EA DICE's Battlefield series has been providing PC gamers (and eventually console owners) with solid, entertaining online multiplayer battles for a good six years now. Now that they've proven they can deliver the multiplayer goods they've taken on the single player experience with Battlefield: Bad Company, seeking to provide an offline story mode that is every bit as compelling to the solo-player as the massive multiplayer battles are to the more competitive gamer.

Has EA DICE managed to provide a combination of solo and multiplayer experiences worthy of your gaming dollar, or has the mixed focus resulted in mix review scores? The critics arm themselves after the jump.

Yeah, there are two Battlefield games on the way. that we know of. Battlefield Heroes and Battlefield Bad Company. So that's enough, right? EA's and DICE's whistles are well and truly wet, right? No. No, no, not even close. Speaking at GDC paris yesterday, DICE's Ben Cousens has said that the company are working on a further three Battlefield titles. One is a "core game" for consoles. One is a secret. The other is a collaboration with Korean company Neowiz, targeted at the region's online market. That's, you know. Five Battlefield games in development. Never let it be said EA don't know how to make the most of a franchise.

DICE confirms five Battlefield titles in development [GI.biz]

netGameRadio's Inside Battlefield show spoke to
John Hargelid of Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment (the developer behind Battlefield 2), and he dropped word that a new Battlefield 2 patch is coming, and it will include a new map pack with the update. An official announcement is set for Monday.

It's a lengthy podcast. The comment It's at timestamp 37:22 if you want to hear it for yourself. netGameRadio is suspender-popping proud at all the attention this has earned, but all that attention has put a whammy on its servers.

The entire podcast can be retrieved from TotalGamingNetwork, too.

The Inside Battlefield Show [netGameRadio via TotalGamingNetwork

Mirror's Edge Trailer Analyzed

Yes! We have all seen this before. But here it is again — with details like "birds" pointed out. Thank goodness, because we really missed those damn birds the first time around.

Faith Is A Vampire [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

Battlefield: Bad Company Official Ship Date

The Gold Edition pack features exclusive content with behind-the-scenes action and strategy videos giving Battlefield: Bad Company players tricks and tips on how to own the battlefield. The Gold Edition also gives gamers early access to five unique weapons that players can take into battle. These weapons can also be unlocked after the launch of the game by ranking up to the highest level in multiplayer mode.

Bad Company Drops Weapon Charges

All guns are available to everyone. However, we want to give some exclusivity to those who buy the Gold Edition. They will get the five Gold Edition weapons from Day One when they put the disc in. People that don't buy the Gold Edition can get the five additional weapons by getting to the final rank in the game.

I'd been playing around with the Bad Company beta for a few days when McWhertor asked me what I thought of it.

"It's OK," I said. "Hey, is this the one that's free, or that other one?"

McWhertor tells me I'm confusing it with Battlefield Heroes.

"How much are they charging for it?"

"$60"

"WTF! That's insane, it's fun, but $60?"

But ten minutes later I'm back on the game and I can't seem to stop playing it. I even sneak in a piddly five minutes of playing between the time I put the Lemon Chicken in the stove and I need to come back up to check on it.

It's an addiction!

Battlefield Heroes: Enjoy Your Two Maps!

DICE's casual stab at Battlefield may be free, but that doesn't take away our right to complain, outlined in the gamer Constitution. Sure, Battlefield Heroes looks cute and looks to feature the same well known gameplay at zero cost, but two maps? Surely, you can't be serious. They are, as producer Ben Cousins explains to Gamasutra that in typical Battlefield development cycle "we bust our asses making 50 maps, and then within six months of the game being released, everyone's playing two maps. The two best maps. So, we just decided to make just the two best maps, and not the other kind of maps."

I suppose that makes sense. Still, we're not much for microtransactions and the ability to buy your way into experience with time-limited multipliers that cost real money. It just makes us want to wash the pain away.

EA Goes Free-To-Play: Battlefield Heroes' Producer Speaks [Gamasutra]

Battlefield Bad Company Beta Leaked?

Remember how you could download the Guitar Hero III beta and play it on your 360? Well the same demo participation may be working with the Battlefield Bad Company beta...in a less than official manner. Reports are coming in that the beta software has been uploaded to the web—a version that is DVD-R burnable and will play on a modded 360.

It's a bit too much work/questionable legality for our tastes, but let us know if you've a friend's cousin's roommate has had any success with stealing the otherwise free product. Oh, and if you're really interested in Bad Company, be sure to check out our impressions. We used the more traditional game art for that post.

Battlefield Bad Company beta leaked, playable? [Xbox360Fanboy]

Battlefield Heroes Screens, Pretty And Such

Here are a slew of screens from EA's upcoming free web game Battlefield Heroes. To catch the promo video if you missed it, be sure to hit up our impressions of the game. Oh, and while you're at it, don't miss our eyes-on of Mirror's Edge, either. Seriously, that's a game you need to mentally bookmark. Yes, we just said "mentally bookmark." And if you have a problem with that, you can take it up with LeVar Burton.

Let me get something straight. I'm excited about EA's upcoming title Mirror's Edge, but I'm a little embarrassed to say that. Because this is a game that wants you to know that it's Important. From the Epic Score to the Dramatic Monologues, Mirror's Edge is not a game to be taken Lightly. It stinks of that heavy-handedness you see from Hollywood when the studio starts thinking "Oscar." But the fact of the matter is, in the dark recesses of a movie theater or the lonely recesses of your living room, nobody has to know that you are celebrating the melodrama.

Battlefield Heroes Impressions

You may think of EA's cartoon-influenced Battlefield Heroes as a poor man's Team Fortress 2. The thing is, you'd be fairly right to do so. The game will actually be free to play for anyone with a web browser and, yes, in person it looks just as much like TF2 as you'd think—but that's not a bad thing, necessarily.

At last week's GDC, I had the difficult assignment of attending EA's DICE studio event. There, hanging out at some hipster nightclub, I was forced to drink free cocktails while grabbing whatever bite-sized gourmet morsels that were passing by on silver trays. While you'll hear more about the night as embargoes lift (Battlefield: Heroes and Mirror's Edge), I first want to tell you about some time I spent playing Battlefield: Bad Company multiplayer on the Xbox 360. You know, it's that Battlefield game coming for consoles that features the oft-fabled destructible environments.

How was it? Fun, but not revolutionary.

GDC, DICE, E3 Could All Be Press Invite Only Next Year

When the Entertainment Software Association announced two years ago that they were downsizing E3, cutting attendees, and in particular the amount of journalists invited, down to a fraction of former head-counts, there was a lot of consternation among the working press.

What if, people wondered, favoritism and nepotism were the rules of the day. Would journalists be blocked from covering E3 if they didn't write positive stories or angered a publisher?

So far, that doesn't appear to be the case, but now both the Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain (DICE) summit and the Game Developers Conference are moving toward an invite only system and the same concern is rearing its head.

But the heads of all three organizations say they're going to great lengths to make sure that doesn't happen.

Shane Kim On The Future Of The 360

Baby Needs A New Pair Of Shoes

To: Ashcraft
From: McWhertor
Re: Throw Beans At The Demon!

It's busy times at the Kotaku West Coast annex today, as I was following up on a whole mess of rumors, including some stuff I didn't even get to publish today. The weeks leading up to GDC always seem to pop with leaks, which is exciting and maybe a tad exhausting. Speaking of tiring, I'm driving back to Las Vegas tomorrow, so you won't have me to kick around. The site is supposed to be getting some handy-dandy little tweaks, ones that I may miss while I scoot to DICE. Always pressed for time, it seems.

Say, that reminds me—we had Groundhog Day this past weekend, but today I read an interesting blog entry from the screenwriter of the film of the same name. He wrote that Phil Connor's stay in Punxsutawney lasted a good ten years, explaining away an unused plot device that helped to quantify the passage of time. He's been quoted in the past that the weatherman may have lived 10,000 years in previous interviews, but this sounds more definitive. It's worth reading if you have any interest in the 15-year old Harold Ramis comedy, read it.

What you missed today:
Another Death Tied To Video Games and Terrible People
Epic Poo-poos GamePro's Gears 2 Chatter
The French May Have Something To Do...
...While They Wait For Rock Band
More Street Fighter IV Now, Please
Iwata Is All Smiles On VC Sales
GameStop Makes Loads Of Profit On Suckers

Roll d20 To Save Against Coverage Storm

To: Flynn and Ashcraft
From: McWhertor
Re: Playing House With Girls

It's a shame that the day's most interesting topics of discussion can't be printed in this Day Note, but today's been a bit more... action packed than the norm. The good news, however, is that we're going to be covering DICE next week, a prospect that appeared unlikely the last time we Day Noted. That means I may actually have a chance to ask Matsuura about his new game.

This is going to be a brief note, as I have the house to myself and a copy of Rez HD to play. Have a super Super Bowl Sunday!

What you missed today:
Someone Says Super Smash Bros. Brawl Moved A Half-Million On Day One
Leave Bill Gates Alone! *sobbing*
LucasArts President Leaves The Jedi Order, Talks About It
Home Looks A Little Different
David Jaffe Swears A Lot, Reaffirms Nintendo Love