Battlefield 4’s Final Stand DLC release delayed

By Michael Lee Published July 24, 2014

The fifth and final installment of Battlefield 4’s won’t surface until sometime between October 1 and December 31, 2014, as Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson confirmed during the publisher’s later earnings call (via Gamespot). The downloadable content pack, called Final Stand, had originally been pegged for a summer 2014 release.

It’s possible there’s a connection between this and the news that Battlefield: Hardline is being delayed until 2015, though it’s a thin possibility given that DICE is the studio behind BF4 and Dead Space developer Visceral Games is working on Hardline. The cops vs. robbers taken on the Battlefield was originally scheduled for release on October 21, with Final Stand expected to arrive before that. It’s possible that DICE resources are being diverted to help Visceral ensure a timely release for Hardline.

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With BF4 Premium subscribers just sinking their Dragon’s Teeth into the latest expansion of Battlefield 4 (and non-Premium members still waiting), this delay gives the new add-on more time to breathe.

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Battlefield 2042 Season 4 will introduce the game’s final Specialist

Battlefield 2042's final specialist rides a helicopter.

EA and DICE unveiled Battlefield 2042 Season 4: Eleventh Hour, and while this update will contain all of the new content you expect from a new season, they've confirmed that Season 4's Specialist will be the game's last.
Season 4: Eleventh Hour's new specialist is named Camila Blasco, a Spanish No-Pat that's part of the Recon class and great at avoiding and sneaking up on enemies with her X6-Inflitration Device. Up until now, a new Specialist has been a hallmark of each new Battlefield 2042 season, but after the recent class system rework the game saw, DICE now appears to be prioritizing updates for that over new specialists.
"Blasco will sit within the Recon class and be the last specialist we bring to the game," producer Alexia Christofi explained in a development update video Digital Trends viewed prior to this season's announcement. "There are now 14 in total, all bringing a variety of gameplay across the classes. Our focus is to continue to listen to your feedback and bring design and balance changes to our return to the class system as well as expanding on skins and cosmetics to give you more ways to stand out on the battlefield."

Although this is a big change for the game's seasons, know that EA has not announced any plans to shut down or stop updating Battlefield 2042, though. In addition to Christofi's comments, the video Digital Trends saw confirms that there will be a Season 5 with its own dedicated battle pass. Still, the announcement that a significant aspect of post-launch support is changing is always concerning for a live service game. This might just be a slight adjustment based on people liking the class system more than the Specialist system, but it still raises concerns about Battlefield 2042's support in the long term. In that way, I guess that makes the name Eleventh Hour somewhat fitting for this season.
In the meantime, players still can expect a lot from Battlefield 2042 Season 4: Eleventh Hour across all platforms. There's a new South African desert map called Flashpoint, new weapons such as the Super 500 sidearm Shotgun, RM68 Assault Rifle, AC9 SMG, and RPT-31 LMG, additional vault weapons like the SVD sniper rifle, and Type 88 LMG, the CAV Brawler vehicle, SPH explosive launcher gadget, and a new 100-tier battle pass.

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Battlefield 2042’s new season adds a map set in the developer’s homeland

Soldiers fighting on Battlefield 2042 Season 3 map Spearhead.

EA unveiled everything players can expect from Battlefield 2042 Season 3: Escalation ahead of its November 22 start date. The most notable addition is a brand new map called Spearhead, which is set in Sweden, the homeland of the Battlefield series' main developer, DICE.
Surprisingly, Spearhead is the first Battlefield map set in DICE's home country. The map is centered around two Nordvik manufacturing facilities in the Swedish wilderness, surrounded by very rocky and uneven landscapes. It looks like a map full of interesting terrain that will benefit some vehicles, like the brand-new EMKV90-TOR tank, more than others. Later in Season 3: Escalation, the Manifest map will be reworked to be less cluttered and more tightly designed, while a Breakaway rework will move the Oil Rig to a location much closer to where most action on the map takes place.

Of course, Season 3: Escalation is more than just a new map, battle pass, and some map reworks. A new assault Special named Rasheed Zain is an Egyptian soldier whose legs were amputated after a military accident and replaced with prosthetics. He wields an Airburst launcher and recharges his health very fast after getting a kill, making him great on the front lines of a fight.
The Rorsch MK-4 railgun, the NVK-S22 shotgun, NVK-P125 long-range pistol, the throwing knife, and vault weapons XM8 and A-91 spice things up on the weapons front. EA and DICE also teased that they'll finally start to rework Battlefield 2042's Specialist and Class systems toward the end of the season.
Battlefield 2042 Season 3: Escalation begins on November 22 across all platforms. The game will also be added to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate via EA Play on that date. Later, the PS5 version of Battlefield 2042 will be free to try between December 16 and December 23.

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Kill some time before Pikmin 4’s 2023 release with this excellent indie

A bunch of tiny creatures stand on a sunflower in Tinykin.

September's Nintendo Direct was filled with exciting announcements (especially if you're an RPG fan), but one left-field surprise especially caught players' attention: Pikmin 4 is officially in the works and it's coming out in 2023. It's a cause for celebration considering that Pikmin 3, the series' last mainline entry, came out in 2013.

Pikmin 4 – Announcement Trailer – Nintendo Switch