Blockbuster title, Battlefield 3, is creeping ever closer to that October release that we all eagerly await, with the title of King of First Person Shooters directly in its sights.I recently had the chance to interview DICE VP and General Manager, Karl Magnus Troedsson, about Battlefield 3′s excellent showing at E3 2011, multiplayer pressures and console gamers fears for Battlefield 3.

Gaming Examiner: A lot is being said in regards to the whole Battlefield 3 vs. Modern Warfare 3 showdown due to both games releasing very closely to each other. Based off what has been seen of both games so far, you must be feeling confident of taking over the FPS crown. What are your feelings on the whole match up?

Karl Magnus Troedsson: It’s going to be an interesting autumn that’s for sure! We’re 100% focused on finishing the game and want to deliver the best Battlefield game ever this holiday, and really do not spend much time worrying about what our competitors are doing.

GE: Battlefield 3 made a very strong showing at E3 2011, picking up over 40 awards. I imagine this would have a huge effect on the development team. How has this got the team feeling leading up to the final stages of development?

KMT: We’re extremely pleased with the outcome of E3 this year and the awards and accolades that followed have had a really positive impact on the team and the entire studio. When you invest so much time and energy into one game it’s always very uplifting to read that people enjoy what they saw and played.

GE: The Frostbite 2 engine is, from all accounts, an absolutely amazing piece of technology. How is it working with this new engine in comparison to the previous Frostbite engine?

KMT: Frostbite 2 has made some really big progress since the first installment we used for the first time in Battlefield: Bad Company. Things like streaming, better workflows and pipelines speeds up iteration times which leads to higher quality and more polish. The new lighting and animation definitely makes it easier to create a prettier game as well. This in combination with the more classic Battlefield elements like the possibilities of large scale maps, great destruction and advanced vehicle physics makes for a much better platform to build a game on. At the same time it’s more or less an entire new engine and that always come with some challenges when creating a game.

GE: Bad Company 2 had an entertaining and rather quirky storyline with memorable characters. Can we expect the same tone for Battlefield 3, or is realism and grittiness the name of the game here?

KMT: With Battlefield 3 we decided to take a step away from some of the more slapstick elements in the story and with the characters in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. We wanted to create something that is much more authentic and feels more plausible. So Battlefield 3 will have a rather different tone compared to Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

GE: For many players, the multiplayer is what Battlefield is all about. With such high expectations from gamers you must feel a lot of pressure to make sure you give them what they want. It seems like you have heard what the fans are saying and responded with what looks like an outstanding multiplayer mode. What are some of the major changes made in this version compared to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and how do you think people will react to these changes?

KMT: Battlefield 3 is the spiritual successor to 2005’s Battlefield 2. At the same time we’re bringing in a ton of learning from the multiplayer components of Battlefield: Bad Company 1 and 2. A lot of the changes we’ve made come directly from the community with typical examples like bringing back prone and 64 players on PC. The challenge lies in trying to satisfy as many of the online players as possible and on some topics the community is really split. We’re also hell-bent on making sure that both the PC and the console version get their separate love, making sure none of the versions are a port of some other.

GE: Bad Company 2 was critically acclaimed for placing an emphasis on teamwork by working with your squad mates. In what ways does Battlefield 3 push the envelope once again?

KMT: Team work has always been at the heart of the Battlefield franchise and Battlefield 3 will introduce a lot of new elements to this. The new suppression mechanic is one example where you and your squad can work together and be successful as well as getting rewarded for it. We also have some other, unannounced, cool new vehicles and gadgets working together in new ways which I believe the tactical team players really will enjoy. This in combination of the social elements of Battlelog making it easier to play together and communicate will take the team play one step further.

GE: Bad Company 2 pushed the envelope in destructible environments. How is Battlefield 3 going to further enhance this feature?

KMT: One key element of the destruction which will take a big step forward in Battlefield 3 comes from the denser, more urban environments we introduce. In these you can take down the facades of huge buildings and expose or take out the enemies entrenched on the different floors.

GE: A lot of the community is asking for details about the Battlefield 3 Beta. Is there anything you can tell us at this stage?

KMT: All I can say at the moment is that our Beta will take place in September, as announced at E3. We’ll have more details soon.

GE: What do you say to the gamers who have expressed their displeasure over the console version being limited to 30 FPS and 720p resolution?

KMT: Console gamers shouldn’t worry about this, this topic is discussed out of proportions. For those tech-savvy enough to have looked into the actual resolution of their console games it won’t come as a surprise that a lot of console games today do not run at 1080p but rather 720p. We’ve done this for our last games and we believe it can still look amazing. When people ask for 1080p they don’t see the compromises that would be needed to get there. As for the frame-rate we’ve made a conscious decision to stick with 30 FPS on console. It’s not a technical problem with getting our game to run in 60 FPS but we do this in favour of the large amount of players, large scale maps, huge amount of vehicles, full on destruction and so on. The pace in Battlefield is slightly slower than some other twitchy shooters of today which lends itself well to this frame-rate.

GE: What would be considered a success for Battlefield 3?

KMT: That the people who play the game tell us that they enjoy it!

I’d like to take this time to thank Karl Magnus Troedsson for taking the time to complete this interview. Also thank you to the the PR team at EA Australia for helping me to obtain this interview.

Battlefield 3 is released on October 25th, 2011 in the United States and October 27th, 2011 in Australia.