Battlefield 2 patch almost battle-ready

In a posting on Electronic Arts' official Battlefield 2 Web site, a community update gives the latest on the third patch for the popular first-person shooter. According to the author, the patch's release is imminent, saying, "Barring any last-minute issues, the 1.03 update is only a few days from release now."

The biggest addition to the game will be a new official map from EA and publisher Digital Illusions. The battleground is described as "a modern-era update of one of the most popular maps from Battlefield 1942--Wake Island." The US Marine Corps has been deployed to the island to fend off The People's Liberation Army and to regain control of American supply lines.

The update also adds some features and tweaks some old ones. Supply drop icons will now appear on the 3D map and main map, a favorites list for servers has been added, and points are now awarded for "destroying the commander's toys." For a full list of changes, check out the Web site.

This is the first major patch since v1.01, which was released in July. A few days later, v1.02 was released to fix a bug in v1.01.