BF2142 shoots down gold

The team at Digital Illusions isn't resting on its laurels. Less than a year and a half after releasing the top-selling PC shooter Battlefield 2, the Swedish studio is almost ready to release its follow-up, Battlefield 2142.

On the game's official Web site, publisher Electronic Arts has announced that the game has gone gold. The last hurdle the game has to leap before it is sent off for replication is final testing with the quality assurance team. Provided all goes smoothly, PC gamers will be shooting away at each other on October 17.

Battlefield 2142 takes the popular multiplayer series more than a dozen decades into the future. Large-scale fights arise after rival factions compete over the last inhabitable portions of the Earth following a near extinction-level Ice Age. New units include tanks that double as hovercraft, bipedal armored vehicles known as walkers, and high-tech aircraft that have the advantages of both jets and helicopters.

Battlefield 2142 has not yet been rated and will retail for $49.99. For more information on the game, read GameSpot's previous coverage.