Am 28. Januar soll die (geschlossene) Beta-Test-Phase der PC-Version von Battlefield Bad Company 2 starten und bis zum 25. Februar andauern, dies gab DICE offiziell bekannt. PC-Spieler dürfen die mit Schnee bedeckte Karte "Port Valdez" (für 32 Spieler) und den Modus "Rush" ausprobieren. Zugang zur Beta erhaltet ihr entweder durch bestimmte Aktionen für Vorbesteller oder sonstige Promotion-Programme bzw. Aktionen, die DICE in den nächsten Wochen bekannt geben wird (wahrscheinlich Beta-Key-Verlosungen, etc.).

Beta Begins/Ends: Jan 28th/Feb 25th
Map Name: Port Valdez
Players: 32
Game Mode: Rush
Environment: Snow
Theme: Vehicle and Infantry

The battle for Port Valdez is fought alongside the waterline towards a great oil industrial landscape in the Alaskan mountains. Using basically everything they've got the Russian forces are launching an airborne assault to knock out the oil industries in the area. In their arsenal there are Main Battle Tanks as well as fast-moving Quad Bikes and mobile armored AA. It's a vehicle focused battle, but with plenty of infantry combat.

How to Download: Check back to the Battlefield Bad Company 2 Beta Page closer to beta launch date for download instructions.

How To Get Access: Reserve Battlefield Bad Company 2 is the most sure fire way, but we are still working with Retailers & e-Tailers that wish to participate (it's up to them). If you're eager to ensure you get in the two confirmed distributors to Pre-Order are the EA Store and at GameStop.com.  We'll have another Blog at a later date with an update on the retailers & e-Tailers that have teamed up with us as well as alternate channels to obtain a Closed Beta Key.

Misc. Details

Steam Beta:  Yes there was a leaked image of a Package file we propped on Steam.  People with illegal accounts can see games in this environment, but this is not a Beta in the term of Public Test Beta, but a real development Beta installer client for the Steam version of the full game.  We are however working with Steam to have the Public PC Beta available on Steam, but can't confirm this quite yet so cross your fingers Steam users. :-)

Anti Cheat: We're going with PunkBuster supporting the same options BF2 and BF2142 had to run unranked without PunkBuster.

Mod Tools: There will not be mod tools for BFBC2.  However a majority of the the games logic is controlled by the server and there will be Serverside control options for the dedicated servers.

Public Server Files: We will not distribute these publicly.  There are many factors for why we have decided this with the biggest factor being security & integrity of our game & Dedicated Servers.