Rooster90

But the majority of the negatives you've listed have more to do with menu options and the UI that weren't implemented into Beta for one reason or another, most of which will be in the final product. Not that they aren't important, but really? Is that what's going to make you hate a game, is it's menu system? Trust me, I've reported the actual gameplay-killing issues to them. Players sinking into the ground (fixed now), unfinished animations ("Jesus" pose, happening less often now), player parties not always working, SQUAD PICKING (huge bummer for me), screen flickers (more to do with Nvidia's beta drivers), sound glitches, magazine models floating in front of your weapon, shotgun's occasional "misfires", rubber-banding on Caspian Border, occasional mouse/input lag. The list goes on. The game isn't perfect, but the things people are complaining about the most are the things I find the least significant. They aren't game-killer issues. It almost sounds like people went into this ready to hate on it, ready to give any excuse to not like it. It sounds like a bunch of noobs trying to find an excuse as to why they're bad at an FPS. I will say this though, because it's worth mentioning for those who haven't played it yet: It's not BF2. But, it's also not BC2. It's a bit of a hybrid, which is more or less what I was expecting. I played BF2 a lot back in the day, and recently played it again last month for a couple weeks. It was nostalgic, but I wouldn't trade BF3 for BF2. Ever. There were definitely some cool things about BF2, like 6 man squads, better minimaps, better squad control (forth-coming with a Commo-Rose in the PC version of BF3), Commanders (though, these abilities will be brought down to squad leaders now). But there are some real game-killers about BF2, shoddy graphics aside. Mainly being: the gunplay and the nade spam. As a shooter, BF2 is friggen awful. If you don't recall, it doesn't really matter if somebody is directly in your sights, since there's a random dispersion of bullets. Thus, tap-firing at a rate of about 1-2 rounds per second is the only way to effectively kill people no matter what weapon. Pretty boring if you ask me, and a pretty crucial part of an FPS. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of classes you had to switch between in order to do some pretty basic things. BF3 feels like a natural progression. It takes all the good parts learned from the BC games (better accessibility, fast-paced, condensed classes, new gameplay, graphics, sound, gunplay) and makes them better, while improving upon old standbys of the series in general (big maps, big battles, epic feel, LOTS of vehicles and weapons, and fun teamplay). If you were expecting BF2 with better graphics... where have you been the last 6 months? Because that was not the expectation I had. I wanted a newer, fresh, better BF. And BF3 is looking to fulfill that expectation. EDIT: One more thing I will say though: I don't expect wholly this game to be fully bug-free and "finished" on release day. But EA never delays a game, so it will be pushed out anyway. But I have confidence in DICE to fix the big issues in a timely matter, as they always have. They've always had really good post-launch support (though the server browser/friends system didn't work for a good 4-6 months of BC2's life, lol. At least Battlelog works great.) In due time folks, in due time.

u mad bros? lol, I honestly don't understand why people are so upset over not being able to change settings until you spawn. Seems like such a minor inconvenience to be so mad about. Oh no, you have to click one extra button and wait a second or two! The horror! It's not like you have to restart the game for them to take effect. Nobody seems to mention that at all. Key binding is another annoyance, but seriously, it's Beta. What do you expect? The full damn game? It's not a demo that was released a week before release. I guarantee DICE have a version of the game being tested on their systems that is far ahead of the Beta version. The only point of this Beta is to spot bugs/crashes/glitches that they can't do internally and stress-test their servers. Joystick support isn't even in the Beta version yet, but it will be in the full game (and possibly in a later version of the Beta, due to demand on Caspian Border jet pilots). Battlelog is already being updated. Though the main reason you can't sync friends from Origin/Facebook/etc atm is because everything will be reset after the beta is done. No point, though it may sync later on down the line. Minor issue. Server browser showing 100 sucks, but honestly, how far do you even have to scroll to find one? Just filter to an empty server or one with 5+ slots and join. Then your friends/platoon join off of you. Servers fill up within 5 minutes. Not like you ever need to know the name of the server or anything. However, I do wish you could filter location for the Quick Match. Don't want to be put in some random EU server when I'm in the US. Not all the filter options have been implemented yet either. I've seen images of the final filter and there's quite a few more options. And it does show ping btw, does it not for you? Also, tap-firing in single shot mode is actually less accurate that firing quick bursts in auto. I have yet to experience what you're experiencing, so I guess chalk that up to shite servers. BF3 has some of the best hit registration I've ever experienced, next to CS:S. And shotguns are amazing, Skaz! That's pretty much my primary weapon at all times, especially now that i have slug ammo and an acog for it. So lulzy but fun, lol. All of the issues with players going under the map I haven't seen for nearly 12 hours, so I know that got fixed. Diving to prone on certain surfaces is still a little odd sometimes though. Remember, this is a Beta. This is not supposed to represent the final product at all. This isn't a demo of a finished product. There are so many features and settings that were not implemented for various reasons, but mainly because they weren't important to the primary goal of the beta: bug spotting and stress testing. Amazing how diametrically opposed our experiences have been. I've seen massive improvement over the Alpha, Metro is far better balanced now and Destruction is nearly finished being implemented. Weapons feel great and kill fast, idk what you guys are talking about, lol. You guys just need to play with us some time and have some fun. We play Caspian a lot now. Our platoon: http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/platoon/2826550451850589652/ Our livestream: http://bf3stream.com/ (Replays going when we aren't playing live) We're officially the most popular stream and soon the most popular BF3 team out there. Come join the fun and play with us in Mumble! EDIT: proof of shotgun pwnage, look at my top weapon, lol. http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/soldier/Thronewolf/stats/185130883/

You would've hated the alpha, lol. There was basically nothing in the settings you could change. I'm sure key-binding for mice just hasn't been implemented yet. And yes, Squad management is awful. That's honestly the biggest point of contention for me. I would be very upset if they released the game without being able to pick your own squads.

Well, you're playing an infantry-only Rush, a BC2 mode, so you're not really getting the "real" BF3 experience. Just BC2 with better gfx and sound. After playing this map for about 14 hours straight, it's not nearly as linear as some of BC2's Rush maps, but Rush is designed to be a series of funnels and chokepoints. Not going to get that big, epic feel from this game mode, regardless of map. I personally love the browser. There's about a 5-10 second delay after somebody joins a server that it shows their in, but other than that it's worked flawlessly. Super easy and fast to get in a server. And all the stat tracking, profiles, and platoons are really cool too. Lack of squad picking is still a big annoyance. This was in Alpha as well, but at least squad spawning works. And it generally puts you in the same squad as your friends. Having to be in-game to choose settings is a minor annoyance for me. Doesn't bother me that much. They keys are already mapped perfectly for me, so I don't have the need to bind to my mouse. Maybe knife to middle mouse, but F works just fine. Animations... idk, subjective. I don't see how they're cartoonish, but this isn't ArmA either. It's an arcade shooter. However, players falling into the map is getting pretty old/silly, lol. Hopefully that's fixed soon. Also keep in mind, all of this is still just beta. DICE is more worried about balance, map design, bugs, and stress testing. Not every feature is implemented yet. I have very high hopes. B-Team is loving it so far. The game is fast, brutal, and unrelenting. Weapons have power and your character has weight. Everything just plays right. Can't wait for the competitive scene to start up! EDIT: Also, judging a game in beta after only playing about 5 games and barely ranking up or getting to really know the map is hardly enough time to start forming an educated opinion on the game. Play for a few hours more, it'll grow on you.

Last I heard this was not going to be a midnight release. In fact, they haven't confirmed a release time for the beta at all (yet). For good reason too, I wouldn't lol.

Even the 200 series will do fine in BF3. For all the hoopla Nvidia is giving about BF3 (there's obviously money to be made with people upgrading) they're being a little disingenuous about the requirements. My friend had a 280 during Alpha and was able to play full rez on mostly high settings just fine (40-50 fps). That being said, congrats on the 580 purchase MH6! I hope it's worth it for you. I'll be sticking with my 560 until 600 series comes out. Then I'll either go dual EVGA Classified 570s or pay the premium of the 600 series depending on the price/performance ratio.

I think the auto-regen only applies to ground vehicles, not jets/choppers. I'm not 100% sure though. Plus we haven't seen air combat in action yet (in actual gameplay form, trailers don't count).

Good products, but I've heard mixed opinions on their customer service. Not long ago people were saying it was really awful. I think recently though it's been improving. Likely worth the money as Haj said.

Plus, vehicles become "disabled" now. Basically, the weapon systems will still operate, but the vehicle is immobilized. Pretty interesting dynamic. Plus auto-heal on vehicles doesn't occur until 10-15 seconds has passed. In a BF game, that's a long ass time to be sitting there disabled. If you haven't blown up after 5-10 seconds of being disabled, count yourself lucky. Can't wait until 9/27!!! (Early access beta baby, whoo!)

Hmm... this may put a damper on my plans to upgrade to a 570. Will have to see how these cards size up in price/performance.

Nope, Chuck Testa.

This isn't any different than BC2. It's not like ONLY pre-order people get those items, they just get them before everybody else. All those items are unlockables, they're just unlocked from the start for pre-orderers. It was the same with BC2, I got my defibs, tracer dart gun, some perks, and an M1 Garand when I pre-ordered. All of which were basically level 3 unlocks. You can get flash suppressors fairly quickly, lots of people had them towards the end of the Alpha. Nothing to get butthurt over. Everything pre-order people have will basically be able to be unlocked by everybody else within the first day of playing. Besides, if you're going to get this game for sure anyway, no reason not to pre-order. Back to Karkand rolled into the price, extra weapons/gadgets without having to unlock them, why not? You'd be silly not to.

^ That's friggen Star Trek crap right there, lol. I have a feeling Windows 8 won't really catch on though. Not because it's not a good idea, but it's way too soon off the heels of Windows 7. Maybe as an OS for tablets and mobile devices it'll be fine, but I read an article just the other day that the majority of businesses will not embrace Win 8, simply because most just upgraded to Win7. Obviously I think Win8 is more geared towards consumers anyway... but even I just got Win7 earlier this year. Not looking for a new OS any time soon.

There's a way to disable the in-game voice chat, but again it involves circumventing going through Dead Island's official channels.... Hopefully they'll wise up and just add an option to disable it in-game.

Yeah, the coffee table touchscreen has always been a cool idea to me. Tons of digital board/card games pre-loaded into it, with Wi-Fi access to an app store to buy even more. And cool interactive wallpapers when it's not being used. That would be so cool! As for touchscreens taking over PC's... I doubt it will happen any time soon. As Durka pointed out, you cant match the accuracy and precision that a mouse+keyboard has in terms of gaming. Plus the point of having an actual tactile surface that you can feel and press down upon is another big factor.

^ legit, exactly how battle log looked in Alpha but with more options (you didn't see it before?) However it's interesting that this basically confirms there will be two maps during beta. Though everyone is going to play Caspian Border, lol. The internet browser server browser is weird at first, but it's pretty slick after you get used to it. Way faster to find a server and will work flawlessly unlike past BF browsers.

This looks nothing short of amazing. Night battles online will take on a whole new meaning! Can't wait for beta, just pre-ordered yesterday finally!

Multiplayer is still unstable/unusable. If you want to play online you'll have to use 3rd-party Hamachi servers instead of the official ones (at least in America). That's been the only way we could get together with any sort of consistency.

http://twitch.tv/bteamgaming/b/294571884 Some livestreaming action of the Dead Island Co-op my team has recorded.

Been watching my friends play and stream this for some time now. To me, it really misses the mark and ends up being pretty mediocre. Beyond the bugs, it's an OK game. It's a mish-mash of ideas that generally work to make a relatively entertaining game, but it's nothing new or groundbreaking. It's like the gameplay of Borderlands and Fallout with zombies and a lot of melee combat. The story and characters are pretty forgettable which is a real shame considering the emotional trailer it had. The game winds down to being a lot of quests and a mind numbing amount of zombie bashing. Fun at first but quickly becomes a non-stop clickfest with no real strategy or challenge other than to dodge swings and find/upgrade better weapons. The RPG elements are an interesting change, but I'm not sold that it really works in this sort of setting. Even simple hammers will give you strange attributes like health regen and elemental damage. And any amount of fear the game might have is negated by the fact that dying isn't really that big of a deal. Especially in co-op. You simply wait a few seconds and you respawn with a little less money. All bugs aside (and the fact that co-op is completely broken unless you log onto Hamachi servers) I personally am not convinced it's worth 50, or even 40 dollars. The action doesn't get much more interesting, it just takes longer and requires more patience. Stick with L4D imo.

Yes, his was around 15-20 fps better than mine. However, keep in mind he's using the EVGA Classified 570. It's one of the more expensive 570s and is factory overclocked and performs near base 580 levels. When comparing benchmarks head-to-head on 3DMark 11 his scored 1000+ points higher than mine. Worth the extra money for me at least. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130692 Not sure how much one of these babies runs for in the UK market. But I think you'll be more than happy with a 560 if this 570 is out of your range.

Oh for sure, if you're running a dual monitor setup, I'd be surprised if you weren't running two video cards (or a 2-in-1 solution). You almost have to and the little performance gains go a long way. I'm talking of course about the average single monitor setup.

While I generally agree with you, there is one caveat I totally forgot about. In the Alpha version of the game, those weren't "full" textures, models, shaders, etc we were seeing. The highest setting you could go was "High" (and some weren't even High, they were Medium labelled as High) and I know there will be Ultra/Extreme options, as well as basket full of other DX11 goodies (tesselation, ambient occlusion and the like). So you won't be able to play BF3 on full-blast with a 560 Ti and maintain more than 40 fps. That being said, the 560 Ti is still an excellent choice for the money. You'll have to turn your gfx down a bit, sure, but I'm sure it will provide you with a generally positive graphical experience. Just not the whole 9 yards. Me personally owning a 560, I'll be upgrading to a higher end 570 once BF3 comes out. Most likely a EVGA 570 Classified. My buddy just got one and it runs considerably better than mine for only 100 bucks more. We did some benchmark testing as we have almost identical builds, just different GPU's. The 580s/90s have yet to prove their worth to me. Sure, there's an average of about 10-15 fps more than a high end 570 with everything cranked, but for 200-300 dollars more? No thanks.

I've been meaning to get a mechanical keyboard someday as well, but most are a bit too pricey for me. MX Blues work fine for gaming and typing, a very "middle of the road" key design. Browns are more gaming oriented, being quieter and easier to rapidly double-tap. But it's all subjective to how each person types. I wish there was a store where I lived to try out different mechanical keyboards. I'd like to see how they all compare.

I'd say this is relatively accurate. I was personally getting a bit more fps on my 560 Ti than reported here, but I only played one map.