After an hour of playing, we took the time to ask Patrick and Gustav about as many things as possible. We summarize it both with a text and some short findings based on the questions we asked. All images from the day can be found on our picture-page.

Patrick started by confirming that all three versions of ’43 (Xbox360, PS3 and PC) will be released this summer. Of course we tried to get as much information regarding the PC-version, but the development of that version is still a bit secret, which resulted in many broad and unspecific answers. Both Patrick and Gustav ensured that the PC-version will not be a bad console-port, but a real and solid PC-version.

Support for clanplaying on console will exist through a function that is called “provate matches”, where a single player can invite friends to the server that he or she is playing on. These invited players can in turn invite their friends and so on, until the server is filled with both clans. Patrick confirmed that you can control the server ingame by using smart commands to f.ex. restart a round. How the support for the PC-version will be is yet to be seen.

The squad-system reminds us of the one that was in both BF2 and BF2142. One big difference is that you can choose to spawn on anybody in the squad. This can be very useful if the squad-leader is camping as a sniper or flying around in the clouds. The normal spawn-system works like all BF-games, you select a flag and spawn on it.

On the console, the servers will be hosted by EA/DICE, since Sony and Microsoft have strict rules regarding how online-gaming works on the PS3 and Xbox360, respectively. How this will be done on the PC-version is to be seen, but Patrick was leaning towards another solution. Interesting to know is the fact that there is a maximum amount of time that a person can be idle at the beginning of a round, before they get kicked. If the player has not joined the game before the timer reaches 0, he or she is booted from the server. This is, of course, to keep idle players from hogging server-slots.

Graphically the PC-version of 1943 will not be left behind. Lezziter asked if DirectX10 and PhysX will be supported, which Patrick couldn’t give us a direct answer on. He promised us it would be a “cutting edge” graphics engine.

KiWi thought that BFH and BF1943 had similar concepts and were quite similar in some areas, which lead him to ask why these two games will be released in the same period of time. Some quick responses from both Patrick and Gustav explained that originally ’43 was just an experiment with the Frostbite-engine for PC. They also point out that BF1943 will not be free (as opposed to BF:H) and will be distributed through the normal channels. Many have been requesting a new Battlefield 1942 and perhaps ’43 can be what they’ve been waiting for.

The sound-recording session that DICE had with the Swedish military was partly related to BF1943, but DICE do have these sessions regularly to expand their audio-library.

• Punkbuster or similar anti-cheat software will be released for the PC-version. What and how it will work is yet to be seen.
• The patches for BF2 and BF2142 are making progress. We can expect more information and a beta during April.
• The financial crisis has not affected DICE much. They have noticed somewhat of a drop in sales, but no employees have been fired due to the crisis. Mirror's edge sold less than expected.
• There are no plans of releasing a mod or map editing-tool for BF1943.
• At the most, 15 people have been involved in the production of BF1943. In the beginning, there was only Patrick, Gustav and one more guy.
• The units in BF1943 do not look like those in Battlefield Heroes, that misconception might have come from the first cartoonish trailer that was released.
• The maximum amount of players for the PC-version is yet to be decided. There is nothing that says it has to be 24.