If you blinked, you might have missed it. After a bit of a rocky start, DICE / EA’s download-only Battlefield 1943 saw an insane amount of play. Starting last Friday, July 10, at 19:43 CEST (GMT+2) – very cute, guys – DICE kept track of every kill in every game of 1943, with an unlockable fourth map and second game mode being the reward for the community’s efforts to reach 43 million kills.
And at around 4:30PM EDT yesterday, the Xbox 360 surpassed that goal, unlocking Coral Sea and Air Superiority for everyone on that platform. I was online, playing like a madman with everyone else, but I was not the lucky (skillful?) one to score the 43,000,000th kill. That honour goes to Xbox LIVE user jkasapi, from Peterborough, England. He wins a bunch of branded 1943 gear, including a t-shirt and running shoes. And undoubtedly a billion friend requests and horrifying voice messages.
So what’s Air Superiority? Take all of 1943’s flags away, put everyone in a large map made of mostly water, and give everyone a plane. Then let them dogfight it out for control of the center of the map. Cool stuff for people who’re looking for emphasis on dogfighting. Given that I’m absolutely terrible with planes (I have now failed three times to use a parachute when bailing out), I’ll be sticking to running around lobbing grenades at Scouts. Thankfully, Coral Sea is not in rotation with the game’s other three maps, but accessed through a separate main menu option.
PlayStation 3 users still have a bit of a ways to go to unlock the Coral Sea map for their platform. Last I checked, they’re around 25.8 million kills.
Some stats, for those who like numbers: The Xbox 360 averaged about 45,000 kills per hour. The PlayStation 3, a bit over half that, at 24,000. The game is still 100% awesome regardless of platform, though.
Source: battlefield1943.com
Brad Petch has been playing games longer than most gamers have been alive. This does not mean he's good at them, or has good taste in them. Online interactions are not rated. 