Assassin's Race of the Battlefield

Dante's Inferno was quite a divisive game when it launched in 2010. Some people believed it spit on the legacy of a classic piece of literature and others were taken by how creatively weird Visceral's vision of hell was. It also copied the God of War formula, so at least it was aspiring to greatness. I've never personal??ly? played it, but even I have to praise a developer willing to take one of the most well-known pieces of fiction ever written and tinker around with it.

You'll be able to grab Dante's Inferno next month if you're an Xbox Live Gold member. With it being backward compatible on Xbox One, you truly have no reason to skip over it this time. As for the other games, I guess someone will be happy. I don't know why you'd want to return to the original Assassin's Creed when Odyssey is out now and I can't see anyone bothering with Battlefield 1 when V is right around the corner.

Xbox One

• Battlefield 1 - November 1 - 30
• Race The Sun - November 16 - December 15

Xbox 360

• Assassin's Creed - November 1 - 15
• Dante's Inferno - November 16 - 30

Xbox Live Games With Gold For November 2018 [Major Nelson]

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Patience pays

We're in that part of the Battlefield cycle where EA and DICE are in a giving mood.

Just as the open beta for Battlefield V comes to a close, it's now time to turn our attention back to Battlefield 1. You can currently nab the game f?or $4.99 on Origin, but better yet, the four-expansion Premium Pass is free. If you add it to your library during the next week, the pass is yours to keep.

The offer is available for PC players on Origin as well as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The Premium Pass includes They Shall Not Pass, In the Name of the Tsar, Turning Tides, and Apocalypse.

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Limited time offer

EA and DICE are gearing up for the Battlefield V beta shortly, but they haven't forgotten the previous entry in the series. After talking about making DLC free and taking steps to prevent splitting the player base, everyone will have the chance to nab the "Premium Pass" for BF1 following the conclusion of V's beta. For one week starting on September 11, the pass will be free to players on Origin. The only downside is you'll need to actually own BF1 to grab it.

The pass includes a crap ton of maps and basically doubles the base game's ??size. It also means that you'll likely have a better chance of finding online matches since you'll own all the content. While I'm not exactly happy with it being a limited time offer (or being limited to owners of the game), at least this PSA should give you enough time to mark your calendars.

Battlefield 1's Premium Pass? will be free for a week after Battlefield 5's open beta [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

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Suddenly, it's here

Yesterday, we were wondering when Battlefield 1 would get 4K support on Xbox One X. Today, we know because EA implemented it almost i??mmed??iately.

Battlefield 1's summer update launched today on all platforms, and it has all sorts of tweaks and fixes. For instance, load time?s are better when entering the soldier customization screen, and there are fewer disc?onnects when trying to join a server. Shock Operations mode has been rebalanced on three maps. Players can no longer teamkill with mortars. That sort of stuff.

There's some less-dense-but-also-good news accompanying the update. EA is giving out Battlefield 1's Apocalypse DLC for free on all platforms. Apocalypse has three add-on maps and the Air Assault mode. Also, Battlefield 4 has something similar going on. Its Naval Strike and China Rising DLC packs are?? also free right now. ??This is a limited-time thing, so snatch them up while you can.

For anyone who wants the nitty gritty of Battlefield 1's summer update, here are the full patch notes:

Match Experience:

• Improved loading times going into the soldier customization screen and reduced occurrence of disconnects when trying to join a server.
• Fixed an issue with map vote results not being respected, if an RSP map rotation changed whilst in progress.
• Fixed issue with squad boost sometimes counting down during pre-round phase.
• Reinforced the result of the map vote when the game server is migrating to a different host due to maintenance.
• Fixed an issue where players in a queue were blocked from joining a match, behind a player that was waiting for a space to open on a specific team (as a result of join on party or friend).

Maps and Game Modes:

• Rebalanced Shock Operations on Lupkow Pass, Zeebrugge, and Prise de Tahure.

Lupkow Pass:

The goal is to?? make the first sector a little easier and to reduce t??he impact of the Behemoth.

• The first sector boundary has been adjusted to:
• Prevent Defenders from using the rocks on the edges of the boundary to snipe Attackers.
• Prevent Defenders from using the slope at the edge of the boundary to harass Attackers.
• Removed 1 Defender plane from Sectors 2 and 3 to prevent air superiority for Defenders during tough Attacker sectors.
• Removed the single Defender cavalry unit from Sector 1 to prevent cavalry runs out of bounds to harass Attackers.
• Removed the Airship L30 Behemoth from Sectors 2, 3 and 4. The Behemoth remains for the first sector, but between defender planes, AA guns, Burton LMRs and AA rocket guns, this Behemoth shouldn't be so consistently dominant.
• Elite kits have been offered as a comeback assist in Sectors 2, 3, and 4, repurposing some of the existing kits to be used as comeback kits for Attackers.

Zeebrugge:

??The goal here is to help ?the Attackers during the first sector as much as possible. The remaining sectors look pretty good from a sector loss perspective, making the first sector easier should help Attackers build some momentum.

• Sector 1 has had its bounds adjusted to prevent Defender access to the lighthouse; the Attacker HQ now includes the lighthouse and part of the mole.
• The Attacker Elite Infiltrator kit has been moved into the lighthouse base. A Flame Trooper has been added there as well, to allow for Attackers to more aggressively push and hold flags in the first sector.
• The A flag capture area has been slightly adjusted to make swimming captures a little more viable.
• Defender planes now respawn a bit slower than the Attacker planes.
• Defenders now only get their second plane when the Attackers reach sector 3, as opposed to sector 2.
• Defenders can no longer use boats in Sector 4 to harass Attackers.

Prise de Tahure:

• It was found that Attackers on the final sector could steal Defender kits and Defenders could steal Attacker "comeback" kits, so that has also been addressed.

Weapons, Gadgets, and Vehicles:

• M1903 Experimental now has an alternative fire mode.
• Fixed an issue where vehicle laid Anti-Tank Mines would have difficulty detecting vehicles.
• Adjusted the reload time of the C96 pistol when loading single bullets to better match its animation.

Gameplay:

• Fixed instances where players could grief teammates using shell type weaponry such as mortars and AA guns.
• Friendly flares will now display their spotting radius to teammates, allowing for better coordination between recon players.
• Fixed issue where damage that resulted in score < 0.5 wasn't messaged to players. Score < 0.5 from damage is now rounded up, granting at least 1 point of score.

User Interface/User Experience:

• Added gameplay options for adjusting color and visibility of the lens sight reticle.
• Added gameplay options to show compass bearing numbers on the mini-map and the big map.
• Added video options for adjusting the screen safe are width and height on PC (Xbox One and PlayStation 4 already have those).
• Moved the objective world icon names from below the world icons to above those to reduce UI clutter and obstruction of the player view over soldiers near the objectives.
• Added gameplay options for adjusting the visibility of the 3D objective and soldier names separate from the icons.
• The world icon customization gameplay options now work in spectator mode too.
• Added gameplay options for adjusting the crosshair size and the hit indicator size.
• Added gameplay options for adjusting the visibility of the receiving damage HUD panel.
• Added gameplay options for adjusting the size and visibility of the following HUD elements (separate ones per each of the elements):
  • Scoring messages
  • Kill log messages
  • Chat log
  • Game mode info panel
  • Squad list panel
  • Vehicle seat layout
  • Vehicle passenger list panel
  • Player info panel
  • Misc HUD elements (weapon/vehicle/reload hints, commo rose, interactions, warnings, awards, etc.)
• Fixed an issue with dog tags sometimes showing up blank in kill cards or when completing a melee kill.

Battlefield 1 Summer Update Notes [Battlefield]

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The past has never looked better

One of 2016's finest games will look its best later in 2018 -- at least on Xbox. Two years after launch, EA DICE is giving Battlefield 1 4K resolution support on Xbox One X.

This is part of the Battlefield 1 Summer Update that's expected to release in the coming weeks. We don't know what else is coming as a part of the update, but we'll find out soon enough. EA DICE is holding a livestream event tomorrow on the Battlefield Twitch channel at 1pm Pacific where it'll reveal all the ways it's improving Battlefield 1.

The visual upgrade on Xbox One X means that 4K will finally be implemented in all versions of Battlefield 1. It launched with native 4K support on PC, and with upscaled 4K support on PS4 Pro. If Battlefield 1 follows in the footsteps of other games that got 4K upgrades on Xbox One, it'll likely be a native 4K at 30 frames per second and an upscaled 4K at 60 frames per second. But, we'll probably know for sure after the livestream to??morrow.

@Battlefield [Twitter]

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'Never be the same'

A group of Battlefield 1 fans have been hard at work solving a mysterious puzzle? within EA's WWI shooter. Having finally put some of the pieces together, it appears that there is a big reveal on the horizon for the franchise.

The first step required the players to open a locked door on the game's Fort Vaux m??ap. Once the gained access to the room, marked "Isolement" by activating a specific sequence of hidden buttons, spelling out the aforementioned word. Players can then enter a chamber featuring numerous clues, such as a creepy painting of a horse and some dripping pipes.

Upon further investigation, it has been discovered that the pipes drip in Morse Code, the deciphered code being a website address: "Neverbethesame" with the site itself simply stating "May 23 2018". What a cool and clever little bit of promotion. There are other elements of the Isolement room that are being worked on by the mystery solvers on the Battlefield Easter Egg Discord.

Obviously it looks like EA have big plans for the pop??ular franchise going ahead. Clearly we will find out more on the fabled date, with more information likely to follow at E3, which takes?? place in Los Angeles next month.

Battlefield? 1 players uncover teaser message within Fort ?Vaux map [Resetera]

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Now we're talking

With development on Battlefield 1's updates slowing down, the time has come for free stuff. DICE is giving away the first expansion, They Shall Not Pass, for two weeks. The offer is currently up for Origin and Xbox One players, but at the time of writing, it's not ready for PlayStation 4 users in North America.

They Shall Not Pass is the one with the French army, Frontline?s mode, the Battle of Verdun, the Trench Raider class, and the mighty Char 2C tank, among other content additions. Pretty sweet deal.

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Shock Operations and Premium maps for all

In a new post on their official blog, Battlefield developer DICE have announced that will be bringing an end to the monthly updates that have been rolling out for Battlefield 1 since the game fir??st launched, way back in October 2016.

Although the final update for the WWI shooter will arrive in June, DICE have still assured fans that the fun's not over just yet. Maps from the game's They Shall Not Pass expansion are slowly being rolled out to all players, beginning with "Rupture,"?? which is free to all players now.

June will also see new mode Shock Operations. This 40-player battle will fo??llow the standard Operations procedure, but limited to one map, ?ideal for those players who just want to jump in for a quick bout on en masse warfare. This mode will be playable on maps "Giant's Shadow," "Lupkow Pass," "Zeebrugge," "River Somme," and "Prise de Tahure." Players can play Shock Operations on these maps regardless as to whether they are Premium Pass members or not.

So, it seems like there's still plenty of life in the old dog yet. Battlefield 1 continues to receive fun new content, at least for the foreseeable future, while? DICE no doubt continues development on the next ent?ry is this long-running series.

Battle??field 1 monthly updates ending, Shock Operations announ??ced [Official blog]

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There's a sale, too

The two-week head start on Apocalypse begins today for Battlefield 1 Premium Pass holders.

Th??is final expansion includes new maps (Passchendaele, Caporetto, and River Somme), the Air Assault game mode (along with the maps Razor's Edge and London Calling), weapons like the meat cleaver and? RSC SMG, gadgets like the AA Rocket Gun, and aircraft like the Hansa Brandenburg GI.

After spending time away from Battlefield 1, I sometimes forget how absurdly good the game looks. Wow. The second half of this trailer makes me regret never picking up the Premium Pass. Speaking of, it's on sale right now. Depending on your platform of choice, the pass is currently up to 75 percent off and the all-expansions-included Battlefield 1 Revolution is up to 67 percent off.

20 bucks for all of Battlefield 1 is a deal worth considering.

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Details on February's DLC

Battlefield 1 is all set to close out its Premium Pass in February with the DLC Apocalypse.

Today, DICE detailed this fourth and final expansion. It's made up of five maps -- two of which are playable exclusively in the new Air Assault game mode -- plus melee weapons like the meat cleaver, six new guns including the Chauchat-Ribeyrolles SMG, an AA Rocket Gun f??or Assault players (among other gadgets), and the Hansa Brand?enburg GI and Airco DH10 aircraft.

You can get an early glimpse of some of this stuff in the gallery below. Apocalypse will introduce new ranks, Service Assignments, Specializations, and Dog Tags. Also, the toxic Livens Projector.

If you missed it, the map Prise de Tahure went free this week and DICE is running a trial for Battlefield 1 that lets non-Premium players access content from the most recent expansion Turning Tides as well as They Shall Not Pass and In the Name of the Tsar. That's running until January 22.

I'm starting ??to regret not springing for the all-in "Revolution" ??edition while it was on sale.

Prepare For Battlefield 1 Apocalypse [Battlefield]

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Prise de Tahure

DICE is slicing off a piece of Battlefield 1's They Shall Not Pass DLC and?? setting it free. Beginni?ng January 16, everyone will be able to play the once-premium nighttime map Prise de Tahure.

There's also a separate "Gallipoli Trial" running from Tuesday, January 16 to Monday, January 22 that provides Battlefield 1 players with access to a portion of the Turning Tides expansion and other DLC maps including those found in They Shall Not Pass and In the Name of the Tsar.

Basically, it's a way to get people reinvested in time for this month's new Turning Tides content: the Heligoland Bight and Zeebrugge m?aps, ??the British Empire Royal Marines, and the C-Class Airship.

I've been wanting to get back into Battlefield 1? to check out some of these maps but that's going to mean redownloading the not-exactly-small game which, in turn, will mean clearing out space on my PS4 and also making sure I don't slip past my data cap for the month. That's modern gaming for ya.

The Road Ahead For Battlefield 1 [Battlefield]

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Campaign trail

Late last year, Battlefield 1 gained a spin on its exciting "Operations" mode that was called "Operation Camp?aigns." This mode strung together a bunch of various objective based maps to make a pseud?o-campaign out of the multiplayer mode. It featured two variations; one that played on base maps and one that required DLC. It then vanished in early December with little word.

Operation Campaigns have now made a glorious return to BF1 and DICE has ev?en upped the ante; you no longer need to own the DLC to participate. Operation Campaigns are free for everyone and to commemorate the event (or perhaps because of this), a brand new campaign has been added to the game.

"Fire & Ice" is the latest addition to this mode and it features a cross between maps from two expansion packs. You'll be battling on "Devil's Anvil" from They Shall Not Pass and "Brusilov Offensive" from In The Name of the Tsar. This cross between the two is the reason that DICE decided to open up the game mode, since requiring both exp??ansions would split the player base.

"This has proven to be quite a technical challenge as we have many different ‘licenses’ you can have," reads a forum post by DICE, "depending on whether you are a Premium Pass owner, or o??wn indivi?dual standalone expansions. This challenge presented two options: continue to configure Operation Campaigns to be exclusively for Premium Pass owners, as with 'Eastern Storm', or to not require Premium Pass at all, as with 'Fall of Empires'...Our goal here is to ensure the best chance at the most populated servers we can. We feel opening up the content to all players is the best way to do this."

If you do happen to ow?n the Premium Pass, you will get some exclusive tools on each map, but at least you won't be struggling to find players to fill matches. DICE has also lowered the win criteria, so matches should move a bit faster and demand less of your time.

The Return of Operation Campaigns [Battlefield Forums]

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The game of the year edition, essentially

EA and DICE aren't waiting until they're finished with Battlefield 1's four expansion packs to come out with a "game of the year"-style bundle package. It goes by the name of Battlefield 1: Revolution, and i?t's available today for $60 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Here's what you'll get:

• Battlefield 1
• Battlefield 1 Premium Pass
• They Shall Not Pass Expansion (out now)
• In the Name of the Tsar Expansion (early September)
• Turning Tides Expansion (December)
• Apocalypse Expansion (Early 2018)
• Two-week early access to any unreleased expansion
• 14 Battlefield 1 Superior Battlepacks
• 14 unique dog tags
• Priority position in server queues
• Battlefield 1 Heroes of the Great War Bundle

DICE also has a couple other announcements for gamescom this w?eek.

The studio is gearing up for "real competitive support in Battlefield" with a closed alpha for Incursions, an upcoming five-on-five mode in which "your choice of kit and by extension the team composition is critical to success." It'll also have a "lobby-based matchmaker, a draft phase, and per-game progression," according to DICE. Alpha registrations are currently open for PC players.

More immediately, the snow-capped map Lupkow Pass from In the Name of the Tsar has gone live for pass holders and Revolution owners. Five more maps f????rom the pack will launch in September.

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Perk system now testing in CTE

The Specialization system is set to return in EA's Battlefield 1, allowing combatants to acquire skill-??boosting perks when out on the front line, engaging in digital warfare.

Specializations, for those less-inclined, are effects and abilities that can be applied to your killbot, adding new skills or providing passive boos??ts, such as faster movement, less weapon recoil, or shorter cooldowns.

As announced on the DICE subreddit, the Specializations will be broken down into two categories: Generic and Kit. Every player will start out with Flak, Cover and Quick Regen? by default, with further Specializations being unlocked u??pon completing various "Service Assignments" a progression system that will be expanded upon at a later date.

The Specialization system is currently being tested via the PC version of the community test environment (CTE) They are expected to debut alongside the In the Name of the Tzar expansion next month.

Here is a l??ist of the currently revealed p??erks, with many more planned for future updates:

Generic:

• Flak: Incoming damage from explosions is reduced by 15%
• Cover: Incoming suppression is reduced by 25%
• Quick Regen: Decrease time before Out of Combat Heal by 20%
• Quick Unspot: Decrease length of time you are Spotted by 2 seconds
• Bayonet Training: Bayonet charge lasts 1 second longer and recovers 1 second quicker
• Hasty Retreat: Increase your maximum sprint speed by 10% whilst you are Suppressed
• Camouflage: When moving slowly or stationary you are invisible to Spot Flares

Assault:

• Juggernaut: Your Gas Mask also reduces explosive damage by 15% (does stack)
• Controlled Demolition: TNT is now detonated sequentially

Medic:

• Stimulant Syringe: Reviving an ally give you both a 20% sprint speed for 8 seconds (Does not stack)
• Concealed Rescue: Downed Squad Mates within 20m drop smoke to cover their revival (40s cooldown)

Support:

• Unbreakable: Incoming suppression is reduced by 75% when your Bipod is deployed
• Pin Down: The Duration an enemy remains spotted is extended via Suppression

Scout:

• Scapegoat: A decoy is automatically deployed when struck below 35 health by a distant enemy (30s cooldown)
• Perimeter Alarm: When your Trip Mine is triggered enemies within 15m are marked on the mini-map

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But only for pass holders

Do you ever mess with the Public Test Realm in Blizzard games like Overwatch or WoW or drop by DICE's Community Test Environment for a sneak peek at upcoming work-in-progress Battlefield content? It's a fairly comm??on practice for PC developers, but on consoles? Not so muc?h.

As of this week, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 users can participate too. DICE has brought the Community Test Environment to Battlefield 1 on consoles, and so long as you own the game and its Premium Pass, you'll be?? able to download it in-game by clicking "More" on the main menu. You might need to clear up some storage, though. The CTE is its own, not-exactly-sm?all thing. (I'm hearing 40GB.)

DICE says it'll use this space for "testing and ensuring stability of Battlefield 1 updates, maps, and other conten??t." It's a niche addition, to b??e sure, but I'm sure some folks will dig this.

Battle??field 1 Community Test Environment Coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One [Battlefield]

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Just in time for the new map Prise de Tahure

The latest piece of the Battlefield 1 season pass is? out today alongside a free update.

You can catch the full patch notes below, including an overview of the new nighttime map Prise de Tahure, but the crucial bit here is the introduction of Premium Trials. With this system, DICE is? letting non-pass holders play the DLC maps without having to pay up -- for a limited time, anyway. The Trials are planned as free-play "events," and the current one runs now through Thursday, July 27.

The main caveat is that XP earned during a Premium Trial won't be applied, but it will be stored behind-the-scenes and regi??stered should you ever nab the applicable expansion ??pack or the full season pass.

"Before Gamescom, there will be another Premium Trials event after this first?? one," says? DICE. "In September, another Premium Trials event will be held, meaning all players will have the opportunity to play on previously released expansion pack maps."

It's disheartening to see communities divided by DLC maps. The Battlefield 1 situation is far from ideal, but b??etween this and the Premium Friends feature (squad up with a pal who?? paid), it's gotten better.

Prise de Tahure

Prise de Tahure Prise de Tahure is our second night map and the final map for Battlefield 1 They Shall Not Pass. French raiders and German stormtroopers clash in an urban trench setting as the nights grow colder in the Champagne-Ardennes region. The frontline trench networks cut right through several villages facing obliteration from the constant skirmishing between German and French troops. This content will be available for Battlefield 1 Premium Pass owners and owners of the They Shall Not Pass expansio??n pack. Non-Battlefield 1 Premium Pass owners will be able to access the content via Premium Friends or Premium Trials.

PREMIUM TRIALS

With this update, we’ve introduced Premium Trials. Premium T??rials  are timed events that allow non-Battlefield 1 Premium Pass owners to experience the maps of our fully released expansion packs before they buy. Sounds similar to Premium Friends, right? It’s the same feature,  but without the need to party up with a Premium Pass owner. Earning XP, spawning in vehicles released in the expansion, and progression/unlocks will be restricted to Premium Pass owners. 

MAPS & MODES

• Soissons: Adjusted Flag D capture area in Frontlines to improve map balance.
• Nivelle Nights: Fixed a bug where the Out of Bounds grayscale screen-effect would sometimes fail to enable.
• Nivelle Nights: Fixed an issue where field kits in sector five in a Rush game could be used before the sector was active.
• Fort de Vaux: Players should no longer be able to get on top of the fort around the courtyard area.

OTHER FIXES

• Updated the Map Voting system to exclude the previous map (as well as the current map) from the random selection pool to prevent the possible A-B-A-B map play pattern.
• Game will now cancel matchmaking whenever backing out of the Operations globe screen. This to prevent a lingering blur state of the globe.
• Synchronized damage taken effect to the actual shooter networked state. Previously it lead to out of sync effects where the shooter was not yet visible.
• Fixed a rare client crash that could occur when a player joined late and a player just dropped/picked up a weapon.
• Fixed a disconnect issue that could occur when loading a map.

PREMIUM

• Premium Friends - Non-Premium players' score will now show 0 throughout the match on all Scoreboards and End-of-Round screens.

RSP

• Added new setting to allow for limited number of specific kits.
• Added setting for round time limit multiplier.
• Added setting for Unlimited Magazines.
• Countdown stops if players drop: Lowered the required player count for countdown to start game round to the minimum number of players required to finish a game if preround is enabled. The player count is unchanged if preround is disabled.
• Implemented a latency soft lock option where players with a ping higher than 100ms higher get kicked automatically.

UI

• Fixed issue where the "Player-Created Content" option was grayed-out, unusable, and set to "Hide" after booting the title without a network connection.
• Fixed the wrong transport driver chase camera caption in the controls UI.
• The networking issues icons will not show up in Spectator Mode anymore.

Battlefield 1 Prise de Tahure Update Notes [Battlefield]

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Ready your cape

In the coming months, EA Access and Origin Access subscribers will be able to play two of the publisher's high-profile (and generally well-liked) 2016 games -- Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 --? as part of the $5-per-month service. They're coming "soo?n," according to EA. I wasn't expecting them yet.

Today's announcement di??dn't pinpoint an exact date, but by September 2017, subscribers will be able to play those full titles and trials for the upcoming sports lineup.

Pretty dang good gets for Access members, especially Titanfall 2, what with its free DLC.

Battlefield 1, Titanfall 2, the FIFA 18 Play First Trial and ??more ar??e coming to EA Access [EA]

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'In the Name of the Tsar'

Battlefield 1's "In the Name of the Tsar" DLC takes the Great War shooter to the "the blistering winter in the east" where it'll introduce six new maps,  "new vehicles and weapons," and the Russian army, including the "the iconic Women's Battalion of Death." If you're frothing for the historical precedent, you can find that explanation here. The "most extensive" DLC ye??t is coming in September??.

EA also showed screenshots of two gorgeous n??ighttime maps that are coming as well. 

There's al?so mention of a new competitive mode that is "smaller, tighter... [and] foc??????????????????????????used on teamplay," in response to fan feedback. However, info on that is being held until gamescom in August.

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Tsar-t your engines

You're going to have to wait until EA's pre-E3 event for the full details on DICE's latest Battlefield 1 update, but we do have a piece of art for the upcoming Russian DLC, In The Name of the Tsar.

It is somewhat notable for featuring a woman, a first for the Battlefield series. And, like the Harlem Hellfighters, t?he addition is grounded in history.?? In 1917 the Russian Provisional Government formed The 1st Russian Women's Battalion of Death to support the war effort and attempt to boost morale. An estimated couple thousand joined the all-women battalion, which was led by Maria Bochkareva, who'd been serving in the Russian army for the previous three years. The Women's Battalion of Death will reportedly represent the Scout class.

In the Name of the Tsar brings with it four n?ew maps along with Russian vehicles, soldiers, and weapons. We'll probab?ly end up playing it -- or at least getting new info on it -- at E3 next month.

How many of y'all still playing Battlefield 1?

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May's update will bring quality-of-life revisions

Every few days I'll run across some wild gif from Battlefield 1 and think, "Hey, I should get back into that at some point." It hasn't happened, in par??t because I don't own the expansion pass, but it might soon.

In a blog post, DICE laid out its plans for the ga?me's immediate future. Most notably, we can expect to see more frequent updates as the studio shifts from seasonal patches to a monthly schedule. With the incoming Spring Update, for instance, Platoons (clans) will be introduced.

There's also a short tease for the May Update, which is planned to focus on quality-of-life changes in Battlefield 1. "This includes streamlining the flow into matches (especially Operations) and ?? improving many gameplay grievances that will ho?pefully make the action feel more balanced and fair."

And, yes, there are expansions to sell. Next up is In the Name of the Tsar,? "where you will fight alongside the Russian army and witness the brutality of combat and the bitter col??d of the Russian winters."

The Road Ahead for Battlefield 1 [Battlefield]

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No XP, though

DICE is looking to lessen the "friction" between Battlefield 1 players who do and don't own the game's $50 Premium Pass. As is, these groups are split off when it comes to DLC, bu?t with the studio's new "Premium Friends" system, they'll all be able to play together on every map (with caveats, of course).

In short, if someone in your par??ty owns the Premium Pass, your group will become "Premium Enabled," granting access to all maps even if you don't own them. That's a decent step up. However!

"While all players will be able to play on maps accessible through Battlefield 1 Premium Pass through Premium Friends, some experiences are exclusive to Battlefield 1 Premium Pass owners.

• In a 'Premium Enabled' party, only owners of a Battlefield 1 Premium Pass or the specific expansion pack will earn XP from the maps exclusive to that expansion. We will save the XP for everyone else and grant them retroactively if they decide to get the Battlefield 1 Premium Pass for themselves.

• Only owners of a Battlefield 1 Premium Pass or the specific expansion pack will be able to spawn in with weapons and vehicles unique for the expansion.

• Only owners of a Battlefield 1 Premium Pass or the specific expansion pack will track progress towards the unique medals and codexes for the expansion."

Clearly, this approach doesn't stack up to just giving out maps for free. It's progress, though.

The feature is rolling out with a "test run" on March 30, right in time for ?Battlefest. According to producer Andreas Skoglund, feedback will be noted. "It's our goal to work towards molding this feature into something that embodies our commitment to you, our amazing comm??unity."

Introducing Premium Friends: A Word? from Producer Andreas Skoglund [Battlefield]

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Less than 9,000 minutes

Are you an owner of an Xbox One who couldn't get a Switch today? Maybe you did, but weren't able to buy Breath of the Wild...although you could just grab it digitally. There is also the third option of you being an Xbox One owner and only wanting that console. Well, if you fall into any of these categories and have an active Xbox Live Gold subscription, you can now play Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 or Battlefield 1 for the entire weekend.

You'll have until the end of Sunday, March 5 to play as much of either (or both) games as you'd like. This includes access to the multiplayer and campaign portions of each title, which could conceivably eat your entire weekend. I??'m not sure you'll be able to raise your power level?? to over 9,000 in only three days, but you can try!

Explore Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 for Free This Weekend With Xbox Live Gold [Xbox Wire]
Play Battlefield 1 Free This Weekend Only With Xbox Live Gold [Xbox Wire]

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Season pass holders have two weeks of early access

It won't be much longer now before we can stop looking at Battlefield 1's first expansion and start playing it. They Shall Not Pass debuts this month, adding the French army, four maps, a tug-of-?war control point mode called Frontlines, some nasty n??ew vehicles, and the Trench Raider Elite Class.

They Shall Not Pass is out first on March 14 for folks who ponied up for the Battlefield 1 Premium Pass, which grants early access to th??e expansion. It'll then be available for separa?te purchase two weeks later.

I'm still weighing whether I want to commit to the whole season pass now or just test the waters with this first expa??nsion, but I'm fond of the map designs here. Between the horrific scorched-earth look and the flower-filled fields, they're hitting both ends of the spectrum, visually speaking.

This is an especially neat shot. The coloring resembles the flag of Fran??ce.

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I missed ribbons

Aside from They Shall Not Pass, an upcoming Battlefield 1 ex?pansion, DICE has also been toiling away on the game's Winter Update. I don't like seeing the "W" word? this time of year -- no more snow, please! -- but I do like the sound of higher rank caps for the various classes and the return of ribbons.

Under the new update, out today, you'll have more incentive to keep playing the same old stuff. You can take your class ranks from the current cap of 10 all the way up to 50, and every 10 rankings will net you a Battlepack. Additionally, ribbons will award bonus XP and "promote good teamplay and playing the objective," something tha??t is always worth reinforcing, and there's a 25,000 XP reward for getting 500 kills with any (or all!) of the eight primary weapons.

DICE is also adding map vo??ting for rent-a-server players and the ability for admins to kick or ban players on their server?? right through the in-game UI.

Miscellaneous fixes and tweaks abound in the full patch notes, including my personal favorite line, "Improved cavalry victim experie??nce," which is an amusing way of saying that you shouldn't be killed by saber-wielding cavalry from "multiple meters away." I usual?ly just run and hide!

Battlefield 1 Winter Update [Battlefield]

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They Shall Not Pass

We're more than a month out from the first Battlefield 1 expansion, but DICE has begun showing the new maps, mode, and weaponry of They Shall Not Pass. As I said the last time I touched on this stuff, by the time the pack is out in March, I'm liable to cave and get the who??le season pass. I can't be helped.

First off, They Shall Not Pass is adding the French army, which, yeah, that's only now happening post-release. There are four maps -- ?Verdun Heights, Fort Vaux, Soissons, and Rupture -- and another Elite Class, the club-swinging, grenade-tossing Trench Raider. The new mode, Frontlines, sounds particularly appealing. It's a tug-of-war battle over control points that ends in a Rush-st??yle battle.

Capping ?off the expansion are the Char 2C tank, the Saint-Chamond tank, and the Siege Howitzer. All told, this is about what I'd expect to see. You?? in? Or are you preoccupied with other games now?

Battlefield 1 - They Shall Not Pass [Battlefield]

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Both with and without the game

Battlefield 1 is, without a doubt, one of the best games of the 2016. The campaign that's structured as five television episode-size vignettes works surprisingly well. The style of it all goes a long way toward effectively portraying the atrocities of The Great War. And, as can be expected of any Battlefield tit?le, the multiplayer is quite solid. There's a reason that this game is finding itself on? a lot of lists this time of year.

We've got the drop on one of the best Battlefield 1 deals to date -- especially for those of you who are looking for the collector's edition. We've teamed up with Amazon for a special offer ??that's unique to Destructoid readers. 

Here are the details: The PS4 or Xbox One version of Battlefield 1 with the collector's edition is discounted to $59.99 by using the promo code "DTOID" at checkout. This packa??ge usually retails for right around $200. The collector's edition comes with a 14-inch statue, a cloth poster, a steelbook case, a deck of playing cards, a pigeon messenger tube with access to DLC, and a pa??tch.

For those who want the goodies without the game, we have that too. The collector's edition without Battlefield 1 is d??own to $29.99 with the promo code "DTOID1" at checkout. This normally sells for $130??????????????????????????.

(In the event that the code doesn't work, it's probably because it's not sold directly by Amazon. If that happens, go to these pages -- PS4, Xbox One, Collector's Edition stand-alone -- and navigate to the listing where Amazon is the seller. Then the code should apply. Make sure to select a new instead of a used product.)

There are a few miscellaneous details worth paying attention to. Amazon has passed along the note that "customers can benefit from this promotion only once" meaning that it's seemingly limited to one per person. Also, the offer runs for 24 hours -- from midnight Pacific on December 20 through midnight Pacific on December 21. Here's the node that has all the deals and information.

More broadly, this is the first we know of Amazon offering unique promotional codes to an outlet's audience. Maybe this is a sign of things to come or maybe it's a one-off. Whichever it is, the robot's a guinea pig today and Battlefield 1's the wood shavings that the gu??inea pig plays in.

Battlefield 1 Exclusive Collector's Edition [Amazon]

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The French army will finally be playable

They Shall Not Pass, the first expansion pack for Battlefield 1, will drop in March 2017.

This is the one with the playable French army (an unfortunate omission from the base game), as we??ll as more maps and weapons, as you'd expect. DICE isn't showing the maps as they'll appear in-game yet, but the studio does have some "concept exploration" images that can clue us in to what's ahead.

"Around 1 million shells were fired in the opening barrage of the Battle of Verdun. This created massive forest fires around the fortified city and the battlefields surrounding it. Soldiers tell stories of being able to see these fires from far away. We really wanted to capture this initial fighting in a battle that came to be known as the Devil's?? Anvil."

"The initial fighting around Verdun quickly?? transformed villages like Samogneux and entire forests into shadows of their former self. Verdun turned into the longest battle of the war lasting 9 months which completely transformed it. We wanted our players to be part of these initial intense ??attacks in the cold February of 1916."

"The stories of the heroic garrison inside of Fort Vaux inspired us deeply, they fought a tough battle for every inch in the dark in these underground corridors. Down here in the maze o??f dark galleries the French and Germans fought ferociously with gr?enades, flamethrowers, and poison gasses."

"Some 40 million artillery shells were fired over the course of the battle at Verdun, pulverizing the ground, turning the earth into a shattered lunar landscape. And underneath some of these trenches, tunnels and underground fortresses provide for new experiences yet unexplored in Battlefield 1."

"In contrast to Verdun the Battle of Soissons in late 1918 inspired us to create a new set of maps that?? captures the massive French tank assaults. The fighting revolves around key bridges over the Aisne River and something big lurks around the village of Fismes."

Admittedly, close-quarters combat in underground corridors isn't my ideal Battlefield exp?erience, but everything else here sounds good to me. And as much as I really do not want to buy the expansion pass, I know I'm going to want more maps eventually. Come March 2017, I'll probably be a goner.

In the much more immediate future, the Giant's Shadow map is coming as a freebie tomorrow, Decemb??er 20 for all players. Folks who pre-ordered or ??own the pass have had it since last week.

They Shall Not Pass??: A Glimpse of the First Battlefield 1 ?Expansion [Battlefield]

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Shame I don't usually play Support

You don't need that pesky Premium Pass to claim Giant's Shadow in Battlefield 1. The new multiplayer map, ever so briefly teased in this v?ideo, will be available to all as a free download on December 20, 2016. (And a week ahead, on December 13, for players who pre-ordered or own the Pa??ss. Naturally.)

The map represents the Battle of the Selle, and I am already dreading its armored train. That said, there's a new toy th?at'll help shut the vile machine down: a grenade crossbow.

Support class players will be able to wield this "unique contraption" to "silently fire two g?renades of either the Fragmentation or High Explosive variety." I prefer the Medic role, but I'll need to give that a go.

Giant's Shadow [Battlefield]

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Mum's the word

Even though Sony stated that multiplayer modes wouldn't get an advantage from the PS4 Pro's enhancement patches, that memo must have slipped by EA and DICE, as that's just what Battlefield 1 did.

According to Digital Foundry, Pro players were offered a "tangible" performance advantage, with a smoother framerate during some of the more typically sluggish portions of multiplayer where the engine chugged. The team noted that the Pro edition can get up to a "10-15FPS" adva?ntage at times, which is fairly game-changing in competitive terms.

Yet, as of yesterday, many users have been reporting that a recent patch snuffed that out. The consensus is that the Pro features were switched off, and no one is currently talking about it in an official capacity. The ever looming threat of the NDA has even caused DICE engineer Juian Manolov to keep quiet about what's actually happening.

If this is what this generation is going to become -- a behind the scenes arms race with slightly upgraded hardware fractured from old hardware, it's going to be a really weird year or so until the Scorpio arrives, when it might get even weirder.

PS4 Pro gives Battlefield ??1 gamers a multiplayer a?dvantage [Eurogamer]

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Improvements to Operations, squad leaders, the UI, and more

DICE is rolling out a meaty fall update for Battlefield 1 across all platforms, and I've definitely got some late nights ahead of me trying to squeeze in more time with this game. Some of the changes (find the full pdf here) are expected b??ut still very much appreciated. Here's what stands out to me:

• Going forward we are addressing the balance issues with the Operations game mode. It’s clear that attackers need a boost. To increase the effectiveness of the attacking team, we are increasing the overall tickets for both Operations & Grand Operations. In addition, we are also making it somewhat easier to capture sectors as an attacker by reducing the amount of time it takes to capture a flags in Operations & Grand Operations. We’ve also increased the minimum tickets regained in grand operations to from 30 to 50, as well as increased the amount of tickets regained from killing retreating defenders. This will give more of a fighting chance to capture the next sector after previously capturing a sector while having very few tickets left.

• We’ve listened to your feedback in regards to the Suez Conquest layout in regards to balance. We will be adding two more flags to the layout, this should result in one team not being able to capture and lock down all flags as easy as before. In addition, we also noticed that it was very difficult to re-capture flags within the capture areas located in the village areas. To solve this we’ve reduced the capture size of these areas to include less buildings. The result of this should make the flags somewhat easier to capture and make sure that a team that has lost and been pushed out of the villages can easier re-capture them and get back into the fight. In addition, to help a team that has been pushed back all the way to their HQ, we’ve added an armored car that players can use to break out of the HQ and flank the opposing team.

• You can customize your soldier from within the UI by selecting either the icon on Home or on Soldier

• If the squad leader ignores requests for orders the leadership is transferred to another member of the squad.
• When a squad member requests an order (and there is no active squad order), the requesting player is added to the want-to-be-leader queue for that squad and a 60 seconds timer starts (the timer is not reset if there are other squad members waiting in the queue already).
• When the 60 seconds pass, the first member in the squad queue (the one who requested order earliest) is promoted as a squad leader. If there are other members in the queue after him, the timer is automatically reset to 60 seconds and if the new leader doesn't give orders over that period either, then the next waiting in line is promoted and so on.
• If the current squad leader issues an order, then the queue for the squad is cleared.

• You can purchase Battlepacks in the Get Battlepacks menu

• You can rent a server via the RSP tab

• The Quit button is now available at any given time when in the End of Round

• Added minimum resolution scale when dynamically scaling

??All of this is in addition to a laundry list of technical fixes (some of which pertain to the single-player campaign) as well as balance tweaks for map layouts and spawns, weapons, gadgets, and vehicles.

I've enjoyed just about every Battlefield in some capacity, but these games don't always stay with me long-term. It's too early to tell if Battlefield 1 will be one of the few th?at does, but the odds are looking good. For now, it'll just be nice not to dread Suez every time that comes up in the rotation.

Battlefield 1 Fall Update Notes [Battlefield]

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