Many players have chosen their "side" and are either getting Battlefield 3 this month or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 next month. One of the biggest fanbase every, the other the most advanced tech behind it. No matter which game players, choose, be it both or juts one, it's a huge win for the industry in more ways than one.

Not only does DICE and Electronic Arts' latest Battlefield title help offer an alternative to the latest Call of Duty and thus, drive some healthy (and needed) competition but it's aiding the industry big time in driving hardware sales.

No matter which way you put it, Battlefield 3 is designed for the PC. Only the PC can handle the game's incredible graphics and only the PC can support 64-player multiplayer. It is because of this that PC hardware sales have jumped an astonishing $1 billion dollars just for PC upgrades to play it. I built a new PC from scratch this spring and I'll definitely be checking out BF3 on PC...

Just like Call of Duty helps sell consoles, Battlefield 3 is driving PC and component sales. We see this all the time come holiday season with Call of Duty since each installment comes out annually in November. Xbox 360 is even offering a Modern Warfare 3 bundle with a themed console.

With DICE developing and implementing the new Frostbite 2 engine, they are bridging the gap so to speak between the current generation and the next, laying the foundation for what the new-age consoles will be able to do. We're seeing similar to a certain extent with games like RAGE and Crysis 2.

It won't be long now until the "big three" show off what's next. Nintendo has already started to and rumors are running rampant about the Xbox 360 successor from Microsoft. There's even talk about Treyarch developing their Call of Duty: Black Ops follow-up for the next-gen so perhaps that time is coming sooner, rather than later.

With MW3 taking heat for running the same engine and visuals as the last few games in the series, especially when compared to the impressive BF3 visuals, they have to implement a new engine with next-gen graphics for their next title and that's falling on the shoulders of Treyarch.

It's an exciting time and for all of us at Game Rant, we'll be getting both games and can't wait for what comes next on the console front.

Modern Warfare 3 will be released on November 8, 2011 and Battlefield 3 releases October 25, 2011, both for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

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Source: Gamefront

Header edited from image by FragWorld.