Battlefield Heroes Beta Site Experiences Security Breach

I opened up my email client today to get the following from a couple of our users as well as one addressed to me as well from QABoss, the company responsible for handling the beta test for Battlefield Heroes.

Security Notice:

QA Boss has been made aware of a security breach which exposes QA Boss forum user names, email addresses and encrypted passwords. While passwords are encrypted, it must be assumed that the encryption can be broken.

As a safety precaution, it is advisable that anyone who uses passwords on other accounts, particularly email, which may be similar to the one used on the QA Boss system, should consider changing their non QA Boss passwords.

We also feel that it may be prudent for users to change their QA Boss passwords. Instructions can be found in the News & Announcement section of the forums at http://qaboss.com

Ouch, this kind of stings.  We have sent emails to EA and QABoss to gather further details on the security breach, to find out how many accounts have been affected, and will update when we receive those emails.

Battlefield Heroes Looking for Beta Signups

Today, ActionTrip gave the heads up on Electronic Arts accepting applications for the Battlefield Heroes beta.  Battlefield Heroes is a new concept for EA, which includes lowering the specs needed to play as well as making the game free.  Right now, the beta signups are being handled here, but there is only generic information available once you get in.

Battlefield Heroes Trailer Goes Live

Battlefield Heroes was recently announced by DICE Studios as a new take on the Battlefield universe. The game is to be free of charge, with microtransactions for anyone that wants to customize their character’s look. This game is a standalone game that is separate from the Battlefield series. One thing to notice is that the look of the game has a strange Team Fortress 2 look to it. DICE developers have said that they had their engine in development for this game long before Team Fortress 2, but I have a hard time believing that considering that Team Fortress 2 has been in development since 1999.

The game is being designed to run on low end hardware as well. So for desk jockeys at work, this might be the next game that you will want to play on that underpowered work PC. Same thing goes for casual players that may not have a $500 video card to get the most out of their DirectX10 experience.

I like the idea of a game being for free, this game just does not seem to do it for me. I am happy that the game will not show ads in game, but only in lobbies and as the game is loading. But looking at the weak entry that Battlefield 2142 was, and the fact that the game looks like a red headed stepchild knock-off of Team Fortress 2, I am skeptical. But, free is a powerful thing, so I will at least dabble around in it to see if it is any good, and at least the trailer funny. After all, you won’t find the game on Bit Torrent.