EA: Battlefield 3 designed to "take Call of Duty down"

Activision's Call of Duty series has dominated the first-person shooter genre in recent years, with the latest offering--Call of Duty: Black Ops--nearing 14 million in unit sales in the US alone since its November launch. However, megapublisher Electronic Arts is readying a fight against the competition with Battlefield 3, due out this fall.

EA CEO John Riccitiello spoke this week at the Ad Age Digital Conference in New York City, where he told a room of marketing personnel that gamers can expect "a couple hundred million dollars [worth of] marketing against these two products," referring to Battlefield 3 and the new Call of Duty game due out this fall. Further, he noted that Battlefield 3 is "designed to take [Call of Duty] down."

In addition to hyping the shooter war between Activision and EA, Riccitiello confirmed reports that Battlefield 3 will launch this November. Unfortunately, he did not announce a more specific date.

As for this November's Call of Duty entry, that game has not yet been announced by Activision. However, it is expected to be a collaborative effort from Activision studios Infinity Ward, Raven Software, and Sledgehammer Games.

When Battlefield 3 is launched this November, it will become the first core entry in the series since 2005's adored Battlefield 2. Swedish developer DICE released successful offshoots Battlefield: Bad Company and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 during the time between core installments.

Battlefield 3 will sport both a single-player campaign and an online component, which can be played with up to 64 players (for the PC version only). Further, Battlefield 3 will support co-op play for its campaign and will let gamers pilot jets and go prone.

When Battlefield 3 is launched this fall, gamers will be able to pick up a $60 Limited Edition, which includes the Back to Karkand map pack. For the latest on the game, check out the newest Fault Line trailer (embedded below), as well as GameSpot's latest coverage of Battlefield 3.