According to Digital Battle info on the inevitable sequel to the Battlefield series -- Battlefield 3 -- has been leaked via mysterious tipster. According to the tip, the game is scheduled to hit stores late next year with a possible public beta this coming summer and the usual teaser trailers hitting your local Internets in January.

Of course, the list of features -- which you can find after the jump -- should be taken with a grain of salt until we get official confirmation from either EA or, let's say, Jesus Christ, but everything here looks pretty plausible. Unfortunately, its plausibility is directly proportional to just how similar everything sounds to previous Battlefield games. In fact, if you had read this list of features to me yesterday, I would have assumed you were talking about the futuristic Battlefield 2142, or my long-planned video game based on the Iran-Contra scandal Reaganocalypse: Hot Jungle, Cold Steel.

Hit the jump for a whole wad of theoretical features.

• Release in late 2008
• Powered by “Frostbite DX”
• Set in year modern day (just like BF2, ed.)
• Will ship with 8 maps, each supporting up to 40-players per team
• Two playable factions, NATO and MEC (Middle Eastern Coalition)
• Same “ticket-based” gameplay style as before
• Maps are mostly urban, based in Middle East
• Squads and Commanders are present, introduced are “Battalions” which consist of three to four squads.
• Five playable classes; Sniper, Assault, Engineer, Medic and Support
• Will feature 48 different vehicles (24 for each faction)
• Will feature 34 different weapons (17 for each faction) and another 22 unlocks (for both factions), in total 56 different weapons.
• Other unlocks include different types of ammunition, body armor, helmets, camouflage and accessories.
• Possible public beta in “Summer 2008″
• Online stats tracking, awards and “real world ranks”
• “Soldier” feature, looks like MMO-styled characters and avatars
• Ranked servers will be available for resellers weeks before the game ships (for testing, apparently, ed.)
• In-game replay and recording feature
• VoIP, friends list, in-game IM-client and “extensive clan support”
• Built-in auto software updater (no more patches!, ed.)
• Widows Vista and OS X (no XP?!, ed.)
• Announcement and teaser trailer in January 2008.