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Crysis 2 upgrades to maximum graphics on the PC, get the patch here
After establishing a reputation for cutting edge graphics with the original Crysis, many PC gamers were disappointed with the fact that Crysis 2 did not support DirectX 11. It left their high-performance rigs feeling underutilized. Well, that underutilization comes to an end today, since Crytek officially released two free upgrade packages that will push video cards to the limit and cause you to overdose on eye candy. After upgrading the game to v1.9 via automatic update, you can download and install the DX11 Ultra Upgrade, which adds features like tessellation and displacement mapping, realistic shadows and more. To amp things up even further, grab the Hi Res Texture Pack, which includes impressive graphical improvements whether you're using DX11 or DX9 (64-bit OS and at least 768 MB of video card memory required). Check out the trailer after the jump to see what's in store. Download the Crysis 2 DirectX 11 Ultra Upgrade (545 MB) Download the Crysis 2 Hi Res Texture Pack (1.65 GB) %Gallery-127228%
NVIDIA teases a pair of mystery laptop GPUs running Crysis 2 (video)
Did someone say controlled leak? NVIDIA's come clean about the fact that it has some news to share tomorrow, but until then, it's being oh-so demure about what it has up its sleeve. Behold, an unnamed GPU -- two of 'em, in fact! -- running Crysis 2 in SLI mode. What you see in the short clip below is the DirectX11 version of the game running at 1080p resolution with tesselation enabled and a high-resolution texture pack. All told, the game appears to play smoothly, even with the settings cranked to the max. So just what is this thing? Looks like we'll find out in the morn, folks.
Crysis 2 DirectX 11 update coming June 27, some users already have it
Crytek announced a new "package" for Crysis 2 that will add compatibility with DirectX 11, which should improve the graphics significantly for people who are desperately looking for specific improvements that they know DirectX 11 can provide, and improve the graphics a little for everyone else too. A high-resolution texture pack will be available at the same time. However, it would appear that some users already have the packages. Crytek noted in an update to the announcement that "a number of users were able to download the DX11 and High res texture packages from our test environment," a leak that has since been closed. The rest of us will get to look at those textures, lit by those no-doubt improved lighting effects, on Monday, June 27. A patch will also go out the same day -- it's required for the new textures and the DX11 compatibility.
Crytek denies it has new Xbox hardware
Earlier this week, Videogamer reported a rumor that the next generation of Microsoft hardware would be unveiled at E3 2012 and that Crytek already had its mitts on it, supposedly developing TimeSplitters 4 -- which would also be shown off at next year's annual trade show. However, according to the latest Crytek newsletter, it's all baloney. "Relating to the recent rumours, Crytek do not have any next generation hardware from Microsoft, nor do we know when Microsoft may announce future hardware or what that hardware will entail. Crytek are working at pushing the boundaries of what current technology can bring, including our focus on DX11 which will be released shortly as an update for Crysis 2, and we believe this work, added to our estimations of what the new hardware will provide, set up CryENGINE as a next generation engine for all consoles." Besides, it wouldn't make much sense for Microsoft to announce a new console when it's all gung-ho on Kinect right now -- unless the new console uses Kinect. You guys, we think we just figured it out!
Crysis 2 ditching Steam not an EA decision; Origin-exclusive titles planned
Earlier today, Crysis 2 and other notable EA titles vanished from Steam. Initially thought to be a decision involving EA's new digital platform, Origin, it turns out EA didn't really have a hand in its expulsion from Valve's service -- apparently "Crytek has an agreement with another download service" which violates some new rules imposed by Steam, resulting in the "expulsion of Crysis 2 from Steam," according to comments made by EA to Giant Bomb. Neither Valve nor EA are talking about what these "new rules" are, but all signs point to Origin. Crysis 2 is available there, as are other games pulled from Steam -- Alice: Madness Returns can only be found on Origin (until June 17, it appears), though several other notable EA titles such as Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Dragon Age 2 and Bulletstorm still remain on Steam. In the future, EA hopes to offer exclusive content through its Origins portal, including games. Frank Gibeau, president of EA Games, told GI.biz that "EA's going to have some of our own platform exclusives" on the new service. This includes Star Wars: The Old Republic, which will only be offered through Origin. "I think long-term you'll see we believe in reach so we will have other digital retailers for our products because we want to reach as many audiences as possible," Gibeau said. "But at the same time if we can use exclusive content or other ideas to help grow our audience then we're going to do that because we're growing a platform."
PSA: Crysis 2 'Decimation Pack' DLC out now for Xbox 360, PC
It's an ongoing Crysis -- EA and Crytek have launched the second DLC expansion for Crysis 2, dubbed the Decimation Pack, for Xbox 360 and PC. Available right now via the Xbox Live Marketplace and as an in-game purchase for PC, the 800 MSP ($10) add-on content brings five new maps and two new weapons to the Crysis sequel's multiplayer mode. The added maps are: 5th Avenue, Apartments, Chasm, Plaza and Prism. Players' arsenals have been expanded with the long-range FY71 assault rifle and smoke grenades. This is the second multiplayer DLC for the game, which received the Retaliation Pack -- adding four new maps -- last month. Look for the the Decimation Pack to arrive on PS3 June 28. See the new maps and weapons in action after the break.
Crysis 2 offers double XP this weekend for ambitious nanosoldiers
Want to jump twice as high, run twice as fast, and shoot bullets that are twice the size of regular bullets? You ... um, can't. But, if you play Crysis 2 multiplayer this weekend, you'll be able to unlock the game's nanomechanical power-ups twice as quickly.
Amazon Gold Box marking down games all day, Crysis 2 is deal of the day
Once again, Amazon has elected to mark down select video games across a number of platforms as part of its Gold Box promotion. Check out the remaining clues after the jump! If you're not a fan of uncertainty, you can also grab Crysis 2 for $35 in Amazon's Deal of the Day.
Crysis 2 getting 'Retaliation' DLC on May 17
The cybernetic suits of Crysis 2 will soon leap, slide, shoot, and ground-stomp each other in four new DLC maps: "Park Avenue, Transit, Shipyard, and Compound." They're set to drop on May 17 as the "Retaliation" map pack. The add-on is coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, though its availability on PS3 is dependent on whether or not PSN is back up by next week. No price is given in the announcement, nor the trailer, so we'll try to find out for you. Update: An EA rep confirmed with Joystiq a price of 800 MS Points/$9.99 for the DLC.%Gallery-123192%
EA grows digital sales in Q4, stems losses for fiscal year
EA enjoyed solid growth in the final quarter of its 2011 fiscal year (ending March 31), thanks in large part to a bump in digital revenue. Digital sales were up $67 million from the same period a year ago to $211 million. Good ol' boxed games weren't slouching though, as packaged goods revenue increased $44 million up to $838 million. In all, EA rebounded from its rough Q3 to record $151 million in profit during the fiscal fourth quarter. The engine for that growth was a surprisingly impressive quarterly lineup for the company. Seven of its titles from fiscal Q4 have surpassed 1 million units shipped, with Crysis 2, Dead Space 2 and Dragon Age 2 all over the 2-million-shipped mark. DLC for those titles (like Dead Space 2's "Severed" add-on) was the cornerstone of digital profits, as well. Over its entire 2011 fiscal year, EA shipped 12 million units of FIFA 11, 7 million copies of Bad Company 2 (released at the tail end of FY10), and five million each of Medal of Honor, Hot Pursuit and Madden 11. But it seems that, in the grand scheme, these titles weren't enough to alter EA's fortunes for the fiscal year, which ended in a $267 million loss for the company. We suppose there's still a bit of a silver lining, however -- those losses would seem to sting considerably less than the $677 million lost by EA just one year prior.
Over 250 universities sign up for CryEngine 3 educational license
Back in November of 2009, Crytek detailed plans to offer free licenses to universities wishing to work with CryEngine 3. Apparently quite a few showed interest -- more than 250 different institutions over the last year, to be exact. A missive on Crytek's site reads: "Academic institutions in a wide variety of fields including physics, computer science, architecture, film-making, art and design use Crytek's all-in-one game development solution for their projects." This should ensure that not only will future video games feature gun-wielding super soldiers in billion-dollar nanosuits, but also movies, paintings, science projects, book reports, fashion magazines and all of the skyscrapers downtown. [Thanks, Andreas]
Amazon offers Crysis 2 for $40, that nano-suits us just fine
We know you're having a hard time choosing between all the different nanomachine-infused, suit-centric first-person shooters set in a ruined New York City. Why not go with the cheap one? Amazon's marked down Crysis 2 to $39.95 as its current deal of the day.
Crysis 2 editor coming this summer, CryEngine 3 SDK in August
Cevat Yerli, CEO of Crytek, has posted an extensive open letter to Crysis 2 modders on Crymod.com laying out an impressive future for the CryEngine mod scene. First and foremost, Yerli confirms that a Crysis 2 editor is coming this summer, but that news is overshadowed by the announcement of a free CryEngine 3 development kit, which Crytek is making available in August. Essentially, anyone who wants to will be able to download "the latest, greatest version of CryEngine 3," and go to town with everything from the engine code to actual game sample code (from Crysis 2), scripts and all of the tools Crytek used to make Crysis 2. This is big news for modders, as it presents a viable, no-cost alternative to Unreal Engine 3 (which has a similar plan available) and access to all of the shiny features for anyone interested -- though developers who wish to release a game commercially will still have to license the engine. [Thanks, Jackal]
Zumba keeps on dancing atop UK charts
Zumba Fitness, which recently launched on Wii, has been working out in the top spot on the UK sales charts for a second week. With Zumba Fitness on the lips (and working those hips) of the populace, the Xbox 360 version also saw a 14 percent sales increase. Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars and Crysis 2 dueled for second, but ultimately the multiplatform blockheads used The Force to push the billion-dollar nanosuit down into third. Chart-Track notes that the upcoming Easter holiday spurred plenty of retailer sales, which likely contributed to strong sales increases of Call of Duty: Black Ops (+62%, #9), Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (+112%, #11) and Red Dead Redemption (+458%, #13). Head past the break for the top ten.
Multiplatform Crysis 2 brings 'a better game to everyone,' Crytek says
When Crytek announced that the third iteration of its ambitious CryEngine technology would appear on both PC and consoles, a portion of its hardcore fans became skeptical -- would the engine's progression be hampered by a dumbed-down ball-and-chain? The company's R&D principal graphics engineer, Tiago Sousa, responds to that mindset in a new interview with Digital Foundry, saying that a multiplatform approach in developing Crysis 2 was beneficial to the company's central goal -- which is to make big-budget games, not just budget-hostile benchmarks. "The PC market just does not support that cost of development, but going multi-platform does," Sousa said. "If making a game that is bigger, better, more stable, performs better across a wider range of hardware, provides a continued visual benchmark for PC gaming, and more fun with a huge single-player and multiplayer offering is considered selling out, that seems like a really odd application of the phrase. The decision to go multi-platform has allowed us to bring a better game to everyone, which has been our goal all along." That isn't to say Crytek opted for the easy route. The interview highlights Crytek's struggles with limited memory on consoles (just 512MB on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3), adjusting its workflow to eliminate the reliance on a single lead platform, and a lighting feature that didn't quite make the cut for every system. Oh, and you won't believe how much triangle culling there is. Just ... relentless slaughter of triangles, left and right.
Zumba Fitness overtakes Crysis 2 for top UK sales spot
Zumba Fitness and Crysis 2 both moved significantly less product last week in the UK. With only 500 copies separating the two the prior week, the 57 percent drop by Crysis 2 and the 47 percent decline by Zumba Fitness meant the latter took the lead. It seems that "winning" the sales chart last week was all about having the lowest decline in sales, as almost every game in the top six saw a 40-something percent drop (Chart-Track speculates it was the UK's warm weather). This led to Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars forcing itself to maintain third place, while Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters climbed up two spots into fourth and Shift 2: Unleashed decelerated into fifth. Tecmo-Koei's Dynasty Warriors 7 was the only new entry in the Top 40, button-mashing itself all the way up to tenth place. Observe the UK top ten after the break.
Crytek confirms it's working on a DirectX 11 patch for Crysis 2
Crytek has posted that, yes, the team is currently working on a DirectX 11 patch for Crysis 2. There are no details yet on when to expect it or what exactly it will do (early rumors of the patch, debunked by Crytek, suggested it would unlock an advanced graphics mode), but of course it will enable DirectX 11 compatibility for the game. Crytek says it wants to "get the best out of DX11." The patch can't come too soon for poor PC Crysis 2 players -- as you can see above, they're really suffering. Who would bother ever playing a PC game that looked as bad as that? [Thanks, Brian R.]
Crysis 2 in stylish slow-motion (not a framerate joke)
In revising its flagship engine to support a wider range of platforms, Crytek has subtly introduced an entirely different kind of obsolescence. This slow-mo video of Crysis 2, infused with glorious explosions and some LCD Soundsystem, can no longer be the setup for a "slow computer" joke.
Crysis 2 holds back Zumba Fitness invasion on UK charts
Crysis 2 barely held off Zumba Fitness from taking the top spot on the UK sales chart last week, with only 500 copies separating the two, according to Chart-Track. The Zumba rise in the all-formats chart (up 3,148 percent) was triggered by the Wii version's launch on April 1 (no joke). Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars slipped one spot into third, while Shift 2: Unleashed debuted in fourth. Fellow racer Motorstorm: Apocalypse didn't have such a stellar premiere in position 17, perhaps due in part to some launch hiccups. Homefront lost a little ground last week, retreating back to fifth. Keeping THQ's heavily marketed first-person shooter company were two new chart entrants: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters and WWE All Stars, which premiered in sixth and seventh, respectively. Activate power mode and sprint past the break for the UK top ten.
Crysis 2 and 3DS premieres shake up UK top ten
Crysis 2 and the Nintendo 3DS both disrupted the steady order of the UK all-formats charts last week, with Crytek's showcase shooter taking top spot in software. According to Chart-Track, the distribution of sales across formats for Crysis 2 gave 57 percent to Xbox 360, 29 percent to PS3 and 14 percent on PC -- of course, the company doesn't account for digital distribution, which would likely alter the PC figure. Other chart-topping debuts last week included Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars in second and The Sims: Medieval in seventh. The 3DS premiere helped launch Super Street Fighter 4 3D Edition, Pilotwings Resort and Rayman 3D into the overall top ten, with Capcom's portable fighter winding up in fourth as the most popular launch title for the system. The 3DS version of Lego Star Wars 3 was the fifth most successful title for 3DS, just below Super Monkey Ball 3D. Meanwhile, last week's chart-topper, Homefront, lost a little ground and fell back to third place. Check out the UK top ten after the break.
