GameSpot: The big news about the eight new levels is that they will be focused on enhancing the infantry combat. They won't necessarily be smaller than existing levels, and they will still scale from 16, 32, and 64 players. However, expect a lot more tight confines to fight in, such as building interiors and narrow streets. These are places that are unfriendly to vehicles, but heaven for infantry. For now, we understand that the new levels are set in the Middle East and Asian settings of Battlefield 2, and we saw a dry, arid airfield, with huge, lumbering transports waiting on the tarmac, as well as lots of warehouses. "There are a lot more cover objects, a lot more concentrated areas for firefights," Yee said. "They're not smaller, but designed to be better for firefights." These new levels will also introduce new types of dynamic objects, such as doors and elevators, as well as more destructible objects.

GameSpy: In addition to 12 new weapons, soldiers will get some new gadgets that should make life on foot a little more interesting. First up was the zipline, shot from a high location with a crossbow, allowing players to slide horizontally from one place to another. (Worth noting: more than one player can use the zipline once it's in place, so a squad can take advantage of the zipline together.) Also new is the grappling hook, which essentially acts as an instant ladder: anywhere you can hook it, you can climb up or down, and so can your teammates (or enemies, for that matter, if you forget to pick it up).

GameSpy Login Issues
It has been brought to our attention that some users may be experiencing login problems when trying to log into GameSpy through the BF2 in-game browser. GameSpy is in the process of hunting down the problem to get it fixed they have determined that the issue is related to web sites tracking BF2 stats, the stats tracking feed may be turned off temporarily in order to speed up this process. However, it will be turned back on after this issue has been resolved.

HOTFIX Candidate Now Being Tested!
Listen up soldiers, this update is to inform you that EA and DICE have a HOTFIX candidate for Battlefield 2 v1.01 in testing now. What does this mean? It means the fix for the memory leak found in v1.01 is being tested and will soon be available. While we're unable to specify an exact release date, rest assured, it's not far off and we will keep you updated through this web space.