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Photo of the moment of my very 1st BF3 Kill. Counter sniped a sniper I spotted with an automatic rifle.

Battlefield 3 Beta is now live!

Everything in the game feels spanking new, from the main menu(on a web browser). There is also a friends network and VOIP functionality. Initially, the game runs in windowed mode by default and a Left Alt + Enter will brign you to full screen. 

Diving into the game using Multiplayer mode(as auto match making is not working yet), everything in game feels georgous in the rush mode map, Metro.  The environmental landscapes and particle effects was very beautifully done and surprisingly, did not cause my graphics to lag. Also, so far, all the weapon handling and friing feels farmiliar from Bad Company 2. Many a times, I had to run cover to cover to get a vantage point and prone immediately. THis gave me a slight nostalgia of my Basic military training as we were trained to move from tree to tree for cover. The sound effects for the game is really cool too, with the refreshing and creative use of static and digital noise to enhance the mordern look and feel of the game. Gun fire sounds were very realistic too! I was slightly disappoint by the lack of 5.1 or 7.1 audio mode as I am a one who believes that positionnal audio is very important for pinpointing the location of the enemy. Instead, they have different equalizer effects to simulated different war sounds.

There are some new game mechanics too! The suppression mechanic where your soilder gets slowed and have reduced accuracy when under fire really put me in the thick of the action. 
Camping for snipers are also now not too encouraged as the scopes now glint a very bright flare when light reflects into the scope. This balances long distance sniping as sniper now are easier to spot.

Knifing is no longer a middle mouse button like BFBC2, but is now selectable as a weapon. Iron sights are also now hold-right click  to raise, instead of the traditional right click to toggle.

I would say this game is pretty scalable! I ran everything on HIGH settings with my trusty GTX460 without any lag on an outdated drive.. However, when pushed to Ultra, stutter during high action sequences were noticable. I reckon Nvidia has really sponsored a lot in the development of BF3 but I find it ridculous to have one of the highest end graphics card as the recommended hardware. 

Battlefield 3 has not only succeeded in evolving the mordern shooter genre with its new game mechanics, but it has innovated in terms of their user interface of their social network. On the back end, there is a Facebook like social network where you can add friends, form platoons, track achievements, view stats and check leader boards. There is even the "Update Status" area where you can put a link or type something to share with your friends. Looking at Origin abd EA's Battlelog Social network, Steam is definitely going to face a serious competition as Steam Social functions now looks outdated and clunky.

All this writing makes me feel like going back in game. Hopefully I can do an indepth review when the game finally releases! See you at the Battlefield!