Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 may be the king of the hill when it comes to online first-person shooters, but EA is making a serious push to keep stride with their own online combat title, Battlefield: Bad Company 2.  The game’s online suite is arguably superior to that of Modern Warfare 2’s, and since its launch on March 2, the multiplayer servers have been consistently full, offering hours upon hour of balanced gameplay.  Not to be outdone in the content department, EA has announced that a free DLC map pack will be coming…the same day that Modern Warfare 2’s DLC hits.

The "VIP Map Pack 2" will arrive March 30, and while it doesn’t include any new maps, it will open up Rush mode for the Laguna Presa map, and Conquest mode for the Arica Harbor map.  The map pack is free for those who entered their VIP codes when they purchased the game new.

The press release announcing the map pack doesn’t just give info about the DLC to players, it also takes a few not-so-subtle jabs at Modern Warfare 2.  In addition to announcing their DLC launch, which will be for Xbox 360 and PS3, on the same day as MW2’s "Stimulus Package" DLC, which is for the 360 only, the press release also explains their free DLC with a few pointed words;

VIP members will be able to expand on the deep and ever changing sandbox experience, which in itself provides near endless hours of entertainment, by having new content to keep things fresh. It also plays a vital part in making sure you, the players get proper value for the money you’ve invested in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. This is why these map packs are available at no extra cost, contradicting the industry standard and what our direct competitors are doing. Of course, it also helps avoid segmenting the community, making sure everyone can play together having the same maps available. There will be future paid downloadable content as well but these packs will focus on expanding other parts of the game experience rather than the selection of maps available for the basic game modes. We’re dedicated to taking care of this product for a long time – helping you avoid “mapathy” without getting nickel-and-dimed.

Modern Warfare 2 certainly has more players than Bad Company 2, though BC2’s numbers are pretty impressive in their own right, but many critics and gamers see DICE’s game as the superior multiplayer experience.  I happen to be one of them, and am extremely excited about the new DLC, but EA needs to fix their chronic connectivity issues if they want to compete with the most profitable console game of all time.