**OFFICIAL** AT Battlefield 3 FAQ and News Thread

Page 385 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

GullyFoyle

Diamond Member
Dec 13, 2000
4,362
11
81
Edge -Is the FPS genre stagnating? We ask DICE

July 03, 2012 at 3.27pmAuthor: Ben Maxwell

DICE general manager says too few studios are taking the need for technical innovation seriously.

DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson has criticised the lack of innovation present in many firstperson shooters today, believing that too few studios take the need for technical evolution seriously.

"The FPS is a very hardcore genre, and the hardcore crowd of the FPS is probably bigger than some other genres," he tells us. "And that crowd has extremely high demands on what the games are and how they develop.

"If they don't see some kind of new, if not revolutionary then at least evolutionary, step of rendering in every game they will start to lose interest. And I think that is what's happening. Because a lot of franchises out there don't take this seriously; to actually make sure that we don't just challenge ourselves on the gameplay aspect, or perhaps some other area like distribution method, but also how it [feels], how it looks and how it sounds.

"DICE has a strong history, for good and for bad, of doing this. We constantly bash ourselves and say, 'We could have done that better'. It might just be a rendering feature but in the end it adds up to the complete experience of what we're doing."

Troedsson points to the coming tech transition - both to new hardware and more powerful engines - and a move away from modern settings as temporary salves, but warns against using thematic switches in place of broader ambition.

"I think we're going to start seeing people moving away from the modern setting, because every now and again settings or themes start to get stale and then everyone jumps over," he continues. "Y'know, at some point dinosaurs are the hottest thing and everyone is making games with dinosaurs, but there are trends. It used to be WWII, and recently it's been the modern era and people are now moving towards near future.

"But it's a bit cheap to just say, 'Okay, we're going to switch and go back in time or into the future and that will be innovation'. It will definitely drive the franchise forward for whatever game, but it's not true innovation, it's more a thematic change that has a perceived value to the gamers out there. But as a developer you can only make so many games in one particular era, and then you personally start to get a bit bored with it."

That propensity toward trends at the mainstream end of the market, rather than a greater diversity of themes, is, of course, what many critics of the genre would point to as its major problem. But it's hard to begrudge big-budget teams' need to minimise risk in the face of a cripplingly conservative buying public. And while Troedsson acknowledges that more needs to be done, spectacle remains high on his list of priorites.

"I think it's our responsibility as game developers to always push ourselves when it comes to the experience of games," he concludes. "To always make sure that when we put games in the hands of consumers that we are proud of what we've done.

"I'm not saying we're going to build an FPS that will make you cry, or anything like that [laughs]. But we want people to be amazed when they look at our games. And I think this is more important than becoming number one in whatever way you look at it - though naturally part of that comes from a very high level of competitiveness here within DICE. We want to make the best game that we can, and we want that game to be the best one on the market. If gamers think that, then we've done our job. We're not there yet, but we're working on it."
 

Canbacon

Senior member
Dec 24, 2007
794
4
91
Very cool about the match features. Though, I doubt I will play competitively in the near future.

For armoured kill, I am looking forward to see how the stryker tank will play out.

Also, I tried to slow down people in the gun match we were in. It was tough to knife people, as I kept getting shot from behind.
 

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
Moderator
Sep 16, 2005
15,682
14
81
www.markbetz.net
I love the game, and I've been playing hours every night, but personally I think Dice should clean up their own problems before they bemoan the lack of innovation in the industry. There's not much in BF3 that wasn't in BC2, and a lot of what's there is pretty glitchy. Sound issues, getting stuck on ankle high terrain (lots of fun when maps like Oman get destroyed late in the match and there's rubble everywhere), madly-overpowered air, aa missiles that won't lock on, physics abnormalities, crashes to desktop, etc. Some of this stuff has been improved in patches, but a lot of it hasn't, and that, frankly, is pretty much the entire history of the Battlefield series in a nutshell. So yeah, these guys make fun games, but I have many, many games from other studios that offer similar levels of fun and play much more smoothly, with much less trouble. They should focus on that a bit, I think.
 

Zargon

Lifer
Nov 3, 2009
12,218
2
76
hey did you get a battle report for that round we just played? I didnt and lost like 90 an94 kills :(
 

DeadFred

Platinum Member
Jun 4, 2011
2,740
29
91
hey did you get a battle report for that round we just played? I didnt and lost like 90 an94 kills :(
No, I sure didnt. :(

But I know my awards and scores still registered because I collected an assault rifle medal that round then switched to sniping. I checked my awards page just now and the number of assault ribbons and medals are correct.

The next round I played on that server did show however: http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/battlereport/show/37190664/1/305137962/

Hopefully it will at least give you your points and stats if it doesnt appear later.
 

Zargon

Lifer
Nov 3, 2009
12,218
2
76
nice I see you picked up where I left off

I had no what scores were till the end because I could never get the scoreboard to load.

my an94 kills did finally showed up
 

DeadFred

Platinum Member
Jun 4, 2011
2,740
29
91
LOL

One more reason for me to never play GB ever again. I played it twice to complete an assignment and my highest place was fourth.
 

SLU Aequitas

Golden Member
Jul 13, 2007
1,252
26
91
Exactly the reason why I quit playing it after I placed 5th/4th; that, and COD (BLOPS?) did it much, much better; really just don't find it fun.
 

DeadFred

Platinum Member
Jun 4, 2011
2,740
29
91
Completed getting all the master tags for everything today. Excluding the launchers and 14 handguns, will be a long while before I get some of those....if ever.

I believe I now have all of the possible weapon/vehicle unlocks.
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
126
tbqhwy.com
Finally won a gun battle round! No medals or ribbons awarded?! o_O

lol

i have a feeling ill never finish that assignment, much like the one last time that required 5 wins of squad death match, i disslike DM and hate the fact that every time i tried to join with a squad of 4 it split us up

only played 1 day during this XP week but man some of the bonuses were insane. and somewhat random, kinda curious how they figure the EXP bonus
 

maevinj

Senior member
Nov 20, 2004
928
11
81
I got a message on battle log that said " new in game content... soldier upgrade"
Anybody know exactly what upgrade it is?

edit.
Nm
Just saw this.
We’re happy to announce that a new range of soldier upgrades are now available to Premium members’.
For Premium players, this means that you will receive two new Camos (One per faction), as well as new assignments.
The new assignments are:

Unlock – F2000 Woodland Oak Camo

Pre-requisite Premium Assignment 1 completed
100 kills with the F2000
50 squad revives
25 kills with the underslung shotgun

Unlock – Pecheneg Tactical Camo

Premium Assignment 2 completed
100 kills with the Pecheng
25 Claymore kills
25 vehicle kills with C4

Unlock – L96 Digital Woodland Camo

Premium Assignment 3 completed
100 kills with the L96
50 squad spot assists with the MAV
350 meter headshot with the L96

Unlock – Scar-H Berkut Camo

Premium Assignment 4 completed
100 kills with the SCAR-H
20 kills with AT mines
5 air vehicles killed with AT launchers (RPG/SMAW/Javelin)

Unlock – Navy Blue Digital Camo for US Soldiers and Woodland Stripe Pattern for RU Soldiers

Pre-requisite F2000 Specialist, Pecheneg Specialist, SCAR-H Specialist and L96 Specialist Assignments completed
500 kills with Assault
400 kills with Support
500 kills with Engineer
300 kills with Recon
 

Zargon

Lifer
Nov 3, 2009
12,218
2
76
I think the claymore kills will take longer

/has almost 200 c4 kills.....about 8 claymore kills
 

sigurros81

Platinum Member
Nov 30, 2010
2,371
0
0
I think the claymore kills will take longer

/has almost 200 c4 kills.....about 8 claymore kills

Wait, is it kills of people in vehicles or actual vehicles themselves? I don't see myself blowing up 25 vehicles any time soon. I find myself getting shredded every time I try to get close for a C4 kill.
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
126
tbqhwy.com
I think the claymore kills will take longer

/has almost 200 c4 kills.....about 8 claymore kills

i agree here, i never run clymore and almost always run C4, i get a vehicial destroy ribbon on nearly every viehical map when i run support,

300+ c4 kills
20 claymore kills, and most of those came in 1 game like 5 months ago
 

Zargon

Lifer
Nov 3, 2009
12,218
2
76
Wait, is it kills of people in vehicles or actual vehicles themselves? I don't see myself blowing up 25 vehicles any time soon. I find myself getting shredded every time I try to get close for a C4 kill.

it says vehicle kills

most of my c4 kills are vehicle kills
 

DeadFred

Platinum Member
Jun 4, 2011
2,740
29
91
And here I thought I was ready to relax............now more assignments.

The claymores and C4's will be easy. I dread the 5 AT air vehicle and 20 AT mine kills.

350M L96 headshot wont be easy either.

UGH! Who come up with these?!??!
 

Zargon

Lifer
Nov 3, 2009
12,218
2
76
yeah I just hate being that guy :p

the air and mine kills will be a PITA

i wonder if I drop a mine and then nade it to kill people if that counts :p
 

JTsyo

Lifer
Nov 18, 2007
11,820
955
126
I would think the new maps would make claymore kills easy with people running around everywhere.
For C-4 jihad jeep will do, just drive up behind tanks while they are engaged.