Battlefield: Bad Company 2's multiplayer has a tank gimmick, as you may have guessed. I'm not completely sure if it's in every single mode of multiplayer, but it was the centerpiece of EA's game demo. The tank is supposed to change the nature of multiplayer by providing a mobile control point that acts as a magnet for all the action in the game. It also acts as a magnet for tank driving fanatics like myself.

What Is It?
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a first person war themed shooter set in various locations in and around Russia North and South America*. The multiplayer uses both custom versions of campaign mode maps and original maps — all of which are tailor made for the tank gameplay. We were told that up to four squads could face off at once in any map, for a total of 16 players in a multiplayer match. Matches are ranked and there's a hardcore mode that removes the kill cam, applies friendly fire, ditches your targeting reticule so that you actually have to use the gun's scope and abandons a lot of heads-up display elements. Additionally, there's an unrevealed squad-based multiplayer mode EA plans to announce later.

What We Saw
Due to some technical difficulties and my unfortunate need to leave a little early, I was only able to play three matches of the one vehicle gameplay with only two to three squads on the same jungle map (called Laguna Presa). I tried out all four classes (engineer, assault, scout and medic), but I wound up sticking to engineer because of my tank obsession as the engineer is the only class that can repair tanks and that comes with rocket-propelled grenades for the blowing up of tanks. That and I wasn't able to successfully attack anybody with my defibrillator while playing as the medic. Bummer.

How Far Along Is It?
Pre-alpha. The game isn't due out 'til March 2, 2010 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

What Needs Improvement?
Laguna Presa Map: There were two things about the map that didn't work for me. One, there were at least two places where you could drive the tank up onto a hill and rain down tank fire upon approaching enemies. It seemed a little unfair — but that may have been because we didn't have four squads in play for the necessary chaos to balance that out. Second, there were no physical boundaries on the map. So you could just be running toward what looks like likely cover and be told by the game that you're leaving the battlefield and you've got 10 seconds to turn around. It was pretty jarring.

What Should Stay The Same?
The TANK! It's nice to have a mobile magnet like the tank — it means spawn points suddenly become less important for would-be campers. It also gives players a way to switch up the gameplay if they're able to get to the tank before the other squad does. I was only able to get into the tank once, but for the time I had it, I loved it. It was easy to drive, it automatically fired at anybody within range and if I was really worried, I could change positions within the tank and fire out the sides while somebody else drove. Except I never let anybody else drive because I kept running them over. Then I got exploded and spent the next two matches trying to blow up the tank which kept getting occupied by other squads.

Final Thoughts
If not for the tank, I probably would have been very bored because not much else about the multiplayer stood out as special or different. It's also too hard to pull off the defibrillator attack — in theory, I should've been able to put that puppy in a puddle to shock an enemy within range. Sure, I might've died too, but at least I would've taken him out with me.

ETA: Here's the official reply from EA publicist, Jino Talens:

Squad Deathmatch is a brand new mode to BFBC2, so we're still testing and building it out to the way we want it in the final game. The PS3 beta out now is a general term used in the industry when a game is released early to the public for testing purposes, but the game overall is still in early Alpha.

*Additionally, Talens says, "The game is not set in various locations in and around Russia. It's in North and South America. We did say you are fighting against the Russians though."

38 Studios has put up job listings for a Senior PS3 Programmer and a Lead Art Director to work on a RPG for the PS3.

The studio was founded by Schilling and has attracted the likes of Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, Everquest designer Travis McGeathy and best-selling author R.A. Salvatore as well as some of the developers behind Oblivion.

Update: These listings are for 38's newly acquired subsidiary Big Huge Games. They are working on transforming the Ken Rolston-led rpg — formerly Ascendant — into a single-player console role-playing-game set in the same universe as the Project Copernicus MMO for the PC. In short, the console versions seem to take place in the same universe as the PC version!

The first listing and The second [Gamasutra via PS3 Center] [Pic]

Fan made character design to the rescue! A post on South Korean site ThisIsGame.com has a re-worked Juri — an abnormally high quality one for a character that was just revealed. But that doesn't necessarily mean, the tweaked design is better.

"Based on your opinions I removed the double pony tails, made the eyes less sharp, and added TaeKwonDo uniform," the ThisIsGame.com post reads. "This certainly is Koreanisque, but it is too plain; I think it is actually bad for a game character's rendering."

Agree? Disagree? Fight!

한국식 주리를 만들어봤습니다 [ThisIsGame Thanks YJ!]

The new Prince of Persia, we were told at a press event earlier this month, will be totally separate from the Sands of Time trilogy and will feature a prince, not the prince.

"There were hundreds of tails in Arabian Nights and this is just one of them," Ben Mattes, the game's producer said.

Instead the game is set in an "ancient fantasy Persia" and while it will continue to have some of the Prince of Persia's pillars of play like acrobatic combat and movement, it will also lift some of the things that worked best in Assassin's Creed.

"We will be including some things that worked well in Assassin's Creed in there," Mattes said. "But it will still clearly be Prince of Persia."

God of Light, Ormazd versus his brother Ahriman, the God of Darkness,. Our Hero arrives just in time to witness the destruction of the legendary Tree of Life – an act which threatens to plunge the entire world into eternal darkness.

In this new tale, the new prince will find himself in a fantasy world of light and dark, caught up in the battle between the God of Light, Ormazd versus his brother Ahriman, the God of Darkness. After the destruction of the tree of life the prince has to fight to stop the rise of Ahriman, the god of destruction.

Mattes said that the prince will also get a bunch of new moves including the ability to use a gauntlet to slide down walls and cliffs.

The game will feature a new female lead as well, Elika, who will be used to explore the idea of collaborative AI.

Mattes said the game, which will take more than 10 hours and less than 50 to beat, will be playable at E3. He declined to talk about whether there will be multiplayer support in the game.

Hit up the jump for a very chunky prepared Q&A with Matte.

PRINCE OF PERSIA

Answers from Ben Mattes / Producer

Could you introduce yourself and explain your role in the project?
I’m Ben Mattes, producer of the next Prince of Persia title.

On which platforms will this new PoP be available?
Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
We are also developing a completely different game which is specifically designed for the DS.

When will the games be released?
Holidays season 2008.

Who is in charge of the development?
Ubisoft Montreal Studio, who has recently released Assassin’s Creed, is developing the next gen versions. Most of the core creative team has worked on the previous PoP trilogy; they know the franchise by heart.
The DS title is in the hands of the Ubisoft Casablanca studio, which is developing a strong expertise on DS titles.

How is it linked with previous PoP? Is having played to PoP the Two Thrones (or the 3 previous episodes) mandatory to fully understand the storyline?
Beginning with Jordan Mechner’s first PoP game back in 1989 to Ubisoft’s PoP Sands of Time trilogy, the Prince of Persia brand is like a collection of fantastic tales, drawing inspiration from the Arabian Nights stories. Possibilities for enticing storylines and characters are endless with such a rich, colorful, shape shifting and magical universe. So there are as many stories of the Prince as there are many versions of the Prince himself - they all co-exist, they all share prodigious abilities and a liking for dauntless adventures and trouble 

With Ubisoft’s new PoP video game, we are opening a new chapter in the Prince of Persia universe with a new story and a new Prince. Having played the previous episodes isn’t necessary to understand the storyline.

What is the storyline of the game?
Transported to a land of myth and legend, our Hero finds himself caught up in an epic battle between the primal forces of light and darkness: the God of Light, Ormazd versus his brother Ahriman, the God of Darkness,. Our Hero arrives just in time to witness the destruction of the legendary Tree of Life – an act which threatens to plunge the entire world into eternal darkness.

The Prince will have to stop the rise of the ancient destructive God, Ahriman. This new epic storyline is close to Persian Mythology (Zoroastrianism).

Additional information about the back-story of the game:
Driven by envy and hatred, Ahriman spread Darkness in the world, corrupting the hearts of men and unleashing a dark substance which physically contaminates the land and the skies: the Corruption. When Ormazd finally acted to stop his brother, he chose to destroy Ahriman’s servants, the Corrupted, one by one. When at last only a few of Ahriman’s puppets remained, Ormazd captured them and pulled them into the Tree of Life. With the remaining Corrupted sealed inside the tree, Ahriman found himself tethered to the trap unable to break his connection with his dark servants. Concentrating all his power, Ormazd forced what remained of his brother into the Tree, locking Ahriman inside for all eternity. Ormazd gave care of the Tree of Life to his chosen few, the Ahuras. Now, many years after the war, Ahriman is plotting a way to escape…

Storyline has always been an integral part of all PoP games. With the new PoP video game, we not only have an epic storyline, but we are letting the player choose how the story unfolds within the same story frame.

What have been your inspirations to design this new Prince?
We wanted to explore how our hero will eventually become a Prince through an epic journey. At the start of the game, the future Prince will be an adventurer and a drifter wandering from adventure to adventure with no real ties, always living in the present. To him, the past is gone and he carries no burden from it, the future is to come and will take care of itself. All that matters is now - the thrill of the moment, the next heartbeat, the next corner, jump and sensation.

We drew our inspiration from adventurers like Sinbad in the Arabian Nights, Han Solo from Star Wars and Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings.

Like all epic heroes, what The Prince wears says a lot about who he is and what he has been through. We really wanted to communicate visually the dichotomy that is the life of a wandering adventurer. On one hand, he has elements of luxury in his dress – the red and blue cloth that he uses as a turban and scarf that would be available only to those with money. However, he is also perfectly comfortable putting function before form, wearing plain leather leggings to help protect his legs rather then dazzle the eye.

We see that the Prince has a new appearance, but what about new abilities? What new tricks/attributes does the Prince have up his sleeve?
Our Prince has a lot of new abilities in both combat and acrobatics. He is taking the agility of the previous Prince to new heights of deadly acrobatic artistry. His range of acrobatic skills is wider than ever, allowing him to defy the laws of gravity with style and velocity.

In addition to his sword, he is wearing a gauntlet that will be used both in acrobatics and in combat. This bounty from the Prince’s earlier adventures will open new dimensions in his acrobatics and combat style. For instance, by using the gauntlet, you will be able to slide down very high walls and cliffs. So be ready to discover some very impressive new moves in the coming months!

Combat has evolved since the last games as our ambition is to add the reactivity and strategy typically found in fighting games into our new combat system. We have studied numerous fight games and learned what worked/what didn’t work, and implemented the most absorbing moments into our gameplay. We want the dramatic attack sequences of the Prince to be complemented by the use of camera, sound and visual effects to create an overall combat sequence whose intensity rivals the most spectacular choreographed fight scenes in cinema. In addition, the enemies you fight will be more cunning then any ever seen in a PoP game before, strategically using the environment to gain the upper hand, forcing the player to use quick thinking and reflexes to succeed.

We have also changed the role of the female character in a PoP game. No longer a secondary character, but instead a strong supporting character with heavy gameplay implications, the new female lead, Elika, will add value to every layer of the game: exploration, combat, acrobatics, puzzle-solving, storyline and overall immersion. She is a powerful companion of the Prince who accompanies him throughout the game - she adds an element of mystery, deepening the epic storyline. Our goal is to revolutionize the supporting character in an action-adventure game.

How are you going to revolutionize the supporting character in an action-adventure game?
The level of innovation we’re bringing to Elika is similar to the innovation we brought with the Sands of Time system in the previous trilogy.

Elika is always a positive for the player. She interacts with the player in combat, acrobatics and puzzle-solving and always in a positive and helpful way. She enables special moves such as cooperative acrobatics, special combo attacks and navigation. Additionally, all of her magical powers come into play when the player requests them. She can never be killed and will never force her will on the player.

In terms of control, she will be controlled by AI but the player will have a specific “Elika” button to trigger specific coop moves, attacks and magic. Our philosophy is to leave as much control to the player as possible without having her bog down the fast-paced rhythm of the game. This way we add a layer of strategy and make sure the player uses Elika when and how he wants.

Besides the gameplay asset that Elika represents, we want to build a strong bond between her and the Prince. Elika behaves as no other NPC has ever behaved in a video game.

Can you give us more details about Elika’s backstory?
Elika is descended from the Ahuras. She has lived in a land cut off from outside contact.

What have been your inspirations to design Elika?
Elika is a practical and intelligent woman. Independent and strong, she doesn’t need to be protected. We drew inspiration from the Elizabeth Swann character in Pirates of the Caribbean or Padmé Amidala in Star Wars.

She is very light. Her element is the air in opposition with the earth, that of the Prince’s. She embodies the fluidity in their duo.

Even if she has magical powers, at first sight Elika is a human being; we didn’t want to reduce her to her magical abilities. On that specific point, we drew our inspiration from Arwen in Lord of the Rings. Her magic is graceful with arabesques in contrast with the Corruption which takes on tribal forms.

Have you developed a special engine for this version?
We have improved and adapted the engine developed internally for Assassin’s Creed. It is a great tool for our artists and engineers and we want to push it even further.
In that respect, we have added a lot of new systems that will help create the seamless fluidity and the overall look & feel we are looking for.

Animations have always been a key element of the Prince of Persia games; can you describe some of the moves the Prince can perform?
Thanks to this new engine, we are able to improve every move of the Prince; we removed some and added others to increase the feeling of agility. That being said, we re-did all our animations from scratch for this new opus. They all are hand-made key frame animations, a fiddly work for our animation team who craft all these new moves and give them the extra touch of fluidity we could never reach with motion capture.

What are the specific technologies you developed for this episode? Are there any particular achievements you’re proud of? On which basis do you consider that this PoP episode will be truly next-gen?
Since it is the first next gen game in the PoP saga, we have developed a lot of new systems and technologies. We have in a way started from scratch using the Assassin’s Creed engine as a basis for our developments. Here are a few areas where we believe PoP will deliver a true next-gen experience:
- AI: Artificial Intelligence is where we are focusing most of our next gen effort. This choice will pay off in the quality and depth of the relationships you will experience with our NPC, enemies or allies alike.
- Graphics: There is a difference in graphical quality between the previous PoP and the new PoP, obviously due to next-gen technology
o Characters: The new Prince will displays 13 times more polygons than the previous Prince, and even more than Altair in Assassin’s Creed. To give you a reference, there will be more polygons in the next-gen Prince’s hair than in the “old” Prince himself. Every detail of the faces, clothes and accessories of the characters will feel next-gen thanks to hi-res textures, specific lighting systems and shaders. We have developed new systems such as skin morph, wrinkle map, indirect lighting and occlusion to beautify our universe and characters in a way which was not possible on old gen.
o Environments: The richness and the high quality of the Persian environments have always been a key element of PoP games. Thanks to next-gen technology, we are able to create vast outdoors worlds PoP fans have never dreamed of as most of the game takes place outside in a fantastic mythological Persia.. Whereas in previous PoP games, the player was mostly confined inside palaces or cities.
o Each environment will go through different stages - from totally “safe” to almost completely corrupted areas. We have developed an organic corruption which creeps through the world and makes it decay. It is a living substance that will interact with the player and challenge him. It already looks quite impressive so I can promise you this will look amazingly next gen!
- Structure: For the first time ever, the Prince will evolve in a non-linear adventure. The players will choose how they unfold the storyline by choosing their path in this open-ended world. This is technically possible thanks to next-gen memory capacities.

The game has a very different art style than previous PoP. Why did you change the art direction?
The new PoP game features a brand-new art style never before seen that is very graphical and illustrative. We are lucky enough to have one of the most talented team of concept artists in the industry. PoP fans have always been very passionate about their work. So this time, we wanted to remain very close to their 2D concept arts, keeping the essence of their artworks in the 3D world.

Next-gen tools help us create a game which has a unique visual identity without sacrificing art to technology, which is often the case in video games. The Prince of Persia universe is so rich and special that it would be a shame to picture it in a photorealistic way. It calls for fantasy and almost poetry to be true to its Arabian Night origins.

What are your ambitions behind one the biggest franchise in the video-game industry?
We have high ambition for this game. Our goal is to re-establish our position as a leading Action Adventure Video game on next-gen.

We strongly believe that we will rejuvenate the PoP brand with strong innovations and a whole new experience that will not only excite our current fans, but will appeal to new fans. We are all excited about the new Prince of Persia; be prepared to see some amazing images in the coming weeks!

At first blush Far Cry 2 looks and behaves a bit like Grand Theft Auto IV: The game has an open world, friends who can come to your rescue, a phone you use to contact them, safe houses, a detailed map for guidance and a non-linear story line.

But where at its heart Grand Theft Auto IV is an action game, Far Cry 2 has its roots deeply embedded in the bedrock of shooters and from what I saw during my short time with the game it seems to remain true to those origins.

I asked the developers about the similarities and he seemed genuinely surprised, I think that’s because most of these similarities are obvious design decisions made once you’ve decided you want to create a sandbox game and the parallels are for the most part quite superficial.

Friends for instance. In Grand Theft Auto IV, you can call them for help, but they don’t really get involved in missions. In Far Cry 2 they are your salvation.

Playing through a chunk of the game, I got caught up in a particularly hairy firefight. As is often the case when I play games with an option for a stealth approach, I stumbled into an enemy camp and managed to alert just about everyone there without firing off a single shot.

Soon I was taking fire from all sides. As would be expected, the aiming and controls in Far Cry 2 are excellent, well-honed mechanics. Whether you’re sniping, firing off rockets (which can be laser guided to a target), or just popping off rounds from a rifle, it is easy to land precision hits, even on the go.

The enemy artificial intelligence seemed quite robust after I tipped them off to my presence. A man in a wooden watch tower fired off sniper rounds at me as men tried to flank me from both sides. I managed to take out the sniper and two men and then blew up a nearby gas canister to try and distract the rest of the bad guys. Unfortunately, that seemed to attract the attention of nearby men, who cruised into camp on a jeep.

Muscling my way through the camp proved to be far more difficult than I assumed it would be and shortly into my escapade, I was downed by enemy fire.

When I started playing the game, I went into a safe house to meet up with a contact and then befriended one of the game’s main characters. It was this newly minted friend who, unbidden, came to my rescue, pulling me from the ground, where things had become decidedly black and white for me, and hustling me to safety.

What was so neat about this mechanic was that I really had no control of what was going on. The sequence, seen through the shaking vision of a dying man, took away all control and forced me to watch as a friend dragged me through combat to a place away from enemies, and then patched me up. That can’t help but make you feel attached to your friends, something I hope the developers take advantage of in the game’s storyline.

Healing, as has been noted before, is also rather unique. You still need to grab what are essentially health packs, but the developers added a collection of unique animations to the healing mechanic so you get patched up in different ways depending on how you were injured. If you’re shot, you use a knife to dig out a bullet. Burned, you pat out flames. It’s superficial, but still kinda neat.

The game’s map also has plenty of neat touches. It’s an actual map you pull out and hold in front of you when you use it. So driving becomes a one-handed affair when you are looking at the map on the move. The map also updates with information when you spot things like bad guys or tactical information through your binoculars. The whole thing feels very organic, very real.

During my time with the game I played through a single, relatively short mission that had me driving from a safe house (there is always one about two minutes away on the 50 square kilometer map) to a nearby camp where I was to shut down a gas line. The game will feature more than 100 missions, I was told, 25 of which are tied to the main story line and the remaining 75 are considered side missions, assignments you get from your buddies.

I remain impressed with the game’s graphics, controls and feel. It is a game that has managed to erase the bad taste of Far Cry Instincts from my mouth, but just barely. I played on the PC version of the game simply because that’s what I plan on getting when it comes out, but the developers insist that there is no difference between how the game will perform on the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

While that looks to be true, I won’t truly believe it until I see it.

Eds Note: So according to Strategy Informer: "Seems that the Japanese website is actually detailing information about compatibility with Final Fantasy XI, which required a HDD for the PS2. So, any games that require HDD installs for the PS2 will now work on the PS3." Cruuuuuuud. Nothing to get *that* excited about! Well, unless you're stoked to play FFXI on your PS3 it is.

How will Bill Gates sleep tonight knowing that Sony has scored 5 extra characters for PS3's Lost Planet? We're betting on warm milk and possibly a plate of delicious oatmeal cookies.

プレイステーション3版ではルカも使用可能に... [via 1UP]

TigerDirect yesterday announced that they will be snatching up CompUSA instead of letting the PC store go out to pasture. The agreement, which will be closed throughout the first quarter of this year, includes the purchasing of the brand, trademarks, e-commerce business and some of the actual stores.

"We believe the value of the CompUSA brand remains very high. The company has a long legacy of value pricing, service and customer loyalty among consumers nationwide," said Systemax CEO Richard Leeds in a statement. "We view this acquisition as a strong complementary business to our TigerDirect operation."

Man, I wonder if they're going to cancel some of the gi-normous store closing sales going on right now? I was just over at my local CompUSA yesterday and picked up a couple of things, including a new keyboard. All of their games were 15 percent off.

Back from the dead: CompUSA assets snapped up by TigerDirect [CompUSA]