Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is an upcoming first-person shooter video game in development by EA Digital Illusions CE and to be published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The game is a direct sequel to Battlefield: Bad Company and was announced at one of Electronic Arts’ earnings conferences and was showcased for the first time at E3 2009. The game is scheduled for release on March 2, 2010 in North America and March 5, 2010 in Europe, as announced at the EA press conference at Gamescom.

Gameplay — Gameplay in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 resembles that of the original and is set in various environments from around the world, including the mountainous regions along the borders of Russia. Like its predecessor, Bad Company 2 features destructible environments. The system is dubbed “Destruction 2.0,” and the level of destruction is extended — players can now completely collapse a building as opposed to only blowing out walls. Along with Battlefield Vietnam, Bad Company 2 is one of only two games in the Battlefield series to have blood without third-party modification.

Similar to Battlefield 1943, the health system from the previous “Bad Company” is replaced with regenerative health. There will be new vehicles in Bad Company 2, such as the UH-60, a quad bike, a two-man patrol boat, a personal watercraft, an AA-gun mounted on a light tank, and a UAV helicopter controlled via laptop.

Single-player — On January 22, 2010, it was revealed by senior producer Patrick Bach during an interview that the single player campaign will be about ten hours in length. Right before the close of the show, executive producer Karl Magnus Troedsson stated that the team wants to “give away a good bit of stuff for free,” but they also have plans for paid downloadable content as well. He also went on to say that they would like to do additional weapons, among other things that fans want to see.

In a separate trailer released on January 21, the single player campaign was detailed, featuring the return of Private Preston Marlow, Private Terrance Sweetwater, Private George Gordon Haggard Jr., and Sergeant Samuel D. Redford as the main characters of the game, hunting a fictional unknown weapon made in South America.

Multiplayer — The “Gold Rush” mode in the original Bad Company is referred to simply as “Rush” in Bad Company 2. The format is similar in that an attacking team must detonate explosives on a defending team’s crates. The attacking team succeeds by eliminating all the crates on the map, and the defending team succeeds if the attackers are not able to eliminate the crates in the active area before their tickets are depleted. Making use of the Destruction 2.0 system, it is also possible to eliminate some of the crates by collapsing the building they are in on top of them. A lower scale mode called “Squad Rush” was confirmed that has only two opposing teams of four players battle against each other with one existing crate stash.

Multiplayer will allow players to choose from a set of weapon kits before each spawn, the number of which has been further reduced from Bad Company’s five down to four: Assault, Engineer, Recon, and Medic (with the Specialist kit being the one removed). In addition to the hand grenades and sidearms standard for all classes, each class also has an initial primary weapon and a pair of gadgets unique to that class. A customizable weapon selection menu is also new to the Bad Company series (similar to unlocks in Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142). Gaining experience points allows a player to unlock and use different weapons and gadgets, some only useable by a given class and some available to any class that player uses. There are also unlockable items that can modify the game’s firearms, such as ACOGs, reflex sights, and short or long barrel grenade launchers. If the game is pre-ordered at GameStop, EB Games in Canada, or Amazon in the United Kingdom, the AKS-74U will be immediately unlocked for use.

The experience points used to unlock the above items will be awarded for performing actions conducive to the goals of the player’s team, such as eliminating enemy players, healing teammates, or capturing or defending points of interest. Bonuses to the base number of points can be awarded under certain circumstances (such as achieving a headshot in the process of eliminating an enemy player). A dog tag system as seen in Battlefield 2142 and Battlefield: Bad Company returns, awarding players trophies of sorts in the form of opponents’ dog tags when they defeat the opponent with a melee attack.

On October 19, 2009, game developer DICE posted a Twitter announcement stating the game will have dedicated server support. This was in response to Infinity Ward’s announcement on October 17 that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 would not support dedicated servers. Players will also be able to use party chat for each game mode.

MICROSOFT PRESS RELEASE (source: http://gamerscoreblog.com/press/archive/2010/02/05/gh789.aspx)

A LETTER FROM MARC WHITTEN: DISCONTINUATION OF XBOX LIVE FOR ORIGINAL XBOX GAMES
Dear Xbox LIVE Members,

On April 15 we will discontinue the Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox v1 games playable on Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals. I want to start by saying this isn’t a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox LIVE community.

Seven years ago we laid out our vision for the connected console when we launched Xbox LIVE. We believed then that the power of the Internet to connect people would revolutionize living room entertainment. It started with amazing multiplayer games, and we’ve since seen that bet pay off again and again with the launches of Xbox 360, Marketplace, Netflix and powerful social features like Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm. None of this would have been possible without the success of LIVE as a multiplayer gaming network.

There’s no greater example of the power of the Xbox LIVE community than the “Halo” franchise. “Halo 2” has had an amazing run on LIVE, with a dedicated community more than five years after launch and well into the next generation of consoles. It has fundamentally changed the way we play video games. And while it’s difficult to see that run come to an end, the “Halo” franchise continues to act as the benchmark for multiplayer gaming in this generation, with “Halo 3,” “Halo 3: ODST” and soon “Halo: Reach” on Xbox 360.

Your Xbox LIVE community has grown to 23 million strong. And as we look down the road, we’ll continue to evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360. To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox v1 games. We will contact the Xbox LIVE members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your LIVE messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities. We view you as a partner in this process.

We’ll share more details soon, but in the meantime I want to assure you that the best is yet to come for Xbox LIVE. I believe we’ll look back on 2010 as a landmark year in gaming and home entertainment, and I couldn’t be more excited about what we have in store with “Project Natal” and LIVE. The LIVE community is the driving force behind everything we do, and it’s because of the community that ground-breaking experiences on Xbox continue to be possible.

See you on LIVE,

Marc Whitten