Hi everyone! This is Tommy Rydling from DICE with the latest Battlefield 3 news straight from the studio.
I hope you are ready to go Back to Karkand, as we are releasing our first Battlefield 3 expansion pack Tuesday, December 6th on PlayStation 3 America and Europe – a week early for PlayStation customers! And for our European fans, that’s a day earlier than normal!
To recap, Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand is a massive themed expansion pack featuring four legendary Battlefield maps reimagined in the Frostbite 2 engine. You also get three vehicles (the VSTOL fighter jet, Desert Buggy, and an APC), ten new weapons that you can bring back to the base game, a new layer of persistence with our all-new Assignments, plus five shiny Trophies.
The maps we chose for this expansion pack are all classic fan favorites: Wake Island, Sharqi Peninsula, Gulf of Oman, and Strike at Karkand (from where the expansion pack got its name). These maps are about all-out warfare in a variety of settings and have collectedly been played literally billions of times by our players. Now, they are due for a reimagining with the power of the Frostbite 2 engine. This allows us do things like take the level of destruction to ridiculous heights. You can basically turn these entire maps into rubble (with the exception of Wake Island, which has a lot less buildings and is more of an open landscape).
The design idea for Back to Karkand is that these legendary maps have aged since you last saw them. If you are a returning veteran, you will feel instantly at home, but there will also be a sense of exciting rediscovery about them. If you have not played on the before, they are simply a great addition to the nine available multiplayer maps, building on all the strengths of the series.
Now, let’s turn our eye to take a closer look at Assignments, specifically the “Let it Rain” Assignment. To complete this assignment, players must score 20 kills with Light Machine Guns and two mortar kills. The game will keep track of how far along you have come fulfilling this assignment. When you have met the requirements, you will unlock a new Back to Karkand weapon (with a matching set of dog tags) to use on any map including the base game. You will also unlock the next Assignment in the series, the new Creeping Death Assignment.
The new Assignments add a layer of persistence on top of what is already in the game
As with all of the Assignments introduced in Back to Karkand, you can keep building towards these no matter if you play on regular maps or maps from the new expansion pack itself. Your regular persistence will also be intact and keep building up no matter what map you play. In this way Back to Karkand is completely integrated into the base game, including the ability to have a map rotation mixing base game maps with Back to Karkand maps.
And before we go, here are the five new Trophies you can hunt in Back to Karkand:
Complete Warrior (Silver)
Get a kill with the following weapons in a single life: Rifle, Jet, Tank
Third Tour(Bronze)
Get a kill with the new APC, Desert Buggy, and STOVL fighter jet
Gunslinger (Bronze)
Get 10 kills with all B2K weapons
Like a Boss! (Silver)
Get a kill with the skid loader
Jaws (Bronze)
Take a swim in the pool at the Oman hotel
We hope you enjoyed this look at our first expansion pack for Battlefield 3. We will keep supporting Battlefield 3 on PS3 for a long time, so we hope to see you all playing Back to Karkand on Tuesday and beyond. Let us know what you think about Back to Karkand in the Battlelog forums after you get your hands on it.
If you are a Battlefield 3 Limited Edition owner, you are entitled to this entire expansion pack at no extra charge and you can get it from the in-game store or the PlayStation Store. Otherwise, you can buy it for £11.99/€14.99 starting tomorrow, from the game’s in-game store or from the PlayStation Store. Every future expansion pack for Battlefield 3 will also be available one week early exclusively on PlayStation 3 , just like Back to Karkand.
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78 CommentsAdd Yours
51
Posted on 3 December, 2011 at 7:30 am by marc143
It looks great!
52
Posted on 3 December, 2011 at 7:49 am by SHAFTRULES
I’ve got the ps3 le on pre order,but my pc version was purchased after the release date but is also the limited edition.will I also get these goodies for my pc version,any1 know if I will?
53
Posted on 3 December, 2011 at 9:19 am by marcindpol
@52 read entire post carefully…
54
Posted on 3 December, 2011 at 9:27 am by krazyyungwun
activision gave 3 new maps with 2 old maps for that price, the old maps had different colours woooooo!!! These 4 maps are remade in frostbite2.0 basically changing them drastically adding destruction like you never seen!! Plus 4 vehicles, 10 guns, challenges & 5 trophies!!!
IT’S WAAAAAAAY BETTER THAN COD DLC!!! plus this was a themes expansion basically in honour of the game!! Not a quick rehash!!
Watch the DLC that follows this!!! EPIC!!!!!
55
Posted on 3 December, 2011 at 6:23 pm by DJrya
So the game is 40/45 pound and then stuff like this should be on game for that price & cant even buy cheaper buy 2nd hand coz u need online pass.. Oh and this map pack is 11 pound so over all u pay 50 min.. I BET they bring 2 more map packs out like cod for 11 pound each.. wat a joke & people are buying it.. What reseccion?
56
Posted on 3 December, 2011 at 7:09 pm by chrisandsheva
this LE business isn’t fair, I managed to get the le off hmv for the same price as the ordinary version £38 (i think) but that was just a day1 bonus, my point is though in other shops the biggest price difference between le and standard was 2to3 pounds, And some shops only sold the ordinary edition or the physical warfare one, which they’d sold out early, so day1 buyers have to pay £11.00? is it, No i reckon that you’s EA/DICE etc should do those guys a favour and either Give them the expansion, or charge them a couple of pounds for it, i am talking on behalf of those who couldn’t or never got the le, but were day1 buyers/supporters of BF, i mean if they were then obviously you’d know, as i’d bet the 1st thing they’d of done is redeem the online code,… I hope that someone over at Dice will at least consider this, i mean you’s are saying that you want to be ‘closer’ to your ‘True’ fanbase, so theres a very nice way to show All your sincerity, I mean i was lucky as i found a shop that was selling both editions at same price, But i just know that there’s guys out there who had bad luck on that launch day.
57
Posted on 3 December, 2011 at 11:01 pm by judgehusler
@chrisandsheva
i can see where you are coming from but in all fairness EA and game retail shops all advertised that the expansion pack was free for pre-orders of the limited edition so if you failed to pre-order the game to grant you the content thats the customers fault. you also forget that fans of the game would of ordered LE but the normal copy would of been snapped up by new gamers who were just curious most of which took the game back on second day due to the game not being to their particular playing stile. again the option was clearly there, pre-order to get the content or dont bother and just pick it up!!!
58
Posted on 4 December, 2011 at 9:55 am by Rogue-Leader73
How much will it be???
59
Posted on 4 December, 2011 at 12:31 pm by Scuffy_P
Mr Rydling, and chance of an “Onslaught” DLC for BF3? It plays differently to the current BF3 co-op, which quite frankly are very short…and not to the usual DICE standard. I’d be happy with a batch of new co-op missions though.
60
Posted on 4 December, 2011 at 8:19 pm by mr_xzibit
it would have been nice to pay homage to battlefield 2 with the veteran dogtags.! Why I why did Sony not allow the 7 other veteran tags? Pc has them! Xbox 360 has them!.
We have broken chat!
Controller Input lag!
It’s a joke!!
61
Posted on 4 December, 2011 at 9:11 pm by luke2k10boi
Do u get the pack 4 free if u have limited edition
62
Posted on 4 December, 2011 at 10:17 pm by jfontyman
@61
Yes, that’s is why it’s a limited edition.
63
Posted on 5 December, 2011 at 6:48 am by Raincloth
amazing but i dont like the way you achieve your wepons i dont have the mortar fx.
64
Posted on 5 December, 2011 at 8:39 am by mikuruu
thank god i have the limited edition for the same price as the normal game when it launched so i get this.
so tomorrow hu.. lets wait and see
65
Posted on 5 December, 2011 at 9:43 am by Avigyl
One question,how much memory are we gonna need for the DLC?
66
Posted on 5 December, 2011 at 1:42 pm by scaff123
@33REDEYERONIN i had the same problem you must contact EA support from the battlelog email them to tell them the problem then they will confirm with an email.then reply with your psn id email address and date of birth.done i had the same problem and now its fixed.did you by any chance change your email on psn i think thats the problem.
67
Posted on 5 December, 2011 at 4:39 pm by Nistelroy78
Even i didnt got the Limited Edition i will get this .. and looking forward for some new envirements .. i didnt Play BF2 at all because i was actually fed up with FPS games on PC .. but after i got PS3 .. i have been played BF:BC , BF:BC2 and All Expansions and BF 1943 and wont miss a Expansion even it hurt in the wallet
68
Posted on 6 December, 2011 at 4:01 am by judgehusler
so according to EA the voip cannot be fixed on ps3 due to the RAM!! yes the ps3 is so old it cannot handle a simple fix to sort out the chat settings!! this is rubbish, do sony honestly think im going to get a ps4 after the useless crap they have given use. sony every day people complain about you yet you dont listen, just aslong as the money is rolling in. iv been a customer since ps1 and this is how you are going to play!! the young generation may love you but its the old that keep your pockets lined, with the current debts you have and the young not working or being able to afford the goods you will see yourself going bankrupt in years time. apparently the only way to solve the issue is to get rid of some xmb tools! yes like the useless ps+ icon, nflix, music, digital tv channels all of which i do not use yet had no choice but to DL due to the compulsory system update.
69
Posted on 6 December, 2011 at 6:40 am by a_Berserker
this game is quickly becoming my favourite ever, surpassing warhawk and socom
70
Posted on 6 December, 2011 at 9:45 am by Catkiller1
@ Judgehusler
Sorry mate……don’t know where you got that info from but it’s complete nonsense!
Battlefield 2 on the PC was exactly the same & I had no choice but to switch to XFIRE & SKYPE etc just to talk to my clan!
The Battlefield games have always been the same with regards to VOIP & I would have thought that, they would have learnt their lesson by now……obviously NOT!
The game is fantastic but some bugs, especially the ones we encountered last night within COOP, are unacceptable. Hopefully Karkand switches things up a bit
Another patch is long overdue!
71
Posted on 6 December, 2011 at 10:13 am by judgehusler
@catkiller1
lol, last night was taking the mick!!
i got the info from game review channel, apparently its a statement direct from EA. ok i hope its all just lie’s but still you can understand the frustration! saying that i did post half asleep!! was so shocked when i had seen it! i cant find expansion pack, its not showing up on store!?
72
Posted on 6 December, 2011 at 10:40 am by Player42791
@judgehustler
Apparently an EA customer service rep blamed the PS3 when dealing with a complaint. I think that’s where this rumour started. Dice is still working on a fix atm though.
It is a fact though that the PS3 doesn’t have enough ram for cross game chat.
73
Posted on 6 December, 2011 at 10:45 am by Catkiller1
@ Judgehusler
12pm m8
74
Posted on 6 December, 2011 at 12:14 pm by SheikhSteve
Where is the Back To Karkand expansion pack?? I saw the maps come up a couple of days ago on the server browser, but they weren’t selectable (surpisingly enough!) but now it is 12:13 GMT and I have gone into the PS store via the game and it is not downloadable, and also gone into the PS store itself, where it cannot be found. Please let us all know what the issue is!!??
75
Posted on 6 December, 2011 at 12:22 pm by judgehusler
@Player42791
yea just found link to the rumour and they use the word “might” in the title! i keep my fingers crossed but very frustrating to have to wait so long for something that should of been a priority due to the fact the game is focused on team work.
i think it would still make sense to be able to delete unwanted programs from the xmb to clear up some space but i guess that would then make it unfair for those who do use them, just cant win!!
76
Posted on 6 December, 2011 at 12:38 pm by curly_zero
When will Australia get the dlc
77
Posted on 7 December, 2011 at 8:28 pm by Immortal-Wolf-
To Tommy Rydling Jr. Product Manager, DICE
If you are a Battlefield 3Limited Edition owner, you are entitled to this entire expansion pack at no extra charge and you can get it from the in-game store or the PlayStation Store.
i have the Limited Edition Battlefield 3 but i go to my playstation store says purchase Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand £11.99 can you fix this issue as my code for Battlefield 3 Limited Edition was 9AQD TCN5 6KFP
please reply as my evidence on this piece of paper proves iv purchase Battlefield 3 Limited Edition.
78
Posted on 8 December, 2011 at 12:18 am by Immortal-Wolf-
OMG! is this true about EA putting an online pass each year for each EA game so basically EA are saying you must purchase a online pass each year for each EA game Shocking news people this information is 100% legitimate.
Multiplayer Fees Reality Soon? | EA Online Pass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUPMO33wLrI
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