Worth it 100%. There are hackers you may or may not encounter. Some are nice and give others items to help out while others just kill. There are many servers where admins are constantly on and stopping hackers so you just need to find the right servers. Try and play with friends as it makes it much easier to survive longer. Learn the map and spawns quickly so if you die you can meet up quickly. It's an amazing mod. The standalone version is coming out by the end of this year and will have more updates and better hacker protection.

Plenty of players online for the new Close Quarters DLC. It has a new game mode which has made it extremely popular, gun master, which is the same as gun game on Counter Strike Source. Most servers have a mixture of the new DLC and the old maps so it'll be played for much of BF3's lifetime I would think.

I'm running windows 8 and gaming and I have no problems at all. It's very fast and no problems running my games. Just make sure to update your video card drivers. Windows 8 is actually really great. Once past the learning curve its so easy to navigate anywhere and can actually be faster than windows 7

It doesn't release on PC until 6/12/12. It will be 8v8 for online multiplayer. All of the information can be found here on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0081L7E8G/ref=s9_hps_bw_g367_ir01?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-5&pf_rd_r=1DHNQS1075R8PX7Q24DP&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1355528642&pf_rd_i=979455011

Any word if this is compatible with games and punkbuster? I know the developer preview never let me play on Battlefield 3 online.

Go with a small world to start out. Once you craft more materials and better weapons, go up to a bigger world. You'll find more ores, areas, and treasures.

They did mention that not all of the games have been fully transferred yet and to be patient. They mentioned ALL games will transfer and nothing will be lost.

Just got my invite last night. Flew around for a bit. Graphics seem good, but I think they have a lot disabled (DX11) since its just in beta testing. I won't judge yet. Flying is simple I think there must be a setting to increase realism more or it's just not in the beta.

Dolby Axon gives access for 50 people per room but you can be in multiple rooms with hot keys to chat in each one at the same time