EA and DICE have finally given up the details for the upcoming Battlefield 3 beta. The open beta will begin on September 29, and will feature the "Rush" game mode on the Operation Metro map. The beta will end on October 10.

If you've preordered the game via Origin, or if you own the Tier 1 edition of Medal of Honor, you will be e-mailed with instructions telling you how to access the beta on September 27, giving you an extra 48 hours of playtime. On the PlayStation 3, the beta will simply appear for download on September 27, with no further action needed.

This is how DICE describes the now-familiar Rush game mode:

First introduced in Battlefield: Bad Company, Rush has now made its way to the heart of the Battlefield series in Battlefield 3. An objective based mode, the attackers have to arm and detonate pairs of M-COM stations in each area of the map to unlock the next area and the next pair of M-COM stations. While defenders have an unlimited amount of spawn tickets, attackers only get new tickets every time they destroy a pair of M-COMs. If all M-COM stations on the entire map are destroyed, the attackers are declared the winning team. If the defenders manage to deplete the attacker's tickets to zero (by killing them), the defenders are declared the winners. As an all-out warfare mode, Rush features a large variety of vehicle setups tuned specifically to that map's landscape and features. Players can find all types of vehicles on Rush maps, including transport vehicles, armored vehicles, helicopters, and of course, jets. Rush offers a compelling objective based all-out warfare game mode for Battlefield veterans.

There will also be a few notable changes to the Rush gameplay:

You cannot use explosives or shoot at the M-COM to take it out. Only arm and disarm.

If the attacking team arms the M-COM, but runs out of tickets, the match will continue until the M-COM detonates or defenders disarm it

If the defenders start disarming an M-COM just before it’s about to blow, the explosion is prevented until the disarm is accomplished. If the defender gets killed during the disarm process, the M-COM will instantly blow

You can't use explosives on the M-COMs anymore? Hrm. I'm interested in thoughts from the community on that decision.

EA has also released the minimum and recommended specifications for the PC version of the game:



Minimum system requirements

OS: Windows Vista (SP 2) 32-bit

Process: 2 GHz dual-core (Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Athlon X2 2.7 GHz)

Memory: 2 GB

Hard drive: 20 GB

Graphics card (AMD): DirectX 10.1 compatible with 512 MB RAM (ATI Radeon 3000, 4000, 5000 or 6000 series, with ATI Radeon 3870 or higher performance)

Graphics card (NVIDIA): DirectX 10.0 compatible with 512 MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce 8, 9, 200, 300, 400 or 500 series with NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT or higher performance)

Sound card: DirectX compatible

Keyboard and mouse

DVD-ROM drive

Recommended system requirements

OS: Windows 7 64-bit

Processor: quad-core CPU

Memory: 4 GB

Hard drive: 20 GB

Graphics card: DirectX 11 compatible with 1024MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 or ATI Radeon 6950)

Sound card: DirectX compatible

Keyboard and mouse

DVD-ROM drive

We'll see you online!