Battlefield 4 PC beta pre-load starts September 29

PC players can begin pre-loading the Battlefield 4 multiplayer beta on September 29 at 10 a.m. PDT, developer DICE announced today. The pre-load option is only supported on PC, not Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.

Gamers who preorder the Battlefield 4 PC Digital Deluxe Edition, Battlefield 3 Premium members, and owners of Medal of Honor: Warfighter Limited or Digital Deluxe Edition can begin playing the beta on October 1.

On October 4, the Battlefield 4 beta will be opened to all Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC players.

DICE also announced today that PC players must run a 64-bit OS to join the Battlefield 4 beta on PC. The full game will also run on 32-bit Windows OS, but DICE said it wanted to "focus our effort" on testing the 64-bit version of the game in the beta.

Ensuring that Battlefield 4 is fair for all players is also a goal DICE has in mind for the new shooter, the developer said. To this end, DICE will test two anti-cheat measures, FairFight and PunkBuster, during the beta to "make the experience as good as possible for our players."

"You will notice information about the two anti-cheat measures on the server browser pages on Battlelog, and you will also potentially see messaging in the chat box in-game when a cheater is caught," DICE said. "We will get back to you later with more detail on how we are improving our anti-cheat measures in Battlefield 4."

Lastly, DICE confirmed today that the Battlefield 4 beta will end on October 15, ahead of the game's October 29 release for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC and November launch for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Despite the short time between beta and release, DICE believes it has time to implement changes in the final game based on feedback from the beta, executive producer Patrick Bach said recently.

The Battlefield 4 beta features the Siege of Shanghai map in Conquest or Domination mode. New features and elements like Levolution and Amphibious Assault will be featured in the beta.