There's been a wealth of info released recently about the juggernaut Battlefield 3. There's been the teaser trailer, which didn't show much but confirm the modern day setting of Battlefield 3; no, where most of the info comes from is the blog post on Battlefield's blog.

But, let's start off with the cover art.It is clearly influenced by Bad Company 2, as the soldier standing in the middle has that flame erupting from his side, and there are multiple tanks (one M3A3 Bradley and one M1A2 Abrams) and soldiers following the soldier, apparently into battle. What this implies is that it'll have a similar art s.t.y.l.e as Bad Company 2, or at least borrow some elements, such as character models, vehicle models, and whatever advances were made with Frostbite 1.5.

Now, onto the meat of the package: the blog post. DICE has revealed that the PC version of Battlefield 3 will feature "the return of jets, prone, and 64-player multiplayer (on PC)". So, jets on all systems, prone (YESSSH!), and 64-players on PC. Again, with the implications. If jets are going to be universal, then there needs to be enough players on consoles. And 24 doesn't cut it, easily demonstrated by 1943's meager player count and the inclusion of planes. It didn't feel chaotic enough (it was fun though). So, player count is higher. Prone also points towards a bigger environment, and bigger environment leads to more players.

So this more players thing, what's your hard backed evidence? I've got nothing, but this is all implied. When Bad Company 2 was released on PC, it got a meager max player count of 32, half of what PC Battlefield fans usually enjoy. If all of a sudden servers have been upgraded to handle 64 players AND Frostbite 2.0, then consoles will earn the same treatment. Now, I don't expect 64 players yet, but an average max of 40-48 players and a minimum max of 32 players. Which makes more sense for jets and prone.

Not confirmed but previously leaked also includes 36 weapons total, 48 vehicles total, 8 maps total, 5 c.l.a.s.s.e.s total, and an RPG-like customization system, which was further backed by an article published by PC Gamer. The factions were previously thought of as NATO vs. MEC, but has recently changed to USMC against Russians (the Su-27 fighter plane can be seen in the teaser).

Also a single-player campaign WILL be included, featuring a US Marine fighting in battlefields (nice pun, eh?) such as Paris, Tehran, and New York. Previously through leaked documents it was presumed to take place all in a Middle Eastern locale. My two cents, I would've rather preferred the latter.

Either way, we're expecting a lot out of GDC 2011, which begins February 28th to March 4th. In that time, DICE will elaborate further on the changes between Frostbite 1.5 (Bad Company 2) and Frostbite 2.0 (Battlefield 3), as well as Battlefield 3 itself. In the months following that, DICE will steadily release information regarding this beast, because as it stands, they aregoing to buildthe best Battlefield game ever, and we'll do whatever it takes to make this the biggest launch in DICE's history.