They’re not calling themselves a “Halo Killer” but it seems that many of the main features in Section 8 were created in response to what annoyed them, and probably annoy you, about established FPS franchises like Halo and Battlefield.

Let’s go through 3 problems even the best first person shooters have and the ways Section 8 provides a solution.

Problem 1: Spawning Then Immediately Dying

If you spawn near a camping sniper, or in the trajectory of a rocket, or just die within seconds of spawning, it sucks. You probably feel a little cheated by the game, which, I’m pretty sure, is never one of the developer’s goals.

Solution: Let the Player Choose his Spawn Point and Make the Act of Spawning Awesome.

Section 8’s eliminates the annoyance of cheap deaths via their most impressive feature: “Burning in.” Every time you die, you’re taken to an orbital drop ship. You choose the point on the map you want to “burn in” to and the ship torpedoes you screaming through the atmosphere headfirst, in first person view, until you slam into the ground with thunderous force.

There’s a strategy to where you choose to burn in, as well. You can burn in right on the inside of an opponents base, but if your teammates haven’t disabled their anti-air guns, you may not make it to the ground in one piece.  Or you could just try to aim your burn in to land on some poor sucker’s head and score the game’s only one hit kill.

No one wants to ride passenger in a real life Warthog either…

Problem 2:  Feeling Lame Riding in the Passenger Side of a Vehicle

OK, how many times have you been playing Halo 3 and got stuck shooting the machine gun of the Scorpion or the Wraith while your buddy gets to drive and shoot the cannon? It sucks.  It sucks so much that many players will just go on foot rather than rolling like that.

Solution: Vehicles Where Everyone Gets to Do Something Cool:

In Section 8, when you drive a tank everyone gets to do something awesome. So if you’re not driving and shooting the cannon, you’re launching a cluster bomb reminiscent of Gear’s of War 2’s mortar, or you’re shooting the huge caliber bullets of the anti-air gun.  Whoever gets in has a job and has fun.  There are no back of the Mongoose experiences here.

Problem 3: Trekking across a Huge Map to Get to the Battle

When you’re dealing with the absolutely huge maps of Battlefield or similar franchises, you are often left with a tedious trek across a huge landscape unless you find a vehicle. Even in games without huge maps, the relatively slow pace of your characters movement can be a chore.

Solution: Make Each Player as Fast as a Speeding Vehicle.

Section 8 lets you become the vehicle. If you’ve got a long expanse to traverse, you have the ability to trigger your Overdrive, which shifts the camera to a third person perspective and lets you sprint at ridiculous speeds. This coupled with the built in jet pack for jumping lets you bound across large portions the game map like the Incredible Hulk.

If you want to be able to sprint for longer, put more points into your Overdrive before you spawn and you’ll never again have to experience Master Chief’s slow trot.

Section 8 seems to be made by developers that feel your pain as a FPS fan and want to give you a game that takes the weaknesses of current FPSs and turns them into strengths.  They’re a long way off from release but these features look promising.

Shacknews reports that the upcoming downloadable multiplayer shooter Battlefield 1943 will be released on 360 and PS3 this June, at a price point of $15. The PC version will follow in September, for the same price. No reason for this is given, although I suspect that it will take another few months to compact awesome into the PC version.

Seriously, though, the game looks like it’ll be great. Battlefield games are always fun. Well, except that bit when you run a mile to the battle location because there aren’t any vehicles at spawn, and then you get run over. That bit’s not so fun.

I was a huge fan of the first Battlefield: Bad Company (and still have the Special Edition poster on my wall), so I’m really excited about the upcoming sequel. That said, this trailer is even worse than the recent Modern Warfare 2 debut trailer. Is this a new trend? Shitty trailers for awesome games? I don’t think I like this trend.

Mod DB have announced their mods of the year today, with both editor-chosen and player-voted categories. This year’s player’s choice award has gone to Project Reality, a mod that changes Battlefield 2 into a more realistic and complete experience. Hit the just for the full list of winners.

Editor’s choice categories:

* Most Innovative Multiplayer: Celestial Impact
* Best Original Art Direction: Delta Sector
* Best Upcoming Mod: Curse
* Best Upcoming Indie Game :Zeno Clash
* Best Indie Game: Mount & Blade
* Best Singleplayer Mod: The Ball
* Best Multiplayer Mod: Project Reality

Player’s choice categories:

* Best Upcoming Mod: Dead before Dawn
* Indie Game of the Year: Mount & Blade
* Mod of the Year: Project Reality

In a response to a poster who asks what games will be at GDC this year, Surfer Girl says “YES” to seven games. These games are MotorStorm 2, Alan Wake, Too Human, InFamous, LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2 and Gears of War 2.

There are three other games that might possibly make it to the event: SOCOM PS3, Metal Gear Solid 4, and WipEout HD.

Unlike last year, Sony and Nintendo won’t be having keynote presentations, so it might be wishful thinking to expect anything on the scale of Sony’s reveal of Home and LittleBigPlanet.

On the other hand, there is a Microsoft day booked for Tuesday, along with an hour long Microsoft keynote. Big things could be coming from the Xbox camp.

What games can we confirm for GDC? Mercenaries 2, Far Cry 2, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and Battlefield: Bad Company.

In addition to these, Square Enix will be presenting their Final Fantasy XIII engine, and three big Fable 2 secrets will be revealed. You heard it here first.

Make sure to come to Ripten for all of your GDC coverage.

*Update* -  Surfer Girl has since retracted her predictions, blaming sleep deprivation for her original outburst.  Please read about this here, along with further titbits on what will be at GDC’08.

Games for Windows Editor Shawn Elliott has been alluding to a game in the past few editions of the GFW Radio podcast, a game he stated may change PC gaming as we know it. The game he was referring to is a joint production between EA and DICE– Battlefield Heroes.

Not much is known, other than it’ll be online-only, freely available for download during summer, and that it’ll support itself much like any other free service does – with advertising and microtransactions. Let’s just hope we don’t get raped by either.

The only screenshot available (pictured above) is from the cover of next month’s Games for Windows issue and from what I can decipher it seems to be shaping up of somewhat of a Battlefield spin on WWII with Team Fortress 2’s aesthetic stamped on it. Hell, at first glance I thought it was Team Fortress 2.

Although in this case I approve of EA and DICE playing copycat. It was an intelligent decision. Team Fortress 2 garners much more interest from passers-by than a Half-Life 2 does. Simply because of the way it looks, it appeals to a wider demographic. It’s even gotten attention from NY Times and BBC News, and what was the last gaming item to receive such mainstream attention? Wii? Or was it the DS? Go take a look at their sales figures.

This has the potential to become monstrous, so I’m pulling for them.

And for those that love corporate speak, here’s the press release from the official site:

BATTLEFIELD HEROES LEADS THE WAY FOR EA’S NEW
‘PLAY 4 FREE’ BUSINESS MODEL
Unique Cartoon Shooter Introduces a New Way to Play Battlefield

Munich, Germany, January 21, 2008 – At the Digital, Life, Design Conference (DLD) in Munich, Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: ERTS) today unveiled Battlefield Heroes™, an all-new Play 4 Free cartoon-style shooter that will bring classic Battlefield gameplay to an all new mass audience. Available for download at www.battlefield-heroes.com this summer, Battlefield Heroes is EA’s first title that is offered completely for free, and features a built-in matchmaking system to ensure that players of equal skill are paired together for fair play. Developed by DICE in Stockholm, Battlefield Heroes is leading EA’s new web-focused free to download, free to play business model which generates revenue through advertising and micro-transactions. With zero barriers to entry, now anyone can be a hero on the battlefield!

“Online gaming garners a massive audience,” said Gerhard Florin, EVP Publishing Americas-Europe at EA. “People want to play games in new ways, with easier access that is quick to the fun. With Battlefield Heroes, EA brings its first major franchise to North America and Europe with a new distribution model and pricing structure adapted to the evolving way that people play.”

Battlefield Heroes is a brand new game from the team behind Battlefield 1942™ and Battlefield 2™. It’s fun cartoon-style graphics and gameplay caters to players of all skill levels. It is easy to pick up and play but with robust character customization and a deep online meta-game, gamers can spend hours building up their characters and conquering the world.

“We put a different twist on this Battlefield game going with the cartoon-style graphics and gameplay,” added Ben Cousins, Senior Producer at EA DICE. “There’s something here for all types of players — be it our core Battlefield fans or casual gamers. With the new online model, we will continually add new content to keep the game fresh and keep players engaged, while integrating player feedback in real time. As a game developer, it is such a cool new way to make games.”

Battlefield Heroes will be released for the PC as a free download in summer 2008. This product is not yet rated by PEGI or ESRB. For more information on EA DICE, please visit www.dice.se or www.ea.com.

Keep an eye out for the March issue of the Games for Windows magazine that contains exclusive information.

Source: 1UP.com and Battlefield Heroes Official Website.