SOURCE: @Battlefield

In an effort to win their fans back, Electronic Arts has said that they have “Listened to the fans and feedback” and have decided to drop the program from their games hence forth. This probably wont be the last time we will see Online Passes issued in video games, but it certainly is a giant step forward for the publisher.

How do you feel about Online Passes? Let us know in the comments below:

SOURCE: GameInformer

Just hours after we heard news of DICE revealing that they were working on a mobile version of the Frostbite engine, we now know that DICE is formally opening an office in Los Angeles. According to the Wall Street Journal, the new Los Angeles based studio will be focusing most if not all of their efforts on a Star Wars based IP. They also hinted at the fact that now with a Los Angeles based studio DICE and Electronic Arts may be trying to reap talent from their biggest competitor in the area, Activision-Blizzard.

Karl-Magnus Troedsson said he plans to have DICE LA staffed with 60 employees by the end of 2013 and added that “There is an extreme talent pool” as well as that its “No secret our main competitor is over there”. The studio however, is unsure on whether or not to continue stories already told or branch off into new universes and tell completely new tales of the Star Wars universe.

As many of you may know, DICE announced that Visceral, and BioWare would be making these new Star Wars games. Chances are, Danger Close, the studio behind the Medal of Honor franchise has been removed from their sister studio and replaced with this new DICE team. Many of  the people who were working on Medal of Honor, such as Kristopher Bergqyvist were former DICE employees which makes transition rather easy for them, however this is purely speculation.

UPDATE 1: The DICE Jobs page has been updated with positions for the newly announced LA Office.

DICE has opened up a new studio in L.A.! Living in NA and want to work on epic stuff? See: dice.se/jobs/ @ea_dice

— Roland Smedberg (@RollieThePollie) May 15, 2013

Are you looking forward to a Frostbite-powered Star Wars game? Let us know in the comments below:

SOURCE: VG24/7

UPDATE SOURCE: DICE Official

*Note that this is a PC Digital Download offer only.

Will you be picking up Battlefield 3 Premium Service and base game for just 20.00$ ? Let us know in the comments below:

Thank you @GlovesForTags for the heads up.

SOURCE: GameFly

UPDATE 1: DICE and EA are reportedly working on a mobile version of the Frostbite Engine called “Frostbite Go” which will power EA games built on mobile platforms. A direct quote from the Frostbite website can be seen below:

One of our most exciting current projects is called Frostbite Go, a mobile division empowering EA game developers with Frostbite’s proven excellent workflows and features to bring true Frostbite experiences to all major mobile platforms.

What game that has used the Frostbite engine in the past or present had you the most excited? Let us know in the comments below:

SOURCE: @EA_DICE Official

UPDATE SOURCE: GameInformer

Battlelog will receive a minor update on May 14, mainly focused on bug fixes and some redesigned elements to make navigation quicker and clearer. A lot of work has been done “under the hood” to support the future of Battlelog, but you will see a new design for the menus, Com Center, and Game Manager.

DICE has already teased the next version of Battlelog, called Battlelog 2.0:

SOURCE: Battlelog via MP1st

The survey also goes on to describe different potential unlock packs within Battlefield 4 that you may be able to obtain and use in combat, such as the “Battlepack”. The “Battlepack”  is an item that rewards you for your prowess in in-game combat with things such as XP bonus’, knives, weapon attachments, weapon and soldier skins among other things.

Another thing that is brought up in the survey is the names of potential expansion packs in which you are required to rank them from one through six based upon a certain description. Some of the expansion pack names for the description: “Lay wasted to your enemies with cutting-edge, experimental vehicles and weaponry” include Battlefield 4 Redacted, Battlefield 4 Prototype, and Battlefield 4 Classified.

Another topic the survey touches on is whether or not people associate the “FPS” genre with a plethora of eras / sub-genres and which they would “never” play ranging from World War 1, World War 2, near-future “World War 3″ and even “Cops and Robbers”.

This survey probably isnt one of the most revealing things we’ve seen in the past about Battlefield 4 but it may give us a few clues as to what DICE has in store for us in October as well as down the roads. Until Battlefield: Cops and Robbers comes out though, I wont hold my breath.

Are you excited to learn more about “Battlepacks” and their use in combat? Let us know in the comments below:

SOURCE: NeoGAF via Pixel Enemy

Despite our security measures, we have been working around the clock to mitigate the impact of an ongoing denial-of-service attack on our Battlefield 3 game infrastructure over the last several days. While the motives are unclear, the focus of the attack has been interference with network communications preventing access to multiplayer gameplay. At this point, no user data is involved. We share your frustration about the impact this has had to our service and the ability for many of you to play Battlefield 3. We are working tirelessly to mitigate the problem. As a part of our efforts to resolve these issues, we’ve conducted rolling restarts of Battlefield infrastructure servers to apply some updates. Thank you for your patience and support while we work to get everyone back and playing Battlefield 3 as soon as possible. More updates to come. /DICE Team

It is unfortunate to see Electronic Arts, especially the Battlefield team, come under attack by DDoS. Outting frustration, the DICE team has also expressed that they are “incredibly disappointed” by the attacks. We will update this post as we hear more information.

Are you currently having any problems connecting to Battlefield 3 or Battlelog in general? Let us know in the comments below:

SOURCE: Battlefield Official; Battlelog

“EA has a solid operating plan with disciplined R&D spending and a sharp focus on delivering the best games and services,” said Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen. “We are holding our FY 2014 operating expenses flat to the prior year — a significant achievement in a console transition year.”

Battlefield 3™ Premium generated over $120 million* in revenue through the March quarter, and has over 3.5 million subscriptions to date.

SOURCE: EA

DICE’s @repi has confirmed that the new Star Wars game will be running Frostbite 3 (same engine as BF4 will be on):

Full Press Release:

BURBANK & REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) and Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced a new multi-year exclusive licensing agreement to develop and publish globally new games based on Star Wars characters and storylines.

Under the agreement, EA will develop and publish new Star Wars titles for a core gaming audience, spanning all interactive platforms and the most popular game genres, while Disney will retain certain rights to develop new titles within the mobile, social, tablet and online game categories.

“This agreement demonstrates our commitment to creating quality game experiences that drive the popularity of the Star Wars franchise for years to come,” said John Pleasants, Co-President of Disney Interactive. “Collaborating with one of the world’s premier game developers will allow us to bring an amazing portfolio of new Star Wars titles to our fans around the world.”

“Every developer dreams of creating games for the Star Wars universe,” said EA Labels President Frank Gibeau. “Three of our top studios will fulfill that dream, crafting epic adventures for Star Wars fans. DICE and Visceral will produce new games, joining the BioWare team which continues to develop for the Star Wars franchise. The new experiences we create may borrow from films, but the games will be entirely original with all new stories and gameplay.”

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

SOURCE: EA Press Release