Battlefield 3 Back to Karkand Details

The Back to Karkand expansion for Battlefield 3 will be released sometime in December, and will feature four new maps:
Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, Sharqi Peninsula and Wake Island (a snippet from the concept art for the new Wake Island map is shown in my  header logo).

Three (3) new vehicles will also make an appearance, in the form of the Desert Patrol Vehicle (or DPV), the BTR-90 (Russian 8×8 wheeled armored personell carrier), and the F35 STOVL Jet Fighter.

Back to Karkand also brings back ten (10) iconic weapons from the Battlefield series, five new dog tags, fire new achievemens/trophies, and a new “persistence reward system” that rewards points for completing certain assignments.

Pricing will be US $15 or €15 for those who didn’t preorder Battlefield 3: Limited Edition, but will be free for everyone who did.

Battlefield 3 Co-Op Unlocks

Battlefield 3 Co-Op unlocks

All 7 BF3 co-op weapon unlocks listed by required coop score:

63 000: MP412 Rex

(Revolver / All kits)

Developed for export in Russia (REX stands for Revolver for Export), the MP443 is a compact .357 Magnum handgun with an interesting tilt open and auto extraction design. While not as powerful as the .44 Magnum, the .357 Magnum round from the MP412 offers excellent stopping power and the compact package offers a slightly higher rate of accurate fire.

126 000: KH2002

(Assault Rifle / Assault Class)

This Iranian developed Assault Rifle is essentially a bullpup conversion of the M16. The KH2002 is intended to replace the G3 in service with the Iranian armed forces, though there is speculation that it may be years before the rifle is ready for full deployment. The KH2002’s short length lends itself well to close combat, but prevents it from mounting any underslung weapons.

189 000: MP7

(Machine Pistol / All kits)

Another contender for the newly developing PDW market the MP7 is currently in service with the German Bundeswehr and the Norwegian Armed Forces. The MP7A1 includes an improved stock, additional safeties, and added rails for mounting lights, lasers, and sights. The weapon is also capable of being suppressed, giving it excellent close combat stealth performance.

252 000: M39 Enhanced Marksman Rifle

(aka the M14 EBR from BC2 / Sniper Class)

The M39 Enhanced Marksman Rifle (EMR) is a highly modernized M14 designed to be utilized by USMC designated marksmen. Issued with match-grade 7.62mm NATO long range ammunition the M39 is significantly lighter and more accurate than the original M14. The M39 is limited to Semi-Automatic fire, but supports a number of accessories including a standard Rifle Scope (8x).

315 000: M93R

(Burst fire pistol / All kits)

A modified version of the M9 pistol, the 93R is able to fire in 3 Round Bursts. The 93R is equipped with a forward folding fore grip and an extended barrel which is ported to reduce recoil. Trained shooters are able to fire busts in rapid succession, and the pistol is typically seen in service only with elite special purpose units.

378 000: SG553

(Carbine / Engineer Class)

A Carbine variant of the Swiss Army’s standard SG550 rifle, the SG553 improves over its predecessor the well-known SG552 by including integrated rails for mounting accessories. A Carbine with excellent ergonomics, the SG553 is capable of Automatic, 3 Round Burst, and Semi-Automatic fire and is an excellent close range weapon.

441 000: G3A3

(Assault Rifle / Assault Class)

The G3 rifle is one of the most widely fielded Assault Rifles in the world. Multiple versions of the G3 exist, and it has been used in countries around the world, including Sweden where it was known as the AK4. This particular G3 is the A3 variant, with a fixed stock. The long barrel and firing heavy 7.62x51mm NATO round enable the G3A3 to reach out at longer ranges than most other Assault Rifles, but at the cost of heavy recoil.

Battlefield 3 Co-Op Gameplay Video (Gamescom)

Video courtesy of Gametrailers.com

New Battlefield 3 “Caspian Border” Gameplay Video (With Jets!)

Read This Before Our Next Meeting


I just read through the short, but oh-so-sweet book Read This Before Our Next Meeting by Al Pittampalli on Kindle for free. I was just about to order the hardcover version when I noticed that it was made available for free through August 9th thanks to the generosity of Citrix!

I won’t write a detailed review of this excellent Modern Meeting manual, except I will say that it is well worth reading for the way it encourages everyone to change the meeting culture in their organization for the benefit of everyone, from customers to top management and shareholders, and last, but not least you.

I also have to mention the Seven Principles of the Modern Meeting Standard, which are outlined on the author’s website. These are concize points that you could actually use right now. The principles are explained in even more detail in the manual.

David Heinemer Hansson, from 37 Signals, says meetings are toxic because they break workdays into a series of work moments. Achieving flow, the state in which we do our best work, can take long periods of focus. Interruptions force us to start over each time.

I’m tired of starting over. – Al Pittampalli, Read This Before Our Next Meeting

Read this manual and The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss, and you might just find yourself with a completely new mindset, outlook – whatever you want to call it.

I like to call these kinds of books “tools to decode the matrix”, as we’re all living in a sort of Matrix with certain rules, traditions, habits, culture. Sometimes you have to bend a few spoons to see if these ways are actually any good, or simply “always has been, always will be”.

Enough of my senseless ramblings, you will now download and read the Kindle version of Read This Before Our Next Meeting (Amazon.com) for FREE (through August 9. 2011) too, or buy the hardcover version of Read This Before Our Next Meeting (Amazon.com).

Lifetime PC User Buys a Mac

For all my life I’ve been loyal to PC. It’s been a pretty good relationship, certainly with its ups and downs like in any relationship. It started back in 1992 with my dad’s i486-based computer, and after that there was no stopping us. Fast forward to today, and I’ve been through more than a dozen machines and numerous rebuilds. I’ve even built a couple of water cooled rigs just for the hell of it.

I’ve been a steadfast supporter of the PC platform and what it stands for. I’ve regularly argued against Apple whenever they’ve done bad things, such as locking down pretty much everything they make to suit their business models, or enforcing unfair censorship of publishers’ content – all the while pointing fingers at other. So, I hope my point is made clear: understand that it would take a lot to make me buy an Apple product.

Just a few days ago in July of 2011, however, I decided to do just that. Continue reading