Nominative Determinism: PlanetSide 2's Battle Islands
Like Snake Island, Pulsing Wart Peninsula, and Angry Infected Monkey Lake, I can't help but feel that PlanetSide 2's upcoming Battle Islands have had their fate decided for them. You know what you're getting into when you visit Snake Island, and the same goes for the newest chunks of Auraxis. The Battle Islands have twin purposes: giving the game smaller maps that are separated from the larger continents for e-sports purposes, for events and the like, but for the live game they'll also act as mid-point maps that link the continents together. The name that's been given to this first lovely, foresty chunk of land: Nexus. Want to see it in action?
It is very pretty. Tank battles through forests, ice-caves for infantry battles, valleys of ice to ambush people in. When you take part in a live server you'll be fighting for more than just continental control. This is about world domination: the islands connect continents together, turning the meta-game into something bigger and more meaningful. It won't be three separate continents, anymore, but a linked world. Though that notion will only work with capture warp-gates, which is on the horizon in a November update.
For e-sports, specifically the MLG, the map will hold 48 vs 48 fights, but expect to see over 250 players in live games.