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DICE released the 1.50 beta patch for Battlefield 2142 today - complete with Wake Island 2142, of course. So far, the response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive…I was actually expecting a larger volume of complaints. It’s pretty cool to see community maps included in an official release. If you don’t have BF2142 or you hate it, you can check out the little promotional video. Jason got a professional voiceover guy to narrate…it’s pretty awesome.

BF2142 Patch 1.50 Trailer by Jason Brice
Wake Island 2142 Trailer by Sir. XaliaS & Sir. Veeence

In other news, a couple of days ago Zune Software 2.5 was released. It basically fixes almost all the flaws and missing features of 2.0 that everyone hated so much. I just spent 2 hours perfecting the metadata on my massive video collection, and actually enjoyed it. Having all my music perfectly organized with metadata and embedded album art makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, and being able to do the same for my videos is just great.

So, it looks like DICE released some information about my “secret project” today. Wake Island 2142, oh yes. The weeks we have spent working on the map have been extremely stressful, but it’s great to see the first glimpses coming to the public light. Many of you probably aren’t big BF2142 fans, but this is the first time that DICE has decided to add user-made maps into an official game patch. And I definitely want to extend a huge THANK YOU! to all the great people at DICE who have helped us out with map development, answering all our questions and providing lots of feedback. I bet that’s something you never expected to hear from me.

Coverage & Discussion of the new BF2142 patch announcement:
Sir. Community Forums
Total Battlefield
Planet Battlefield
BF-Games

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Recently I found out that the First Strike mod team has decided to add a ranking system to their mod. This is very exciting to see - Battlefield 2142 is rather dry, and really the only people left playing it are the ones playing for ranks. I’m curious to see how they managed to do it, and whether they get a larger audience this way. Best of luck to them, I’ll certainly be trying out version 1.2 when it’s released!

On that topic, Sir. Shpox has been secretly working on a sexy new release of a beloved classic for Battlefield 2. You’ll hear about it more in the upcoming weeks, but let’s just say it has an expanded ranking/awards system as well and it’s going to totally kick ass.

As for me, I’ve been working on the next version of Modjive. The interface for Available Mods has received a small facelift, allowing you to see screenshots and watch videos of each mod before you decide on whether to download it. Some small but convenient features are there as well, like automatic resuming of downloads when the application is closed and reopened. As usual, expect a public beta here first before it’s released to the auto-updater.

Sandbox players, don’t fret - progress on 1.0 is steady, the feedback from the beta server has become more and more positive so we’re almost ready for the next stage of the test.

BF2 is so damn addicting. Well, at least the mods are. And so is the actual process of creating mods. In all honesty, I’ve been trying to quit BF2 modding for the past 2 months. It’s getting to the point where I need to move on and do something more important…at least until Crysis rolls along. Screw that, this is too fun.

It was awesome seeing Sandbox become the 3rd-most-populated BF2 mod at noon about a week ago. I’m damn proud of how far it’s gone. Same with Battleracer…the devoted (Deutsch) fanbase has kept it alive far longer than, well, any other mod that hasn’t had a new release in so long.

It’s hard to quit when you keep getting ideas. I want to make it so the communities surrounding “my” mods can become somewhat self-sufficient. Sandbox Network started it, now let’s extend that. Soon you’ll be able to create Battleracer tracks using Sandbox. This should be a big step in opening up the mod to the community. I’m working on a framework for dynamically loading the tracks - essentially allowing for unlimited setups for each BF2 map. In fact, you won’t have to download anything extra to play new tracks created by other players…you’ll get a handy automatically downloaded track map in your loading screen, and handy numbered checkpoints in your minimap.

Alright…so I don’t know when that will actually be released. The Sandbox track editor is halfway done, Battleracer also needs to be re-coded with the new checkpoint/track download system. It’ll be fun to see what tracks people come up with, I expect many loops and explosive barrels!

On a side note, Battleracer 2142 has been 98% complete for the past month or so. The tracks are fun, the racing is great, the stats and rankings are all there. Then, the map changes - CTD. Still trying to figure that one out, then we can finally release it.

Sandbox 2142? Ehh. Still have no idea whether multiplayer would actually work, so that’s a big question mark.