DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson revealed that the studio's upcoming shooter will launch with a powerful web portal that includes social tools, friend feeds, detailed stats, voice chat, real-time friend tracking, and more. The monthly fee for all this additional multiplayer support: $0.

In a blog post teasing Battlefield 3's E3 presence, when he wasn't taking shots at that other multiplayer shooter franchise Troedsson mentioned that DICE and EA will be showing off both single- and multiplayer gameplay, and that the press will be able to play multiplayer on a single map called Operation Metro. He also made mention of team deathmatch, the ubiquitous mode that DICE normally avoids in its releases.

Send your jealous vibes Matt Bertz's way; he'll be the GI editor knee deep in BF3 at the show. Look for extensive hands-on reporting dropping here next week.