Tommy Rydling from DICE here, hoping you are excited to go Back to Karkand! You can now buy, download and play Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand on PlayStation 3. To celebrate launch day, here is a brand new gameplay trailer showing Wake Island running on PlayStation 3 hardware. I hope you like what we have done to this classic Battlefield map, and that you enjoy your one week PlayStation 3 exclusive head start on this expansion pack.

Once you have downloaded Back to Karkand, the four new maps (Wake Island, Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, and Sharqi Peninsula) will be available in the server browser and in the Quick Match filter settings just like the nine maps from the base game. There will be servers that mix and match maps from the base game and Back to Karkand, so you will never have to commit to playing either base game or Back to Karkand maps in your gaming session.

That’s it for today; keeping it short and sweet so I can go back to chasing my new Assignments. Hope you enjoyed the launch trailer, and hope to see you online. Let us know what you think about Back to Karkand in the Battlelog forums.

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 today, 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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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.
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Hey everyone! The team at DICE is super excited to get Battlefield 3 into the hands of our PS3 fans. And, if initial reactions are anything to go by, you are equally excited….

Don’t forget: you will be able to purchase, download and play the upcoming expansion pack Battleifeld 3: Back to Karkand one week early exclusively on PS3. And hey, don’t miss your chance for everlasting fame and glory – or at least being included in the in-game credits for Back to Karkand. All you have to do to be in the running is to enter our Name it and Claim it! Challenge and submit your suggestion for our new control point on the redesigned Gulf of Oman map. But don’t wait – the challenge closes on October 28th!

But today is all about the launch of the base game. Before I leave you, I just wanted to let you know what Trophies are lying in wait for the skilled and dedicated gamers we know you are. And with that, I hope you enjoy the game. Looking forward to hear from you, here or on Battlelog!
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This is Tommy Rydling on behalf of the entire team at DICE, saying thanks to everyone who played and participated in the Battlefield 3 Open Beta. The information that we’ve gathered from your play time is invaluable and will help to make Battlefield 3 even better!

But it’s not all network load balancing and matchmaking algorithms; When it comes to data the real star is you! Just look at these killer numbers we pulled down from all of you PlayStation 3 players!

Crazy numbers and we couldn’t have done it without you! Just a few more days now before the game launches on the 28th, and as you may know already, PlayStation 3 players will get access to the expansion pack Back to Karkand one week early (please link to our earlier PS3 blog post outlining these details).

But before I leave you, here is a short selection of just some of the hundreds of changes and additions we are making to the game before launch, as a direct result of your feedback in the Open Beta:

Improved Squad Functionality
There will be improved squad functionality in the retail game (including but not limited to): the ability to create squads prior to launching into a game, sticking with your squad when joining a game and continuing together through future games (if team balance on the server allows it), inviting friends to a squad, and changing squads once in game.

More Accessible Settings Menu
The ability to modify your settings via the deploy screen has been added into the retail game.

Improved Kill Cam
In the Open Beta, the Kill Cam would sometimes behave erratically. This has been fixed for the launch of the retail game.

Netcode Optimization
The netcode is one of the many things that we tested as part of the Open Beta and it was not necessarily reflective of the final retail game. The DICE team appreciates, and has heard, the feedback you’ve provided and is further optimizing online play.

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Never before has there been a more appropriate ice sculpture. This was the centrepiece at EA‘s exclusive Battlefield 3 community event which took place at Sydney Australia’s Potts Point this week. With just under 2 weeks to go until the game’s launch, a select group of invitees were treated to special hands-on gameplay with Battlefield 3 on the dozen or so display units that were set up at the appropriately themed venue. The feedback from attendees was clear – Battlefield 3, with it’s powerful Frostbite 2 engine, is set to deliver an unparalleled gaming experience. Special guests at the event included some of the actual DICE development team, including Daniel Matros – Community Manager, and also Lars Gustavsson – the game’s Creative Director. I spoke to Lars about his work on Battlefield 3, and he ended the interview with a candid thank you to all of the PlayStation fans in Australia who are patiently anticipating this game’s release:

Nino: Pleasure to meet you Lars Battlefield 3 has been a massive undertaking for you guys – how many years in total development on this project?

Lars: Well it was three, or close to three and a half years just building the Frostbite 2 engine, and then about 2 years (at least) to build the actual game. We’ve been a very busy studio!

Nino: How has it been working with PlayStation 3 and Blu-ray Disc on this particular title?

Lars: Overall it’s been pretty good. As always, you want everything in a game, and there’s the usual struggle making sure that you get things into memory – especially with everything that we have crammed into this particular game. So it is a real challenge, and our team has done an amazing job at prioritizing correctly to keep pushing it.

Nino: These days it’s all about online features, and the PlayStation Network is becoming increasingly important to gamers. How did you find working with the PlayStation Network on this title, and what sort of online experience can gamers expect?

Lars: It’s been great to work with, and we’ve just been hammering away at all platforms really. Overall, I would say that the online features OWN this game, particularly the communication centre where you can connect with friends, join with friends, and then also the Battlelog which constantly keeps you up to date with what your buddies are doing. There are lots of online goodies that we are trying out now as well, which we really hope people will pick up on.

Nino: Downloadable content for FPS titles does big business on PlayStation Network. Having said that, how much effort have you guys placed on the DLC strategy for Battlefield 3, and what can consumers expect from BF3 DLC?

Lars: I can’t, at this point, go into what might appear in the future… but if you know the franchise, and our previous titles, then you’ll know that shipping our titles is only just the beginning. It used to be that when a game ships to retail, then that would be the end of the project for the developers. Now, when we ship a game, it is really only just the start. Right now however, we are only focusing on the game’s launch.

Nino: The PR behind Battlefield 3 has been amazing. EA have almost achieved the impossible in creating so much buzz and support for this title, months before it has even hit the shelves. What message would you like to give to your Austrlian fans who are waiting with such buzz and anticipation for this title?

Lars: First and foremost, just thank you. Thank you for believing in us. Going into a massive undertaking like this, creating a game, pushing the boundaries in so many areas, it’s sometimes a really frightening thing. But to have a dedicated audience who believes in you, and longs for your product, definitely helps on those dark nights when you’re just sitting there, wondering, will it fly? So again, thankyou everyone for believing in us.

Battlefield 3 ships in Australia on October 28th. (Note: Epic Frostbite 2 ice sculpture not included!)

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