DICE & EA Battlefield: Bad Company press releases

Both DICE and EA made press releases yesterday about BFBC, making it fully official and giving some more information to the public.

The short DICE press release can be found here (Swedish), and the much more detailed (and in English) EA press release here.

EA writes:

EA AND DIGITAL ILLUSIONS UNVEIL BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY FOR NEXT-GENERATION CONSOLES

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - August 21, 2006 - Throw out the rules of engagement, this is all-out war! Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that Battlefield: Bad Company™ is currently in development for the Xbox 360&E153; video game system from Microsoft® and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system.

Built from the ground-up for next-generation consoles using Digital Illusions' bleeding-edge Frostbite™ game engine, Battlefield: Bad Company drops gamers behind enemy lines with a squad of renegade soldiers who risk it all on a personal quest for gold and revenge. Featuring a deep, cinematic single-player experience loaded with adventure and dark humor, the game delivers the series' trademark sandbox gameplay in a universe where nearly everything is destructible.

"The heart of DICE's multiplayer games is the frenetic, unpredictable nature of the sandbox experience, where anything could happen at any moment, and that's what we're bringing to the core of Battlefield: Bad Company's single-player campaign, said Karl Magnus Troedsson, senior producer at DICE. "In a world that's 90 percent destructible, the gameplay possibilities are infinite - the battlefield is always changing, forcing players, teammates, and enemies to react accordingly. Gamers will have total freedom to adapt to and tackle challenges in creative Battlefield-style ways."

Battlefield: Bad Company also will feature a full suite of the franchise's trademark multiplayer options with deep gameplay modes designed to take full advantage of the game's massively destructible environments.

Developed by Sweden-based developer Digital Illusions, Battlefield: Bad Company is slated to ship for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2007. For more information about the Battlefield franchise, please visit http://battlefield.ea.com.

Battlefield: Bad Company screenshots

A couple of gaming forums has gotten a hold of a few screenshots from BFBC, not sure how since I haven't seen them on any of the larger games site yet. But they might just be first to release the press material.

Here are some comments from various forums after hearing about the game and seeing the screenshots. Quite amusing for me since I work on the rendering & tech:

"I am telling you, I am 100% positive that those shots are not ingame. There is no way that even the Xbox 360 could produce those graphics in such a large-scale game as Battlefield, especially on that hobbled together engine that the games run on."

"For sure. Those graphics are beyond this generation as far as I can see. I'd put money it looks nothing like that. Not because it's EA. FN3 is still the most impressive thing I've seen. A new engine could help tons though."

"wow those r amazin graphics... is that 2142?"

"That IS amazing graphics!"

"mmm... prerendered CG always looks nice :/"

"OMG I just wet my self"

"In-FREAKING-deed. EA makes me happy AGAIN, this just about makes up for BF2 :)"

"When has DICe cer released prerendered screens of any of its games? ANd this is compeltey possible, there is NO REASON TO BELIEVE IT'S FAKE. It even has jaggies on some areas so obviously it's real."

"wtf is this game gonna be about or is dice trying to be funny to get our attentions away from1.4 being delayed"

Links to forum postings about BFBC:

• TotalBF2 - Battlefield: Bad Company???
• TotalBF2142 - Battlefield: Bad Company In Development
• PlanetBattlefield - Battlefield: Bad Company

Our game Battlefield: Bad Company (360, PS3) is now official!

The upcoming September issue of Game Informer magazine has an exclusive first look at the game that I've been working on for quite some time here at DICE; Battlefield: Bad Company for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

We also have the exclusive first look and Battlefield: Bad Company for PS3 and Xbox 360. Find out how DICE plans to create the best single player experience ever in a Battlefield game to date (not to mention multiplayer plans).

I haven't seen the article myself yet but it's very exciting that the game is now finally official and to start to see peoples reactions and comments about it. Even these mixed ones from the TeamXbox forums.

Public information about the game is scarce now until people can get their hands on the magazine, but I've seen a few sites and blogs that have picked up the story so far:

• OXM - EA confirm next-gen Battlefield sequel!
• TotalVideoGames.com - DICE Makes Bad Company For Xbox 360/PS3
• Blog search from Technorati

I'm sure there will be more information shortly, but until then, the tiny tiny character screenshot at the top left corner of the Game Informer cover will have to do :)