scott91575 said:
I'll let you in on a little secret. When I first played the Alpha, I didn't realize you could Alt Tab out. I did what I usually did, which is exit out of the map (which in this case was a complete exit). Hate to let you know, but when I started a new game it was really fast. Pretty much as fast as BFBC2 from in game. It's not like an in game server browser lets every map load onto RAM (which would require a crap load of RAM). You can launch a game that has recently been played just as fast. It's not like I am cold booting every time.
As for single player, once again you are assuming there will not be an offline mode (either out of browser or from your browser in offline mode). You may be correct. I have still not seen any confirmation. Yet if you simply need an interface to start the game, a browser in offline mode will work just fine.
So it's "real fast" because it has the map you just played pre-loaded into memory when you join another server? This is not new. Many games do this. So, I fail to see how the web browser makes this process better in that way. Besides, what if I want to play a different map? Does it have every map in the game pre-loaded? Seems that'd require a shite load of ram. Something most PC won't have. More likely, it has to load each map every time, just like normal, only it would also have to reload the engine each time. (assuming you haven't alt-tabbed, which is a shaky business) Something a game that's loaded into a menu with an in-game browser doesn't have to do.
On the topic of single-player, how do you expect people to play it offline if the game doesn't have a main menu or even a valid exe from which to launch from? So I think it's fairly safe to say that there's no playing the game offline.
Let's face, this whole thing is a clever way for EA to hide not one but two "Always Online" DRM schemes. Seeing as the player has to have Origin connected to the EA servers AND has to load the game from the Battlelog site. Yet, so many of you are defending this? Really? If this "Always On" style play in BF3 had been applied to any other game, you'd see it for what it is. And, I can almost guarantee you'd be as angry as the rest of us. I'm curious how many of you defending this BF3 crap were raging about Blizzard announcing that Diablo 3 would be "Always On"?
Either way, I'm done arguing this with you people. Even if some of you played the alpha, it being a fun game doesn't change the bullshit EA is doing to it. DICE probably made an amazing game, but EA is ruining it on the front end. So instead of defending it unilaterally, how about helping the rest of us tell off EA and show them how much disdain we have for "Always On" DRM. 'Kay?
Before I go, though, I must say....I eagerly await the day when, shortly after BF3 goes live on Battlelog, it crashes because of too much traffic trying to connect. Thus, preventing a vast majority of the people who bought it from actually playing it. The back-lash against EA will be epicly hilarious.
Or, even better, some hacker pulling a DDoS attack on Battlelog and denying thousands of players the ability to play. Oh the hilarity that will ensue on that day.
[edit] Can we please stop comparing the Battlefield 3 interface with Bad Company 2? Again, anything will look good if you compare it to a pile of shit. Saying Battlelog is "better" or "faster" than Bad Company 2's browser really doesn't add much to your argument.