DICE -

“We are happy to announce that Back to Karkand is out now on Xbox 360 and PC! Should you get Back to Karkand? Kotaku asks — and then immediately answers YES.

If you haven’t followed us before, Back to Karkand is our first expansion pack for Battlefield 3. It features four legendary Battlefield 2 maps reimagined in the Frostbite 2 engine, with enhanced levels of destruction.

More than just a map pack, Back to Karkand also features 10 new weapons to extend your arsenal (you can bring these new weapons back to the base game maps), three classic vehicles from Battlefield 2, including the STOVL fighter jet (excellent for hovering and capturing bases), Desert Buggy, and and APC, five new dog tags, and an added layer of persistence with the all-new Assignments you need to complete to unlock new weapons.

Now go back to Karkand and let us know what you think in the Battlelog forums! To find your new maps, just use Quick Match or the server browser as you normally would. The four new maps will appear together with the nine ones from the base game. For a full guide on how to use the server browser on console, check out this guide we prepared earlier. Just make sure you apply the latest multiplayer update for Battlefield 3, or you will not be avle to access Back to Karkand.

If you are a Limited Edition owner, you are entitled to this entire expansion pack at no extra charge. Otherwise, you can buy it for PC from Origin at $14,99 or for Xbox 360 from Xbox Live Marketplace or the in-game store for 1200 Microsoft Points.”

A patch will be arriving for the PC version of Battlefield 3 on December 6th. It’ll be a pretty hefty 2GB update, apparently containing “most of the content for Back to Karkand” and a series of fixes and balance tweaks. The most notable changes can be found below, while the rest are available for your perusal on the Battlefield 3 blog.

• Fixed several weapons so they are properly suppressed and hide the player on the mini-map when fired.
• Tweaked Tactical Light so it is not as blinding over longer ranges.
• Tweaked the IRNV scope so it is limited to usage only at close range.
• Slightly decreased the accuracy for all weapons on fully automatic, burst fire is now preferable at mid to long range.
• Reduced the damage done to Armored Vehicles and Infantry from AA guns.
• Increased the damage RPGs and Tank shells do to AA vehicles.
• Slightly increased the power of Fighter Jet Cannons against all vehicle targets, especially Helicopters.
• Reduced the effectiveness of Stealth on Air Vehicles.
• Reduced the effectiveness of Beam Scanning for Jets.
• Moved a tank spawn in US base on Caspian Border so it would not be destroyed by a falling tree.

FULL CHANGE LOG

Bugfixes:
• Fixed a problem with spawn timer now showing blue border on startup and lost spawn point
• Fixed a problem where player who joined queuing on End of round got spawn screen stuck on screen, but unable to do anything with it untill next round loaded
• Fixed a problem where camera would change to 3rd person on killcam when killcam was turned off in server settings
• Fixed stat references on several dogtags
• Fixed for surveillance ribbon not counting TUGS
• Fixed a missing combat area lines on the minimap for Grand Bazaar conquest small
• Moved a tank spawn in US base on Caspian Border so it would not be destroyed by a falling tree
• Fixed a problem where placing C4 with the russians soldier was playing US faction VO
• Fixed a problem where TV guided missiles could be shot into its own helicopter and destroy it
• Fixed a problem when attempting to fire lock on weapons without a target
• Tweaked the chat, it should now be a bit easier to read
• Fixed several vehicles that did not properly shoot rockets and guns towards their predictive sights
• Fixed the G17 Supressed Laser not working properly
• Added alternate HUD colors to help colorblinds
• Added a network interpolation setting. This allows users with good bandwidth reduce latency, but might increase some stuttering. The user can find what works best for his connection by tweaking the slider.
• Increased the Spawn protection radius on TDM
• Fixed a problem with smoke on land vehicles, Missiles should now miss more often
• Fixed a problem where users could end up with IRNV scope in any vehicle
• Fixed a problem where player dies if vaulting over a ledge and into water while sprinting
• Fixed several crashes and increased general stability
• Fixed a problem where the user was unable to revive two players that have the bodies one over the other
• Fixed so you can assign an axis and use as a digital input. This makes it possible for the player (on pc) to assign one of the sticks on a gameped to be used for throttle/brake.
• Fixed a problem with the Kill camera acting up when suiciding from parachute
• Fixed air radar was showing to much. now lasertagged, heatsignature above threshold, enemy missiles and capture points are only visible on air radar
• Fixed a problem where the game would enter a technical hang if the user pressed pause menu and tilde at the same time
• Fixed a problem where you could get green flashes on screen
• You can now reassign cycle weapons
• Fixed so the weapon zooms automatically after bipod deploy is gone when using zoom toggle
• Fixed a problem where the parachute would stay stuck in air if the owner was killed
Balance Tweaks:
• Fixed several weapons so they are properly suppressed and hide the player on the minimap when fired.
• Tweaked Tactical Light so it is not as blinding over longer ranges.
• Tweaked the IRNV scope so it is limited to usage only at close range.
• Reduced heat masking effectiveness of Spec Ops Camo.
• Fixed a bug where Ammo spec would give additional 40mm grenades instead of Frag spec.
• Increased the number of additional 40mm grenades from Frag spec.
• Fixed so AT mines only live for 20 seconds after a player dies to prevent infinite mines. (We want to make a different fix in the future, it’s in JIRA).
• Increased the Time to Live on sniper caliber rounds to allow extreme distance shots.
• Fixed several weapon descriptions, calibers, and fire rates. The weapons themselves have not changed.
• Fixed so the M9 and MP443 pistol can be equipped by the opposing faction when it is unlocked at 100 kills.
• Fixed Laser Guided Missiles missing their targets if the target is moving too fast.
• Reduced the effectiveness of Stealth on Air Vehicles.
• Reduced the effectiveness of Beam Scanning for Jets.
• Reduced the damage done to Armored Vehicles and Infantry from AA guns.
• Increased the damage RPGs and Tank shells do to AA vehicles.
• Slightly decreased the accuracy for all weapons on fully automatic, burst fire is now preferable at mid to long range.
• Increased the effective accuracy of long bursts for LMGs when using a bipod.
• Slightly increased the range of the 44magnum bullets.
• Increased the close range damage of 4.6x30mm and 5.7x28mm bullets.
• Increased the reload time of the Mortar from 3.5sec to 4.8sec and increased the time it takes before a shell hits the ground.
• Reduced the aimed accuracy bonus given by a Suppressor for the MP7, P90, PP2000, PP-19, and UMP45.
• Increased the range and FOV for designating targets with the SOFLAM and vehicle Laser Designators.
• Decreased the effectiveness of 12g FRAG ammo when equipped on semi-automatic and automatic shotguns.
• Slightly Increased the power of Fighter Jet Cannons against all vehicle targets, especially Helicopters.
• Decreased the power of Miniguns against Jets and Helicopters.
• Increased the power of Stingers against Jets.
• Flares reload times for Jets and Helicopter Gunners have been increased.
• Tweaked the AN94 so its burst fire better conveys the real world advantage offered by this weapon.
• Added Single Shot to the AN94 as an available fire mode.
• Slightly increased the recoil on the M416 and removed the Burst Fire mode (this weapon incorrectly had burst fire, which was not authentic)
• Tweaked the spawns for TDM on Kharg Island, Grand Bazaar, Caspian Border, Seine Crossing, Operation Firestorm, Damavand Peak and Noshahar Canals
• Moved a tank spawn in US base on Caspian Border so it would not be destroyed by a falling tree
• Tweaked the Gas station Capture area on Conquest on Caspian Border
• Tweaked the max vehicle height on Noshahar Canals

The first day of the Battlefield 3 early beta has come to an end. Quite a few
things happened over the course of the past 24 hours. There were multiple time
mix-ups leading many to believe that the beta would go live for the PS3 at 2am
amongst other pieces of confusion. Overall the beta release went well, in the US
most Battlefield 3 beta keys had been distributed by early afternoon. There were
a lot of community and official releases leading into the past 24 hours, so
here’s a quick recap:

• Gamespot releases beta keys
• Launch time to be around 9am EST
• New drivers for PC players (improves performance)
• And a few updates about beta keys…

Systems throughout
the day was pretty stable. The Battlelog website had problems towards the
beginning of the day, but has since been stable. The Xbox 360 network
encountered a few connection issues (no connection to the EA server) but was
quickly resolved. A lot of issues with PSN have been sorted, but users are still
stating that beta keys aren’t working or that the network is intermittent. Beta
troubles are very common (Battlefield 3 is no exception), a beta without
problems is a very rare occurrence.

Who knows what day two will have in
store for us, but Daniel hinted at something that would at least make PC players
very happy. No guesses or ideas can be made at this time about the Battlefield 3
beta surprise.

2112 – Nice first day 1 wrap up from EnterBF3.com. Was a crazy first day and most of it for me updating my email inbox a million times, downloading the game,
and waiting in huge lines to get into the few servers that were online. I hope tomorrow is better and can’t wait for whatever surpirse awaits us all.

 DICE and EA have announced that the Battlefield 3 multiplayer beta will be open all players from around the world on September 29, 2011. The beta is set in Paris on the Operation Metro map, where players work their way from lush parks on the outskirts of the city to a dark, bombed-out metro station, to the vibrant streets around the Paris stock exchange. Two elite tactical units square off in the series’ popular Rush Mode. One side takes the offensive by attacking M-COM stations while the opposing squad defends and protects.

The Battlefield 3 multiplayer beta will be available for the PC, PS3 and 360. If you pre-ordered the digital PC version from Origin then you will be granted early access to the beta starting on September 27th. Also, all customers that pre-ordered a Limited Edition of Medal of Honor will also receive early access to the beta.

Gamers in the beta can also log onto Battlelog, the game’s free social media network that allows gamers to communicate and compete with friends, track their stats and share their progress. Battlelog extends the in-game experience to be accessible anywhere, whether on a PC, console or handheld device.

Players are also invited to join the EA Gun Club for the latest shooter news, and to receive in-game benefits including access to the M1911 pistol and distinct badges in Battlefield 3. The M1911 pistol will also be available to registered Battlefield veterans.