DICE Talks About Wake Island’s Inclusion In The Battlefield 3: Back To Karkand DLC
In part two of a series of posts on the Battlefield Blog, DICE has been speaking about another of the maps to be included in the Back to Karkand DLC pack — Wake Island. The DLC pack — which will be free to those that pre-order — is being developed by the team that brought us Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam and is set to feature four classic maps as well as weapons and vehicles.
Lars Gustavsson, a producer on Battlefield 1942 gives some insight into the original Wake Island map and how he feels about its inclusion in the Back to Karkand expansion pack.
“The basic premise was that we looked at how real-life Wake Island [from the Pacific Theatre in WWII] looks today. We knew we couldn’t do it to scale, but that kind of one-to-one fidelity wasn’t really of interest to us. Funny thing is, it was in fact downscaled so much due to a decimal error in programming. The map was originally meant to be bigger, but the involuntary downsizing created a very cool and concentrated gaming experience.
“That concentration also comes from the fact that when fighting on land, because of the island’s U-shape, you cannot escape. If there’s a tank in your way, you will have to confront it head-on sooner or later. That’s something we have tried to recreate throughout the Battlefield series: To have some kind of clear frontline.
“What still grabs me about Wake Island is the fact that it really is all-out war. Aircraft are taking off from the carriers, anti-aircraft guns are firing, boats are coming in, tanks are rolling by… And sometimes you just have to stand there and look out across the glittering water because it’s so beautiful. There will always be a special place in my heart for Wake Island.”
This series of posts (check out last weeks here) is another sign of the aggressive marketing strategy by Electronic Arts for Battlefield 3 — a game the publisher hopes will knock Activision’s Call of Duty franchise of its perch. Marketing aside, for anyone who is even considering buying Battlefield 3 the opportunity to get the Back to Karkand map pack free seems like a very good deal. Those are some sweet maps, after all.
Source: Battlefield Blog
Battlefield 3 will be available to purchase this fall for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Terry Lucy
I'm 23, from London, UK. I am the co-host for a technology talk show and an all round nerd. Video games have been a huge part of my life. As soon as I was old enough to pick up a control pad, I was playing games. I split my spare time between pubs and arcades, two of my favourite places on Earth.
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