Dudes, the code for the beta was posted on this very blog by someone a few days back. Just go get it off Live, input the code, and off you go. No?

I wouldn't even have given the game two thoughts had it not been for this marvelous poster.

@DaPress: There are no more Public keys, silly.

I just took a leak.

Zing.

Is the demo not online only?
Online + Modded 360 = Bad News.

I didn't get a code for it but I ain't that bothered. I want to play it though but they don't want anyone in the beta?

Just in case anyone has short memories, it's *that* game:

[kotaku.com]

@cdr: That's strange - because people have said the one that was posted on Kotaku (in a posting completely unrelated to Bad Company, mind you) was working.

But then again, what do I know? After all, I'm participating in a one-man boycott of EA after their "strategy" of letting players FUCKING BUY certain weapons in this game through Xbox Live microtransactions.

to anyone thinking of going through the download, burn to disk just to play process. Save yourself a DVD and dont bother.
Bad Company == bullet lag [even grenade lag! well done there!] , bland graphics, generic maps, sniping that takes absolutely no "skill", really poorly laid out controls, and right now you can not play with friends.
After about an hour of playing last night I went back to COD 4 and had a sense of "this feels better".
I hope dice keeps updating the beta with functionality, because right now its just mediocre at best, but isn't that EA business model?

The Beta isn't all that fun. It takes a full clip to drop an enemy. Anybody who mods their 360 to play it is dumb indeed.

@Gadgetron:

I'm with you. I tried to play last night and found the game completely unplayable. Terrible lag, crappy graphics, sloooooooow gameplay and instant respawn death. I also went back to CoD4 and Halo 3. I understand they are having server issues due to traffic (if the disclaimer on the menu screen is to be believed) but man, the game just plays like crap.

i didnt think a modded 360 could access Live.

it beta is fun and it has it's issues but:
the BF beta is just that - a BETA

the BF beta is fun but :: this a BETA

rainbow 6V 2 should be called a BETA too, it has more glitches than the BF beta.

Wow, it's a good thing this isn't anything like the Battlefield that started it's roots on the PC. This is almost like a joke.

It's trying to take some of the humor from Team Fortress, throw in elements from CoD4, and blandly throw in vehicles from the Battlefield series.

They're just throwing hit games from the holidays into a blender.

I am just surprised that EA isn't charging people to test their beta for them. I am even MORE surprised that they are actualy TESTING their beta builds. They usualy just release them as finished product. Madden '08 on PS3 anyone??

I've heard it works on unmodded 360's as well.

Hopefully people don't take advantage of this since there's no direct feedback option to report bugs in the game, you get emailed the link to the BF tech forums with your Beta key to report issues. The whole point of the Beta is to find the bugs.

Plus they're having server load problems with just the people on part of the Beta.

I'm in the beta. I'm gonna pass on this game for these issues:

I know the graphics aren't final, but they aren't bad. They just aren't very good.

I don't know why I don't have night vision for the dark attics.

Surprise, surprise! EA servers suck. Bad. Hard to connect, and once you're in, every so often lag gets horrible for all players.

The controls feel like I'm moving in molasses.

I know it feels like I'm dumping on the game, but all these issues made it a chore to play instead of fun.

@Gadgetron: I agree. It is so underwhelming. Also, it is totally one sided for the attackers. The defending team has a significant disadvantage.

Last night I was trying to get used to the sloppy controls and wave after wave of artillery strikes, helicopters, tanks and infantry were decimating me every 30 seconds. I spawned as an anti-tank and it takes 5-6 rounds to kill a tank, but the splash damage alone from a tank kills you and 3 people instantly.

CoD4 is so much better suited for my enjoyment than this.

I enjoyed it so far, had no lag at all. I did only play for an hour. Overall I thought that game was fun, and thought the ability to destroy the environment was a nice added touch of realism, yeah COD4 may be more realistic looking, but sadly a glass top display counter should be destroyed a grenade.

@AverageJoes: I am still going to check on the game from week to week while the beta is running, but right now it is just not fun at all.

I'm in the beta and to be honest the game is pretty mediocre. It's got all the production values but after you get past those it's the same thing they did in BF2 for consoles except shit blows up better. Pass.

Is it just me or does it seem like the definition of "Beta Test" has been lost on some people. The concept is to test the early revisions and report the bugs you find. Those complaining that it's "not as good as COD4/Has bugs/Server Lag" are kind of missing the point. Game Developers release early builds as betas to that we can test a clearly unfinished product (something that's usually done in house and closed to the public), by releasing it to the public(closed or not) they benefit by having a much larger group of testers and the public's reward for their hard work is that we get to play a free/early version of a game that we would otherwise have to wait months for. Personally, I like it... It needs some(or alot) of polish but remains fun. And last time I checked, we played games because they were fun... or am I missing something. Just my $0.02

Wow i have never seen more whiny people in my life.

Having owned every BF game for PC since 1942, all but two expansions in BF2, and being a self proclaimed Console FPS hater(stupid analog sticks)..

The game is damn fun. It looks great, sounds great, and runs pretty damn well, once they figure out the lag issues it should be golden.

I dont understand how anybody can say the graphics are bland. They look nice and vibrant and crisp to me on my 1080p set, quite close to whats in the screenshots.

The point is not the we "don't understand what beta testing" is, the point is that this game is a far cry from destroying your 360 and possibly losing your Live account over.

Additionally, the game is maybe 45 days from gold mastering. They then have roughly 45 days to fix the horrible lag, sloppy/sluggish controls, completely broken balance, average graphics and horrible dips in performance. Hopefully the beta testers like myself do our best to fix these problems, but EA has their work cut out for them in the next 45 days with the game in this state.

Couple that with the disgusting micro-transaction model for the basics such as weapons and the like, they are off to a very poor start, even for a beta.

As ever, let me step in and lend a bit of factual information with regards to piracy. Games journalists seem unable to keep up, and their audience ends up either ill informed or misinformed as a result.

Xbox 360 consoles who have had their DVD firmware flashed with a hacked copy, or have had a modchip installed that accomplishes essentially teh same goal, CAN be used on Xbox Live. They CANNOT be used to cheat in any manner whatsoever. The ONLY thing a modded 360 can do is boot DVD+R DL discs as if they were real 360 discs. You can't boot DVD-R discs as this Kotaku post claims. (sorta... there is one or two versions of the hacked firmware that will not work on Live that do allow putting games small enough to fit on DVD5s onto them) Running a modded 360 on Live is a pretty bad idea though, as it will quite likely result in your box (not your gamertag) being banned for life. MS has been very good at making software changes, collecting information on loads of people, and then rolling out big bans weeks or months later. If you've got a modded box, just keep it off of Live. Given all the stuff available on Live you might want to buy, say, an Arcade edition box just for use on Live.

@Re1gn: I get that it is a beta test, and in my original comment I said I hope dice keeps making updates to the game so that it gets to a state better than it is now.
just to me [tech issues outstanding] is not fun at all, but I hope it gets better.

I think the graphics are pretty nice, but gameplay definitely needs work.

Why does my character move that slow? It certainly isn't realistic because I could move faster humping an 80 pound ruck.

Why doesn't my controller vibrate when I shoot or get shot? Is this a glitch? They only way I know I am being shot is when my screen starts to turn red and my character gets slugglish. By then it's too late to react.

Why is sniping so easy? Take a cue from COD4 and add in a realistic breathing effect.

Why am I forced to use iron sights in an age of scopes and holo sights? This one is more of a personal nitpick.

Why doesn't the arty on the desert level have a set amount of ammo? Very unbalanced.

Why does a shell from an Abrahm's sometimes kill the enemy in one hit, and then othertimes, it takes 4-5 to get that one guy? Same goes for the Bushmaster on the Bradley.

Why doesn't each kit carry a pistol? This makes no sense to me. Everyone should have a backup to use.

Why is weapon damage so weak? It oughtta take less than a clip to kill someone.

Why the hell does every shooter out there have to play like CoD4? Battlefield plays very differently from that game, and while this may not be BF2 unfortunately, its going to be different from CoD4 on purpose. 6 rocket hits to take out a tank? Try hitting it in the back or the top where its vulnerable. If you're going to shoot it in the front you might as well throw rocks at it. In all the previous BF games, sniping was possible only if you didn't move the crosshairs for a few seconds. Haven't tried it in this game yet. Overall its fun. Especially blowing shit up.

@DaPress:

You wouldn't be talking about me would you?

Yes, it's laggy and choppy, but it's the first day of a fucking beta. I expected it. Was I the only one?

To borrow a bit from Kotaku, my impressions so far:

What I like:

-Destructible Environments. Because it's not exactly bits and pieces that fall off an object, but predetermined chunks (as a friend of mine mentioned) I was expecting it to look bad. It doesn't. When you have grenades and rockets going back and forth, explosions wrecking the environment it's all very immersive and cool. More than once I have shot a hole in a wall simply to let myself out of a building faster rather than at an enemy behind one. Shooting trees is also fun.

-Vehicles. Despite claims above that vehicles make the game unbalanced, on maps where they're available both teams get them. Helicopters were easy to fly and fire compared to previous Battlefield games, and tanks are an old standard. The radios are a nice touch.

-CONTROLS. I have no problem with them. Maybe it's because I've played so little Halo, or that I have CoD4 for PC (where it should be), but I'm not used to one particular control layout. It still took a bit for me to figure out reloading RB is switch to grenade launcher and X is reload, but it didn't take long and I like it now. I like that pressing Y pulls a knife and keeps it out for multiple attacks.

-Weapons. Or should I say classes? But that's nothing new to the franchise. They're different, they're each effective and while I have my favourites, they're all fun to play.

-Unlockables. There are tons of badges and dogtags to earn and you can earn them repeatedly. They're accompanied by a bit of country music in-game that is just as effective a "ding" as Cod4's "ding".

-Humor/Art Direction. This is a game that definitely does not take itself as seriously as CoD4. Not surprising, given the subject matter of killing for crates of gold after the war has ended. It's like a slightly TF2'd CoD4. Upon losing my commander told me he was looking forward to spending the money and that I sucked for losing it. Upon winning he says "I'm rich. I mean we're rich." Made me chuckle.

What I don't like:

-Non-Destructible Environments. In a development video/interview they mentioned that while environments are destructible, they aren't completely destructible so that the map remains and doesn't become one open field, prime for snipers and the like. While this looks and feels fine when destroying a building and the frame remains, I once launched a grenade at an enemy behind a wooden fence and both the fence and enemy remained. Unacceptable. It was not a particularily important fence. It's destruction would not have altered the map's "flow."

-Attics. They don't have windows. And on a few occasions I was a sniper looking for a high point of advantage, and only when I had climbed into an attic, did I realize no one had blown a hole in the wall yet, and I was given no way to do so myself.

-Buyable weapons. It seems unnecessary and unfair. If the guns were better than the ones offered for free in-game, it would offer an unfair advantage to the people willing to pay a little extra for a bit more firepower. But as far as I can tell, they're not better (for the most part) they're just different, so why bother?

-Squad spawning. Here's where CoD4 clearly has an edge. They've implimented some sort of logic system that spawns you close to allies, but not so close to the battle that you're gonna die right away. Not so in Bad Company. They've opted to put you down right in the thick and tell you that it was a "risky thing to do" anyways.

-Sound. BC impliments some sort of sound "priority" method that makes the more important sounds the loudest. So if you're listening to a radio, that's going to be quieted in favour of a rocket headed in your direction. This seems to be buggy at the moment and sounds fade in and out at the wrong times. It also followed me into the menu outside of the game where every button press momentarily muted the music.

And by far the most annoying part of the game so far is the ingame voice chatter. You will hear someone call for a mdeic literally every three seconds and there isn't even a clear medic class. I believe it's the support class that can throw out medpacks but they never do, and nobody sees them when they do. People also don't actively search out the support class as this is a game where it makes more sense to run out and die than to hide or wait in hopes that a support guy might run by and know that he's the only one one who can help you. Which brings me to another point.

-Health and death. Like Yahtzee complained about in his most recent video, it's nice to see a game with a healthbar again, rather than have the "cower in the corner" til your health comes back gameplay system. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for this game. You're not battling against a time limit in trying to defend/attack the gold, you're battling against a resupply limit. Meaning the faster and more often your team dies, the faster your bar goes down. And when it gets to the bottom, your team loses. Therefor, people really should be seeking out healthpacks and repairs rather than running into battle with six health left, but they don't. And it's because the gameplay feels like deathmatch.

Anyways, I do like the game and maybe the single player is fantastic, but from what I remember from previous Battlefieds, Singpleplayer and Multiplayer are pretty much the same except with single player you're alone with AI and a tacked on story. And there's nothing really new in the multiplayer. CoD4 has done it much better minus the destructible environments. Given the beta is multiplayer only, with two maps and one gameplay mode, I can't really say much more about it.

Sorry for the long post, I'm all done now.

Heh, so much for people boycotting this game.

"What?! Microtransactions to unlock weapons!? THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! That does it, I'm boycotting this game, we have to send out a messa- ooh look, a beta. Downloading now."

It is why, ultimately, we will never be listened to.

FYI for anyone in the beta you can post comments here as well:
[forums.ea.com]

It was leaked the same day Fileplanet was giving out codes. Depending on what M$ would do I wouldn't even try to download it and play without getting a code.

If you want to really try the beta try emailing battlefieldbeta @ea.com with a blank email and see if you get a reply for a key. I got this email yesterday about it and got a beta key this morning.

Here is the orginal email message:
Attention All Battlefield Soldiers!

We are recruiting for an exclusive Battlefield: Bad Company™ beta.

The beta will be available on Xbox 360® and downloaded through Xbox Live® Marketplace.

The beta will give you a first look at two multiplayer maps, Ascension and Oasis.

We have a limited amount of beta codes available so enlist now, by sending an email to battlefieldbeta @ea.com

Xbox Live® Gold Account required to play the beta.

@Lixie: I sure was! I never got to try the code. Did it work for others?

I can comfirm that it works on non-modded consoles. I wanted to play it but didn't have the code. I burnt it onto a DVD+R and put it in my disc tray. I then went to My Games, All Games, Battlefield Bad Company was there and got to play a few matches of the beta.

You don't need a modded console to play this. But like playing a backed up game on a modded console... play at your own risk... MS' Banhammer probably hurts alot more than Kotakus

@nox: it does MASSIVE DAMAGE

It is out, been out for almost a week now.

It can be played on a DVD-5 or from your 360 HD.

It can be played on non-modded consoles.
(Still need gold membership though)

The beta isn't bad. It's typical Battlefield fare. It definitely plays better than BF: Modern Combat.

The only thing is if you are used to the crisp weapon handling and instantaneous gun swapping of CoD4, Bad Company will be somewhat frustrating until you get used to it.

The biggest problem I have with the game is the way the player names are displayed over ones character. The names float around and your not sure if it belongs to the guy next to you or the one standing 20 feet away. I've gotten a lot of kills just because of opponents hesitating due to the issue. Theres also some other little niggling things but they're all minor. With a little tweaking it should be worth a purchase.