It's ironic that the rivalry between Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and EA's Battlefield 3 would happen to land right in the heart of election season. The ongoing arguments between the two companies have all the tenets of a classic political rivalry: mudslinging, one-upmanship, and then even more trash talk! It's also a safe bet to assume that this rivalry will continue to intensify until the release of both games.

Today, EA's favorite son is making more news in the on-going fight. While Activision has a timed exclusivity deal with Call of Duty DLC on the Xbox 360, Battlefield 3 now has similar with the PlayStation 3.

The EU PlayStation Blog issued a post from Tommy Rydling - Jr. Project Manager at DICE - that talks about a few things we already know about, such as 48 hour early access to the upcoming beta for owners of the Tier 1 Edition online pass or Medal of Honor: Limited Edition. The post then drops the proverbial bomb with the announcement that all of the DLC content for Battlefield 3 will be exclusive to the PS3 for one week following each release.

This even includes the first DLC offering, Battlefield 3: Back to Karkland, a map pack containing four of the original Battlefield 2 maps that have been re-rendered using the Frostbite 2.0 engine.

This move from EA runs counter to a previous move made by Activision when they announced that DLC content for Modern Warfare 3 would be a timed exclusive for the 360, as part of the exclusively deal revealed last year. So not only will these games be at each other's throats in late October/early November, but now they've even designated territories via consoles. Perhaps I was rash in calling this a political rivalry. This is looking more like an all out gang war.

Battlefield 3's beta will include the Operation Métro map which will see players duking it out in multiplayer inside a bombed out metro tunnel on the outskirts of Paris. In fact, you may remember seeing this map as it was showcased at E3 this year. Battlefield 3 is scheduled for release on October 25th, for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Its rival, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be released a bit later on November 8th, for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Source: EU PlayStation Blog