DICE released a server side update today (R17) for Battlefield 3, which fixes several cheat exploits allowing hackers to mass kill players. A post on the Battlefield Blog states they have banned a batch of several hundred confirmed cheaters recently and will continue to hunt down cheaters. DICE reminds players that you can go to a suspected cheaters profile on Battlelog and click the report button marked by a triangle with an exclamation mark.

In our continued effort to minimize cheating in Battlefield 3, we recently banned another batch of several hundred confirmed cheaters based on your reports and our player behavior data.

At DICE, we will never tolerate cheaters. Life on the battlefield can be harsh, especially when you’re up against the fantastic flying duo. But it should never be a case of you losing because someone is outright cheating.

We have always taken cheating seriously. Starting today, we will further intensify our efforts to hunt down and rid Battlefield 3 of cheaters. Stats wiping and banning this disruptive minority is the only way they will understand that they are ruining the game for others. We do this for the millions of dedicated players out there who deserve a fair game, every game.

If you believe you have been the victim of outright cheating, the best way to report your concerns is to go to Battlelog, enter the profile page of the person you suspect and click the triangle in the top right corner of his name.

This will open up a window where you can describe to us at DICE what happened. Please enter as much detail as possible, describing what specifically makes you believe this player has used unfair methods, and preferably include a link to the Battle Report for the match in question.

These reports are then received by our analysts here at DICE who will do a deeper analysis of the situation and take appropriate action, including stats wiping and/or banning players who are confirmed as cheating.

Reducing the number of cheaters is an ongoing endeavor, and one that we will never stop. Thanks for your co-operation, and see you on the battlefield!

BF Blog

The company behind three of the helicopters in Battlefield 3 are demanding that EA cease the depiction of them. The AH-1Z Viper, UH-1Y and V-22 Osprey helicopters are among the three that Textron, a parent company of Bell Helicopter are asking for removal. EA and Textron have been in discussions since December 21st, but have not been able to come up with a resolution. EA claims they are protected by the First Amendment and a disclaimer stating depiction of real world weapons and vehicles is not an endorsement by the manufacturer.

(Left) AH-1Z Viper, (Right) UH-1Y Venom, Not pictured V-22 Osprey found in BF3 single player

Electronic Arts is asking a federal judge to rule that it has a First Amendment right to depict real-life military helicopters in video games such as Battlefield 3 without the permission of the aircraft's maker.

The action, basically a pre-emptive lawsuit against Textron, the parent company of Bell Helicopter, comes after discussions between the two sides broke down, according to a copy of the suit obtained by Kotaku. The suit was filed Friday in federal court for the Northern District of California.

The lawsuit says that on Dec. 21, Textron lawyers demanded that EA cease its depiction of three Bell aircraft in Battlefield 3. "The parties have been unable to resolve their dispute," EA's complaint says. "EA therefore has a reasonable and strong apprehension that it will soon face a trademark and/or trade dress action from Textron."

Electronic Arts asserts that its depiction of the three aircraft "are protected by the First Amendment and the doctrine of nominative fair use." EA notes that Battlefield 3's packaging features a disclaimer stating that the appearance of real-world weapons and vehicles does not constitute any official endorsement by their maker. It adds that "the Bell-manufactured helicopters are not highlighted or given greater prominence than any of the other vehicles within the game."

"The Bell-manufactured helicopters depicted in Battlefield 3 are just a few of countless creative visual, audio, plot and programming elements that make up EA's expressive work, a first-person military combat simulation," says the suit.

Electronic Arts' pre-emptive action would seem unusual were it not for June's landmark Supreme Court ruling that video games have the same free speech protections as other expressive works such as film, books and music.

Since the Supreme Court ruled, EA has prevailed in a somewhat similar matter involving the unlicensed use of likenesses. In September, a federal judge ruled that EA's recognizable, if unnamed, depiction of a real college quarterback, without his permission, was within the boundaries of its rights to free expression.

EA does negotiate licenses with athletes, individually or collectively, to appear in other titles; it is prohibited by the NCAA from licensing or compensating currently eligible college athletes, under NCAA amateurism rules. EA has licensed numerous real-world automobiles to appear in its Need for Speed series. The difference here seems to be that the vehicle fleet is central to Need for Speed's purpose, where it is not in Battlefield.

The three helicopters in question are the AH-1Z Viper, an attack helicopter (pictured above); the UH-1Y, a multipurpose/transport helicopter; and the V-22 Osprey, (jointly produced with Boeing) whose distinctive tilt-rotors allow for vertical and short takeoff and landing.

Kotaku

Last week, Battlefield 3 Core Gameplay Designer, Alan 'Demize99' Kertz made a lengthy post on Reddit looking for feedback on BF3 weapon accessory tweaks. Changes to the foregrip, bipod, suppressor, heavy barrel, flash suppressor and target pointer are planned, but not set in stone.

I'm working on a retweak of the accessories in the game currently, as I feel the player is limited in choice due to a few accessories being the clear winners in almost all categories. While this unfortunately means nerfing those that are over used, the goal here is to focus on improving the under performing and under used attachments. Additionally it is the intention for an unmodified weapon to offer the best balance of Recoil, Accuracy, and Stealth. Right now this is preliminary, I've already asked for feedback on different attachments, and there's several good threads here and on Battlelog that discuss the weapons. Again, I'm not promising this will go live, and I'm not promising there will be an update, I'm looking for feedback and a discussion.

Thanks, Alan "Demize99" Kertz

Foregrip
The Foregrip is for players who who are in close combat and highly mobile fighting situations. It reduces the horizontal recoil forces that make maintaining a consistant aim on target difficult, however it makes aimed shots more difficult.

• +34% reduction in horizontal recoil (adjust based on gun)
• -20% penalty to base accuracy when aimed

Rationale: The Foregrip is quite powerful on weapons with high amounts of horizontal recoil, and is generally the goto attachment for everyone using Assault Rifles and Carbines. Currently it has no downside, which makes it a pure bonus upgrade and is a no brainer. Adjusting the foregrip on a per gun basis will prevent the foregrip from over powering some guns, and also means it doesn't need to be globally nerfed into oblivion. For example, 50% of the FAMAS's recoil is 0.3deg, while 50% of the G3A3's recoil is only 0.1deg. A global 0.1deg might work better, generally it will need to be on a per gun basis. The 20% penalty to aimed fire is about equal to a single shot fired on a Carbine. Read the rest...

After 4 yers since their last release, Battlefield 2 mod, US Intervention released v2.0g a few days ago. If you have feedback or bug reports, head on over to their forums.

One week ago, we released USI 2.0 (Ver 0.2f) after 4 years of hard work. We received many bug reports and half the maps was crashing, but for those who played, it was fun. Luckily we stayed on top of thing and kept working all week to deliver yet another full build with a bunch of tweaks to improve the game. That’s right the US Intervention team and BlackSandStudios presents USI 2.0 (ver 0.2g). The build was fully debugged by Devilman, the crashing issue was discovered by Neo82 and Knallkopp_02. BloodyDeed provided the test server we have been using to fine tune this version. This is another full build and there is no need to uninstall the first version. The installer will clear the mod folder for you.
US

Intervention 2.0g Change Log

Menu:

• Reduced the size of the missile and bomb track and lock icons.
• Tweaked huds for SU-25s and A-10s.
• Updated the localization file (English Only)

Vehicles:

• Tweaked flight physics on F-117, Mig-25, A7, Ah-1s, and gazelles.
• All rocket pods had fire rates removed, you can now just hold the trigger and let them rip.
• Tweaked velocities on all tank main guns.
• Added zoom to Shilka, M-163, Gaskin, using “right click”. Shilka w/missiles, Avenger using “X”.
• Tweaked zoom on the stationary TOW.
• Removed the bomb code from the Harrier flyover effect, was causing each map it was placed on to crash online.
• All payloads adjusted for balance.

Full Change Log

Download:
USI 2.0g Core
USI 2.0g Levels
USI 2.0g Client Fix
USI 2.0g Server Files
USI 2.0g Server Fix

Develop reports that three DICE developers have jumped over to work for Ngmoco Sweden. Ngomoco develops iOS and Android games such as Rolando, Rolando 2, Eliminate Pro and more. Former DICE staff member and past Easy Studios (Battlefield Heroes, Battlefield Play4Free) General Manager, Ben Cousins left back in March 2011 to become Ngmoco's General Manager.

DICE devs become latest recruits for growing Sweden studio

A trio of developers at Stockholm studio EA DICE have quit to join nearby outfit Ngmoco Sweden.

Wille Wintertidh, Malte Hildingsson and Torbjorn Lædre, the latter two having worked on Battlefield 3, were named as new hires by Ngmoco Sweden manager Ben Cousins (pictured).

Cousins himself left EA in March last year, after a four-year executive spell at the publisher. Much of his new studio’s work will be focused on building content for the social gaming platform Mobage.

Mobage is owned by Japan-based firm Dena, which in October 2010 acquired Ngmoco for $400 million.

Ngmoco Sweden has steadily expanded its staff numbers in recent months. Last year it hired a number of staff from European development group Crytek.

Develop-Online.net

News has been a bit slow lately, but meanwhile check out this video tweeted by DICE General Manager, KM Troedsson of a video showing the Battlefield 1942 them being played on 3 floppy drives. Yes, floppy drives. Video by MrSolidSnake745.

Reddit

Earlier this week, Lead Gameplay Designer Alan 'Demize99' Kertz commented on the balance of the FAMAS, a new assault rifle introduced in BF3: Back to Karkand. Kertz states the FAMASis a bit overpowered with the foregrip attachment. Expect to see a tweak in the next update.

After playing with and without fore grip on my FAMAS, not sure I could nerf it enough lol. Hmm, this one is a biiiiiiiiiit OP

— Alan Kertz (@Demize99) December 26, 2011

I think the FAMAS is mostly fine folks, it's the Foregrip that eliminates too much muzzle drift. That's also true on the AEK and the F2K.

— Alan Kertz (@Demize99) December 29, 2011

Reddit

Amazon's deal of the day for Christmas is none other than Battlefield 3! Pick up Battlefield 3 on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC (digital download only) for $34.99!

DICE Voice Over Producer, Tomas Danko tweeted today that we will see the new Comrose 2.0 in February. The new comrose is suppose to be greatly improved and adds similar commands to the comrose in Battlefield 2.

Comrose 2.0 will launch in February, even though some previous patches included part of the functionality. Submission procedures are slow.

— Tomas Danko (@TomasDanko) December 21, 2011

EA's PWNED web show released a new episode today featuring an interview with Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand Lead Designer Niklas Fegraeus. Later in the interview Niklas explains why a popular Battlefield 2 map, Dragon Valley was not included in B2K; basically saying the asian setting did not fit the Battlefield 3 setting. The 2nd part of the interview starts at 11:25.

DICE rolled out a Battlelog update early this morning fixing some issues and more notably adding the Physical Warfare Pack bonuses to all PC and Xbox 360 players. Playstation 3 players received this last week.

Fixes include:
• Add PWP license by default to all BF3 PC users
• Fixed description on Service Stars
• Fixed missing vehicle unlocks on stats pages
• Fixed minor caching issue regarding B2K-entitlement
• B2K icon now better aligned in forum/server browser

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Today, you can access the Physical Warfare Pack for Battlefield 3 on Xbox 360 and PC (PlayStation 3 players received this previously). As promised earlier, this pack is now available at no extra charge for all players.

Physical Warfare Pack grants you instant access to the powerful DAO-12 shotgun, if you haven’t unlocked it already. It also features custom flechette ammo for the DAO-12, a flash suppressor for the SKS sniper rifle, plus the Type 88 Light Machine Gun.

This pack was previously only available as an exclusive pre-order item. Now we are making this available to all Battlefield 3 players at no extra charge.

On Xbox 360, you can find Physical Warfare Pack at no extra charge in the in-game store. On PC, the content should be automatically available in play and visible in Battlelog.

Now go grab your new hardware and take them to the battlefield!

BF Blog

The official DICE store now has Battlefield 3 limited edition lithographs. 2 versions are available: "After the Earthquake" and "Wake Island", which are both $39.99 USD. 500 copies of each are available.

A 50% off holiday is also going on for select items till January 12th.

Community member, didiMAU discovered an easter egg in BF3: Back to Karkand's Wake Island map. The "2143" text that was spotted has caused many to speculate we might be seeing Battlefield 2143 in the near future. EA UK forum member, Jinzor notes that in the BF2: Armoured Fury expansion pack there were hints for Battlefield 2142 way before it was announced.

EA UK Forums

Filmmaker and YouTube personality, Freddie Wong and Brandon Laatsch were asked by EA to create a 30 second TV spot for Battlefield 3 in only 10 days. If you have watched Freddie's previous videos you know he does some really awesome stuff. Below is the commercial they came up with featuring a live action Battlefield 3 scene with the Skid-Steer Loader from Back to Karkand.

Behind the Scenes

DICE is giving Battlefield fans a chance to win a trip to their studio in Stockholm, Sweden with a Battlefield 3 community video challenge. Full rules an details can be found below.

You can only find them in Battlefield, and other games can’t touch them. Our unscripted Battlefield Moments that make you go "Holy sh#t!"

Whether it’s jumping over an RPG, sniping a helicopter pilot and entering the heli mid-air, or taking revenge on an enemy pilot by shooting him down after having ejected – no other game has the dynamic all-out vehicle warfare that makes crazy plays like these possible. There are many more examples in the video below.

Now, we want to see your greatest Battlefield Moments! Share them with us and the rest of the community for a chance to win a trip to DICE!

The "Only in Battlefield 3" Community Video Challenge celebrates the uniqueness of Battlefield 3’s multiplayer and the extraordinary creativeness of our community. Film your greatest gameplay moments that could only happen in Battlefield 3 and share them with us. The ultimate prize is a trip to visit the DICE studio in Stockholm, Sweden, to meet the creators of Battlefield 3.

Show us what is only possible in Battlefield 3. Show us your Battlefield Moment.

HOW TO ENTER THE »ONLY IN BATTLEFIELD 3« COMMUNITY VIDEO CHALLENGE

• Create your unique Battlefield Moment trailer based on your own Battlefield 3 gameplay footage.
• Feel free to use the Battlefield 3 asset pack which you can download from here.
• Use your own captured HD footage.
• Please make sure to only use the supplied Battlefield 3 theme for your trailer soundtrack, since we will not be able to consider your entry (no matter how great) if it contains other copyrighted music.

BF Blog