Well, heaps more info on 1943 has come out lately, including
this new trailer. I must admit that while I wasn't at first convinced, and while it's not Battlefield 3, this might actually have some promise in it. The art direction is actually really original; it's not cel-shaded, but it's definitely highly saturated, which makes for a nice contrast with World at War and all the other dingy WW2 games out there at the moment and fits the postcard feel quite nicely. Moreover, this might help quite a bit:
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DICE Announces $15 Price for Battlefield 1943
Premium Arcade Title Delivers Endless Hours of Multiplayer Fun, Legendary WWII Battlefield Action and Destruction
STOCKHOLM - DICE, an Electronic Arts Inc. studio, today announced that Battlefield 1943™ will be available in June for $15 USD in the Xbox LIVE™ Marketplace (1200 MS Points) or the PlayStation®Store. The action-packed arcade title will also be available for PC in September. Battlefield 1943 is an all-new multiplayer game that offers endless hours of 24-player action in popular maps inspired by Battlefield 1942™, now updated with the Frostbite™ engine. The total destructibility afforded by the Frostbite engine ups the ante and leaves players with nowhere to hide.
In Battlefield 1943, intense battles ensue over three classic and tropic locations; Wake Island, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. Gamers play as the US Marines or the Imperial Japanese Navy, competing by land, air and sea. Players have the freedom to pick their path in battle - be it as a rifleman crawling through the trenches, a steel fisted tank commander, or a dog fighting pilot that protects the skies.
“Using the same Frostbite engine that we developed for Battlefield: Bad Company, we are able to take players back to WWII and return to the roots of the Battlefield franchise, but with a new twist – destruction,” said Gordon Van Dyke, Producer on Battlefield 1943. “We want to offer gamers the most accessible online shooter experience and the best value found in any premium download title with Battlefield 1943.”
For more information on DICE, please visit www.dice.se or www.ea.com. For more information on Battlefield 1943 please visit: www.battlefield1943.com.
Now that I know that it's not trying to be Battlefield 3, which by all appearances is still in the works for some time or other, this looks like a good addition to the Battlefield franchise perfect for console players. Of course, since I'm not among them, I won't be playing, but I think I'll be content with Battlefield Heroes which should come out 'soon' (as in open beta in a few months) instead. Plus Bad Company 2, but info's still very thin on the ground about that, aside from the fact that it'll be more serious (as the reveal teaser/trailer
seems to indicate). Not only that, but when the mean that Bad Company 2 will be multiplatform, they really mean it:
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Battlefield Bad Company 2 will be a multiplatform release, this means that it will be available for PC, LINUX (Red Hat Edition), Ubuntu, Apple Macintosh, PS3, Xbox360, PS2, PSP, Mobile Phone, iPhone, Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DS.
With a simultaneous release date for all titles. Rather ambitious, and I'm rather apprehensive about what splitting it up over multiple consoles will do for the quality of each version.
Still, the Frostbite engine is looking lovelier than ever.
Edited by CommanderJB, 24 April 2009 - 11:47.