Battlefield 3 has only just released, but the first installment of DLC has already been announced by EA and has an official release date. “Back to Karkland” will release in December (a week early for those of you on the PS3), and is going to contain a host of great new content. BF3 has already released to huge praise with its expansive maps, fantastic physics engine in Frostbite 2, and wide-scale destruction. With barely a month to explore all the original game has to offer, the new DLC is bound to continue to play new fans while reaching out to their loyal base.

“Back to Karkland” is going “back” to the previous maps of Battlefield 2. The new “remastered” maps include Strike at Karkan, Gulf of Oman, Sharqui Peninsula, and the notorious Wake Island. In addition, they’ll be releasing new vehicles, the DPV, the BTR-90, and the F-35B STOVL, and five new dogtags. If that weren’t enough there will also be 10 “iconic” battlefield weapons. I can only imagine that the ubiquitous M1 Garand will be in the lineup, as well as the Famas, which was strangely missing from the original. If you grabbed a copy of the limited edition of BF3 you will get all of this for free on early release. Otherwise you can count on it setting you back the standard $15 or so.

The Battlefield 3 content is coming to Xbox 360 instead of a previously announced free download of Battlefield 1943, which probably won’t disappoint anyone. For the time being, at least, BF3 is dominating the game blogs and wikis. It remains to be seen how well it will weather the storm of Modern Warfare 3’s release in November. However, it’s very likely that the release of BF3’s DLC in December was timed to refocus attention on the game.

Battlefield has capitalized on an innovative and high-performance new take on cooperative combat gaming, and Call of Duty’s now seven year-old engine and linear style of gameplay is feeling clunkier with every new iteration. It’s unlikely, as EA’s CEO declared, that DICE’s game will be taking CoD’s significant market share, but it will definitely give the game a run for its money. It’s obvious that DICE has had its sights set on converting CoD players in their very linear, quick-time event-riddled single-player campaign, and but the multiplayer is all Battlefield, and the new DLC is a very clear indication that they have not forgotten their original audience.