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DICE defends Battlefield 3 beta from critics

The beta build released as part of Battlefield 3's open testing should not be taken as indicative of the finished game, DICE has said.

Writing on DICE's Battlefield Blog, Karl Magnus Troedsson took the opportunity to defend the beta from recent criticism of its unpolished state.

"The Battlefield 3 Open Beta is based on software that is more than one month old," he wrote.

"Just like normal procedure when releasing a game, the Open Beta has had long lead times due to testing, certification, and setting up. This means that the code you are now playing is actually quite early and not representative of the final game."

Troedsson said DICE needs the beta to test its dedicated server structure - not the game code itself - and as such, could an older build of the game.

Despite the criticisms, the beta is proving hugely popular. According to post, the Battlefield 3 beta has drawn six times as many simultaneous players as Bad Company 2 managed during its own open testing phase in 2009. The popularity of Bad Company 2 no doubt contributed to pre-release interest in the game, but DICE must be pretty chuffed anyway.

Battlefield 3 releases later this month on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Thanks, Joystiq.

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Battlefield 3

PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo 3DS

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Brenna Hillier avatar

Brenna Hillier

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Based in Australia and having come from a lengthy career in the Aussie games media, Brenna worked as VG247's remote Deputy Editor for several years, covering news and events from the other side of the planet to the rest of the team. After leaving VG247, Brenna retired from games media and crossed over to development, working as a writer on several video games.

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