Crysis 2 and Dead Space 2 release confirmed for fiscal 2011
The long awaited game Army of Two: The 40th Day was released today by Electronic Arts (EA). Still to come in a couple of months are Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Dante’s Inferno. At the launch the EA chief John Riccitiello told that the upcoming labels, Dead Space 2 and Crysis 2, will be “at full margins” for the next fiscal year. In layman’s tongue the duo is due for launch in the first quarter of 2010. The long-awaited Dead Space 2 is planned to be released this fall, October to be exact.
Details on Crysis 2 are still thin despite the fact that it was announce way long ago. Crysis 2 is Crytek’s first console-based straight shooting game a sequel to the all time hit in PC gaming. A lot is expected of Crysis 2 though it is feared that it might not do as good as its predecessor.
Crysis 2 not in tropical environment says Twitter message
When Crysis was first launched, it was a game that we weren’t supposed to enjoy. In fact if we talk about the graphics. Today, the same game, super rigs may be able to handle it in an ultra-high detail, of course most are probably having nightmares still ever since Crysis 2 was announced.
EA first time gave the news of its production last summer, which also revealed that the game would use the multiplatform engine CryEngine 3.
But now, the scenario is different. Computers may breathe a sight of relief. The game made the cover of US Official PlayStation Magazine and there the PlayStation 3 version was revealed.
The console version is expected, but there was another piece of shocking information. A Tweeter message says that the game will no longer be happening in a tropical environment.
There were no other details except of the presence of the Nanosuit 2.0. It read as, “World Exclusive: Crysis 2 set in NYC!!”
OnLive for game lovers
OnLive is an interesting and exciting online game that anyone can play without spending much on the gaming consoles. One need not spend as much as $299 for a playstation 3 console or for an ATI graphics card to play games like “Assassins Creed2.”
All you need is an internet connection and an account in The OnLive website. You are free to play any game you like. Onlive works similar to Hulu. OnLive can stream content in your computer, Television, and even on the iPhones. It is a very good site for all the game lovers.
One can travel any where with the games on the iPhones. Regular players could win a lot of money and promotions offered by OnLive. One has to subscribe OnLive in order to access these games. After subscription, one can play any number of games and win the exciting promotions that are periodically offered by OnLive.
Even for Crysis Warhead it is said that the sequence form the game should have been the best at the time of its release for iPhone. The original idea was in the beginning a pioneer supposing to change the views of the gamers about playing and relating to gaming. It was also supposed to make the piracy diminish and to increase the profits of the game producers.
It is based just on the fact that people will receive the games in a different manner than before. It is considered that putting a game on a TV or onto a display with nothing more than just a game controller and an internet connection it is a good idea for reducing piracy. Paying a game subscription tax would be a saver of further expenses like purchasing a console and constant upgrading of your computer.
New netbook of Alienware can run Crysis
A new Nvidia-powerd gaming netbook has been announced recently by Alienware which has enough processing power for running up of high-end PC games like the Crytek’s sublime Crysis.
It is named as Alienware M11X. It is a super-portable machine having 11-inch screen. The netbook runs at a 720p resolution i.e. 1280×720px.
It is claimed that this netbook is the first ever “ultra mobile gaming laptop”. The Dell says that the M11x is capable of playing games and videos at 720p. The netbook has two modes and it allows gamers in choosing from a “battery mode” and a “gaming mode”.
The battery life of this netbook would be decreased by a couple of hours in the more graphically taxing Gaming mode. In the gaming mood it offers two hours battery life and in battery mode it increases to 6.5 hours.
Talking about the graphics, the netbook boasts of integrated graphics chip. If you are not gaming then it switches to an Nvidia GT335M card.
It is expected that the M11x will be shipped later this year. In Crysis, the M11x is known to have attain 50fps and also to have scored between 6000 to 7000 in 3D Mark.
Carl Jones speaks on games piracy
Role Playing Games piracy is a too much debated topic these days and Carl Jones of Crytek said recently that the licensing a PC only engine was in fact made difficult in past few years because of the PC piracies.
He said that it was difficult because of the changing nature of the gaming market. For this reason the developers and publishers have over the past few years moved away from making such titles. As an aftermath, console middleware has been more widespread than the PC focused technology like that of CryENGINE 1 and 2.
Carl Jones continued further that the new CryENGINE 3 from Crytek has been of taking complete advantage of the multi-core systems. He added that gamers will be getting great performances in the new CryENGINE 3 on the dual-core and quad-core CPUs.
If it is upgraded then gamers will see more performance of the CryENGINE 3. Jones said that while developing the engine they had been working hard on solutions that enable phenomenal looking games on low as well as on high end. Hence, upgrading is not required for getting good results from CryENGINE 3 games.
PC Gamer Magazine previews Crysis 2 in its Feb edition
In a recent important gathering of the developers, CryEngine 3 was unveiled. It is an engine with powerful graphics. This engine is well suited for the next-generation consoles as PC. Crysis 2 is also going to be powered by CryEngine 3.
PC Gamer Magazine is offering a preview of the Crysis 2 game in its February 2010 issue. Yes, we know that 2009 is not yet over, but the game itself is so big that the fans are getting a chance to have a teaser to a preview a couple of months ahead of its actually being available. Cool!
The cover of PC Gamer Magazine is just like the pic which is embedded here. It is to be in the pic that it features world exclusive first screens along with such details like mine-blowing new direction of the game.
Rumor is also there that the magazine will cover an interview of Nathan Camarillo, the Executive Producer of the game, and also some well-placed phrases such as “far from tropical” and “increased verticality” that has been gotten out of his mouth.
Become invisible with Crysis Live! at GameCity event
Crysis Live! will be turning the Market Square’s full Festival Arena into a ‘live, full-scale recreation of the Crysis universe.’ It is the mega GameCity event in Nottingham. In it players will be making their way through tropical jungle setting by avoiding the enemies with the help of super-high-tech Nanosuit which will allow the make them invisible.
How you will be becoming invisible? How in fact in a real-life game?
Rob Yescombe, designer and director of Crysis Level, said to the media that to know this thing really happen one needs to play.
Crysis Live! is a game like Hide and Seek for the 21st Century. He said, “I don’t want to spoil too much. You really need to play it.”
Iain Simons, the director of GameCity said, “This is a terrifying departure from previous events for the festival.”
He further added GameCity is really excited to have a collaboration with the Crytek UK on making this amazing project happen.
GameCity festival will be held from October 27 to 31 and Crysis: Live! will take place on October 29 and 30.
Crysis, Crysis Warhead and Crysis Wars now in one single box
Recently there was a good news for all Crysis fans. It has been announced that EA and Crytek are bringing for gamers all of the Crysis world in one box with Crysis, Crysis Warhead and Crysis Wars. All these are available in one purchase.
Few details from the EA Press Release:
For all those gamers who have yet to experience Crysis, EA and Crytek, it will be releasing the Crysis Maximum Edition. The Crysis Maximum Edition is a compilation of all the three Crysis games in just one single box (Crysis, Crysis Warhead and Crysis Wars). Now it is available for the MSRP of $39.99. the Crysis Maximum Edition is the ultimate Crysis experience.
Crysis, Crysis Warhead and Crysis Wars are all rated ‘M’ for Mature by the ESRB and 18+ by PEGI. Further information about anything of everything of Crysis can be obtained from www.mycrysis.com.
An enhanced and optimized CryENGINE 2
Now something new on Crysis Warhead. Enhanced and optimized CryENGINE 2. In this the players will don the Nanosuit of Sergeant Sykes, popularly known as ‘Psycho.’ To remind you all, ‘Psycho’ is one of the most memorable characters from Crysis.
Here players will experience parallel story of Psycho in the events of the original game. They will find that life on the opposite side of the island is more intense and more explosive than their imagination. This will be more brash and aggressive than Delta Force squadmate Nomad.
This Nanosuit of Psycho is equally capable and equipped with bigger arsenal of totally customizable weapons and even some new vehicles. Players will get great access to the tools they require in order to dominate any of the situations. Juxtapose to this new and exciting single player campaign, the Crysis Warhead also features new multiplayer content.
Q/A of Crysis Warhead Post Release
Below is the extract from the Q n A round of the Producer of Crysis Warhead and the IGN.
Now that Crysis Warhead has shipped, the folks over at Europe’s Crytek can relax a bit and look back as well as forward to what’s up next. Warhead released to favorable reviews, and the game offers up a mix of spectacular shooter action and cutting-edge graphical prowess. So what’s up next? We had a chance to throw some questions to Bern Diemer, producer of Crysis Warhead, as well as Eric Lagel, the producer for online multiplayer at Crytek.
IGN: So what’s the reaction been thus far for Warhead? How well is it doing, and is it doing better than Crysis a year ago? Did the $30 price help?
Bernd Diemer: The majority of reactions in the reviews and on the forums have been positive, and this is very encouraging to us. This is the first time we made a game in a franchise we created and we are very happy that people seem to like the Crysis universe enough that they want to return to it in Warhead. Developing Warhead was a lot of fun, since it was less a technical challenge than a creative one, so we could listen to more ideas from the team, and it is very good to see that a lot of people share the fun.
The price point was a conscious decision on our part. Although Warhead grew in scope from an expansion pack to a standalone and even has Crysis Wars in the box, we felt that keeping the price added to the overall value of the product for our fans.
IGN: Are there plans currently for a patch, and if so, what are some the things that you’ll address in it?
Bernd Diemer: We have a different patching strategy for Warhead and Wars. We do realize that multiplayer has different needs than a single-player game where updates are concerned, so the focus will be on Wars first.
We had a team on standby for Warhead in case there was something which required a release patch, fortunately we did not have to do so. Currently we look at the forums, reviews and all the email we get and evaluate what people think could be improved.
It is too early to talk about what will be in it or release dates, but most likely Crysis Wars will receive an update first.
IGN: There’s still a lot of debate about performance. Some people see an increase, while others do not. What sort of tips do you have for people who want to run the game well?
Bernd Diemer: We implemented out-of-the-box settings that give you the best overall experience on the different quality settings. Personally, this is what I go for first when playing a game; I normally leave the default settings pretty much alone and enjoy the game, then I start fiddling with the settings.
We know that there are a lot of people who adjust the advanced settings before loading the first level, so we tried to give them as much options as possible. Over the last week I’ve seen a lot of custom configs appearing on the forums for improving visual fidelity, maxing out the latest and greatest hardware money can buy and boosting performance for specific hardware settings.
IGN: What sort of hardware should you have to run the game at “Enthusiast” settings? Do you think the vast majority should run at “Gamer” or lower?
Bernd Diemer: Enthusiast will give you the best of the best, but wants the hardware to support it. The next lower Gamer setting will give you the best balance between gameplay performance and visual quality. If you just install Warhead on a mid-range PC and play it on this setting, you will get a great experience, and this was a focus for us in the development.
We like our hardcore fans with uber-machines, after all they gave us the “But will it run Crysis?” meme, but decided to focus equally on the mid-range segment too. One of the perceptions about Crysis was that you could not play it without upgrading your machine, and I think that this kept a lot of people from playing it. The improved hardware base and our optimizations for the engine hopefully will get as many people as possible into the franchise, and maybe will prompt them to take another look at the original game too.
IGN: What are the plans going forward for updates to Crysis Wars? Do you plan to roll out new maps and modes definitely in the coming months? Any hard details?
Eric Lagel: We confirm that we are planning to support Crysis Wars with patches and further updates. There is new content and new features in the pipe, but we can’t commit to any timeline for now. The team behind Crysis Wars is hard at work reading the forums, and making sure that we address the biggest wishes of the community.
IGN: What’s one feature or level or weapon that you had to take out of the game that you wish you could put back? Why did you remove it in the first place?
Bernd Diemer: To be honest, I am pretty happy with what made it into the game from the first prototypes.
This is a spoiler warning if you haven’t found them yet, but the hidden frogs worked out very well– we always wanted to have something like this in the original game but never found the time to do so. Regarding this, my hat is off to Valve for the gnome in Episode 2.
IGN: This is a broader question: but what do you think is Crytek’s role in the PC gaming industry? To lead? To make great games? To push the envelope?
Bernd Diemer: Making quality games has been Crytek’s goal from the very beginning, the highest possible quality in all areas is paramount for us. In addition, we are a very tech happy company and certainly will continue pushing the envelope as much as we can with the evolution of the Cryengine.
IGN: Have you decided yet whether you will have future exclusive PC titles? Will there be other Crysis offshoots? How about a Crysis sequel?
Bernd Diemer: We certainly like doing PC games. There have been lots of heated discussions lately but I think the reports of the death of PC games have been greatly exaggerated. Our focus for this year was Warhead and Wars, and we are very happy with the reactions so far. We have a lot of ideas we are thinking about but nothing’s final yet, and if I tell you too much Cevat [Yerli, Crytek CEO] is going to get me.
IGN: You have four studios across Europe working on a number of games, including cross-platform titles. What have been the challenges in adjusting your tools and workflow to create console games? What are the challenges of each platform?
Bernd Diemer: Warhead was the first game we developed in two of our studios in parallel, and we learned a lot during this process. We managed to hit our release date and the quality bar we set ourselves, which is a skill we are still learning as a company.
One of the challenges with multi studio development is ownership. We believe that giving personal ownership allows every team member to put their heart into an asset, feature or any other part of a game. We also have a very open feedback culture in our company, everybody is welcome to present their ideas and opinions and we do our best to listen to them.
To support this we use agile development, for example: Scrum and assign people from different departments into tiger teams which focus on a certain feature, level or aspect of the game and are responsible for it from start to finish. We try to give ownership of an idea to the person who came up with it in the first place.
A second important challenge is to keep the communication between the teams and studios flowing, and to make sure that it fits in well with the vision of the product. This process is sometimes not unlike herding cats, but I enjoy the challenge.
The third one is to be able to sleep well on airplanes; while not essential this can be a quite helpful skill to have.
Source: IGN
