No public beta for Battlefield 1943

By Robert Purchese Published 19 June, 2009

Only a trial. PC version in September.

EA DICE producer Gordon Van Dyke has said a trial version of Battlefield 1943 will be offered to compensate for the lack of a public beta - an inevitability on Xbox Live Arcade, but not always so on PlayStation Network. So that's good news.

"No beta, but we have a trial version that lets you confirm what you already thought - that this game is the best USD 15 I will ever spend!" Van Dyke told Eurogamer readers during a Live Text Q&A.

He wouldn't budge on the "summer" date for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network versions of Battlefield 1943, but the overseeing PR announced that the PC version will arrive later, in September.

Battlefield 1943 re-imagines Battlefield 1942, and trims the classes and maps down to three to promote accessibility. A fourth map, Coral Sea, will be unlocked after a combined 43 million kills by XBLA players for that version and PSN players for that. Van Dyke reckons this will take about two weeks. The PR, however, reminded us that this is in your hands.

There are no "concrete plans" for future content, producer Patrick Liu added, and the unlockable nature of Coral Sea was a "spontaneous" idea.

Battlefield 1943, unlike the expansive key instalments in the series, will tend towards arcade and cartoon-style action over realism. Suicide jeeps laden with explosives can be jimmied into choke points, for example, and pilots can drop bombs on other planes. Snipers can even pick off targets while parachuting, before plunging a knife into someone upon landing.

Squads can be created both before a game and during, and simple attack/defend orders given. Voice chat between squads is supported but, in Battlefield 1943, clans are not.

EA DICE is also working on Battlefield 3, but wouldn't offer any further details.

Battlefield 1943 costs 1200 Microsoft Points (GBP 10.20 / EUR 14.40) from Xbox Live Arcade, and USD 15 (GBP 9) from the PlayStation Store - although the actual pound-price is likely to be higher.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (12) 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Totoriko #1 3 years ago

    BF3 should be the real remake of BF1942, with all maps, classes and weapons but running on a better engine.

  • XdarXideX #2 3 years ago

    I want a BFVietnam remake!

  • Fodder #3 3 years ago

    Can we have a story about every game that won't be having a public beta? It's terribly interesting, particularly when combined with the shock news that there's currently no new information on the release date or future content.

  • mashk #4 3 years ago

    I wonder what's in the trial? How the hell do you trial a multiplayer only game with three maps?

  • bioreit #5 3 years ago

    Sounds like the remake of BF2:MC I was hoping Bad Company would turn out to be - arcadey, with pseudo-realism for some elements, with the emphasis on fun and teamwork, rather than uber-geeky, overly-complicated, ultra-realism.

    Will try the trial to confirm, but suspect this will be my first XBL purchase in a while.

  • Pepeman #6 3 years ago

    @mashk Prob. a one map playable with bots. Nothing else. Or maybe a multiplayer with time limit: you can play up to 5 minutes but if you wan't to continue you need to purchase the full game...

  • metallicorphan #7 3 years ago

    when is this out?..it was meant to be June,the last week of i think...but i heard it was now July,but can't find anything concrete


    they are also making Battlefield:Bad Company 2 right?..or is that somehow Battlefield 3?(mc,bc..bc 2?)

  • Trillion #8 3 years ago

    Can't wait for the demo.

    The original demo for BF1942 had just one map - Wake island. But that's all you needed to know that it was an amazing game.
    Played that at work for months.

  • ardamillo #9 3 years ago

    What I really want to know is if I should bother showing up, being a BF noob.

  • bioreit #10 3 years ago

    @ Raajaa

    See, have to disagree with you on that. Bad Company is an awfully broken game - especially online - compared to BF2:MC. Modern Combat had server lists, parachutes, the ability to crouch, fun to drive vehicles, decent mix between arcade and realism with regards to controls and character handling, excellent variation on map settings and sizes and was just plain all round better.

    If DICE remade BF2:MC with Bad Company's graphics and destructible scenery, that would be one of the best games ever.

    Bad Company had an ok single player story, but it still felt like you were controlling a guy running through treacle. And the multiplayer is just plain annoying - used to get spawn camped in MC a helluva lot, but nothing compares to the shit-storm that the last few games of Bad Company have been for me and my friends, whereby you can't even do anything except spawn-die-spawn-die-spawn-die when you play against a team comprising of at least 50% clanners. It's now at the stage where one of us goes as a sniper and immediately runs off and hides, just so we have SOMEWHERE to bloody spawn in. Loads of fun for 40 quid...

    BF2:MC was almost the perfect console FPS for me - it wasn't trying to replicate a PC twitch-fest, or inundate you with streams of geeky weapon loadouts; it was all about having pure fun and playing in a large (for consoles) team. Being one of a group of guys being dropped off by a chopper hovering feet above the Chinese Letter building on Bridge Too Far, all bundling out at the same time and taking up positions on each corner, only to have to jump off and parachute down seconds later because the enemy helo was starting to strafe us was always awesome. As was sniping the bastard pilot out when he thought he was invincible when he circle-strafed to avoid laser-designators. Sheer, unadulterated fun, whereas Bad Company just feels like a hard slog, almost a punishment I'm being forced to endure.

  • hyperkineticninja #11 3 years ago

    @mask

    The trial is a 30min time limit.

    You can leave and go back another day with your remaining time remembered.

  • Nephirion #12 3 years ago

    fayl