This new trailer for Battlefield Heroes shows off some gameplay, along with a new area called Victory Village. Battlefield Heroes will be a free-to-play online shooter using cartoon graphics. The game is currently scheduled to release late 2008.Download the Battlefield Heroes Victory Village HD Trailer (99 MB)...

While the game industry is beginning to understand that they can sell high profile games any time of the year the truth is that the time period between the first of September and the first week of December remains the biggest time of the year for new games to be released. 2008 seems to be no exception to this rule as PC gamers have a ton of new and promising titles to choose from this year.So which games are we most looking forward to playing this fall? Well it so happens that we have created a feature gallery that has our picks for the PC game titles we most want to play in the next few months. That list include a long awaited MMO, a new expansion pack to the biggest MMO, an alternate history RTS game, a number of great looking first person shooters, a post-apocalyse RPG and a title that some are already declaring "the greatest game ever made." (in fact you can get a clue as to one of the games on our list from this custom case mode we saw at QuakeCon).Our list of games is ordered by their scheduled release dates. Keep in mind while checking our picks that release dates can and do change at the last minute. Our picks represent the best info on these dates at the time of the posting of this article but if any changes are announced afterward we will report on them on the news site.Click on the image above to continue reading "Most Anticipated Fall 2008 PC Games"...

Digital Illusions has been running a closed beta for several months for their free-to-play shooter Battlefield Heroes. Yet that seems to be enough to call the game "released', according to DICE producer Ben Cousins. While a recent announcement by EA CEO John Riccitiello said that the game was being delayed from a summer to a late 2008 release, Cousins claims that isn't the case at all.In a new chat at gamesindustry.biz, Cousins states, "What's interesting is that we never announced a date, we talked about the game being released in the summer of this year and that's still the case. Actually, we're in the closed beta already, so the game is already out and you can't delay a game that's already been released and already been played by people." Cousins adds that they plan to ramp up the closed beta to the point that "every hardcore gamer in the world will probably be able to get a key if they want to."...

Discs are so 2003. Though existent to some degree before Steam premiered in November of 2004, Valve's juggernaut digital distribution platform relieved gamers of the stress entailed in searching frantically for lost disc keys (and discs), multi-disc installations, and finicky sales reps who refused to replace CDs and DVDs if they were scratched or otherwise unusable. It seems a new publisher or developer adds classics or new gems to Steam's growing flock of downloadable titles every week, and despite having more than its fair share of kinks to work out, digital distribution seems to have finally become more convenient than buggy.Although I intended to honor my commitment vows to digital distribution, the honeymoon has ended. No longer able to satisfy my demanding hardcore gamer's needs, I've begun a steamy love affair with web-based games that offer an even greater convenience: digital distribution eliminated discs, but web games require no installation other than a plug-in or two. Casual fans have been swimming in the web pool for quite some time, both casual and core gamers are being treated to fast, frantic fun with developer DICE and publisher EA's Battlefield Heroes, a stylish shooter with its roots firmly planted in the classic Battlefield franchise. ...

Remember late last month when we reported that Digital Illusions was planning to give out more beta keys for their upcoming free-to-play shooter Battlefield Heroes and that they were going to do it by given them out to the first 20 people who commented on a news item? Well that plan apparently caused a ton of folks to start checking out the web site constantly looking for a news post.The end result? The site got swamped and blew out the server. A new note on the site (which doesn't count as one of those that people can get a beta key from) states, "We'll be doing some maintenance over the next day or two; we want to make sure that the site can handle all you Battlfield (sic) Heroes enthusiasts." Stay tuned . . ....

Were you dissapointed in learning that the release of the upcoming free-to-play FPS Battlefield Heroes was being pushed pack from summer to late 2008? Apparently so were the development team at Digital Illusions. So on the game's official web site they have announced that . . . well, they actually express it best themselves:Starting next week and ongoing for 4 weeks, we'll be posting a news item twice a week, at a random time.Why is this so special, you might ask.Well, here's the thing:the first 20 people to comment will get a Beta key sent to them within a couple of days.A cool side effect of this is that those people will then be able to enter our weekend Beta key contest and win even MORE keys to give out to friends.Kind of cool, huh?...

The Digital Illusions-developed multiplayer shooter Battlefield Heroes represents a new direction for the franchise; a free-to-play download only game that's supported through in-game ads and microtransactions. The game was originally set for a full launch later this summer but now it appears we will have to wait a little longer.During the Electronic Arts quarterly conference call with financial analysts, execs revealed that the game's launch date has now been pushed back to late 2008. EA CEO John Riccitiello stated that the development team wanted to work more on the social networking features of the game as well as put in new features and add in more input from beta testers....

As EA DICE tweaks their first foray into the free to play realm with Battlefield: Heroes and prepares to release the once controversial console exclusive Battlefield: Bad Company, the future of the franchise has already been revealed. At GDC Paris today, executive producer Ben Cousins confirmed that the team at EA DICE is currently developing three additional titles in the Battlefield series bringing the current grand total to five.One of the newly revealed titles is aimed squarely at traditional hardcore console gamers while another marks a collaborative effort with developer Neowiz to bring the franchise to the Korean market. The three new Battlefield titles were hinted at during a GDC Paris keynote presentation. "Since the start of this year I've been working as executive producer for the entire Battlefield franchise - we've got five titles in development at the moment, which is probably more than you expect," Cousins teased the crowd.No other information regarding the new titles have been revealed but considering they are currently in development we expect to hear more at E3 this July.[via Games Industry] ...

Electronic Arts and developer Digital Illusions may be releasing their console only shooter Battlefield: Bad Company to stores this week but the developer hasn't forgotten about Battlefield 2, their now three-year old modern day shooter for the PC. Internet radio show netGameRadio just posted up a new interview with a DICE producer who revealed that a new patch for the game is in the works.More details on the patch are expected to be announced on Monday but it looks like it will be more than just a bug-fixing file as the patch is also expected to add new maps to the game as well, Of course, DICE is also working on the free-to-play downloadable PC game Battlefield Heroes which is currently in beta testing.[Via Blue's News]...

A few weeks ago it was revealed that third party companies had begun signing up beta testers for the upcoming free multiplayer shooter Battlefield Heroes. Now it appears that one of those companies, QA Boss, has been involved in a security breach. According to a note on the Aeropause web site, QA Boss has informed all beta testers of the game that their breach "exposes QA Boss forum user names, email addresses and encrypted passwords."So how did this happen? QA Boss isn't saying but does recommend that people who use just one password for all of their various Internet account change them as a precaution (of course you shouldn't have such a set-up but most folks do).[Via Joystiq]...

There's been a lot of talk lately on how the PC game industry can grow and become more stable. One of the major solutions that has been mentioned is free-to-play game titles which can be downloaded and played for free but can be supported via micro-transactions or in-game ads.Our sister web site Game Daily has a new editorial from Entertainment Consumers Association president Hal Halpin who advocates this new business model for games. In particular he is looking at how the upcoming Digital Illusions-Electronic Arts game Battlefield Heroes will do when it officially launches later this summer. Halpin seems to think that EA should have made the game browser based (he believes that would have opened up the game to even more audiences) but he seems hopeful that this new business model could work for other games.In particular, Halpin believes that a move to a free-to-play model will solve an issue that hurts both PC and console games; games that retail for $50 and $60 or more tend to be rented or traded in more and more. Halpin doesn't believe that all games could turn into free to play (although he adds, "that is certainly a possibility in the distant future") he does believe more publishers should look to changing their ways in order for the games industry to survive....

Want to sign up to play in the beta for Battlefield Heroes? Well apparently a podcast oriented web site called Broken Eggs Media has secured such a deal for its readers. You can sign up via their site to get into the beta test for the free multiplayer shooter from developer Digital Illusions and publisher Electronic Arts.Earlier this month the game's official web site stated they would be using third parties to bring in players for the first part of the beta test so this may be an example of that. We hope to learn more about the game's beta test before the official launch of Battlefield Heroes later this summer.[Via Blue's News]...

DICE's Battlefield Heroes is many, many things all wrapped up in a bite-sized package. "Less is more," as they say. But here's one thing you'd think DICE wouldn't be happy about: constant comparisons to Valve Software's mega-hit Team Fortress 2. You'd think."If they want to keep comparing it to TF2, I think that's perfectly okay," said producer Aleksander Grondol to Shacknews. "It's an honor to be compared to a great game like Team Fortress 2, and I think the art style in TF2 is awesome." Okay, so ... maybe DICE is cool with it after all! Grondol did note, however, that Heroes' gameplay is nothing at all like that of TF2, artistic choices notwithstanding.Welcoming comparison to a game as acclaimed and successful as TF2 is a cocky move. That sets the bar very high. Early impressions of Heroes have ranged from very positive to kind of lukewarm, so it's tough to tell whether or not those making the comparison are onto something with regards to the fun factor.[Via Rock, Paper, Shotgun] ...

So why did Digital Illusions decided to try out a free-to-play model for its upcoming multiplayer shooter Battlefield Heroes? According to a new interview at Gamesindustry.biz, one only has to look at piracy in the PC industry as an indirect reason for this move. According to Ben Cousins, the producer of the game at developer Digital Illusions, the dev team looked at how piracy had affected the games industry in Asia and how they moved to a free-to-play model with micro-transactions for their PC titles.Cousins states that the budget for Battlefield Heroes is relatively small; about a quarter of the size of budget for their upcoming console-only shooter Battlefield: Bad Company. Their business model is such that they expect 95 percent of their players to never use the micro-transactions and that they will make revenues from the remaining five percent. While the game isn't strictly speaking a web browser based title, Cousins believes that ultimately that is where the game industry is going to evolve where gamers play their titles via a web browser, "whether it's running on an iPhone or a Mac or on the PC."...

The free-to-play third-person shooter Battlefield Heroes has been on a lot of people's radar ever since it was announced. There's definitely something about the way the game looks that makes it stand out from the pack. If you don't quite know what we're talking about then check out this recently released video interview with Ben Cousins, the executive producer from the studio developing the title, DICE. Cousins goes over all the things that make Battlefield Heroes different from your typical PC shooter. The big focus seems to be on web integration and making the game appealing to a very wide audience of potential players. You have to admit it's a very experimental business model for the Battlefield franchise and Electronic Arts in general. Then again, experimental games seem to be a bit of DICE's thing as of late -- which is a very good thing if you ask us....