I’ve just read another preview for Battlefield 2 (BF2) and I thought I’d share my thoughts on what I believe is going to happen once it’s released.

I look forward to games as much as the next obsessed gamer, and I’m often dissapointed with the final result. However with BF2, I think we are going to see a new era in PC gaming. For all the amazing featuers BF2 hosts, the most important feature is going to be the Voice-over-IP (VoIP) built right into the game. A few games already have VoIP (Counter-Strike for example) however so far this has been more of an annoyance than any amazing feature.

The first thing that’s different with BF2’s VoIP is that EA are shipping it with a free headset. This means every single person who own’s BF2 will be able to listen and chat to everyone else playing. This could be cause for concern on some server’s with a bunch of moronic gamers all yelling and swearing at each other, however I hope we see the opposite. With the squad and commander features of BF2, everyone having VoIP and a headset means everyone can communicate and work together. This is how the real military works, and will not only make it more ‘realistic’, but will mean those that work together as a team, should have more success. This will in turn make players want to work together more, and take even more advantage of the techonology.

I also think that having the VoIP technology, the commander role might actually prove a success. The first game I remember playing with a ‘commander’ was Tribes 1. I don’t remember a single game when the commander was used for an extended period of time, even in clan matches. In a 32 player game, players genuinly believed that their was more benefit from having another ‘gun’ than having a commander unit. In other words, no matter how good a commander was, a team of 16 versus a team of 15 would always end with the larger team winning. I think finally the commander is being given enough power, in artillery and visibility of the battlefield, to make them truly useful, and I look forward to hopping into the role from time to time.

So again, I look forward to another game. As time goes on, I’m trying to do this less and less, however I think BF2 is a game that deserves some of the hype. I guess time will tell.