A WORD FROM BATTLEFIELD 3 EXECUTIVE PRODUCER PATRICK BACH:

It is late September and we are busy wrapping up Battlefield 3 at our DICE development studio in Stockholm, Sweden. This is the best, biggest, and most physical first-person shooter videogame we’ve ever created.

When we started working on Battlefield 3, we knew right away we wanted an authentic style and tone. For that reason, we searched for a military consultant to collaborate with us on the gameplay – showing us how real soldiers move around the battlefield, how they communicate with each other, how they reload a specific weapon or even shoot the hinges off a locked door that stands in their way.

We knew of Andy McNab from his earlier novels and were very excited to work with such a highly decorated expert on Battlefield 3. He was the perfect fit. He consulted on the story of the game, as well as guiding our real-life actors in the motion capture process to make sure the way the characters moved in the videogame were authentic. Combining his knowledge of military operations with the revolutionary animation system in our game, we’re taking the believability in soldier movement to a whole new level in Battlefield 3.

Andy McNab’s novel, “The Russian,” is another fantastic contribution to Battlefield 3. The novel revolves around one of our in-game characters, ex-Spetsnaz operator, Dima Mayakovsky. I am thrilled that this book dives deeper into the life of Dima and allows him to live on in another medium. I hope that you will enjoy this excerpt from the novel, and that your game experience will fuel your interest in it.