DICE Talks Battlefield 3 Console/PC Differences
The console version will only allow for 24 simultaneous players compared to the PC's impressive 64-player military mayhem.
We already know what DICE is focusing on the PC as the primary platform for its upcoming shooter, Battlefield 3. But recently DICE revealed some of the differences between the PC version and the version planned for the consoles, and they're enough to fill any PC gamer with pride (finally).
"The biggest difference between the PC and console version of Battlefield 3 is that we have 64 players on PC and 24 players maximum on console," said DICE boss Patrick Bach. "The rest is more or less the same: we use the same engine, the same technology, the same animation system, the same lighting system. Our aim is to give the player the exact same experience and not try to dumb down the console version."
OK, so maybe the differences aren't that drastic. But then Bach started to elaborate on the "more or less" aspect, admitting that the team tried to squeeze more players into the console version but realized it required the team to scale down all the graphics, scale down all the destructibility, and in some cases scale down the map sizes.
"Everything is a compromise," he said. "It's not that we're evil or stupid. We didn't choose not to have more players - we would love to do 64 players on console but then we would have to cut away so much; people would get very upset that it looked worse, played worse and wasn't as fun as the PC version. We would never do that because the fun is always more important."
Adding more than 24 players also meant removing the vehicles, as they require a lot of data that's shoved through the network and the CPUs. "If you had more vehicles, that would mean less players and vice versa," he said.
So what about the maps? Will they be smaller than what will be available on the PC? Or will both versions be the same? Here's where he really elaborates on the "more or less" aspect.
"When we say they are smaller, it's not that we have cut them in half," he said. "But we tried to compact them slightly to keep the action up. If you compare it to Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the maps weren't really small on console. We actually had huge maps even for console. We have the same kind of angle on it right now [in Battlefield 3]. We want to create the same experience for PC as for consoles."
Battlefield 3 is slated to hit the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC in October.
- EA,
- DICE ,
- Battlefield-3 ,
- Patrick-Bach ,
- 64-player ,
- FPS
- Deals for July 26: 17.3'' Dell XPS 17 Core i5-2410M $693
- Get 400 MS Points Free with Games for Windows Purchase
- Hackers Could Make a MacBook's Battery Explode
- Winner Selected for AMD Llano-based CyberPower PC
- Suda 51 Wants to Make Bloodiest Social Game Ever
- Epic: Bulletstorm Didn't Make Any Profit
- Deals for July 25: Angry Birds HD for $2 (normally $5)
- BioWare: 500 Worlds in SW:TOR by 2025
- Is There Still Hope Left in the Future of the PC?
- Intel Having Problems Getting Those Ultrabooks Under $1000
- Software Exploits Mac OS X Lion Login Passwords Vulnerability
- Canon Makes a Mouse With a Built-In Calculator
- Deals for July 27: 27'' Planar 1080p LCD Monitor $229 FS
- Razer Switchblade Powered by Atom Z690
- Duke Nukem Forever DLC Coming This Fall
- Report: Apple Developing 15-inch Super-Slim MacBook Pro
- Deals July 28: Logitech Wireless Headset + Free Game $89
- Asus Ultra-Thin Netbook Goes Official, Under $200
No graphics improvement for PC ??? Shame on you DICE
Too many games to play end of 2011..
LOL? Not try to dumb down the console version? That means they will both be low quality. The PC version is going to be just as bad!
No graphics improvement for PC ??? Shame on you DICE
WTF are you on about?
Well, that's exactly what PC gamers hate- sorry to break it to you.
You're always going to be "dumbing down" a game for either a PC or a console when releasing for both systems: looks like the PC gets the short end of the stick again this time.
At least there are those two token differences, but there is no difference graphics-wise (just toss in AA for the complainers, eh?) since the same technology is used, why buy a better computer for that?
By that logic the PC version should only be playable on a $4000 monster PC with the graphics settings all fixed to super-ultra.
PC games have to be scalable to lower power systems anyway, and scaling them for consoles is no different. The difference with BF3 is it is being primarily developed for PC and THEN ported for consoles. Having the game ported to console doesn't automatically damage the PC version, even if DICE plan on doing a good job of the port.
WTF are you on about?
They said that pretty much everything else is the same. That means graphic wise it will be the same. Yet they say DX11 support so not sure how it could be the same when consoles can't do anything beyond DX9 graphics.
Guess we will have to wait and see.
The comments here are just idiotic. If you follow the Battlefield 3 forms then you know how special it is on PC. We do have the superior graphic enhancement, confirm by repi. Supports multiple cores and scale well on SLI/Crossfire. Also they are doing an Alpha trial for their game! how many developers do that with their triple A games? Their only saying this to let the console player feel secure.
Silly console players think they're being treated equally! At least DICE is doing a good job of keeping the console players happy
@lobodaomy, not everyone has fast computers, such as myself. I don't feel like wasting my money on a computer game when i don't trust my computer. i trust ps3 better with my games.
the graphics will obviously be different on the pc because of resolution and all the little tweaks that you can do, and framerates on godly pcs. They have theyre own engine, theyre not going to make a brand new engine for the pc only just to make it look better than the console version. The current engine looks improved and amazing, and if the consoles can support it, then great.
I hate to say it but alot of pc gamers like to whine about everything console related.
@codyjt5150, not too sure what "trust" has to do with anything. The recent debacle by Sony on the PS3 security doesn't leave one with much trust as to their ability or honesty though.
My cousin has the alpha beta for this and he only has one amd 6970 and he says he can run it 1920x1080 with all settings maxed out although apparently they don't even let you customize the settings much all you get is a low mid and high option.Sounds consolized to me graphically he thought he would have to buy a 2nd to crossfire it but now he does not even care.
what about the wiiu version?
i refuse to use windows 7, so no bf3 for me.
but i will get the wiiu, so my question is, compared the the 360 and ps3 version, how scaled down is the wiiu version?
I dont think you have to be worried abotu that tbh the wiiu is supposed to be more powerful then the 360/ps3 isn't it? What I would be worried about their is the online support because I know with the regular wii you have to rely on friend codes and stuff which sucks but I don't know about the new one.
I dont think you have to be worried abotu that tbh the wiiu is supposed to be more powerful then the 360/ps3 isn't it? What I would be worried about their is the online support because I know with the regular wii you have to rely on friend codes and stuff which sucks but I don't know about the new one.
I feel sorry for you. Not trusting your pc over a console is just sad.
i love Battlefield 1,2,3
sorry headlessfrog, I commented on the wrong one. Sorry!
@lobodaomy, not everyone has fast computers, such as myself. I don't feel like wasting my money on a computer game when i don't trust my computer. i trust ps3 better with my games.
Your the guy i feel sorry to, not the other one i commented earlier. Not trusting your pc over a console for a game is just sad.
Great...thanks for screwing over PC gamers again just so you can milk a 5-6 year old console. Screw console gamers.
My cousin has the alpha beta for this and he only has one amd 6970 and he says he can run it 1920x1080 with all settings maxed out although apparently they don't even let you customize the settings much all you get is a low mid and high option.Sounds consolized to me graphically he thought he would have to buy a 2nd to crossfire it but now he does not even care.
Yes just because your cousin cna runit with "only" one $300+ 6970 means it's watered down graphically
First of all the Xbox can't render anything above Direct X 9. Seeing as the PC will get DX10 and 11 textures and lighting enhancements is a win for the PC. Second and I know you console people don't want to hear this but even on your 1080p display, the xbox can only run 720p max. Just because something fills the whole screen on a HI-Def monitor doesn't mean it's HD pixels running. What does that mean? The PC wins again.
They purposely limit the capability on PC. I don't see the point considering that the high end PC market is very limited compare to consoles. Its actually miniscule.
Of course you dont care about graphics you play on several year old machines that look like crap regardless of what game you put in them. For those of us that actually have good systems we do care about graphics in the same way people that have nice high def tv's care about their tv's.
Also why not future proof a game and make it so that it can take advantage of dual top of the line video cards and even future ones? So long as it can scale and play on the lower end video cards its all a win win situation for us pc gamers.
People who are serious about gaming horsepower don't use consoles, they build (or buy) modern PCs. Good on DICE to realize this and fully utilize the capabilities of contemporary PCs. The graphics hardware on the consoles is about 20 times SLOWER than mainstream ($250) graphics cards, so why should PC gamers be held back by console kids? The console market should push Sony and MS to release the new consoles. Battlefield 3 with its 64 players on PC vs 24 on console is a perfect example of the need for faster consoles, but then again you get what you pay for and there is a reason consoles are cheap - they get outdated FAST and have long release cycles.
I think someone had a Thumbs Down party. Seriously, you guys don't have to hide every entry that disagrees with your point of view.
That said, graphics better be tweakable, the controls better be "valve tight", and it sure as hell better be as fun as they act like it will be. No homefront bait and switch, please.
Oh, and kudos to Dice for not catering to the GeezerBox. I don't understand why people still defend these ancient consoles. They're basically SFF computers with a super limited OS. If you won't tolerate using an old Intel P4 for work/school, why tolerate old/slow consoles?
No graphics improvement for PC ??? Shame on you DICE
You call yourself a hardcore gamer when you clearly don't know any facts about the game.
Will be Vista/7 Exclusive with no XP support, so supports DirectX10/11, right there the graphics are better than console. Its limited to 30fps on console.
Crysis's extreme hardware limitations hardly had anything to due with how great the visuals were. Plan and simple, the engine it used wasn't optimized very well. Thats why you saw even 1 or 2 newer generation cards still stuggle to perform extremely well. CryEngine 3's engine is much better optimized and even on the new Insane settings DirectX11 maxed out doesn't struggle with mid-tier cards now.
First of all the Xbox can't render anything above Direct X 9. Seeing as the PC will get DX10 and 11 textures and lighting enhancements is a win for the PC. Second and I know you console people don't want to hear this but even on your 1080p display, the xbox can only run 720p max. Just because something fills the whole screen on a HI-Def monitor doesn't mean it's HD pixels running. What does that mean? The PC wins again.
Agree or better yet get a 1600p monitor and use it fully, the choices are endless with the PC (sadly so are the price range) but with a console there is only one choice, purchase and get stuck with the same spec for years to come or go pc and be able to upgrade it to whatever spec you wish whenever you like/afford it - for me that choice was easy!
I choose not to choose consoles - I choose something else!
More proof, as if it were ever needed, that gaming on PC is Epic Win!!!
Silly console players think they're being treated equally! At least DICE is doing a good job of keeping the console players happy
Screw the console players. It's time for the PC to shine again. I bought a useless upgrade 3 years ago only to get shafted by all the games being stupified by those god damn consoles.