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When EA DICE decided to release some downloadable armaments in the original Battlefield: Bad Company, it proved to be a fairly unpopular decision. However, the recently found a way to outfox the gaming community, releasing Bad Company 2 DLC without drawing our ire. How did the studio accomplish such a feat? Easy -- it just released the DLC in a completely different game.

Battlefield Heroes recently received a large push of content inspired by Bad Company, including six modern weapons and the outfits of George Haggard and Kirilenko. Best of all, if you log onto Heroes while using an account that's also linked to Bad Company 2, you'll receive the Battlefunds required to purchase the new gear. Check out the new equipment in the trailer posted after the jump.

[Thanks Graeme!]

For those who prefer their multiplayer experiences to be full of camaraderie rather than competition, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 delivers a bonding experience like few other games can. By pushing the idea of teamwork upon players, Bad Company 2 is a game that discourages the "lone wolf" mentality found in many, if not most, online first-person shooters.

A question I've been asked a lot this week: "I barely played and/or didn't really enjoy the first Battlefield: Bad Company's multiplayer. How does this stack up?" The sequel is more Battlefield 1943 than Bad Company. It's a more balanced experience like developer DICE's summer hit, but with a modern setting and delivering the scope one would expect from a full-priced retail experience.

Squads. It's one of the most important elements to Battlefield and a feature that has gotten better through each iteration. A squad is your mini-team within the game; working with them just makes sense, since you'll be respawning with them when you die. In previous Battlefield games, squad members would sometimes be switched to the other team, even as total strangers were inserted in your squad. (As one comrade-in-arms aptly put it this week: "It's like being invited to a Rock Band party, but you're accidentally given the address next door and they're playing Guitar Hero. Sure, it's almost the same, but that's not the party you wanted to attend.") Thankfully, the biggest problem with making a squad is resolved in this outing.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, EA's marketing team (at least the one that handles the company's French ads) was really, really trying to flatter the French military with its latest Bad Company 2 ads. Adopting the slogan "Devenez Plus Que Vous-Meme" for its website ("Be More Than Yourself"), EA has seemingly borrowed the French military's strikingly similar "Devenez Vous Meme" ("Be Yourself.")

"We are clearly in a situation of abuse of slogan ... So far, our campaign is working very well, we have very good returns," French army general Philippe Pontiès told Écrans. Allegedly, the posters will be altered sometime in the coming weeks, with the French military and EA reaching an agreement amenably. Perhaps unsurprisingly, EA has chosen not to comment.

[Via GamePolitics]

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will unlock two multiplayer maps on launch day, free to players that input a "VIP code" included with new copies of the game (think: "Project Ten Dollar"). VIPs will also gain free access to a second map pack, which developer DICE will airdrop later in March. If you purchase the game second-hand, you can access the VIP code separately via the in-game store (think: $15). We can already see a repeat of the Mass Effect 2 account confusion coming from five klicks away, so make sure your affairs are in order before you redeem the code.

BC2 Senior Producer Patrick Bach claims, "These first two map packs are just the beginning. We're planning ongoing support for the community by always keeping the experience fresh and ensuring the best possible gameplay experience." This is where Battlefield 1943 fans wipe the tears from their faces as they march toward a more modern battlefield.

Ever noticed how you rarely place bullets into the same dude during two consecutive games while playing the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 demo? There's a darn good reason for that -- according to a recent tweet from EA, over 3.5 million people have downloaded the sneak peek on 360 and PS3.

We weren't sure Bad Company 2 would gain a ton of traction while sharing an audience with MAG and Modern Warfare 2, but apparently we were wrong. Maybe there's a special portion of the market set aside for multiplayer shooters/preposterous ATV stunt simulators.

John Riccitiello's "Project Ten Dollar" endeavor -- in which EA looks to combat used-game sales by offering free DLC goodies with new purchases -- has another game marching under its banner: Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Just like Mass Effect 2, the game will ship with a code that enables access to free DLC. The first batch of add-on content for DICE's shooter will be a set of new multiplayer maps, MTV Multiplayer reports.

"In the future you will get more content, for free, if you have this VIP code," noted producer Patrick Bach, describing a free content delivery mechanism similar to BioWare's Cerberus Network. Also of note: the VIP code will be attached to your EA.com account, so make sure you keep potential hazards in mind if you buy Bad Company 2 when it launches on March 2, 2010.

[Thanks, Michael]

The original Bad Company spinoff in the Battlefield series kept the franchise's setting firmly in modern times, but if the Bad Company 2 ESRB description is true, you'll be seeing a return to WWII in the sequel. At the very least, the game's opening will bring players back to the Pacific side of the war, with the ESRB description saying, "In single-player mode, players conduct missions on an unnamed Japanese island during World War II and then move into the modern day through jungles, deserts, and snowy terrain."

Just like we've discovered in our way too many hours with the game's multiplayer demo, the description details the inclusion of "melee attacks with a power drill" (yes, seriously) and the characters use of profanity "during cutscenes and in the heat of battle." And yes, we're just as excited by the former as you might imagine.
[Via BigDownload]

We've had extensive hands-on time with the multiplayer component of DICE's upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company sequel, but only just recently had a chance to try out the single-player campaign.

Our demo encompassed two fairly brief levels -- a jungle encampment and a battle through snow-covered mountains -- which were both set in South America. Short as they were, they gave us a taste of the ramped-up action, more challenging AI and a little bit of classic B-Company banter.

Finally, EA understands what it is we want out of our limited edition game bundles. Some extremely loseable keychains? Nope. A cat head-sized helmet which is awesome for roughly 23 minutes, then an eyesore shortly thereafter? Nope. In-game weapons and equipment which are useful as all-get-out, which also have the benefit of not taking up space in our real-life humble abodes? Ahh, now that's the ticket.

That's exactly what the limited edition of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 -- which is now available to pre-order through Steam -- is bringing to the table. The bundle includes six pieces of equipment, ranging from improved armor on the player's vehicles, to a magnetic dart gun which helps the player track targets. We've contacted DICE to find out if these bonuses will be available during the game's multiplayer portion. We'd hate to have a repeat of the original Bad Company's boycott shenanigans.

Update: The pre-order offer is also available from Direct2Drive!

This Thursday at 12:30am ET, the new season of GameTrailers TV is set to debut with a look at Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Specifically, the trailer for this week's episode promises that the show will display the first footage of the game's single-player campaign (we've seen multiplayer already, after all). Beyond the Bad Company 2 footage, GTTV will also have a clip from the upcoming Halo Legends anime collection. This might be a stretch, but we're guessing there will be Spartans in it.

As always, expect any juicy details to wind up here on Joystiq once the episode airs.

The PS3 community got a chance to get its hands on the multiplayer beta for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 in November -- today, we learned that the PC community will get its chance to try out the shooter in a few short weeks. According to a recent post on the Battlefield blog, the beta for the PC version of the game will kick off January 28, and will be available until February 25. To get on board, just reserve the game at participating retailers and ... "e-Tailers."

For more details about downloading the beta, and to find out about the map participants will be riddling with bullets, check out the Battlefield blog post.

If you're a PS3 owner with an inkling of an interest in first-person shooters, you've probably tried the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta, featuring a revamped Rush game mode. Everyone else, well, you're missing out on some great fun -- but March and the release of the retail game isn't that far off.

I've wanted to play more of the game's multiplayer component ever since getting into the beta, and I recently got that chance at EA's Redwood Shores, California headquarters. The occasion: the unveiling of a new game mode, squad deathmatch. Four squads of four members each (4-vs-4-vs-4-vs-4) square off to see which team can reach the kill limit first, which sounds straightforward enough until you consider the dense foliage of the new jungle map on which we played.

"You'll never make anything of your life just sitting around playing video games!"

You've heard this tired speech from your mom and dad so many times you could recite it from memory, but you can't help but smile whenever they repeat it. Because deep down in your heart, you know that as one of the 300,000-plus people playing the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta, you've helped rack up 1.01 million headshots, destroyed 380,000 houses and been responsible for more than 45 million kills. That, friends, is something real.

So next time your parents hassle you about some benign chore, just hold your head up high and say, "Sorry I didn't lock the wheels on the baby's walker, Mom and Dad. I was a little busy making a difference."