Battlefield 3’s Patrick Bach: “biggest benefit for the console has been that we’re leading on PC”

EA/DICE executive producer Patrick Bach sat down and had a big chat with us about imminent uber military shooter Battlefield 3. Obviously, it’s one of those cross-platform war shooters people seem so fond of these days, but did the limitations of the console hamper its development as a PC game?

[Vladplaya]

That guy if soooo full of shit. PC is not leading platform at all, other then slightly better graphics, everything else is just been ported from console design.

[byeGollum]

you guys can never be satisfied can you? :)
there's always something to moan about..

[Fishy Fingers]

Yeah but at least moan about something factual. Dont just make s*** up to complain about Vlad.

[saladthieves]

I can't even facepalm myself or argue with him after reading his statement because it's just not worth it.

[DA_SHREDDER]

I'm totally satisfied, just not with BF3. It's a big "MEH" if you ask me. The game definitely has 99 problems, and the b**** is the game itself. COD Black Ops is better, Killzone makes BF3 look like its almost in standard def. The game play is also meh. There are some things that are nice about the game, like the jets are awesome, cept for the fact you only have machine guns at first, go ahead, try to kill something with the machine guns. lol. Where this game shines doesn't compensate where it fails by any means. So ya, thats my take on it.

Edit: I just got knifed through a solid wall, the soldier literally walked through a solid wall and window that was in perfect shape and slit my throat. Thanks Dice. lol

@KillaGoose, the fact that you say black ops is a bad void makes your comment anything but reliable. Null, void, however you wanna look at it.

[VvKILLAGOOSEvV]

@DA_SHREDDER

The mention of Black Ops being better than ANYTHING makes an opinion null and void. Hell, an STD is a little bit better than Black Ops.

[Ashby_JC]

@ Da_Shredder

Black Ops....

...better then BF3??

Ummm in what ways exactly is it better??

And Killzone?? Small maos and infantry combat...gets OLD really fast...but hey its your opinion...I just highly disagree.

Not saying you need to love or like BF3 but...saying Blops is better...I neeed to know why you feel this way.

Unless your just into small maps, infantry only and quick action...then yes..Blops takes that crown.

[solid warlord]

@VvKILLAGOOSEvV & @jcaashby

After playing BF3 i can say that BlockOps is better cause its COD. People buy COD becasue its fucking addictive.

The whole 60fps, fast paced shooter that reward player like no other multiplayer game. The fucking killstreak rewards, the perks and total custumisation of guns, i mean Gears of war charges u £5 or so on fucking skins while COD doesnt. BF still has the old medic and assault classes ect and a fucking online pass.

I admit i hate on COD just like everyonelse, but like evryonelse we just cant get enough of the bastard that is COD, come release we ALL gonna buy it, lets face it. When u play games like BF3, u appreciate COD even more cause it so much better interms of fun. The fastpased addictive gaming u just cant get enough of it.

COD=The best fun multiplayer, what games should be about.
BF=slower players who do not wanna go into battle every minute and prefer largre scale 20-50min match. But a more relistic shooter but not very real.

COD so accesible, i mean u can hook up and play two matches in 15min of TD before u go to work. The matches are quick, you'll always find people to play with 24/7. Get plenty of hate mails cause u just raped them...when u really think about it, COD is the greates game ever made...well in multiplayer online wise.

[limewax]

Yeah because consoles clearly support the same shader capabilities, the tessellation was included for consoles it couldn't be used on.

I could go on with a list of features it supports that console doesn't. I really don't see what makes you think it's a port? It has a lot of PC exclusive features

[achmetha]

if only it had an in game server browser instead of battlelog.

[achmetha]

to be fair frostbite started on consoles with bad company. just sayin'.

[Agent-86]

@Vladplaya, sorry, but you're an idiot. When a developer states that PC is the leading platform, that means they are developing for the PC first and porting to the consoles. Sometimes, they lead with one of the consoles and then port to the other platforms. They are not stating that the PC is the leading platform sales wise. We all know that consoles are the sales leaders. That is not the point the guy was trying to make. By leading on the PC, he is stating that they were able to make the console versions better.

[caboose32]

Stop complaining.

I hate when people like you just blame EVERYTHING on being console ports and then despise them for it.

Battlefield 3 is NOT a console port first of all, and just because a game is a port does not make it a bad game.

[zero_gamer]

"just because a game is a port does not make it a bad game"

Mass Effect, Oblivion, Fallout, Batman all console ports but console ports actually worth buying on PC (as long as you like the games).

[hiredhelp]

Vladplaya
LOL Have you any idea how silly you looke stating that.

Thanks to DICE' PC Gamers may now be able to use there hardware to the full potential specially pc's that cost some people certain amounts of money. and got fobbed off by games not propally designed on pc instead rushed onto consoles.
Thanks to DICE' other developers might start to look at pc's once again as lead platform.

[zero_gamer]

I really appreciate DICE's efforts in supporting our platform of choice. Hopefully we'll get more PC lead games. Not that console ports are bad in and of themselves (the well-polished ones). Some console ports on PC are even better than the console versions, like Fallout with mod support.

[peowpeow]

My friend received his copy (mine yet to come) and I must say, this game is f***ing well optimized. I love you DICE!

[aksmashh]

definatley a good thing, they should always use the most powerful platform then port it down (with multiplats)

[zero_gamer]

It is not ported from consoles. Skyrim, RAGE and Mass Effect are games designed on the Xbox360 and then get ported to the PC. There are PC specific features on BF3 and the console version is only part of the experience you get on PC.

[death2smoochie]

Vladplay...forget it. You're a waste of skin

[Shackdaddy836]

Note that Vlad only represents the dumb cynical PC gamers. Not even close to the majority of us :P

[Dart89]

Who care's which one was the leading platform just enjoy the damn game jeez.Come on now get back to blowing people up:D.

[MGRogue2017]

It's all possible thanks to their engine, Frostbite 2.0

It's very well optimized & it's able to take full advantage of any platform it's running on, Fantastic engine.

I can't wait to see what the next iteration of their engine tech is going to be like.

Frostbite 4.0 :P

[BX81]

I want to punch BF3 in the face at this point.

[3GenGames]

So does MW3. I don't see that happening, it's train vs llama at this point, get out of the way or be run over.

[BX81]

I only say that because of the servers. Also when I played online yesterday everytime I got on it gave me all that congrats you unlocked the online pass and pistol crap. At first I didn't think much of it but when I went to play the single player again it said it couldn't load my data because it was corrupted. I was on mission eleven now I'm on mission 1. Aghhhh! When I can get into a MP game with my group it's fun as hell though.

[artdafoo]

That guy said Wack Ops was better ! LMFAO ! Thanks bro, I needed a laugh. Seriously though, how long have I worked for Activision ? They got good benefits over there ?

[Shadowaste]

Every game is made on pc, so this argument is lame. PC is the lead platform always!

All games are created first on pc, even uncharted 3 was made entirely on pc. It's not like devs are crouched over ps3's and 360's and cranking out masterpieces, little big planet is the closest you'll get to creating anything with a console, lol, or rpg maker.

The pc version of every Multiplatform game, not just BF3, is a GIANT leap over console in just resolution, anti aliasing and performance. That alone makes the game 2X or better looking. Now add in the fact that most pc games have higher resoilution textures, better lighting, softer shadows, more filters, better depth of field, better blur, dx10, dx11 and now the consoles look soul-crushingly inferior in every aspect.

Then, to smear rock salt into the fresh and gaping wound, pc games are cheaper 90% of the time, and have wonderful mods that even further enhance the graphics, make new areas to game in and extend the life of the title for years to come.

In closing, stop acting like the thing with BF3 is something new,
Rage looks 5x better on pc
Batman AC will look 5x better on pc
MW3 will look 5x better on pc
Skyrim will look 5x better on pc
Dead ISland looks 5x better on pc

ect.ect.ect!

[PhantomT1412]

When you're saying you're lead developing on x platform, you don't mean which hardware you use to build the game because, as you said, that would always be the PC which wouldn't even be relevant to talk about.
When they're saying "lead platform", they mean FOR which platform they develop first, for which specs, for which one they optimize and then port it to other platforms.

[Shackdaddy836]

Made on PC. Not made for. There is an enormous difference.

[PhantomT1412]

I hope more multi-plat devs will follow their path, at least until the next-gen of consoles.

[Themba76]

Whoever said any cod game was better than this needs to drug out and quick scoped. I mean come on this game feels like a complete new experiance while cod is like deja vu for the 5th time in a row. absoluty nothing has changed since 2007 the same weak game mechanics I mean it's so simple a 5 year old can wreck shop in that game and i do mean literally judging by the obscene amount of quick scoping,drop,shooting,camping 10 year old brats out there.sad thing is im not bashing cod because im bad at thew game i can smoke anyone in that game it's just im so sick and tired of playing the exact same trash from 5 years ago

[solid warlord]

@Themba76 COD feels the same cause its fun, BF3 plays exactly the same as BC2. It feels very same.

[Themba76]

theres nothing fun about quick scoping 12 year olds, there is nothing fun about just calling air strikes, there is nothing fun not to be able to drive parked tanks, there is nothing fun about running around in a nascar size donute and pointing and shooting, there is nothing fun about looking at the same graphics from 5 years ago, bottom line is sledghammer games needs to get its head out of its ass and learn how to actually develop for a change and not just mod and reskin the same trash from 5 years ago. also there were no jets in BC2.

[solid warlord]

@Themba76 if u sold 24 million copies as apoosed to 9million why chasnge it lol....After playing BF3 i can honestly say it feels like BC2. So Bf3 no revolution, but MW3 still a better fun game

[Themba76]

so i guess u like talking to immature brats then and playing a 5 year old game more power to ya then. oh and justin bieber sells more albums than anyone else that must make him the best musician around then. also cod is so easy a 5 year old
can play it and i do mean litarlly. look man if running in a circle pointing and shooting makes ya happy then more power too ya. i actually like being the air strike instead oh just pressing a button and having instant jets.