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Ignition licenses CryEngine 3 for new action game
With games like Deadly Premonition, Muramasa and Nostalgia, Ignition has made a cottage industry out of bringing oddball titles to market in Europe and North America. You can imagine our surprise to read that the company has licensed Crytek's CryEngine 3 for the first game from its London studio, "a uniquely crafted combat action-adventure" for 360 and PS3. So, wait a minute, the house that brought us Boing! Docomodake DS is cooking up a CryEngine action game on PS3 and 360? Dare we ask? Could this be ... the remix to Ignition?
Crytek interested in offering free development platform
When Epic offered the Unreal SDK free to all users, it got Crytek to thinking -- specifically, thinking about doing the same thing. Speaking to Develop, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli said that his company is looking to offer a free platform for budding game developers "that will be up to speed" with CryEngine 3. It's nothing new to Crytek, which offered free versions of its previous platforms to the modding community, but this new venture is something different -- a "standalone free platform that people can run independent of CryEngine that will also be up to speed with the latest engine," Yerli hopes. While he's quick to point out it's not the same thing as what Epic and Unity are doing -- another popular game development tool that offers a bit of variety in free and premium toolsets -- we're hard-pressed to find much of a difference between the two. Crytek curently has no timetable for release of the new platform, nor has it commented on potential tech and licensing agreements stemming from the new venture.
CryEngine 3 visiting GDC in stereoscopic 3D
Stereoscopic 3D visuals can really bring a tear to the eye, especially if your hand-eye coordination is off and you end up jabbing a plastic temple arm into a squishy place. Don't do that. Instead, CryEngine developer Crytek wants you to marvel at the latest addition to its engine, which will power upcoming urban shooter Crysis 2. This year's Game Developers Conference (running in San Francisco from March 9 to March 13) will mark the debut of stereoscopic 3D support in CryEngine 3, the company announced. According to Carl Jones, Crytek's director of global business development, the technology will enable engine licensees to create 3D content on all supported platforms. It will enhance CryEngine 3's "LiveCreate" feature, which allows a single editor to create content that's playable on all three high-end platforms: PC; PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. "There are basically no longer any limits to a designer's creativity," Jones said. We can't wait to see what kind of sci-fi cyborg shooters all the developers have in store for us at GDC. In 3D!
Planet Calypso debuts their new mission system with a bang
A literal bang, actually. Not only has Planet Calypso updated to version 2010|01 (their new system uses the year and update number, rather than version number) but they've also had a small volcanic eruption that's changed part of the map. Blizzard, eat your cataclysmic heart out. While the newly re-terraformed area of Cyclops has been visually improved by the team and patched in under the 'guise of a volcanic explosion, the version update also brings the anticipated mission system to Calypso. The mission system, which is in a public beta, more or less, is only currently offering 5 tutorial missions to newbies landing on Calypso for the first time. Once you complete those five missions, be sure to offer your feedback in the survey that pops up at the end. That information will be used to make more missions for higher level players, so don't be stingy! Also, there's fish. Remember those fish we showed last time? Yeah, those fish. If you value your ankles, you'll watch where you swim.
Aion gets a post-launch discussion in Game Developer magazine
With a couple months under its belt and a more stable playerbase, Aion is no longer in the state of just-launched new hotness any longer. You might be one of the game's still-numerous fans, or maybe you stepped away from the game because of the grind. Either way, there were a number of innovative and interesting features in the game, which was designed from the ground up to appeal to gamers on both sides of the pond. The latest issue of Game Developer magazine has a lengthy feature on what went right and what went wrong from the Aion team's point of view. The CryEngine and the game's overall level of polish are both cited as decisive positives for the game, helping the game feel more vital and engaging. The limited amount of flight early in the game is also pointed out as helping to simplify the learning curve, as navigating combat in three-dimensional space can get overwhelming for first-time players. On the flip side, the developers also talk about the amount of pressure on the frequently-changing team, as well as the technical and conceptual troubles with working on the Abyss. If you're interested in reading the full article, you should pick up a copy of the magazine, which is only around $4 for a digital copy.
CryEngine 3 released; box of tissues not included
If Crytek's, like, next next-gen-ready CryEngine 3 performs even half as well as advertised, then the tears are gonna flow -- tears of joy. Imagine an engine through which a developer, using a single editor and dev PC, can create and test a game for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 ... at the same time. (You don't even have to imagine it, actually; there's a video after the break!) That's the picture Crytek's painting as it today releases its third iteration of the CryEngine for license to third-party developers.As promised in the press release: CryEngine 3 features real-time conversion and optimization of assets and cross-platform changes that "significantly" reduce the risk (and headache) of multiplatform development. So, in layman's terms, it renders really good graphix -- even if you have no idea how to develop on PS3."With its scalable graphics and computation it is next-gen-ready and with new features like CryEngine 3 Live Create the best choice for game developers and companies developing serious games applications alike," trumpets Crytek boss Cevat Yerli. "It is the only game engine solution that enables real-time development and can ensure teams are able to maximize their own creativity, save budget and create greater gaming experiences."Okay. So what's it cost?%Gallery-75586%
Monkey Island 2 CryEngine remake defies expectations
We were all set to write a dismissive post about the video (after the break) of fanmade Monkey Island 2 environments in CryEngine -- "Hey, wonder what Monkey Island 2 would look like if it had all the life sucked out of it?" We don't have anything against loneclone, the modder who created the project -- we just assumed that the remake would take all the personality and quirk out, and replace it with hyperrealistic lighting effects. But we can't snark about it, because loneclone completely nailed it. It looks pretty much exactly like the original, but in 3D. You can see art comparisons at the modder's site. [Thanks, Christopher L.]
Crytek's CryEngine in UK classrooms
Students of video game design in the United Kingdom should be doing back flips after hearing that Crytek is donating their CryEngine free of charge to all universities in the country. CryEngine is most famously known as the graphics engine behind visually stunning titles such as Crysis and Aion.This is really big news because only the priciest universities tend to license high quality software for their students to learn on. They're the only ones that can afford it. It's also great for students to dream up pie in the sky concepts for games, but knowing what's practical in the real world is essential. "Universities are looking to foster creativity and send people out into the industry who have lots of ideas, but it's also about that practical hands-on training so that they know what the limitations are," says Managing Director of Crytek UK Karl Hilton. "It's very easy for students to come out of the academic world and not have a grasp on the realities of making a video game."We hope more MMOs are released with CryEngine due to its stellar performance and scalability and it would be great if other graphics engine companies followed suit to increase the options in our genre.
Planet Calypso, formerly Entropia Universe, converts to CryEngine 2
In just two days, Planet Calypso, formerly Project Entropia and Entropia Universe, will be shutting down for a major patch of epic proportions. The game will be undergoing a graphical refit, moving from their old graphics engine to the new CryEngine 2 -- the same engine that powers Crysis and upcoming virtual world Blue Mars. Old and busted, meet the new hotness.The new version of the client, version 10, is now available for download before this whole conversion process takes place. The servers will be shut down on Sunday night/Monday morning at midnight UTC as version 10 is deployed to the servers. The servers will be unavailable for a few days, as the First Planet Company does a full diagnostic on the servers to make sure everything is good to go.
GDC09: Crytek announces CryENGINE 3
The manufacturer of beautiful virtual worlds your computer can never run, Crytek, has just released a video for the latest iteration of its own CryENGINE, uh, engine: CryENGINE 3. Aside from being a pain to type, it's also a platform for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, MMO, and DX9/DX10 development (which we already knew) that provides scalable computation and graphics for all major upcoming platforms, making it "next-gen ready." In speed tests, the engine ran at over 800 Van-Dammes per second, destroying CryENGINE 2's record of 150 Stathams per second.Cevat Yerli, CEO & President of Crytek, really thinks the company has a winner here and hopes that developers will use the tech to get started on tomorrow's great games today. He describes the new engine as "a revolutionary change from our previous PC-only engines," and will likely love the money Sony and Microsoft toss at Crytek to make Crysis 2: Strike at the Plant where Billion-Dollar Cybersuits are Made a timed exclusive.CryENGINE 3 will be on display at GDC09 all of this week. Head past the break for the announcement video showing the engine in action for the first time.
CryENGINE 3 ready for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360
When Crytek, developers of Crysis, said they wanted to move into console development, they weren't kidding. The team announced their brand new graphics engine today, one that works on DirectX 9/10, PS3 and Xbox 360. The engine's scalability will allow developers to work on a variety of genres, such as action games and MMOs; however, in addition to focusing on the now, Crytek is touting their new engine is the only one designed for the next generation of gaming.Carl Jones, director of business development, refuses to be humble about this announcement. "CryENGINE 3 will set the benchmark for complete game engine solutions in performance, and services to game engine licensees and their players," he touts. "We've been preparing a long time for CryENGINE on consoles and we're confident that Crytek will again amaze developers at GDC."The business team will be available at GDC later this month to discuss licensing details. In addition, Crytek will undoubtedly showcase the new tech during public presentations at the show. We're interested in seeing if the new CryENGINE will be able to come close to replicating Crysis' incredible visuals on today's home consoles.
Aion zone video for Verteron set to the tune of majestic
It's time lose ourselves on a magical journey through- whoa, whoa! Is that a lady with big, feathery wings? Oh good, it's a new zone video tour of Aion. For a second there we thought Hawkgirl was finally assaulting us for making fun of her helmet.NCsoft has really outdone itself with the world design in Aion. The architecture alone makes us wonder if we'll ever stop exploring long enough to level up. Also, we didn't once see a zone covered in mushrooms and slathered with purple. HuzzahOur standards aren't actually that low, we promise. In fact, considering that Aion is running on a beefed up CryEngine (the one from Far Cry) there was actually quite a bit of presupposition on our part.Since Aion is proving to be pulling some visual heft, we're feeling decidedly excited for the North American launch, which is still unknown to anyone but NCsoft. Hopefully with videos like this showing off the game's serious visual oomph, we'll get a concrete launch date soon. Check out the full video after the break.
New Aion screens reveal a diversity of beauty
We've long since felt assured in our notion that Aion is a pretty game, but these newest screens on Strategy Informer only further confirm things. And while we're on the subject of pretty screens, it should be mentioned that Aion is a game that's running on a heavily tweaked version of CryEngine -- the same one used for Far Cry. So while the game does look absolutely stunning, we do wonder how well it scales to lower-end machines. And for that matter, how good the game looks on those lower settings.One thing we can be sure of is that the environment team went all out on design. Greens, purples, blues, reds and more really help diversify things. As for those tech related queries, more should be revealed when the game nears its release sometime this year, at least we hope it releases this year.
Crysis Warhead dropping exclusively on PC this Fall
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Crysis_Warhead_coming_to_PC_this_Fall'; EA and Crytek have officially announced the development of Crysis Warhead, "a parallel story" to hardware-taxing tropical shooter, Crysis. Built by Crytek's Budapest studio atop an optimized version of the CryEngine 2 technology, Crysis Warhead sees players squeezing into the nanosuit of Sergeant Sykes, affectionately dubbed "Psycho," and learning that "life on the other side of the island is even more intense and explosive than they ever could have imagined." Given all the eyeball-melting events in Crysis, we reckon they're capable of imagining quite a bit.Crytek president and CEO, Cevat Yerli, found the original game's reception by gamers and the media to be quite pleasing, but noted to the studio's intention to raise the ol' bar. "With Warhead, we are focusing on refining our storytelling and game performance, while also delivering more of the visually stunning graphics and immersive, free-roaming gameplay everyone loved in Crysis," he said. Expect more weapons, more vehicles and more multiplayer content when Crysis Warhead nukes lesser computers this Fall.
Pages and pages of Aion "Beta 2" screenshots available for viewing
The Korean closed beta of Aion has silently moved along to its second stage, and AionSource has been able to share a great wealth of new screenshots with those of us on the outside. The game has always managed to impress with its visual style, and the new screens show off various locations in the sci-fi/fantasy MMO (which runs on Crytek's CryEngine 1, the game engine from the Far Cry series, for those that are interested in that sort of thing).Looking at the pictures, we can't help but be reminded of the previously discussed aerial aspect of the game, with player characters frequently shown well above ground level thanks to their trusty wings -- well, we hope that they're trusty, as we don't want to live in fear of deadly plummeting carcasses. Even still, we're anxious to find out when the rest of the world will get to give Aion a try.
Nega-review: Crysis
"Crysis is imperfect in a number of ways." (3) "The acting and story aren't spectacular." (5) In fact, "the story ... is pretty standard background fodder for a FPS," (7) and "the game is pretty linear for the story's sake." (4) "I'm sure some people will be disappointed by the eventual alien-powered denouement, or mystified or bored by turns as they discover what lies inside the mountain." (3) "Don't start expecting any narrative cleverness or characters who do much beyond move the plot from one stage to the next." (8) "When was the last time you upgraded your system? It doesn't matter because you'll probably have to do it again: Crysis is that demanding." (5) "Crysis may very well kick your computer in the balls at Very High settings;" (1) but "results are a bit mixed at medium and low settings. ... At the lowest detail settings, objects pop in and out with a fair degree of consistency. It's annoying at best and frustrating at worst, as it can impact gameplay." (6)"The constant tweaking of system specs needed to get the game running optimally is also a drag, and the average PC gamer will probably find that their system is nowhere near powerful enough to get this beast even up and running to standard." (5) Without a strong enough rig, the game "may very well turn into more of a slideshow than you'd probably prefer and in some cases become completely unplayable." (1)
Crytek deep into PS3 development, creating "secret technologies"
Crytek, the team behind the upcoming Crysis, is heavily invested in console development. In fact, it appears that Crytek is especially invested in Sony's next-gen platform. "Our PS3 development is going deeper than many people assume right now," studio boss Cevat Yerli told GI.biz.The team is currently working on a console game, and it appears that the game is being built from the ground up for PS3. "It's a complete departure from Crysis and Far Cry, it's not a first-person shooter," he explained. The game, which is also bound for Xbox 360, won't feature any of the cross-platform issues that have been plaguing sloppier releases. "For that, we're optimising technology, but for another reason, the future in general, there is a dedicated PS3 team."Crytek is working on additional technologies, specifically for Sony's platform. "The PS3 room is separate because we have some secret technologies being developed there which are not related to CryEngine 2." Obviously, this comes as exciting news -- one just has to take one look at Crysis to see the incredible grasp Crytek has on bleeding edge technology. We can't wait to see what they're cooking up for the PS3.
Crytek and Epic Games rev their engines
Epic Games has found a wide audience, from Silicon Knights to Square Enix, with its Unreal Engine 3; meanwhile Crytek is looking to find success by licensing out CryEngine 2. Both companies also release games highlighting the engines (Unreal Tournament and Crysis, respectively).Next Generation has an article where both Epic Games' Mark Rein and Crytek's Harald Seeley talk about the competitive field of game engines. According to the opening remarks, the article sees Crytek as one of the more promising competitors to the Gears of War developer. It's an interesting read, but we shouldn't forget one engine that just recently made its first unveiling: id Tech 5. Creator John Carmack promised more information at Min-E3, and we think there's a good chance the House of Doom will add some major heat to all game engines.
Today's most comparative game videos: Crysis DirectX
If you can geek out to API advancements, we salute you. Today's video picks compare DirectX 9 and the messiah DirectX 10 with Crysis footage. Yes, we can actually see a difference in the clips, and GameTrailers provides big, non-embedable HD files on its site.Will Crysis be the best-looking game ever, and will it require a DX10 system -- and, of course, Vista -- to earn that title? We've seen "best-looking game ever" mugs at a mall kiosk and will set one aside for the game's release later this year. (Don't let us down, Crysis. We could end up taunting you by giving it to the Wii.)See the videos after the break.
Crytek shows CrysisENGINE2, innocent trees shot
Crytek occupies a medium-sized booth space at this year's GDC show floor. The company, showing its CryENGINE2 to developers, announced that it found its first customer in Avatar Reality, Inc. Hoping to land more interest, the company is hosting a series of rotating presentations about its level editor, sound system, character animation, engine, and other features.Harald Seeley, Development Director for Crytek briefly spoke with us about the engine and its outlook, saying that it's at alpha now for the PC, and they'll ship the SDK to AVI in four to six weeks. Seeley said that Crytek is working to bring CryENGINE2 to the PS3 and Xbox 360, but those plans don't mean that Crysis will be released on those platforms.Modders and indie designers should look for a PC version of the development environment bundled with Crysis. Seeley said that the consumer tools offer nearly all of the features of the fully licensed engine, and that modders may be able to work out terms to release commercial software created with the free editor.Seeley thinks that the commercial version of CryENGINE2 will lead other middleware engines because it was developed for DirectX 10 instead of being prettied up from an older version of the API. He said, "This will become the standard. ... [Gamers] won't be willing to settle for titanium trees any longer. If it looks breakable, if it looks like you should be able to pick it up, [you will.]"%Gallery-1976%
