneybobs

News about the Origin EULA has gotten around in the last couple of days. It's not looking good. I'm seriously tempted to cancel my preorder and not bother with it at all. Maybe I'm being a little extreme, but I dont really like the idea of allowing EA the privilege of rifling through my hard drive to see what they can find, almost certainly unnecessarily.

Here's the text from the RPS article.

As spotted by the canny denizens of the Escapist forum, there is a quite extraordinary clause in the EULA of EA’s new game service, Origin. One that may well make you think twice about letting the software on your PC. Under the title of “Consent to Collection and Use of Data”, the clause states that by installing Origin you are giving EA permission to “collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer, operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware.”

Which is to say, if you want to play Battlefield 3, or any other game that will require Origin to run, you’re going to have to agree to that.
The full clause reads,

2. Consent to Collection and Use of Data.
You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online services. EA may also use this information combined with personal information for marketing purposes and to improve our products and services. We may also share that data with our third party service providers in a form that does not personally identify you. IF YOU DO NOT WANT EA TO COLLECT, USE, STORE, TRANSMIT OR DISPLAY THE DATA DESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION, PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THE APPLICATION. This and all other data provided to EA and/or collected by EA in connection with your installation and use of this Application is collected, used, stored and transmitted in accordance with EA’s Privacy Policy located at www.ea.com. To the extent that anything in this section conflicts with the terms of EA’s Privacy Policy, the terms of the Privacy Policy shall control.

It’s not unusual for such software to collect information from your computer relating to itself, and it’s not unknown that using that software means you agree to this information being distributed anonymously to third parties. Steam, for instance, warns that it will,

“store information on a user’s hard drive that is used in conjunction with online play of Valve products. This includes a unique authorization key or CD-Key that is either entered by the user or downloaded automatically during product registration. This authorization key is used to identify a user as valid and allow access to Valve’s products. Information regarding Steam billing, your Steam account, your Internet connection and the Valve software installed on your computer are uploaded to the server in connection with your use of Steam and Valve software.”

But there’s a significant difference. Valve’s policy is self-restricted to anything on your PC directly relating to its own products. EA’s is so broad that it gives the publisher permission to scan your entire hard drive, and report back absolutely anything you may have installed, and indeed when you may use it, and then pass that information on the third parties.
Now, they may well mean for this clause to provide them the same opportunities as Valve’s and others’, intending only to allow information about the use of Origin, and Origin-run software, to be fed back to their sinister super-computers. It could simply be in place to provide a better service for Origin customers. But crucially, that’s absolutely not what you’re agreeing to when you absently click “Agree” during the install. What you’re agreeing to is for EA to have a free pass to scan your PC and gather absolutely anything it wants.
And then even more creepily, they say they intend to take such information, combine it with personal information about you, and use it to advertise directly to you. However, when selling on this free-for-all on your computer’s contents, they’ll at least remove personally identifying information. Gosh, thanks.
It strikes us as beyond acceptable. And so much more serious now that EA has made its intentions clear to make so many of their games exclusively delivered through Origin. Were there a choice about what you’d use to play Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3, etc, then gamers could opt out of allowing Origin on their systems while such a policy is in place. But instead it’s a case of agree to such remarkable terms, or don’t play their games at all.
We’ve contacted EA to ask if they understand gamers’ shock at this policy, and to find out if there is any chance of its being revoked, or heavily re-worded. This isn’t an issue over publishers having their own distribution services, and Origin works fine for me. But when you’re asked to give up such fundamental personal information to be able to use it, and when it’s the only option to play games, this becomes an extremely serious matter.
This is of course the second time the wording of Origin’s EULA has caused concern, with previous worries that they were reserving the right to delete accounts after two years of inactivity, which they’ve since put at rest. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything back from EA.
Edit: Some have pointed out that similar clauses have been in previous EA EULAs. Two things: Firstly, often it was optional whether you played those games online, and as such sent such data. Secondly, that doesn’t make it okay! It’s still an enormous violation of privacy that deserves being addressed.

twistedsoul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKgXC3QMoAI

dreamers75

kearneybobs wrote: »

News about the Origin EULA has gotten around in the last couple of days. It's not looking good. I'm seriously tempted to cancel my preorder and not bother with it at all. Maybe I'm being a little extreme, but I dont really like the idea of allowing EA the privilege of rifling through my hard drive to see what they can find, almost certainly unnecessarily.

Here's the text from the RPS article.

Valve call it a hardware survey and everyone loves it

kearneybobs

dreamers75 wrote: »

Valve call it a hardware survey and everyone loves it

Em, that hardware survey is completely optional. you can opt out at any time. The only information they collect is related to Steam and how it operates, i.e graphics driver version, OS details, CPU type etc. They do not collect what programs I have unless I give them permission to.

Burgo

dreamers75 wrote: »

Valve call it a hardware survey and everyone loves it

You have to opt in to that though, whereas with this you don't have a choice.

dreamers75

kearneybobs wrote: »

Em, that hardware survey is completely optional. you can opt out at any time. The only information they collect is related to Steam and how it operates, i.e graphics driver version, OS details, CPU type etc. They do not collect what programs I have unless I give them permission to.

Burgo wrote: »

You have to opt in to that though, whereas with this you don't have a choice.

Yup you can opt out, but noone does as its a very good idea and helps game devs see what hardware is being used the most. Adding in programs isnt a bad idea either.

Again Valve do it and everyone loves it.

kearneybobs

dreamers75 wrote: »

Yup you can opt out, but noone does as its a very good idea and helps game devs see what hardware is being used the most. Adding in programs isnt a bad idea either.

Again Valve do it and everyone loves it.

Again, Valve do it WITH my permission. All the data Valve collect is there to be seen in front of you BEFORE you send it to them. You dont like them knowing whether or not you have two GPUs, then click cancel and opt out.
With Origin, you have no idea what they are looking up, no idea what they are collecting and no idea when/why they are doing it.
This kind of thing wouldn't bother me half as much if it was an opt out service which allowed me to restrict what data was collected, LIKE Valve.

Also, Valve have already added in the program scanning feature, but again, it's opt out. Dont like them knowing you use uTorrent, then dont let them collect the data.

Auvers

anybody read the Privacy Policy yet? quickly skimming I don't its not a bad as its painted above, while i don't agree with it I really wanna fly the choppers


oh hold on this doesn't look good

mobile or online services where personal information is required for use and/or participation.
Information collected will vary depending upon the activity and may include your name, email address, phone number, home address, birth date, mobile phone number and credit card information





http://www.ea.com/1/privacy-policy

III. What Is Personal Information And When Does EA Collect It?
EA collects both personal and non-personal consumer information. Personal information collected by EA is discussed below in this section. Non-personal information is discussed below in Section IV.

Personal information is information that identifies you and that may be used to contact you on-line or off-line. EA may collect personal information from our online visitors during:

Contest registration and prize acceptance;
Warranty registration and requests;
Customer support and/or technical service requests;
Player match up and other head-to-head online competitions;
Registration for games and/or special game-specific events;
Newsletter subscriptions, referral services, and other marketing surveys and email campaigns;
Registration for EA and/or other service accounts;
Creation of a personal profile;
Product, service and/or subscription orders;
Service requests from third party service providers on our site;
Access to our products and/or services on social networks or other third party services; and
Otherwise through use of our software, mobile or online services where personal information is required for use and/or participation.
Information collected will vary depending upon the activity and may include your name, email address, phone number, home address, birth date, mobile phone number and credit card information. Visitors to EA Mobile may be asked to provide the name of their mobile service carrier, model of their mobile phone and a valid mobile number so that we may provide purchase instructions directly to their mobile phone. In that context, your mobile number will only be used to send you a text message with a link to download your game and will not be retained for any other purpose. Prize winners may be required to provide their Social Security or other identification number for tax purposes, and will be used only for prize fulfillment.

IV. What Is Non-Personal Information and When Does EA Collect It?
Non-personal information, alone, cannot be used to identify or contact you. EA collects non-personal information about your use of our online and mobile products and services both on our website and in the course of game play and software usage (on PC, mobile and game system platforms).

We will retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. If you wish to cancel your account or request that we no longer use your information contact the Privacy Policy Administrator in your country listed on our site at privacyadmin.ea.com, or if your country is not listed, by contacting the Privacy Policy Administrator in the United States. There may be instances where we are legally required to retain your information.

A. What Types of Non-Personal Information Does EA Collect?
When you use EA online and mobile products and services or you play our games on your PC or game system, we may collect certain non-personal demographic information including gender, zip code, information about your computer, hardware, software, platform, game system, media, mobile device, including device IDs, incident data, Internet Protocol (IP) address, network Media Access Control (MAC) address and connection. We also collect other non-personal information such as username, user ID or persona, feature usage, game play statistics, scores and achievements, user rankings and click paths as well as other data that you may provide in surveys, via your account preferences and online profiles such as friends lists or purchases, for instance. We may also receive either non-personal or public information from third parties in connection with market and demographic studies and/or data that we use to supplement personal information provided directly by you.

B. How Does EA Collect Non-Personal Information?
EA collects non-personal information along with personal information when you actively provide it in the context of various online and mobile activities including online and mobile purchases, game registration and marketing surveys, for instance. In addition, we and other third parties use cookies and other technologies to passively collect non-personal demographic information, personalize your experience on our sites and monitor advertisements and other activities as described below. We may also derive from the information collected other facts, such as determining the applicable tax rate based on your IP address.

dreamers75

kearneybobs wrote: »

Again, Valve do it WITH my permission. All the data Valve collect is there to be seen in front of you BEFORE you send it to them. You dont like them knowing whether or not you have two GPUs, then click cancel and opt out.
With Origin, you have no idea what they are looking up, no idea what they are collecting and no idea when/why they are doing it.
This kind of thing wouldn't bother me half as much if it was an opt out service which allowed me to restrict what data was collected, LIKE Valve.

Also, Valve have already added in the program scanning feature, but again, it's opt out. Dont like them knowing you use uTorrent, then dont let them collect the data.

Your opt out on Origin is uninstall. And you can see anything anyone collects about you with the right tools.

Wont someone think of the children etc: