One of the biggest battles of the year in terms of video game launches is set to be the one between Battlefield 3, from developer DICE and publisher Electronic Arts, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, from Infinity Ward and Activision Blizzard. And the main executive of EA is keen to emphasize how the E3 presence of both games shows off the advantage that Battlefield 3 has in terms of graphics and gameplay. Speaking at the E3 2011 trade event, John Riccitiello, who is the chief executive officer of Electronic Arts, has said, “We’re going to have a clash of the titans this fall. The very fact that he’s trying to cast doubt on our game is a perfect example of how we got his goat.” He added, “In terms of where this goes, we think our PS3 game is better than their Xbox game and our PC game is better than their PC game. If that’s all he’s got to say, it’s obviously going to evaporate as we launch all three. If you went to our press conference, you saw the PS3 footage and the Xbox footage. If Bobby thinks that is PC footage, he’s in real trouble.” Riccitiello has previously said that the rivalry between the two first-person shooters was mostly for fun and that the two companies respected each other’s efforts. Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision Blizzard, has suggested that the rather impressive trailers shown for Battlefield 3 were only relevant to the PC version of the game, with the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 versions behind Modern Warfare 3 in the graphics department. I managed to get some hands-on time with Battlefield 3 at E3 and came away impressed with both how the DICE game looks and how it plays in multiplayer. Expect to see more verbal jousting between EA and Activision before the two FPS titles launch.