User blog:PresidentEden78/Armored Kill release date confirmed

After a long wait, one of the most defining expansions of Battlefield 3 is nearly upon us. After having just added more official servers for console players, DICE announced today the release date for Armored Kill.

PlayStation 3 players trotting with Premium will be the first to be able to play on these maps on September 4th. Players on the Xbox 360 and PC with Premium will be able to join the fun a week later on September 11th, while PS3 players without Premium wait another week to September 18th to play these maps. Players on the Xbox 360 and PC without a Premium account will have to wait a whopping three weeks behind their Premium-toting PS3 players to join in on the action on September 25th.

For anyone living under a rock for the past few months, Battlefield 3: Armored Kill will include five new vehicles including two tank destroyers, two mobile rocket batteries, and the ATV that makes a return from Battlefield 2: Special Forces, and more recently, Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

The pack also includes four new maps with varying settings. Alborz Mountain (pictured above) brings the snow to Battlefield 3, while Death Valley takes the fight deep into the latter hours of the night. Armored Shield comes back as the spiritual successor to Bad Company 2's Heavy Metal, and Bandar Desert totes itself as the largest map in Battlefield history.

In addition, players will have access to the AC-130 gunship that has two seats for players who own a certain control point on a map access to its arsenal consisting of a gatling gun, howitzer, and antiaircraft weaponry, in addition as serving a mobile spawnpoint for the team as it circles about the map.

A new game mode, called Tank Superiority, will be available for play on all four maps. Players familiar with Battlefield 1943's Air Superiority mode will recognize the name as the new game mode features a sole control point in the middle of the map. Both the Russian and US bases are filled with tanks and tank destroyers ready for a king-of-the-hill styled game mode to battle it out for control of the map. Vehicles on this game mode also feature an instant respawn to keep players in the action.

In addition to all these features, Armored Kill will feature five new assignments to go along with the new vehicles added in to the mode. All this will come this September at a cost of free for anyone who already has Premium, or US$14.99/£11.99/€14.99/AU$23.95 for those without.