A tipster sent us PDF document which looked like an outline of features for Battlefield 3. The three page document is apparently prepared for investors which should get it by December of this year. It details basic features of BF3, and are as listed:

  • Release in late 2008
  • Powered by “Frostbite DX”
  • Set in year modern day (just like BF2, ed.)
  • Will ship with 8 maps, each supporting up to 40-players per team
  • Two playable factions, NATO and MEC (Middle Eastern Coalition)
  • Same “ticket-based” gameplay style as before
  • Maps are mostly urban, based in Middle East
  • Squads and Commanders are present, introduced are “Battalions” which consist of three to four squads.
  • Five playable classes; Sniper, Assault, Engineer, Medic and Support
  • Will feature 48 different vehicles (24 for each faction)
  • Will feature 34 different weapons (17 for each faction) and another 22 unlocks (for both factions), in total 56 different weapons.
  • Other unlocks include different types of ammunition, body armor, helmets, camouflage and accessories.
  • Possible public beta in “Summer 2008″
  • Online stats tracking, awards and “real world ranks”
  • “Soldier” feature, looks like MMO-styled characters and avatars
  • Ranked servers will be available for resellers weeks before the game ships (for testing, apparently, ed.)
  • In-game replay and recording feature
  • VoIP, friends list, in-game IM-client and “extensive clan support”
  • Built-in auto software updater (no more patches!, ed.)
  • Widows Vista and OS X (no XP?!, ed.)
  • Announcement and teaser trailer in January 2008.

A map is mentioned by name, called “Baghdad Burning”, and appears to be a massive urban map, similar to BF2’s very popular “Strike at Karkand”. The game is powered by “Frotbite DX”, currently the Frostbite engine is used in Battlefiled: Bad Company on PS3 and Xbox 360. The “DX” could refer to DirectX (10?), a PC version of the Frostbite engine.

Please note that none of this is confirmed, we’ve emailed a few people from EA and DICE (Battlefield developers) and will update the article as soon as we know more. Also note that we cannot, for obvious (legal) reasons, release the PDF document. Stay tuned for more info.

[Update 1] A few wanted to know if the document mentions in-game advertising, it does not, but wouldn’t be surprising, considering BF2142 had in-game advertising.

[Update 2] EA responded to the rumor with a “no comment” statement. Still waiting for a reply from DICE (which will probably be the same).

[Update 3] For clarification, the document doesn’t say that XP is not supported, it only lists Vista and OS X.

[Update 4] Further investigation reveals that EA DICE owns the domain “battlefield3.com” (not so important, since it was registered in 2004, so was battlefield4.com etc.). Still no reply from DICE. Stay tuned for further updates.
[Update 5] EA and DICE have responded to the rumor.

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Tags: MMO, Multiplayer, Online, Rumor