As part of the EA takeover of DICE, Lawrence Brown has had his position as Mod Coordinator “eliminated”. Apparently several other staffers will continue working with the mod community, but this doesnt sound like good news for Mr. Brown or the Battlefield 2 community.

Read his announcement at the BF2 Mod Tools Forums

I stumbled upon this at Planet Battlefield today and it sounds interesting for those running an unranked BF2 server. According to their website, “Alternative Battlefield Ranking is a collection of scripts, which provide the same functionality as the original official battlefield 2 ranks, without having to pay for a ranked server.”

EA/DICE has recently given permission for this effort to go forward regarding Battlefield 2 and Related Products, and it will offer support for general unranked servers as well as those running mods similar to that seen from BFTracks and BFStats in the Battlefield 1942 and Vietnam days.

Check them out here: Alternative Battlefield Ranking News

FAQ: Alternative Battlefield Ranking FAQ

By now, you have heard about the “Booster Packs” EA is releasing in early 2006 for the BF2 game. I have too much free time on my hands this week. During that free time, I have been thinking a lot about this issue. In fact, it has consumed me.

I have a few thoughts on these “Booster Pack”.

1. The term Booster Pack is very telling. A Booster Pack is something you buy with card based games like Pokemon and Magic The Gathering. There are tons more. They appeal to a younger generation than our typical crowd. A Booster Pack gives you a chance to obtain something your opponent does not have. It does not guarantee you anything other than the opportunity to get said reward. I believe it is being used as a marketing term to reach this younger audience because they have been exposed to its marketing for many years.

2. I love custom maps and would love to get more maps, even going as far as paying $10 for a good set of professionally created maps.

3. This is not a map pack. It is an attempt to create a new revenue stream through the MMORPG carrot on the stick syndrome. It is not about maps. It is about weapons and being able to get weapon unlocks that others can not have.

4. EA in their attempts to create additional revenue is actually going to alienate their core audience of players and while these gamers already spent their money on BF2, the backlash will happen down the road. It may not be today or tomorrow, but it is building steam and momentum.

With all of this said, I have reached a turning point. After buying every single BF game and expansion pack, I will not be purchasing the “Booster Packs” or traditional “Expansion Packs” for that matter. In fact, I imagine I will no longer be playing the core game with the exception of Mods.

In the future, I will no longer purchase a DICE made game simply because I think they “are/were” a great company that developed great games. EA has taken the reigns and things are quickly going down hill.

Should DICE develop a new WWII FPS, I will consider purchasing it. However, if said game includes any “Booster Packs”, you can count me out.

Its a shame really. After deep reflection, I feel like I just broke up with a long time girlfriend. Battlefield, its been fun, but I must move on….

Somewhere deep in the bowels of EA, someone decided that because I bought Battlefield 2 for the PC, that I care about Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for XBox. This is part of a Battlefield Newsletter email that I received today:

“Play 3 new maps; Frostbite, Full Frontal and Hidden.
Take control of the new attack snowmobiles with dual-mounted machine guns, modified pickup trucks with .50 cal armament, assault vans loaded with mini-guns, and a RIB boat with four open positions.
All-new arctic camouflage for your soldiers helps you blend into the winter background.
Download the Warsome Booster Pack from Xbox Live TODAY!”

In what I can only hope is a marketing SNAFU, DICE issues a Press Release on the same day touting the success of the Special Forces Expansion and discussing the future of Battlefield 2. That future includes releasing two “Booster Packs” for Battlefield 2 in 2006, for $9.99 each. So, if I am reading this correctly, XBox owners get new content and weapons for FREE, while us lowly PC players have to pay.

Merry Christmas!

The entire press release is included if you click on “read more”. Continue reading EA Gives Away Free Battlefield 2 “Booster Packs” (Unless you play on a PC) →

These guys are on a role. They are back again with an update on the progress of their Capture the Flag mini-mod after releasing their first version just last weekend. In addition to adding in Kubra Dam as a CTF map, the flag icons can be seen across the battlefield and update them in near-real time. The flag icon also shows through solids and has a distance reading on it for those all important “Get Our Flag Back!” moments. They have lengthed the time the flag hangs around after being dropped and it should not disappear immediately any longer.

They expect to be testing this week and have version .2 out to the general public soon along with some more BF2 maps included. Anyone will also be able to host a server with the .2 release as well now that they are more confident in the stability of the server side game.

Look for more information at the Desert Conflict website

Still no timeline and apparently this isnt a complete list, but it does look promising.

Directly from the EAUK Battlefield 2 Forums

New information on the 1.2 Update:

Hi all,

We are currently working on the next Battlefield 2 update. We believe this update has some significant improvements that everyone will appreciate. We’ve seen the discussions on the forum and will do our best to address as many issues as possible, as soon as possible.

Here is a quick run down of just some of the issues we have been working on.

– Helicopter now carry 8 missiles rather than 14
– TV-Guided missile now have a shorter range
– Hit points on all air vehicles has been reduced
– AA missile lock has been improved
– Support kits have had their primary weapons adjusted for accuracy
– Sniper kits have had their primary weapons adjusted for accuracy
– Anti-Tank kits have had their primary weapons adjusted for accuracy
– “Dolphin Diving” is no longer possible
– Players can no longer jump and shoot at the same time
– “Prone Spamming” is now fixed
– “Sprint exploit” is now fixed
– The Sa80 weapon has been improved
– The G3A3 weapon has been improved
– Reload while sprinting has been enabled
– Chinese and MEC APCs can now shoot through penetrable materials
– Damage decreased for the M134
– Medic defibrillator paddles have been adjusted. They now reload while not in use.

Well be announcing further additions to this list, but that will have to wait until the next update. This is NOT the complete list of items we are working on. As we have more items go through testing and we are sure of a change we will update you.

For now, cheers.

Armando “Aj” Marini
Battlefield Team

Discuss it with us in the GR Forums

I have been playing the Desert Conflict Capture the Flag mini-mod (version .1) for BF2 since Saturday and must say have been having a blast. While this is an early release and there are some things that I think need changing, it is a challenging and fun game and for me any how, has completely surpassed the fun that I was having with the Special Forces Expansion. At this point, there are only three maps (Mashtuur City, Wake, and Zatar Wetlands) but Karkand is coming as soon as some bugs are worked out.

If you played CTF for BF42 and liked it, give this one a shot.

Get the mod here: Desert Conflict Mod for BF2