Event: Battlefield Vietnam Focus Group Event Date: 12/04/03 Written By: Warhawk Date Written: 12/04/03

Today, Dima, Mameman and I were invited to the secret underground headquarters of today’s foremost world power. Yes, that’s right; I’m talking about Electronic Arts. We were there to share our expert gaming experience and game design advice with the Battlefield Vietnam development team. First we were escorted into a conference room, where we were told that our every move is being videotaped and recorded. We were also told that several members of the development team would be watching us though a mirror that occupied one end of the conference room.

We were asked several questions by a nice woman, who copiously wrote down every word we said. We discussed at length our current battlefield 1942 experience, and what we hoped to see in the new Vietnam game.

Then, with a trumpet fanfare, the angels in heaven began to sing, and the glorious Battlefield Vietnam was unveiled to us. Actually it wasn’t trumpet fanfare or angels singing, but rather the song “War” which no doubt you have heard, and which went along with the 60s Vietnam era rock and roll feel that was supposed to help us get into the mood of the game. It worked; as soon as the game screen appeared, we were instantly absorbed into the ambiance of the scene. The level was like something pulled out of Apocalypse Now. The map had a long snaking river that went down the center of the map. The scenery was a lush jungle, complete with grass huts and other things you would expect to see. We had at our disposal several jeeps, a couple riverboats (as seen in the aforementioned movie) as well as the ever important huey helicopter. Dima and I went towards the helicopter. Someone got in ahead of us and fired up the rotor blades. As the blades spun, it kicked up a cloud of dust in my face as I ran to catch the chopper before it lifted off. I got in just in time, and took the door gunner spot. We rose off the ground and began to fly over the river. I listened to the radio chatter coming from the cockpit as I scanned the foliage below me, with my door mounted M-60. Ahh yes, the look and feel of this game was truly great.

We played through a couple of maps and got to try out both the American and VC sides. There was a new character selection menu, which gave you not only the option of selecting a character class, but also sub choices as far as which weapons you could be outfitted with. Most of the weapons were done very with (with a few others, such as the mortar, needing a little tweaking). The game play was much different from any battlefield of DC game. Instead of wide open maps, the maps were filled with foliage and dense hilly terrain. Guerrilla warfare will definitely play a key part in this game, as sneaking in and around bushes becomes an important skill.

We, the focus group, played against the actual game testers, who were stationed in a completely separate room. The game testers obviously knew this game well, and had definite strategies for completely dominating every map. Even though our team lost badly every round, I was able to get top overall score on the first round, which I was quite proud of. I was also able to take top team score, and second overall the next round, with Dima coming in close behind me.

During the gaming session, some of the developers were present to give us a few pointers on new elements of the game. One of which was the ability to airlift vehicles with the helicopter. This is going to be a very interesting aspect of the game; once people are able to get the hang of doing it (none of us were able to do it this session). We were told that vehicles being airlifted will be able to have people inside of them, AND they will be able to fire weapons while being airlifted.

After our gaming session was finished. We went back to the conference table and discussed our likes and dislikes about the game. We pointed out things we would like to see fine tuned, things we want taken out, and things we want added. After a lengthy discussion, the woman interviewing us left the room for a bit and returned with concept magazine advertisement artwork as well as the proposed game cover art.

After we gave our opinions on these, we were able to pick a free game from a pile of games. On our way out, I talked to the guy running the show, and he seemed really excited. He told us that we provided some really good input and thanked us profusely for attending.

It was a great day for TMC; we were able to play Battlefield Vietnam, which is something few gamers on the planet can attest to. On top of that, we were able to hopefully influence the outcome of the finished product. We look forward to playing this finished product when it hits shelves, but unfortunately it may be quite some time before that happens. It turns out that the version of the game that we played was only a pre-alpha… that’s right PRE-alpha. For something that has yet to even reach the alpha phase, it played remarkably well, but it still wont be close to being finished till probably spring of next year.

ADDENDUM - 01/25/2026 By Warhawk

This was not the first focus group I had done for EA. Way back in the Sega Genesis days, I did several Focus Groups for EA on many different Genesis games, most of which never came out. In fact, of the games I focus group tested, I think the only ones that saw the light of day were Road Rash III and another one called Sub Terrania (which ultimately was not published by EA). Focus groups were always a lot of fun and it was exciting to have an opportunity to see and provide feedback on games that had not been released yet. The typical setup was going into a conference room with a big conference room table and some game stations off to one side. On another side of the room was a big mirror, which turns out to be a two way mirror with observers on the other side taking notes and recording the session.

This particular session was not much different than those early sessions I was part of as a kid. The EA folks definately struck upon the core Battlefield audience when thy found us, and they seemed very excited about our feedback. I think the magazine ads they showed us were things they werent planning to have as part of the session; but were brought in impromptu when they realized they had such a dedicated group of Battlefield players on their hands. The ad they showed us was a three page magazine print ad that ran in the March 2004 issue of PC Gamer, as well as many other popular publications of the time.