EA, and the Battlefield franchise have gone a bit strange in the head.  With models that look a bit like Team Fortress, the newly announced Battlefield Heroes will be a free game from EA; with a catch.  It will add advertisements.  Unlike previous games with ads, these won’t actually be in game, but will be on the website, and the ‘front-end’ of the game.  I figure that means every time you start the game, there will be an ad in with the nVIDIA, Intel (etc) screens at the beginning, and maybe one playing in the background of the server browser and probably one to watch while you are loading a map.  Check out the news at Ars Technica, including the customizations you are allowed to purchase for your character.  Yes, buy, as in pay for.

“PC gaming is a business where it is becoming increasingly hard to make a dollar. The rise of consoles, the threat of piracy, and the ever-increasing cost of development all lead to an environment that doesn’t welcome innovation or, for that matter, profit. EA is beginning a new approach with the upcoming Battlefield Heroes, a cartoonish and lighthearted take on its popular Battlefield series of war games. The catch? The game will be released for free and will support itself through in-game advertising and microtransactions.”

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Gaming