Arthur Gies of Joystiq on the Battlefield 3 beta:

More specifically, releasing this Battlefield 3 beta has been a spectacular miscalculation on EA’s part. It isn’t just the technical issues, though those are distressing. DICE has insisted that the open Battlefield 3 beta is very much that: a beta. And I think that if they had released it six weeks earlier, it would be easier to swallow.

I have heard very few positive comments regarding the Battlefield 3 beta. The release date is just weeks away at this point, and EA is likely in a tough spot now. They were going to have a few week lead on the genre-dominating Call of Duty, but all the bad press will likely scare a lot of people away from even giving it a whirl.

EA has tried to continually tell people it’s a beta, but that only goes so far. People have exceedingly high expectations all the time.