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Battlefield 3 "Back To Karkand" DLC Maps Revealed

The first DLC for the game will include a bunch of maps that have been used in a lot of other Battlefield games.

So, in the grand tradition of the latest EA games, EA DICE’s Battlefield 3 is poised to ship with downloadable content available. As revealed in the latest trailer, every Limited Edition copy of the shooter will include the “Back to Karkand” map pack, which includes four older Battlefield maps that have been re-worked and re-tooled in the Frostbite 2 engine. Until the other day, though, we weren’t sure what maps would be “re-imagined,” but a recent post on the Battlefield 3 forums, according to Joystiq, has cleared up the confusion.

Included in the map pack are the original Wake Island, Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, and the Sharqi Peninsula. That’s quite a spread of Battlefield history! Wake Island, for example, has appeared in Battlefield 1942Battlefield 1943, Battlefield: Vietnam, Battlefield 2, and Battlefield 2142.  


  
 
It’s hard to tell at this moment if re-releasing other old Battlefield maps for use in this third title will be a focus for DICE. So far, DICE isn’t commenting on other DLC plans at the moment, which is kind of nice, since the game is still pretty far out.

Ready for more Wake Island, guys?    

87 Comments

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mado

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Edited By mado

So many good memories from those maps!

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hibikino

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Edited By hibikino

Looks damn awesome!

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kevlar907

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Edited By kevlar907

Not happy about this.  I don't mind them giving map packs to people that buy a new copy but forcing people to pre order is a very bad trend the industry is getting into...

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empfeix

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Edited By empfeix
@DiGiTaL_SiN said:
" By the way, those Arabic letters in the screenshot do not make any sense at all, they don't say "Hotel" and infact they're not even written in a way that makes sense.  Game looks cool though. "
Thanks that is interesting.  They probably had no idea either :D
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Kordesh

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Edited By Kordesh

Stay classy EA. Hell, why not just start announcing full blown sequels before the game comes out that are just the other half of the game...

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nERVEcenter

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Edited By nERVEcenter

Sharqi? SHARQI?!
 
WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO, I LOVE SHARQI!!!
 
Where do I deposit all my money?!

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digital_sin

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Edited By digital_sin

By the way, those Arabic letters in the screenshot do not make any sense at all, they don't say "Hotel" and infact they're not even written in a way that makes sense.
 
Game looks cool though.

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TomA

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Edited By TomA

Of course they're going to have Wake Island and Gulf of Oman. Both awesome maps.

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BUCK3TM4N

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Edited By BUCK3TM4N

shouldnt this be in the game if its not out yet 

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gearhead

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Edited By gearhead
@FrenchFriedFool said:
" GULF OF OMAN, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS "
I KNOW RIGHT!?!
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Feikken

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Edited By Feikken
@TheBostonRag:  It totally does make sense. I'd probably give anything the Stink-eye if it glorified something very real and terrible happening to someone i'm related to.
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pandashake

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Edited By pandashake

I just want controllable naval ships. I can't wait for wake island though. Hope bf3 is as easy to mod, maybe a mod will have naval ships. What's that map called in bf1942 where both axis and allies have naval ships and submarines with a small island in the middle?

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conker

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Edited By conker

Gulf of Oman woooooooooooooooord

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grilledcheez

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Edited By grilledcheez

THE FUCK

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Gruff182

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Edited By Gruff182

Sharqi Peninsula.
 
Sold.

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foggel

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Edited By foggel

I loved Karkand ^^

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Seppli

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Edited By Seppli
@Mikemcn said:

" @crusader8463 said:

" @DeathbyYeti said:

" so the game doesnt have a solid release date but they are showing the dlc already? that is classy "

You must have missed the EA logo. That's what EA does. "
They want you to buy the game new rather than used is all. (Or better yet, preorder it) "
An intention I find quite understandable and reasonable. Frowing upon it though, I don't get at all.
 
I've always bought my games new and shrinkwrapped, except for out-of-print titles. So really, I win. They're putting some extra thought into how to wow me with something cool.
 
For quite a few BF2 fans, these 4 maps are like a dream come true. If EA's second hand sales deterrent policy was different or non-existant, I doubt we'd get something as beefy and cool for free.
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AhmadMetallic

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Edited By AhmadMetallic

all this pre-order/limited edtion/DLC talk is fucking confusing..

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jakob187

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Edited By jakob187

SHARQI!!!  FUCK YEAH!!!  Between that and Karkand, I doubt I'll play any other maps!!!

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mikemcn

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Edited By mikemcn
@crusader8463 said:
" @DeathbyYeti said:
" so the game doesnt have a solid release date but they are showing the dlc already? that is classy "
You must have missed the EA logo. That's what EA does. "
They want you to buy the game new rather than used is all. (Or better yet, preorder it)
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MisterMouse

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Edited By MisterMouse

why not just put it in the game... why have it be DLC? MONEY!

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PixelGorilla

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Edited By PixelGorilla
@Steamboat said:

" Why the FUCK are people fine with them having DLC announced ages before the game's even released!? FUCKING games these days FUCK. FUCK off EA. DLC needs to die. "

  
DLC is planned long before it's released. Once a game has been laid out in terms of content, smaller teams will begin concept work on additional content such as multiplayer maps or single player content. DICE has more than likely already planned out a healthy number of NEW multiplayer maps and a smaller team has begun work on updating classic battlefield maps. Instead of them holding the maps until 3 months or so after release and then selling them for $10, they are going to offer them as a bonus for buying the game when it comes out instead of buying USED or buying at a later date.   
 
Since you can't buy PC games used and most Battlefield 3 PC sales will be digital, I suspect that the PC version will always have the maps included or if not, they will be made available to the PC community for free at a later date in a patch.
  
Perhaps use of such flagship maps as bonus content was a misguided idea but maybe we should hold off until we see the maps built specifically for Battlefield 3 and how many there actually are on-disk (my guess is quite a few since this is a mainline game). 
 
DLC is great and extends the life of a product. It can also be a great incentive for consumers who may have a hard time choosing between two games to buy  game A as apposed to Game B.
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JoeRosa

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Edited By JoeRosa

Oom nom nom nom. Time to lose some sleep!

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FrankCanada97

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Edited By FrankCanada97
@MrKlorox said:
" The fact that they call it an "expansion pack" makes me think it's a separate thing like Vietnam was for BFBC2 instead of a booster that adds those maps to the standard servers. "
Battlefield 3: Battlefield 2
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Seppli

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Edited By Seppli
@Steamboat said:

" Why the FUCK are people fine with them having DLC announced ages before the game's even released!? FUCKING games these days FUCK. FUCK off EA. DLC needs to die. "

First of all. Speak for yourself. DLC is for the win. I love Battlefield as a franchise and I'm sure gonna love BF3. Continous support with DLC is what I expect. More frequent and bigger DLC. I'm no fan of tiny microstransation nickle and dime DLC either. Big expansions like the Vietnam expansion for BF:BC 2 are awesome though.
 
As for the 'Back to Karkand' pack - everybody who buys the game, will get a Limited Edition including these four maps (except for second hand buyers - buttfuck them is what I say). Just today, I bought a brand new copy of Medal of Honor LE for PC (only got the PS3 version thus far) for dirt cheap, since platform-exclusive BF3 Beta access is included on the disc. A full six months after release, Limited Editions is still all that's available on the market - so don't sweat it. Really - EA's new policy with free and worthwhile day 1 DLC for honest customers is quite neat, especially when it's as awesome as this deal.
 
Fuck the second hand business modell. Fuck  cavemannish and  somehow reverese-confused and wierdly anti-entitled gamers who want less post-launch support for their favorite games. You are a Bizarro gamer. Yeah - there's lots of shitty DLC out there and all of them are rather low-risk investments. On the other hand, there's a lot of good and chunky DLC too - which translates into more of the same games I love and more money and work for those who build them and more money for the people who carry the financial risk of developement.
 
It's your money first, before it's theirs. If it's shitty DLC - don't fucking buy it.
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MrKlorox

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Edited By MrKlorox

The fact that they call it an "expansion pack" makes me think it's a separate thing like Vietnam was for BFBC2 instead of a booster that adds those maps to the standard servers. See the "Special Forces" expansion pack for BF2, compared to the booster packs Like Armored Fury and Euro Force.
 
 @TheBostonRag said:

" You mean like Bad Company, or more like the multiplayer-only Battlefield? I've played a bit of both Bad Company games, Battlefield 2 and 1943 (Used to play 1942 on my PC a while back). They're all the same to me and just get old quickly. I was intrigued by the futuristic one they put out but the reviews and comments from friends put that to rest pretty quickly when it released. I'll admit Battlefield Bad Company was definitely more interesting to play, but my other problem is family-related; I have family in Afghanistan and Iraq and I just don't find this crap fun.  Where is Battlefield 3 based? I haven't read up on it much. "

Your friends were wrong. Battlefield 2 fundamentalists boycotted BF2142 which caused it to flop. Anybody who has put time into it and started ranking up knows it is every bit as solid as one of the previous games, and more so than the Bad Company series.

  @notha said:

" @DeathbyYeti said:

" so the game doesnt have a solid release date but they are showing the dlc already? that is classy "

not sure if i'd consider this dlc really, i mean its not like they're new maps or anything thatd really require much forethought, an intern could whip these out in a weekend i bet "
What? Are you joking? That's not how this stuff works. These are complete rebuildings of the older maps. They can't just import something straight from BF2 and expect it to compare visually or gameplay-wise to the rest of the game in the new engine.
 
  @Branthog said:

" How is it DLC if it ships with it and is part of the retail package? DLC is something you buy after a game has released that adds to the content of the game. This is something that comes by default and is only taken away from people who don't buy it brand new. It's kind of the OPPOSITE of DLC. "

I agree. I'm trying to coin the term "DLKey". It's on the disc, but requires an digital key that you can download to access it.
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FrankCanada97

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Edited By FrankCanada97
@TheBostonRag said:
" Sometimes I wish the great technology in games like Battlefield and CoD would make its way into something other than a banal, constantly re-iteration of military shooters. "
Looks like you haven't played a Battlefield game.
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MacGeorge

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Edited By MacGeorge

SHARQI PENINSULA!!!! thank you DICE!

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CatsAkimbo

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Edited By CatsAkimbo
@PixelGorilla said:

PC users will get these maps even if they didn't purchase the "limited edition" (tho they'll probably get them later), it's only the console players that need to worry about getting the LE or paying extra for them.  

I didn't read that anywhere, so I hope you're right!  It'd be a shame to have a fractured user-base once the "limited editions" stop being produced.
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zaglis

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Edited By zaglis

Add Mashtuur City and consider BF3 pre-ordered!

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Sarkhan

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Edited By Sarkhan

Pre orderd on the ps3. But i think i will play it most of the time on the pc. friends on pc who dont use/own a console and friends on ps3 who only have ps3:) But then again. Im getting Portal 2 on ps3 as it still is the best version(Read: Free pc game:) )
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MXC361

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Edited By MXC361
@Chocobo_Blitzer said:
" Hahah Wake! I've been really wondering if they were going to keep the tradition. I'm glad but at the same time it's kinda funny how we're fucking chained to this map. Be 80 years old with your grandson, we gotta save Wake Island sonny! "

This made me ROFL.
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CastroCasper

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Edited By CastroCasper
@DeathbyYeti said:
" so the game doesnt have a solid release date but they are showing the dlc already? that is classy "
I really hate that about new games. I can see like maybe announcing it a few days after, but this day one DLC seems excessive, or something. 
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Agent47

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Edited By Agent47
@Steamboat: Well although I have to say Pre-Order DLC is stupid, poisoning the industry and needs to die.This buy new DLC insentive is pretty cool marketing.Simply put buy the game new, and you get the goodies no hassle of rushing on release day.It also somewhat  help their sales by  giving people who buy the game new a bonus.Even though I don't see why people bother buying used when their is only a $5 difference.Are they really that cheap?
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nERVEcenter

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Edited By nERVEcenter

Quite a spread of Battlefield history?
 
Yeah, just Wake. The other three maps only appeared in BF2. Oh, actually, scratch that, Battlefield 2142's recent 1.51 patch features Karkand 2142.

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PixelGorilla

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Edited By PixelGorilla
@CatsAkimbo said:
" I think this is kind of a terrible idea.  These are my favorite maps from Battlefield 2--some of my favorite maps from any FPS--and I really want to play the shit out of them in BF3.  So not including them in the main game or giving them out for free really bugs me, because it's only going to limit how many people will be available to play with.  A year after the game is out, it'll be pretty depressing if only 40% of the people have these maps.  I have faith that DICE can create some good new maps, but damn if I don't want to just hop on a karkand server for a couple hours without pulling out my old BF2 dvd's. "
 
The maps are free with the "limited edition" which is supposed to be the first printing of the game (but you can find EA "limited editions" for Bad Company 2 and Medal of Honor all over the place).  
 
PC users will get these maps even if they didn't purchase the "limited edition" (tho they'll probably get them later), it's only the console players that need to worry about getting the LE or paying extra for them. 
 
It's a good incentive to fans to buy the game new at release, much like the Gears of War 2 flashback maps, but maybe they shouldn't have used such iconic maps. I'm sure they'll have amazing maps available on disk, tho.
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ZeroCast

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Edited By ZeroCast
@Branthog said:
" How is it DLC if it ships with it and is part of the retail package? DLC is something you buy after a game has released that adds to the content of the game. This is something that comes by default and is only taken away from people who don't buy it brand new. It's kind of the OPPOSITE of DLC. "
It's my understanding that people who buy the game after this offer is over will have to pay for the maps thus making it DLC just like you said.
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Crono

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Edited By Crono

Good business move. Most BF fans won't be able to resist these series-iconic maps.

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CatsAkimbo

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Edited By CatsAkimbo

I think this is kind of a terrible idea.  These are my favorite maps from Battlefield 2--some of my favorite maps from any FPS--and I really want to play the shit out of them in BF3.  So not including them in the main game or giving them out for free really bugs me, because it's only going to limit how many people will be available to play with. 
 
A year after the game is out, it'll be pretty depressing if only 40% of the people have these maps.  I have faith that DICE can create some good new maps, but damn if I don't want to just hop on a karkand server for a couple hours without pulling out my old BF2 dvd's.

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FuzzYLemoN

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Edited By FuzzYLemoN

Wake Island


DONE.
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theswoosh

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Edited By theswoosh

if its not worth it to pay full price for the game minus this DLC then don't!
 
If it is, then do!

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Tesla

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Edited By Tesla

Not sure why people always freak out about DLC.   
 
Most of the time it costs about as much as a movie ticket, and 9 times out of 10 you'll get more entertainment hours out of DLC content than you would with a 2 hour movie.  I don't see anyone lambasting the existence of movie theaters.  Of course I have a job, and I also realize that just because a company offers something doesn't mean I have to buy it. 
 
I guess what I'm trying to say is, you need a change in perspective if this outrages you.

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Branthog

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Edited By Branthog

How is it DLC if it ships with it and is part of the retail package? DLC is something you buy after a game has released that adds to the content of the game. This is something that comes by default and is only taken away from people who don't buy it brand new. It's kind of the OPPOSITE of DLC.

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elko84

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Edited By elko84

Hey guess what, just a heads up that we will be asking you for more money after you buy the game first.

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thebostonrag

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Edited By thebostonrag
@Feikken: That's OK if you're OK with it. I don't like it though. I guess it's too current/real for me? Does that make sense?
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Steamboat

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Edited By Steamboat

Why the FUCK are people fine with them having DLC announced ages before the game's even released!? FUCKING games these days FUCK. FUCK off EA. DLC needs to die.

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GetBentTheVideoGame

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@SomeDeliCook said:
" Hurray, DLC announced for a game just announced! "
This. Ridiculous.
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Kontrapunkt

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Edited By Kontrapunkt

Strike at Karkand Gulf of Oman Sharqi Peninsula.
MAN!
 
Also that trailer looked awesome, please please have the SAS.

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Feikken

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Edited By Feikken
@TheBostonRag:  BF3 looks like it's set in the middle east again, sorry!
I don't see your issue about being related to a faction in a game though... I have family in japan, but that doesn't stop me from blowing up my digital cousins... It's a vidya game!
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DonPixel

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Edited By DonPixel

Sharqui Peninsula + Karkand... im geting military!