BFBC2: Single Player, Server Rental, Beta

So it's about time we caught up with what's going on with Battlefield: Bad Company 2, since the multiplayer footage has seemed so solid. DICE have coughed up a single player trailer (below), which is all very spectacular, but kind of predictable in that military-hardware porn with a rock soundtrack that we're kind of getting over-familiar with now. Anyway, there are a couple of other bits of news that might be of interest. The first is that despite bleating about their dedicated server support when the stuff about Modern Warfare 2's atrocious online service came to light, those dedicated servers can, apparently, only be rented from DICE's pre-approved partners. Setting up your own server if you happen to have a host-capable box won't be an option. So it's better than the MW2 situation, but it's still not great. The multiplayer beta for PC begins on the 28th, so we will at least be able to take a look at these approved partners - which are the usual suspects of mass games server hosting - and see how their options hold up.