Steam's Crysis Warhead Copy Protection FAQ (IGN)

Following yesterday's full disclosure, we now bring you official word on what's what in Crysis Warhead copy protection land:

Will the retail version be activated via Steam or does it have an independent EA activation?

The Steam and retail versions both use SecuROM product activation online.

Will the Steam version have an activation limit?

The Steam version of Crysis Warhead has the same activation limit as the retail version of 5 activations. The Steam version of Crysis Wars will only require authentication upon installation just like the retail product.

How often can I install the game which I got from Steam?

Re-authentication is required only if you make significant changes to your PC's hardware, reformat your hard drive, or in some cases, upgrade your Operating System. Multiple installations of the game on the same computer that has not gone through significant changes will not count against the number of computers the game can be installed on.

Does Crysis Wars have online activation?

Crysis Wars is authenticated upon installation. If you want to play through Gamespy Arcade, you’ll need a valid registration key like most online games that use that service.

Can I play online only via Steam?

Online play for all versions of Crysis Warhead is done through Gamespy.

Are Crysis and Warhead the same when being downloaded via Steam as the hard copy ones?

Yes, the binaries and content are identical.

Where is Crysis and Crysis Warhead being installed to when I download it from steam?The game is automatically installed in the SteamApps folder.

If Warhead/Crysis are installed into the steamapps folder, how does it work with modifications then and the auto download functionality of Wars?

The auto-update feature doesn’t mind where the game is installed to. EA and Crytek will make patches available via Steam also, in which case the autoupdate feature will detect that you’re up to date.

Can the Warhead retail copy be activated via the steam account so I can download it from there?

At this time, retail copies of Crysis and Crysis Warhead can not be activated via Steam.

Will people be able to activate old crysis on steam via the cd-key?

At this time, retail copies of Crysis and Crysis Warhead can not be activated via Steam.

Which language versions are available on steam?

Crysis Warhead is available in all languages on Steam (English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Polish, Russian, Hungarian)

How does the update functionality work via Steam and w/o Steam?

Steam will update your game automatically if you tell it to. The autoupdate functionality built into the game will check if a patch is available which has a newer version than the one you’re running and direct you to a download location for it. If your game has been updated to the latest patch via Steam, then the version check will pass and nothing will happen.

Is the ingame console the one from Crysis or the Steam one?

Crysis, although in the Steam version the Steam overlays are available (buddy lists etc).

Source

Crytek's Crysis Warhead Copy Protection FAQ (IGN)

Breakin' it down: Five activations (up from three it initially launched with); unlimited installs on five machines if activation token doesn't kick up a fuss following hardware changes; DVD not required in drive post-activation; one authentication at first launch; single-player fully playable offline following one-time online activation; no de-authentication tool available, though EA Support will help out on a case-by-case basis; Steam-Securom copy protection to be detailed tomorrow.

Our passion is making quality games. We put our heart and soul in every game and hope that our fans will enjoy them as well. For years, Crytek fans have been passionately supportive of our efforts and we appreciate all of your dedication.We realize that copy protection and piracy is a very emotional and hotly debated topic. It is very hard to find a solution that fits both our needs. We need to make an effort to limit piracy but we do not want to limit the experience of our fans.

Warhead uses online authentication and allows up to five activations. This gives you the opportunity to install the game as many times as you want on five different machines.

We also know that multiplayer gamers have different needs, so Crysis Wars does not have an activation limit, but requires the game to be unlocked online once you start the game for the first time. Afterwards it will be possible to play in LAN without any online connection. The CD-key is only required when playing online.

I sincerely hope that you will enjoy playing Warhead as much as we enjoyed making it. We are very proud of it. Our community is the main reason we make games. If there is something you feel we could improve, please tell us what and why and we will do our best to listen to you.

Sincerely,
Cevat Yerli

The SolutionThe DRM system implemented for the Crysis Warhead changes copy protection from being key-disc based, which requires authentication every time you play the game by requiring a disc in the drive (this was the system we used in the original Crysis), to a one-time online authentication. This system allows you to play your game without requiring the game disc in the drive on any of five different machines.

Please note: this DRM solution is for the Crysis Warhead disc only. Because of the online nature of Crysis Wars, and because we want to encourage easy-to-start LAN play, you are only required an authentication upon installation. If you want to play online on our servers, you will authenticate via Gamespy as you normally would.

Key Points:

This system allows you to authenticate your game on five computers with the purchase of one disc – you can install your copy on each machine as many times as you want. If you go over five machines, EA Customer Service is on hand to supply any additional authorizations that are warranted.

This DRM solution is safe. EA and Crytek would never allow anything that included spyware, viruses or malware to be installed on anyone’s computers.

We know there is concern about what will happen if the authentication servers turn off or questions about what will happen in five years if you want to play the game again (and we hope you do). If that were to ever happen, Crytek and EA would deploy a patch that would remove the authentication requirement completely.FAQ:Q: What is the difference between the old PC disc authentication solution and the new online model?A: Two things have changed:

First, authentication of your game disc has changed from always needing to have your disc in the drive to an online format, eliminating the need to always have a disc in the drive when playing.

Second, with online authentication, consumers now connect to the Internet the first time the game is launched and are only required to reconnect if they are downloading new game content.Q: How will the game authenticate now?A: We authenticate your game online after installation when you launch it for the first time.Q: Do I have to re-authenticate after the first time my game is launched?

A: Re-authentication is required only if you make significant changes to your PC's hardware, reformat your hard drive, or in some cases, upgrade your Operating System. Multiple installations of the game on the same computer that has not gone through significant changes will not count against the number of computers the game can be installed on.

Q: What are the benefits of online authentication versus the disc-based model?

A: The new system means you don't need to have the game disc in your computer in order to play. You will no longer have to carry disk to enjoy a game you already have installed.

Q: Am I able to play my game on more than one computer? Do I need the disc for that?

A: You'll be able to install and play the offline features of your game on up to five computers without the need of the game disc. Your computer is authorized after installation and the initial launch of the game.

Q: Will I still be able to play my game offline?

A: Yes, you can play offline.

Q: What happens when I’ve reached the maximum number of computers for my game and I need more? (Due to computer upgrades, theft, crashes, etc.)

A: EA Customer Support is on hand to supply any additional authorizations that are warranted. This will be done on a case-by-case basis by contacting Customer Support.

by Andrew Burnes

Crysis Warhead Allows Five Activations (IGN)

According to IGN you can install Crysis Warhead on five different PCs as many times as you want:

Crysis Warhead's data rights management (DRM) will allow users to activate the game five times, an Electronic Arts representative informed IGN. Unlike EA's other recently released title, Spore, which currently limits the game to three installs, the Crytek-developed shooter allows you to install/uninstall the game on up to five PCs as many times as needed.

EA's official reply read: "We have five activations for Warhead. That means you can install the game on five different machines and on each of those machines you can install and uninstall as much as you want."

The original Crysis was pirated quite a bit. Crytek revealed that more people downloading the latest patch than there were legitimate customers of the game.

by Jimmy Thang

Crysis Warhead Review by Gamespot

Warhead is a fantastic stand-alone expansion to a superb shooter, and should be played by anyone who likes games with guns.

The Good

• The action is focused and intense


• Amazing visuals that look--and run--better than before


• Improved AI makes fighting aliens more fun


• Team Deathmatch has been added, along with a number of great multiplayer maps.

The Bad

• A little too linear at times


• A few remaining AI quirks.

All of the claims you may have heard that Crysis could only run on nuclear-powered supermachines were greatly exaggerated. But if for some reason you worry that this stand-alone companion to the ultragorgeous first-person shooter will bring your PC to its knees, you should know that it's highly scalable and ran smoothly on a number of machines during our testing. It also looks better, with clear attention given to the game's artistic sensibilities and the lusher, denser environments. But rest assured, developer Crytek has enhanced more than just the graphics engine. Vehicles are more fun to drive, firefights are more intense and focused, and aliens do more than just float around you. More emphasis on the open-ended environments would have been welcome, but a more exciting (though shorter) campaign, a new multiplayer mode, and a whole bunch of new maps make Crysis Warhead an excellent expansion to one of last year's best shooters.

If you didn't play Crysis, Warhead's story may be initially confusing, given that you hit the ground running with little exposition. You play as Sergeant "Psycho" Sykes, the brash Brit who was a bit player in the original game. Psycho tends to play by his own rules, always willing to ignore orders and jump into the fray if that's what the situation requires. The story runs parallel to the events of Crysis, though his strident attitude--and a dramatic cutscene near the end of the game--definitely make this Psycho's tale, even if the actual plot remains the same. In any case, you and your US Special Forces team are investigating a tropical island besieged by North Korean invaders. However, your greatest menace comes in the form of aggressive aliens that turn the luxuriant jungles and glowing beaches into a frozen wasteland. You and your teammates, clad in nanosuits that grant you special abilities such as super strength, temporary cloaking, super speed, and additional armor, confront both threats across a variety of large environments.

Psycho's brazen confidence does more than just establish a gutsy protagonist: It sets the stage for a more focused and intense series of battles that keep the pace moving more smoothly than before. Warhead still offers some of the same kind of sandbox levels, but thoughtful enemy placement and map bottlenecks keep downtime to a minimum. You can approach assaults on beachfronts and Korean encampments in a number of ways, so if you're a stealth enthusiast, you can employ your suit's cloak setting and sneak in, or attach a silencer to your sniper rifle and take out your human foes from a distance. If you would rather employ hit-and-run tactics, you can jump into the heat of battle, cause a ruckus, and use your suit's speed function to zoom away. However, Warhead is clearly focused on the guns-blazing approach, gently nudging you into full-on encounters with its mission objectives, character dialogue, and level design. When you reach primary and secondary destinations, you'll get besieged by large numbers of enemies, both human and (later on) alien. Given that human foes also don nanosuits, they're not necessarily quick to fall; as a result, these sequences are exciting and challenging, and you'll need to use your suit abilities and cover opportunities to your advantage. The easily triggered explosions of enemy vehicles and hazardous barrels further intensify these pockets of activity.

A number of set-piece battles confirm this slight shift toward action-packed mayhem. Your first encounter with a hulking alien war machine may not have the same impact as a similar one in Crysis, but it happens earlier than you'd expect, and it establishes the alien presence with adrenaline-fueled drama. That battle is a wonder, as is a later defensive mission that has you fending off a series of aliens, and requires you to shift focus frequently and use every weapon in your inventory. Another great sequence is a train level that, at first, seems much like similar sequences in a number of other shooters. You can stay on the train and use turrets to gun down the opposition, as expected--but you can also jump off and engage the opposition at any time, giving even this near-cliche sequence plenty of replay value. A linear journey through an underground mine is the obvious misstep in regard to level design, given that it never so much as hints at the open-ended action that makes Warhead a superb shooter.

If you played only that level, you also wouldn't see the host of improvements that power the action, particularly the improvements to alien artificial intelligence. The general design means that these robotic rivals will occasionally still be floating around above you, but they have more obvious smarts now, and they find ways to pummel you with ice pellets while remaining just out of sight, staying on the move, and using cover more often. Human enemies also seem more aware of their surroundings, flank you more often, and activate their nanosuits' armor to minimize damage. They also use the limited visibility that the jungle affords them quite well, hiding in brush to stay just out of sight. There are some remaining problems, particularly if you take potshots from a distance. Occasionally, the AI won't react when you snipe at an enemy, and foes using turrets will sometimes let you walk right up behind them. On the whole, however, Warhead makes clear improvements over the original in this regard, which in turn makes for better combat overall.

Vehicles feel sturdy, which is just as well, because you'll be driving them often, either to cover ground more quickly, or just to take pleasure in mowing down enemies with your mounted weapons. You can have a good deal of fun blazing a trail through the jungle while showering your foes with steel death, and the destructible environments further exaggerate the devastation. A scene in which you speed across the tundra in a hovercraft is done particularly well, offering a good sense of speed but pushing you into enemy hotbeds, giving you the chance to stop and fight or zip away with a quick glimpse of Koreans riddling aliens with bullets.

The improved vehicle handling is also noticeable on one of the new multiplayer maps, on which two teams battle in--and out of--the tanks and helicopters scattered about. This is good stuff, and it showcases Warhead's new Team Instant Action mode, a mode noticeably missing from the original Crysis. It's just good old Team Deathmatch, but it's done well, and the maps are improvements on those of the original. Snipers are still a threat, but the size of the maps are better suited to deathmatch battles, and more thought and care seem to have gone into small but important factors, such as weapon-cache placements and player spawns. The Instant Action and Power Struggle modes are still accounted for, and many of the original maps return, offering a large suite of online options that make online Warhead combat more appealing than its predecessor. Note that unlike Crysis, the expansion requires the online component to be installed separately, and isn't accessible from the single-player game.

Both online and off, Warhead is a beauty. As mentioned before, the game looks better than Crysis, and it runs better too. A test machine that struggled a bit to run the original at high settings ran Warhead smoothly with the same settings. Yet as much as you may have heard about Crysis' technical prowess, you'll still be impressed when you feast your eyes on the swaying vegetation, surging water, and expressive animations. Don't overlook the improved art design, though, which surpasses the original's oft-sterile look thanks to several striking vistas, such as one featuring an icy naval vessel stranded in the frozen tundra. The audio is almost as terrific. Various creaks and groans make heading down a narrow glacial pathway all the more harrowing, and weapons sound appropriately powerful. The voice acting is strong, and the understated soundtrack sets the right tone without ever getting in the way.

Warhead's single-player campaign should take you no more than six hours or so to complete, but not only does it invite multiple play-throughs, it costs only $30--and doesn't require you to own the original. In other words, there is no reason why anyone with a capable PC shouldn't play Crysis Warhead. It's more focused, it's more intense, and though it doesn't provide as much of the sandbox feel as Crysis veterans would wish for, it still delivers on every other front. Play this game.

Source

Crysis Warhead Goes Live On Steam (IGN)

If you're a North American: Crysis Warhead is now available for purchase via Steam and to play for gamers in North America. In addition, the original Crysis is now available for purchase and play by gamers the world over. Outside of North America, Crysis Warhead will become available for play tomorrow (Thursday) via Steam.

Source

Crytek's Crysis Warhead Goes Gold

Crytek's Crysis Warhead has gone gold, which means the development stage is completed and the game is now ready for duplication. Crysis Warhead will release on September 12 in Europe and September 16 in North America for a retail price of $29.99.

The game is Crytek's follow-up to their critically acclaimed first-person shooter Crysis, released back in 2007. In the first game, players took control of Nomad as he journeyed through savage jungles. While Warhead will take place on the same island, players will now take control of Nomad's comrade, Psycho.

In addition to a brand new single player campaign, Crysis Warhead will come with Crysis Wars, a new multiplayer package that will feature new modes and maps. Fans can now preorder Crysis Warhead at their local retail outlet.

Source

Leipzig GC 2008: Crysis Warhead Demo Impressions (Gamespot)

GameSpot posted their firsthand impressions of playing Crysis Warhead demo at the Leipzig Games Convention:

There are sequels, there are expansion packs, and somewhere in the middle there's Crysis Warhead. As a follow-up to last year's visually stunning first-person shooter Crysis, this game adheres to the same plotline of nanosuit-equipped Delta Force operatives terrorizing North Koreans on a lush island, but this time around the events unfold from a different perspective. Rather than going back to the role of Nomad, now you're filling the shoes of his squadmate Psycho, the slightly more verbose Brit who was stranded on the opposite side of the island for the majority of the original game. To find out what other differences you can expect to see, we paid a visit to EA's booth at the Leipzig Games Convention earlier today.

Our demo began with Psycho awakening in an ice sphere, one of the environments players of the first game should be familiar with. This time around, players can expect to become even more familiar with these frozen jungle settings. The Crytek rep on hand told us these spheres were one of the parts from Crysis that the development team really liked, but didn't feel they used them quite enough. So anyone who enjoys punching frozen enemies into a million pieces ought to be pleased.

Psycho did just that to the first pair of enemies he saw, but those poor saps were only frozen because they weren't lucky enough to be wearing nanosuits when the sphere activated. Not all enemies are so unlucky. Some of the human enemies you encounter will be wearing nanosuits just like you. These bad guys become a much more formidable challenge for you, but there are a few new options at your disposal for dealing with them. The most effective one we saw is the nano disruptor grenade, which deploys an EMP field to fry their suits so you can take them on more easily. One of the other new weaponry options we picked up on is the ability to wield dual SMGs--hardly the most powerful weapons in the game, but pretty stylish nonetheless.

Once Psycho dealt with the first wave of enemies on a frozen pond, he took a seat in a nearby hovercraft--one of the new vehicles in the game--to chase after Colonel Lee, who's just rushed off with an alien scout that the Delta Force would very much like to have. One of the biggest criticisms Crytek heard about the vehicles in the original game is that they were a little too squirrelly and didn't handle so well, so now they've gone and tightened up the handling to make it so you don't feel the need to stay on foot to stay alive.

After destroying a handful of snow-capped straw huts and plowing through roadside blockades in his new hovercraft, Psycho met up with a couple other squadmates and moved on to a group aliens down in a frozen valley. These floating creatures displayed some of the tweaks to the enemy AI. One of the aliens acts as a healer, hanging back until the opportunity presents itself to go and revive one of its downed allies. It's up to you to find which one is the healer so you can take it out to prevent all your progress from being reversed.

It was at this point in the valley that our brief demo came to an end. It's clear that Crysis Warhead isn't trying to go and shake things up too much, but you can still expect to see a few tweaks and additions sprinkled into the familiar open-ended action. Crysis Warhead is due to arrive shortly, with its September 16 release looming closely on the horizon.

By Shaun McInnis

Crysis Warhead - GI's Q&A with Cevat Yerli

Phil Elliott from Gamesindustry.biz interviewed Cevat Yerli, CEO and president of Crytek

Cevat Yerli is the CEO and president of Crytek, the PC-specialist developer behind smash hit Far Cry and the award-winning Crysis, with Crysis Warhead due next month.

Here Cevat gives his thoughts on how the industry has changed over the years, and offers his advice on what any new company starting out should focus on.

Q:
Crysis Warhead is coming next month - how much did you learn from releasing the original Crysis title last year?

Cevat Yerli:

Well, when we finished Crysis there was quite a bit of internal research as a post mortem of what we did right and wrong, and then we looked at the reviews, the gamer feedback. Some things weren't a surprise - some things we knew were wrong but we had to go. Sometimes you have to move on, knowing that something is wrong, but you've made the best out of it.

Unfortunately there were some things we knew - that the game's pace was changing, but that's because we wanted the players to finish the game at some point, but with that pace change came a game style change too in around the last 20 per cent of the game. And in that last 20 per cent the change in play style was criticised quite heavily, because it felt more contrived.

But we wanted to change the pace to make sure people got to the end, and found a satisfactory conclusion to the game. However, the next weakness was the ending itself - we said we'd have a great ending, and unfortunately we couldn't make it great this time. Of course, we'll be better next time, but this time we screwed it up. We were in the final crunch phase and it was a bad thing.

So the conclusion was that, because we knew we weren't on track there and Crysis Warhead was already in development before the original Crysis was finished, we said to the Warhead team to make sure that the same thing didn't happen with Warhead - the contrived ending, the play style change, and that the core sense of Crysis should work more strongly. It's something we found with Far Cry, and refined with Crysis - and we want to refine it further with Warhead.

So with Warhead we took the formula that was very well established with Crysis and pushed forward - more intensity, more action and a more cinematic feel. That's as much learning as we could get out of Crysis.

It's more optimised - but that doesn't mean Crysis wasn't optimised, because it was at the time. But once you finish something, then you can disassemble it and fit it together again, and you can always do is faster and better, because you know exactly what it is you need. The learning means we can fine-tune Warhead, and make sure it doesn't have any baggage that people don't need.

Q:
There comes a point at which you have to draw a line under a project and move on, though?

Cevat Yerli:

Yes, that's always a reality with every development, regardless of who you are. There's a situation that you have number of things that people are expecting, there's competition in the market, there's a lot of external things but also internal decisions.

At some point you have to move on - there may be mistakes, but we made it as well as we could.

Q:
The first Crysis pushed PC hardware to some degree - does Warhead make that any easier?

Cevat Yerli:

Well, there's a misconception in the market right now about that, which is that Crysis can only be played on PCs that are very expensive. It's not true - Crysis can be played on a USD 600 PC at the second-highest configuration that's better-looking than any console game, right now.

Q:
But compared to an Xbox 360 game, such as Call of Duty 4, whatever they took out of the box they'd play at maximum configuration - because there's only one configuration for everybody?

Cevat Yerli:

Yes, but imagine if we'd not shipped with that top configuration, they would have maxed out. We just had a configuration that people could have for the future, and they can play it now, but it will look even better. There are community projects that make extreme configurations for Crysis, because that also shipped in the game but we just didn't enable it, because people would have "cried" even more then. They'd have said they need a PC that doesn't even exist today to play it...

But our intention was benevolent, but it backfired on us because people said they couldn't max out their settings. But maxing out isn't the point - we have a game that if you can max it out, it's ahead of anything else by a big margin. That backfired with people telling us they could max out other games...yes, but they don't offer two more generations...

Q:
Wouldn't it just have been a lot more simple to develop games for consoles?

Cevat Yerli:

Well, it's true in that respect that console development is quite a lot easier, because you only have one configuration, and if you find an optimum set of engine features, and work towards that, it's certainly better internally.

We've been investigating consoles for almost two and a half years now, and I wouldn't be surprised if something comes up for consoles from us. I think the experience we have from PC will help us to make better console games in fact.

But it's true - life is a lot easier with a fixed platform compared to a moving platform, but we saw PC as our strength, and we wanted to make the PC gamer happy - they're all about the platform, they want the best experience for their PC, but later on if they buy a new PC, they want to still be able to play the classic games without them getting old.

That was my thinking as a PC gamer - if I boot up Crysis in three years, and we make the settings configuration official from Crytek, I'll be able to scale the game up to hold its own with the best games then, in the future, because it has built-in scalability.

Q:
Do you think the game will have a long tail then?

Cevat Yerli:

Frankly, and it sounds a bit strange from a business perspective, but there was no interest in making sales long term - it was just to offer those people that bought Crysis the knowledge that further down the line they can discover a visual experience in the game that they won't have seen before.

Our investment was purely on the future benefits of the gamer, and not about creating massive sales in two years - we never believed in massive sales after two years.

Q:
And I guess there will be other products, like Warhead, to take its place?

Cevat Yerli:

To some extent I think that will happen, but I think also Warhead will be another natural entry point into the franchise - if you like that you can move on to Crysis. We're looking at Warhead as a game that appeals to a wider audience that potentially hasn't played Crysis, and if they like it they can move on to Crysis.

Q:
You've been working very closely with EA - how's that relationship continuing?

Cevat Yerli:

Great - pretty good actually, it's been quite solid. We'll see what happens in the future, but I think we'll continue having good relations.

Q:
What have they been like to work with as a publishing partner? What's the main area of support they've provided you?

Cevat Yerli:

EA's been supportive in the sense that they haven't interfered in the development too much - people on the outside might think they would interfere with the concept and the development, but it's simply not the case. In some other areas we've received benefits in terms of market research, and how we could market the titles more efficitently.

But for Crysis specifically, it was a difficult situation - I think EA did as well as they could in terms of getting the game out. For the timing, it was the most intense release window for new titles in the history of the industry, but we held up pretty well against the competition, because Crysis was a well-known IP by then.

Our Google ranking was over 25 million hits for Crysis, and EA was instrumental in getting that IP out there, so they did a great job and I think that's where we benefited most.

Q:
The industry's changed a lot since Crytek first started - what do you feel you've learned in that time on the business side?

Cevat Yerli:

I think the number one thing we learned was to be agile and iterative - we knew that already, but that thought was confirmed. Always stay independent, agile and iterative, but when I say that it doesn't mean necessarily being independent of a publisher, but being having the ability to make decisions.

Then if you want to make iterations, it means you need to be able to cycle through changes quickly, and again you can't need to ask somebody before you make changes. So independence doesn't necessarily mean financial or business independence - that's one idea to aim for - but also within the structure of the company.

Because if you look at it, the bottom line with Crytek, whatever we did so far, whether it's technical, vision, gameplay, audio - everything was an achievement of a certain quality bar - but we established those areas as independent units in our organisational structure.

So within the team you can have smaller teams of five or six people that are independent of the larger team - and that's what it was all about, so that we could maintain that agility, those iterative principles, or our company.

That allows us to get better games out there faster, because at the end of the day efficiency in releasing a game is the most important thing in coming to market - how you get your idea out. Crysis could have been faster, but frankly we had to move on, and for every mistake we made, there were 20 or 30 things that we did right.

So the good things outweigh the bad, you can create faster, and you're independent in your organisation, at the end of the day that brings efficiency.

Q:
Do you think it's harder for a company to set up now that it was when Crytek first started?

Cevat Yerli:

Absolutely, nowadays I don't think Crytek could have set up. It wouldn't exist. The situation has changed drastically, the competition is more serious, companies have consolidated, costs have increased, the platforms are getting more difficult to enter, and so on.

For example, to make a next-gen PC title entering the market now we'd need about EUR 10-12 million, even for a newcomer, to make an FPS as good as Far Cry was back then. To get the trust and commitment from a publisher for a newby studio...I think it's quite impossible.

Q:
So what's the best thing for any new games studio to focus on now then? What would you advise?

Cevat Yerli:

From the concept perspective, don't rely on anything that's about realism or technology, focus on something that involves creativity and gameplay. No new company can really compete on production values.

The second thing on the business perspective I would suggest looking at digital distribution - whether it's you or a publisher distributing it, it doesn't matter, but prepare for that market. Then you've already narrowed down your choice of platforms, which is either PC, mobile/iPhone, modding potentially, XBLA and PSN.

Then it's about finding the right partner to fund it, with a concept that is small enough but creative enough to bring it to the market. With any of those platforms you can get a fraction of what you'd need for a triple-A title, you could work on a prototype with four or five friends, in fact.

Then pitch a playable version, and if your core idea and concept convinces, then you might get support for production values.

Cevat Yerli is the CEO and president of Crytek. Interview by Phil Elliott.

Source

Crysis Warhead - System Requirements Revealed

Electronic Arts has revealed the system requirements to Crysis Warhead via its online store. While the original Crysis was universally praised for its graphics, many gamers were intimidated with the first-person shooter's system requirements. Crytek President Cevat Yerli has said that Crysis Warhead, the follow-up to the 2007 shooter, would be better optimized for a wider range of computers and should run anywhere between 30-35 frames per second at high settings on a $620 rig. To see if his word holds up, you can take a look below:

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz (3.2 GHz for Vista), Intel Core 2.0 GHz (2.2 GHz for Vista), AMD Athlon 2800+ (3200+ for Vista) or better
RAM: 1GB (1.5GB on Windows Vista)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Radeon X800 Pro for Vista) or better
VRAM: 256MB of Graphics Memory
Storage: 15GB
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
ODD: DVD-ROM
OS: Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Microsoft Vista
DirectX: DX9.0c or DX10

While the technical specifications are nearly identical to the recommended specs of the original Crysis, three more gigs of hard drive space are required for Warhead. Gamers can test out their gaming rigs when Warhead launches on September 16.

Crysis Warhead Due Next Month

Crytek has announced that Crysis Warhead, the follow up to last year's graphical stunner Crysis, is set for release in North America on September 16 and Europe on September 12. Moreover, if you're planning on purchasing Warhead, Electronic Arts (the game's publisher) has announced that you can pre-order it on their online store and pay $24.95, five bucks less than the normal price.

But that is not all - also announced was Crysis Wars, a new multiplayer feature in Crysis Warhead that will come with three modes of play: InstantAction and PowerStruggle from the original Crysis, and the new TeamInstantAction mode that, obviously, adds teams to the mix. Crysis Wars will include 21 maps in total, including six new maps for TeamInstantAction and InstantAction, and one new map for PowerStruggle.

"We designed Warhead to be more accessible for gamers new to the Crysis franchise," said Cevat Yerli, CEO and president of Crytek. "It is a game with a story that can stand on its own, it has been optimized to run better on a wider range of PCs, and we are introducing Crysis Wars, a tailor-made experience for multiplayer gamers within the Crysis universe - all at a great value."

Crysis Warhead's story takes place concurrently with the original Crysis, following the exploits of Sergeant "Psycho" Sikes, who was wreaking havoc on the opposite side of the island from where the original Crysis took place. For more on what to expect from the game and how it's shaping up, check out our hands-on preview from E3 last month.

By Kris Pigna

Crysis Warhead - First Details on Multiplayer Crysis Wars

Gamespot published interview with multiplayer producer Eric Lagel and producer Bernd Diemer

First-person shooters aren't just action-packed games that let you play as a gun-toting commando. Often, they're also used as showcases for impressive new technology. 2007's Crysis was such a shooter--a beautiful-looking action game that pushed most PCs to their limits, even as it featured intriguing gameplay that combined heavy-duty gunplay with superhuman powers offered by your character's experimental "nanosuit." Now, developer Crytek is working with its Budapest studio to bring back all the action from last year's excellent game, plus more, in its stand-alone follow-up, Crysis Warhead. Warhead will also debut a completely revamped version of Crysis multiplayer known as Crysis Wars. We have the first details from multiplayer producer Eric Lagel and producer Bernd Diemer.

GameSpot: The big news we can finally talk about in Warhead is the revised and expanded multiplayer, which has been renamed as Crysis Wars. What's the deal with the new name? Give us an overview of what we can expect.

Eric Lagel: Crysis Wars is a new brand, a way to tell the players that we aim to deliver a game that has been refined and rebalanced to exclusively match multiplayer expectations. We have been reading the community feedback and have improved many aspects of the game, [including] balance, cheat protection, performance, [and] accessibility. Creating Crysis Wars is a strong signal from Crytek to say that we have ambitions in the online multiplayer environment, and want to improve and refine Crysis' multiplayer [to be] as close to perfection as possible.



GS: How will the core multiplayer gameplay of Crysis be improved in Crysis Wars? How will the use of nanosuits and vehicles be tweaked, for instance? Are any of Crysis Wars' new multiplayer elements the result of elements that didn't quite make it into the original game, such as capture the flag?

EL: There is a lot that has been tweaked and improved in Crysis Wars. The nanosuit now regenerates faster in order to [let players use it] more often, but also doesn't regenerate while you are in combat for better readability. The whole weapon system has been rebalanced in order to provide a faster frag rate, within a consistent pricing system. Vehicles have been rebalanced to reduce the VTOL overpowered position; to provide a better driving sensation for cars; and to have better survivability for tanks against rockets, amongst other things. The new Team Instant Action game mode is certainly a delivery that we hoped we could have delivered with Crysis, but we needed to work on it more. Now it arrives in Crysis Wars.

GS: Power Struggle was a unique multiplayer mode, to say the least. Including nano powers, awesome vehicles, huge maps, and our favorite, the suitcase nuke, Power Struggle set the stage for some awesome online gaming. What changes are you looking at in Crysis Wars?

EL: The changes we have been focusing on in Crysis Wars are towards accessibility and streamlining of the experience. We have reworked the HUD elements to provide a better understanding of the session progress, while also simplifying the rules and the objectives to follow. In this revamped Power Struggle, we have kept everything that made this mode special, and improved its pace with clearly defined objectives, a tighter fighting frame, and simplified rules to avoid stalemates and blocked situations.

GS: The Instant Action mode was basically a typical deathmatch with the addition of Crysis' trademark nanosuit powers. How have you improved instant action in Crysis Wars?

EL: Instant Action has actually been indirectly benefiting from the progress made through the development of Team Instant Action. You will find that the new maps allow players to take advantage of the nanosuit capabilities in a much-improved way. The weapon rebalancing and the nanosuit improvements make for a refined Instant Action experience.

GS: Switching gears to talk about the single-player game, we understand that the main character in Crysis Warhead is Sykes, a soldier so headstrong and dangerous in the field that he carries the nickname "Psycho." Since Warhead takes place at the same time as the original Crysis, what is Sykes' mission, and what are some of the new areas on the island that we'll see?

Bernd Diemer: In [the original] Crysis, you part company with Sykes during the assault mission after he gives the player sniper cover, and a couple hours later, you meet him again on the deck of the aircraft carrier. Warhead tells the story of his adventures.

His mission takes him to the other side of the island, where life is very exiting. He is dropped right into the action. He has to fight his way through North Korean soldiers, aliens, and other obstacles in a race to catch up with his nemesis, wreaking havoc along the way.

As for the new environments...we've decided to keep our cards very close to our chest this time to let players be surprised and hopefully amazed.

GS: Since Warhead aims to be more action-oriented than Crysis, can you give us an example of an over-the-top action sequence you had while playing as Sykes?

BD: There is a lot of action to be had in Warhead, and we made sure Sykes has the right tools in addition to the nanosuit to make the most of it.

GS: You've already announced Warhead as PC-exclusive, but there's no doubt there are a lot of console gamers salivating for Crytek games. Do you think Crytek will develop console games in the near future?

BD: The inevitable question. We love doing PC games, and strongly believe in the PC as a gaming platform. As a studio we are thinking about other platforms as well. We have no set plans so far, but anything is possible.



GS: Crysis Warhead is your first project with your new Budapest studio. What challenges did you have using an outside studio for the first time, and how do you think Warhead compares in quality to the original Crysis?

BD: We do not see the Budapest studio as an outside studio. They are self-sufficient and have creative ownership of Warhead but are a part of the Crytek family. I first met the Budapest team when we were [finishing] Crysis and everybody was really busy. The core team flew to Frankfurt to meet the Crysis team--to get familiar with the engine and tools and to talk about what projects they could do.

We basically started with the main character and developed the design from there (Sykes and his explosive approach to problems and obstacles). The team did a couple of gameplay and visual prototypes, called a meeting to show what Warhead could be, and everybody was amazed.

After everybody picked up their jaws from the floor it was clear that this was beyond the scope of a classic expansion pack, so we decided to make it a stand-alone installment.

GS: Remember a few years ago when simply shooting trees in demos of Crysis blew everyone's mind? What graphical flourishes will blow our minds in Warhead?

BD: I remember the trees very well. When we demoed Crysis for the first time at E3, everybody shot trees. When we drove back to the hotel, I wanted to shoot every palm tree I saw. I dreamed of shooting trees. At Crytek, we make sure that there are what we call "Wow moments" in every level. For example, the ice shaders are absolutely stunning. We also have global ambient lighting--you could call it the Warhead shader, it makes the world gritty and sharper.

GS: Thanks for your time.

Source

Crysis Warhead: Preview by PC Gamer Magazine

PC Gamer Magazine released preview of Crysis Warhead PC game by Crytek.





While you might have enjoyed the low-res scans provided by Crysis-Online, you might equally want to read its online version below:

How do you top the critically acclaimed launch of Crysis, a sci-fi shooter so genre-pushing, so technologically ahead of the curve, that it was awarded PC Gamer’s Game of the Year for 2007? For developer Crytek, the answer isn’t to churn out a quickie sequel - even though Crysis’ cliff-hanger ending surely demands one. Now.

No - first, Crytek has to deal with the “perception” problem. The perception that its CryEngine 2 tech won’t run on any rig less powerful than a Cray supercomputer. (It does.) The perception that Crysis was a financial flop. (Hardly - the game sold nearly 1.5 million copies worldwide, says EA.) And finally, following an interview in which Crytek president Cevat Yerli suggested that the company may not develop exclusively for the PC in the future, the perception that any new games in the Crysis series will be dumbed-down console ports.



To that last point, know this: Crysis Warhead is a PC exclusive. But, given that the Crysis series was supposed to be a trilogy, what it isn’t may surprise you. Read on for the story of one of the Crysis saga’s most unlikely new heroes.

Here’s what Crysis Warhead isn’t: a sequel to the original Crysis. It isn’t an expansion pack, or even a stand-alone expansion. It isn’t the continuing story of Nomad, the original game’s faceless hero. Instead, Warhead is a full-sized game that fleshes out the side adventures of one of Nomad’s nanosuited teammates, in a story that runs parallel to the events of Crysis. (Think Barney’s wild ride in the Half-Life expansion Blue Shift.) Surprisingly, that teammate isn’t Prophet, the squad leader whose unseen adventures sparked the most questions (such as, where he got that high-tech alien weapon), but Sykes (aka, “Psycho”), the colorful former British SAS soldier who disappears toward the middle of Crysis, and then suddenly shows up on the aircraft carrier at the finale.

Psycho is meant to infuse the proceedings with “more character, more personality, more emotion,” says Cevat Yerli, Crytek’s cofounder and president. He’s a straight arrow who’s more direct and “a bit of a redneck,” Yerli adds.

In addition to having a unique face and voice, Psycho’s presence as a playable character means you’ll get to see him in third-person view during the game’s cut-scenes, performing tricks with the nanosuit that you may want to attempt yourself - a purposeful way of teaching you some creative ways to use your suit’s enhanced strength, speed, armor, and cloaking ability. But what about Prophet? Warhead won’t touch on his story, but Yerli hints that yet another not-quite-a-sequel may be on the horizon. Crytek’s Budapest studio is developing Warhead while its Kiev studio is working on an “unannounced project.”



Warhead’s plot is still under close wraps, except for a few facts: The game starts when Psycho leaves Nomad mid-Crysis to help out another unit and ends sometime before he shows back up on the aircraft carrier. You’ll again fight North Korean soldiers and aliens - anyone else remains a surprise. The game will contain two new vehicles, a hovercraft and the gun-mounted Advanced Scout Recon (ASR). New weapons will include dual submachine guns and a grenade launcher. Expect a single-player campaign of about 8 to 10 hours, and a beefed-up multiplayer mode.

Fans of Crysis’ multiplayer will be overjoyed to learn that Warhead will include all its maps and content, including enhancements added post-launch. In addition to Crysis’ two multiplayer modes, Instant Action (deathmatch) and Power Struggle, Warhead will introduce a third that’s yet to be named. While Crytek won't share details about it, the team says it won’t be as complex as Power Struggle, but will offer more team play than Instant Action. Though the nanosuit’s powers will again be muted in multiplayer - a necessity for fun, balanced gameplay, say the devs - Warhead’s new maps will feature more vertical environments and wide gaps to encourage the use of strength- and speed-augmented jumps. All the vehicles from both games’ single-player campaigns will also be available in multiplayer, including the Amphibious APC.

What’s really new in Warhead is Crytek’s determination to satisfy critics of the first Crysis. Some players were turned off by myriad issues, whether perceived or real. Chief among these was the game’s pushing of hardware boundaries, especially it’s so-called “future-proofing” meant to allow its visuals to scale upward with the release of future hardware. Yerli says this feature was included with the best of intentions, but the backlash was intense - gamers wanted to be able to max out Crysis’ graphics at launch on existing systems. In hindsight, Yerli agrees that the move was a “mistake,” and that it would’ve been wiser to unlock the game’s highest graphics settings in a patch when better hardware became available.

Crysis’ high system specs were another bone of contention, and Yerli acknowledges that the launch specs were high. (Patches have since better optimized the code.) Warhead, he promises, will reward those who upgraded to play Crysis. “If you were able to run Crysis, you’ll be able to run Warhead better,” says Yerli. That’s not to say that Warhead won’t push the graphics barrier. In addition to those easier-to-digest system requirements, Warhead’s graphics will benefit from a new global ambient lighting system that will boost visual acuity in the game’s environments and models. Improvements in the way lights and shadows interact with the world enhance small details previously unnoticed, and spotlight the game’s shader effects. And, though it hasn’t been added to the engine yet, Crytek plans to include new particle effects that are “dense and intense,” says Yerli.

None of these enhancements will impact framerates on current-gen machines, he notes. “We tried to push image quality and particle effects, but not at the cost of hardware performance.” And don’t worry about having Windows Vista and DX10 on your machine - you’ll be able to max out all settings in Warhead with your DX9-capable videocard. Crytek also listened to complaints that Crysis’ enemy AI was lacking, and is working to improve it for Warhead, especially in the aliens, who will appear to have more human-like organization. Group tactics will be improved, and Korean combat chatter will receive an upgrade to better inform you of what the North Korean soldiers are up to.

Warhead’s overall pace will also be polished. While Crysis started out with sandbox-like missions that allowed you to strategize how best to accomplish an objective, its missions turned tightly linear by the end. In Warhead, the scripted and sandbox aspects will be better integrated, and the plotting will remain consistent throughout the game. For example, vehicles will remain an important part of the action, but Warhead won’t include any missions where you have to pilot one (VTOL level, anyone?). Instead, you’ll be able to switch vehicles - or walk - at will.

Taking inspiration from Call of Duty 4, Yerli says that Warhead will be more consistently exciting, with fewer slow periods than Crysis. Like its lead character, the action will be more explosive and noisy, with plenty of scripted sequences setting up objectives. To punch up the dialogue, the script has also received a treatment from Susan O’Connor, writer of acclaimed shooters BioShock and Gears of War.

“I think we announced [Crysis] too early,” admits Yerli, who adds that unrealistically high expectations ultimately hurt the game. To that end, don’t expect a protracted development schedule - Warhead will ship this year. In fact, if Yerli has his way, all of Crytek’s future games will be announced a mere three months before their release date. But wouldn’t that be too late to create buzz? “If you have the right product, it’s never too late,” he counters.

With pre-production for Warhead having started in February 2007, it’s unlikely that Crytek imagined then that Crysis would become a lightning rod for controversy. Now, Crytek is acutely aware of it. But it’s also clear that the team wants to make its core audience happy, and if at first it didn’t succeed, it’ll try, try again. Will Warhead perform well enough to guarantee that the Crysis saga continues? Like you, we’ll find out toward the end of the year, but this writer remains as bullishly optimistic as the battle cry of one of Warhead’s grunts: “See ya at the victory parade, mother f****r!”



Interview: Cevat Yerli

Recently, you’ve said that Crysis was [among] the most pirated games. How do you know that?

Well, we went into the Torrent statistics and there were charts for this. We learned that [piracy] harmed Call of Duty 4 quite a bit, too. We were hit even stronger because our spec requirements were, when we released, pretty high. There was a statistic that there were around 15–20 [pirated copies] per one copy sold; it doesn’t mean we would sell 15–20 times more, of course, but at least if piracy was lower, we would double our sales. For the PC this is a big issue, because if [piracy] continues like this, you will not see PC exclusives happening, because it’s prohibitively expensive.

Overall, our sales were good - I mean, they weren’t excellent, but we did break even... we did profit from the game despite the high development budget. We are okay with the results, but it’s not excellent. We had hopes it would do better. [EA says] sales surpassed expectations, and EA was happy, and we are happy. I’m just not happy with the fact that... with a game like this, because it’s exclusive, it should drive more [sales]. I don’t want to talk about Crysis 2 - it may come, it may not - but [its development] will depend greatly on Warhead’s success.

What would you say to someone like Brad Wardell, the president of Stardock, who argues that if you make a good game for the PC, it’ll sell well even if it is pirated?

I don’t agree with him. If your PC game pushes the need for upgrading hardware, then the gamer will [have to] choose, “Should I spend my money on hardware or software?” It’s a very easy choice, because software you can copy, hardware you cannot. This is where we got harmed. With Warhead, I think it will work differently. There’s a base of people who have the PC equipment [capable of running Crysis], and I hope this time, they’ll be honest enough to buy the game.

You say that Warhead’s success will determine whether Crytek makes PC exclusives in the future.

Yes, it’ll have a huge impact. I’m not saying we’ll give up on the PC. The question will be, how online will we be [using online authentication], and how many other platforms will we support in the future. We did announce CryENGINE 2 for the PS3 at GDC, so we have development there, but it is not Crysis-related.

The concern for PC gamers is that cross-platform development means that the PC versions will be dumbed-down in gameplay and graphics.

I think there is a different target audience for the console market. I wouldn’t say dumbed-down, but you have to distill the experience to make it easier to access, and you have to limit the number of options you have. If we were to do a multi-platform title, then the way we would approach it is that there would be a design team that works on the console experience and a design team that works on the PC experience.

What about technology? Would you continue to push PC hardware?

I think we wouldn’t be Crytek if each platform didn’t have its technology pushed.

Source

Crysis PC Game: Crysis Warhead - Q&A with Cevat Yerli

German PC Games interviewed Cevat Yerli and asked him several questions about Crytek's upcoming Crysis Warhead. Though Cevat's answers were in German, thanks to thebusdriver at Crymod forums we can read it in English.

"Have you reprogrammed or have you integrated additional technical features into your existing technology?

Overall technical optimization. Config params have been optimized and finetuned which results in a better overall performance. Optimization of particle stream (?), necessary because there would have been a general loss in performance if they hadn't done it.

There are more particle effects in Warhead, the gaming experience will be more explosive and more intense than in Crysis.

New feature: global ambient illumination/lighting: no performance loss but better overall image quality. Global ambient lighting makes the normal maps appear more intense, materials look more realistic. The overall image quality has been improved with this feature (both far and near objects). This also results in overall improved lighting/light effects. They are thinking about doing the same thing for Crysis, because it looks better and can be easily done.

Many players have complained that CryENGINE 2 is very demanding if you want to play Crysis with the highest detail possible (DirectX 10). Were you aware of this fact when programming Warhead, are you therefor constantly trying to optimize your base technology to lower the hardware requirements, especially for those who want the best visual quality?

They try to do everything they can to make Warhead playable on all computers. 600 euros is enough to be able to play Warhead on the highest possible settings. The goal was to make Warhead available to a larger group of customers (especially those with lower hardware configurations).

How do you think about the fact that fans have found ways to activate special features in the engine like very high resolution textures, ultra high mode or enabling DirectX 10 visuals on DirectX 9 cards? Do you appreciate that? Do you take this into consideration when developing Warhead? Does this even help you to constantly optimize your technology?

DX10 features haven't been disabled intentionally for DX9. If all DX10 features were included in DX9, there would have been performance issues, the features would be available but they might not work. Customers that bought DX10 graphics cards have a better CPU, and RAM too, so their PC automatically qualifies for these additional features.

We couldn't allow physics/improved visuals/destructible objects in DX9 multiplayer, because DX9 computers usually don't have the same performance as DX10 computers do. It was possible to activate DX10 features for DX9, and for some people that worked, but for others it didn't, due to them not having all the necessary hardware they made this decision because DX10 guaranteed that computers have enough performance to cope with these additional features.

The discussion about DX10 is still ongoing and Microsoft has already presented an expansion. Will Warhead support and utilize the API extensions, if yes, how can DirectX 10.1 improve or optimize the rendering process? If not, why was there no need to support DX10.1?

There's no support for DX10.1 because the improvements that have been made are minimal and wouldn't aid in increasing the performance while playing Crysis.

We can think about supporting DX10.1 for future games, but there's no need for that yet. It would confuse most customers to create a game for DX10 and the next one for DX10.1, which is unacceptable. That would introduce the same issues Crysis had (DX9 vs DX10). DirectX 10.1 just contains some minor fixes, which won't make any difference for Crysis/Crysis: Warhead.

ATI as well as NVIDIA recently presented a new generation of graphics cards featuring two GPUs on one card. Have you already tested this hardware with Warhead, will you optimize CryENGINE 2 for multi-GPU settings or does your technology already profit measurably from multi-GPU cards? Can players buying an AMD HD 3870 X2 or NVIDIA GeForce 9800GX2 expect a performance boost in Crysis: Warhead?

Warhead does support multi-GPU configurations, especially the recently released new hardware. We didn't focus on the new generation (GTX 200/ATI HD 4800) cards as our goal was to create a game that should run on PCs that cost around 400 euros. However, multi-GPU configurations will provide additional performance but it's not necessary.

Quad-core CPUs become more popular as well as affordable and the processor manufacturers have plans to increase the core number up to eight or even more. Will the build of the engine that is used in Warhead be able to scale perfectly with 8 or even more cores, do you have any plans to reorganize the thread structure of CryENGINE 2 to utilize such a high number of cores efficiently?

CryENGINE 2 does support multi-core CPUs, but the support is limited to 4-6 cores, maybe 8 (he wouldn't bet on it). MCPU will most probably provide a more stable framerate instead of an overall increase in fps.

CPUs do have multiple cores, but they can't be accessed fast enough yet. CryENGINE 2 won't have a new threading structure as it is too early to make a safe bet.

We're working on a technology that will allow middleware developers to easily create software for x-core systems. We do intend to sell that technology too. Also, the name for the next CryENGINE hasn't been chosen yet (2, 2.5, 3, 4, ...)"

Crysys PC Game: Crysis Warhead - Preview

This week, IGN brings us a lengthy Crysis Warhead Preview with first video footage of the game. Enjoy:

Consider the warhead, an object that is both explosive and incendiary. A warhead is about destruction, pure and simple. Recognizing that is one of the key things to understanding Crysis Warhead, a stand-alone follow-up to last year's acclaimed first-person shooter Crysis. Keep in mind that this isn't a direct continuation of Crysis; it's not one of the trilogy hinted at by Crytek's CEO Cevat Yerli. Instead, Warhead is an offshoot story that focuses on one of Crysis' supporting characters. And since that character's nickname happens to be Psycho, you could rightfully expect some crazy things to happen.

In many ways Warhead is a different game than Crysis. The easiest way to think of Warhead is that it is Crysis with the action ramped up to 11. This promises to be a much more muscular shooter, with no shortage of huge firefights and explosions. In fact, the original Crysis may come off as being a much more cerebral experience in comparison. That game was about cat-and-mouse in the jungle, whereas Warhead is going to be about blowing that jungle up.

Warhead is set during the timeline of its predecessor. You play as Sergeant Michael Sykes, aka Psycho, the British-accented commando who goes off on a mission midway through Crysis only to reappear at the end, standing atop the flight deck of the aircraft carrier with a captured alien war machine. What happened to Psycho and how he comes home with such an oversized trophy is going to be the story of Warhead in a campaign that the developers say will be about the length of Crysis'. And before you can ask, since this is a one-off from the core franchise, the designers say that Warhead will pack a fitting finale.

While Crysis has sold more than a million copies and garnered many awards and accolades, Yerli said that there's was also plenty of room for improvement, and that Warhead will address quite a number of issues. "Some people had some concerns about the ending of the game and the linearity of some sections, or could it be a bit more scripted with the environment? We tried to make with Warhead something that is a bit more accessible and mainstream in that regards."

The fact that Warhead is built around Sykes also helps with telling a better story. In Crysis you played the faceless protagonist, and everything that happened in the game occurred from a first-person perspective. In Warhead, the designers can shift to more standard third-person cutscenes that have Sykes in them. Plus, it also helps that Sykes is a very colorful character. "He's kind of a rough diamond, an unpolished diamond," noted senior game designer Bernd Diemer. "He's the guy who likes to blow up stuff, he's the guy who likes to the cut to the point very, very fast. He doesn't have time for chit-chat or doubts."

"You tell him to go over there and take out that pillbox, he goes at it with a butter knife or C4 or whatever he has. That's kind of his characteristic, and that's where the name Warhead comes from. That's him, basically. He's explosive, he's aggressive, and we wanted the game to portray that in interesting ways."

The designers gave us a view of one of early levels in the game, Ambush. Right off the bat it's intense. VTOL transports are coming in to drop off Marines, the radio is full of chatter, and jet fighters are dropping bombs left and right. Think of the opening of the Crysis level Assault, but with that amount of energy sustained throughout. It's all very loud and frantic, but this isn't an attempt to make a linear-game like Call of Duty. Warhead still embraces the series' philosophy of the nanosuit, the high-tech power suit that lets you alter your strategy and tactics on the fly. The battlefields are still large and open, and this gives you an incredible number of options when in a fight. You can stealth and hide to restore your health or ambush an opponent. Use strength to leap atop buildings and hit your enemy from above. Or you can use speed to zip from one location to another. "The core gameplay is still Veni, Vidi, Vici," Yerli said, referring to the Latin term "I came, I saw, I conquered."

Since Warhead takes place concurrent to Crysis, it's not too surprising that you'll see many of the same assets that you may have seen before, like tanks and helicopters. Still, Warhead will introduce some new vehicles and weapons. We noticed a new type of armored personnel carrier, as well as an advanced scout vehicle, which comes in several variants armed with different weapons. Then there's a new submachine gun that can be dual wielded, doubling your firepower. There's more, of course, but that's all we caught a glimpse of in this early level.

Yerli and the others see Warhead as sort of a relaunch for the Crysis franchise. For one, Crytek's programmers have spent the last year optimizing and tuning the engine to improve both performance and visuals. For example, Warhead will introduce a new particle system as well as a new global ambient lighting system that boosts the image quality "at almost no performance cost" according to Yerli. Some before-and-after shots show off the new level of detail now achievable, right down to being able to see the grain in a wood plank or pores in human skin. "This is being done in DirectX 9," Yerli noted, which is good news for those who haven't or are unwilling to upgrade to Windows Vista and DirectX 10. And that brings up Crytek's second point, which is that the rest of the PC ecosystem has matured quite a bit since Crysis shipped last year. Since then, Microsoft has released Service Pack 1 for Vista, which improved performance for 3D applications, and graphics hardware companies such as Nvidia have improved their driver support, which is critical for a game like Crysis.

There's also the fact that many gamers have upgraded their systems over the past year. The Crytek team wants to dispel the myth that Crysis or Warhead requires a high-end, expensive system to play. So they ran the Warhead demonstration on a $652 PC built with parts purchased online. Performance was astonishingly smooth and fluid even with a high level of graphical detail.

Then there's the other issue that Crytek wants to deal with: piracy. Yerli noted that for every copy of Crysis sold there were as many as 20 copies that were pirated. It's obviously a touchy issue with them, especially since quite a number of those pirating the game are willing to spend money to upgrade their machines. "I'm disappointed by the behavior of the gamers," Yerli said. "I'm not disappointed by the people who support us. I know there are a lot of people who support us, and I'm grateful and I thank [them] for that. But there are 15 to 20 times more people who don't care right now."

To combat this, Crytek plans to strengthen copy protection in Warhead, but how it will do so remains murky for now. Yerli admitted that it's a very difficult task. "If you want to have an anti-piracy mechanic, you have to spend a lot of time at the risk of incapability here and there. So you will annoy some people, but you will delay the amount of piracy. You will make 10 people angry for 1,000 more people who cannot copy… It's a dangerous walk to walk because the 10 people who are upset, they will get loud about it. And this is where we have to be good about it, and it's difficult."

While Yerli and other Crytek representatives have been quoted over the past few months that the company is flirting with no longer making games exclusive to the PC, Warhead will remain a PC exclusive. Warhead may be the litmus test that determines Crytek's future to developing PC-exclusive titles. "We'll look at how Crysis Warhead does," Yerli said.

Warhead is being developed by Crytek's new Budapest studio, and the developers there are bringing a fresh perspective to the series. Studio head Kristoffer Waardahl told us that many on the team are veterans of Hungary's real-time strategy development studios, which sounds like an odd skill to bring to making a first-person shooter, but it actually helps when developing the complex and scripted moments of the game. It also helps with improving the AI, and the developers promise better human AI and, more importantly, better alien AI.

Crytek has also learned a valuable lesson when it comes to developing games, as well. Yerli said that, due to delays, too much information came out for Crysis before it shipped. The long wait also built up huge expectations. Crytek is going to play Warhead closer to its chest, revealing a lot less than before. And there shouldn't be any long wait this time, as Crysis Warhead is on track for shipping this fall.

Source: IGN

Crysis PC Game - News: Monthly Update #1

Crytek Dev Team released The Crysis Monthly Update:

Welcome to “Crysis Monthly Update #1”, the first official status report from Crytek to the world-wide community since we turned the weekly issue into a monthly one. From now on every month you will receive an update from us in order to get you up-to-date on the progress of various Crysis related topics and also to tease you from time to time with an in-sight view on what is coming next.

Content: Crysis Monthly Update #1 – May 2008

• Statement: Cevat Yerli’s Interview with PC Play


• Statement: Crysis Multiplayer Disconnect Issues


• Status Report: Crysis Linux Dedicated Server


• Community: Upcoming Q&A – Ask The Devs Now!


• So, What About Patch 1.3?

Statement: Cevat Yerli’s Interview with PC Play

Last month Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli held an interview with the Hungarian magazine PC Play which was published on April 29th, 2008. In this interview Yerli stated that Crytek may not develop games exclusively for the PC anymore. In the interview, Cevat cited piracy of Crysis as one of the main reasons for Crytek’s current line of thinking.

Here is the excerpt for everyone who missed it or wants to re-read:

quote:

Quote from: PC Play Interview with Cevat YerliPC Play: How do you estimate the current state of the PC gaming industry? Some say that it's only a matter of time when it's going to finally die-off, the others say that "the big one" is only getting its comeback pace. Considering Crysis is a PC-exclusive title, what do you think of its market reception and its future? Skeptics would say that it's pretty risky going PC-exclusive with such a high-profile title. Cevat Yerli: It is certainly. We are suffering currently from the huge piracy that is encompassing Crysis. We seem to lead the charts in piracy by a large margin, a chart leading that is not desirable. I believe that’s the core problem of PC Gaming, piracy. To the degree PC Gamers that pirate games inherently destroy the platform. Similar games on consoles sell factors of 4-5 more. It was a big lesson for us and I believe we won’t have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future. We are going to support PC, but not exclusive anymore.

After this report was filed online, we know there were parts of the Crysis community that were upset to hear we were currently thinking about staying away from developing PC exclusive games. We definitely take note of your concerns and we appreciate each and everyone of you that did purchase Crysis and continue to be an active part of the Crytek and Crysis community.

In terms of development for the consoles, this is certainly a logical step for us with the CryEngine 2 supporting multiplatforms. This is not a decision that was driven by the piracy issues on the PC platform, and this definitely does not mean we will lower the quality of our upcoming PC titles. We are known for our next-gen technology and rest assured that we will continue developing high quality games, and getting the most out of each platform.

Statement: Crysis Multiplayer Disconnect Issues

Since beginning of May the online multiplayer part of Crysis suffered from connection issues with the Gamespy master servers. There have been two stages related to this problem which we would like to address now:

1. Gamespy Maintenance
   
   Within the first days of the connection problems, the complete master server was turned off. This was done due to necessary maintenance at this point. Unfortunately due to a miscommunication, this message arrived to Community Management too late, so we could not warn the community. Nonetheless the maintenance was completed after a few days and the system should have worked properly from then on.


2. Random Disconnects
   
   Unfortunately, after the maintenance was accomplished, new issues appeared which prevented many people from playing online for some time. Random client disconnects from the game servers and even complete client disconnects from the CryNET system occurred more frequently.With the technical support from Gamespy, our Multiplayer Dev Team has been focusing on resolving that issue as quickly as possible. After gaining more and more server and client log files from both the community and our QA departments we still were looking for the piece of code causing this issue. Yesterday an update has been applied to the master server which potentially fixes the random disconnects.

We want to apologize for the circumstances and the problems you encountered while playing Crysis online. According to our statistics, we have recognized a huge drop of disconnects and the user count seems to be smooth. Still we will continue to monitor the situation and reviewing the results of the configuration changes to be confident that experience is consistent.

In the case you still encounter this kind of disconnects when playing on a server or if you still find the 'User left the game' messages in your server log files please contact Cry-Alex and let him know about the situation.

Status Report: Crysis Linux Dedicated Server

We are sorry to say that the current development progress is not satisfying enough, as we have a hard time getting the code to a state where it is stable and playable.

Thus we made the decision to put the development on hold for now. We are definitely not happy with the current quality and stability of the server and we are far away from having a stable version which could be sent out to the community for alpha/beta testing.

We hope that you understand the current situation and that you can make adjustments to your plans if you wanted to host a Linux server for Crysis.

Community: Upcoming Q&A – Ask The Devs Now!

A long time has passed since our last community driven Question & Answer session. Now we want to kick off the whole new wave of upcoming community activities with a Q&A especially for you.

If you feel you have very important questions that definitely need to be answered by the development team you now have the chance to submit them. Whether it is related to this monthly update, to Crysis or to Crytek in general, the choice is totally up to you. To do so, simply visit your favorite fan site or one of the official web sites that are www.nanosuit.com or www.crymod.com and place your questions into the respective thread in the forums.

You have time to do your submission until the 16th of June, 2008. Afterwards our Community Team will collect all questions from the world-wide forums and pick quite a few of them which will get answered by Crytek.

Once this is done the Q&A will be published on all Crysis fan sites and also the official sites. We are looking forward to your questions!

So, What About Patch 1.3?

At this time, there almost certainly will not be a patch 1.3 delivered for Crysis. We are aware that this news will disappoint many of you, and we would like to apologize profusely. There is a good reason for this and we hope you understand when you hear more about the reasons why in the very, very near future. Please realize this was an extremely difficult decision, but please do know that we are listening to your comments and are making more consistent community support a high priority.

We are confident that the things we are working on will be appreciated by the community, and we hope for your continued support. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us.

So that’s it for the first Crysis Monthly Update from Crytek! Thanks for taking the time reading all this. Do not miss the next Crysis Monthly Update coming to you in June!

...

-Crysis Dev Team

Source

News: Future Crytek titles will be multi-platform

The PC Play magazine has published an English version of the recent interview it did with Cevat Yerli, president of the German Studio Crytek, which is well known for developing Crysis. In this interview they discussed the success and failures of Crysis, but more importantly the state of the PC gaming industry.

PC Play magazine had a chance to have a brief chat with Mr Cevat Yerli, a president of well-known German studio Crytek. We asked Cevat a few questions about Crysis success and its future, the state of the PC gaming industry, the piracy impact, Games for Windows program and other topics regarding Crysis production.

PC Play: Crysis is out now for quite some time, it received sky-high scores, which could be considered an instant success. How do you and the team feel after you finally launched possibly one of the most anticipated titles of the past year, on any platform?

Cevat Yerli: I feel very proud of the team and they do too, they deserved it. Crysis is a very complete development of what we imagined and that’s the core premise of being proud, it resonated very well critically and we hope it will do commercially too now.

PC Play: How do you estimate the current state of the PC gaming industry? Some say that it's only a matter of time when it's going to finally die-off, the others say that "the big one" is only getting its comeback pace.
Considering Crysis is a PC-exclusive title, what do you think of its market reception and its future? Skeptics would say that it's pretty risky going PC-exclusive with such a high-profile title.

Cevat Yerli: It is certainly. We are suffering currently from the huge piracy that is encompassing Crysis. We seem to lead the charts in piracy by a large margin, a chart leading that is not desirable. I believe that’s the core problem of PC Gaming, piracy. To the degree PC Gamers that pirate games inherently destroy the platform. Similar games on consoles sell factors of 4-5 more. It was a big lesson for us and I believe we wont have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future. We are going to support PC, but not exclusive anymore.

PC Play: You have confirmed that Crysis is a trilogy, which is a really, really great thing to know. Taking that Crysis is a part of the Microsoft's Games for Windows program, is the "master plan" making Crysis the killer-app of the Games for Windows platform, as Microsoft did once before with Halo for the Xbox, Sony with Metal Gear Solid for PlayStation or Nintendo with Super Mario?

Cevat Yerli: There is not really a master plan. We just designed Crysis as a trilogy, that was the plan. Of course this largely depends on success of Crysis for PC. As with every game or entertainment property, if the commercial success wont suffice, plans have to be revisited.

PC Play:You confirmed that it's impossible to make Crysis run on an console, but yet there are constant rumors that it's nearly inevitable. Can you finally give us, our readers, and the industry the final answer on that matter? Is Crysis going to be ported to a console?

Cevat Yerli: Crysis as we have seen is impossible. Crysis would have to be largely changed to bring it to Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. Crysis is designed to be PC Exclusive. Our internal focus is not linked to bring Crysis to consoles.

PC Play: Can you comment the Microsoft's Games for Windows initiative from the business prospective? Is it doing enough for the PC gaming industry? For example, when I visit the official GfW website and click on "Crysis" (or any other title at that matter), there are no trailers, no demos. Only a few screenshots and a link to a Fileplanet beta (Crysis-related) which is closed now for a long, long time. That is hardly representative, don't you think?

Cevat Yerli: What you describe, if still the case, is of course not desirable and acceptable. However I believe in the serious intentions of Microsoft in PC Gaming through the Games for Windows initiative.

PC Play: What do you think about the Games for Windows Live! service? How come Crysis didn't end-up being a Live!-enabled game? Is it going to change with its sequels?Cevat Yerli: About Games for Windows Live Service, it was too late when the SDKs where available. Whether we support it in the future will be a business decision though and nothing has been decided.

PC Play: What do you think about the modding community potential? We saw about eleven high-profile mods in the production. How do you support those guys? How do you think the modding community will evolve through the upcoming years?

Cevat Yerli: I think modding is a key corner stone of success and our support is happening through early or premier access to SDKs. We have our website called www.crymod.com that is our modding community, where people can find everyday news about Modding Crysis and other user created content. At our community site, we have full documentations, tutorials and are running small competitions.

PC Play: Now, let's get back to Crysis from a gaming standpoint. I had a pleasure to review the game, and believe it to be a really, really exceptional title. I especially liked the Nanosuit options. Do you have some plans to evolve the Nanosuit with some new stuff?

Cevat Yerli: Time will tell how the nanosuit will evolve in future. However thanks for the motivating words.

PC Play: Regarding the Nanosuit and its options, could you tell us where you found the inspiration when you were making it? I mean, when I turn the cloak on, I can't ignore a certain "Predator" feeling :-) It feels... mighty:-)

Cevat Yerli: The inspiration was to allow the player to be somewhat the heroes we have seen from other media or games, but just dynamically and to the players choice through nanotechnology in fiction. People when playing Crysis find themselves as Rambos, as Predators, as real delta force units, as walking tanks and whatnot, but the point is, that was our goal, to have each player find himself to be what they want to be.

PC Play: One of the great things both about Far Cry and Crysis is that there are nearly limitless possibilities for getting through a level. Could you tell us if there are going to be some changes or advances in the sequel regarding that gameplay style?

Cevat Yerli: That has not be decided yet, I cannot really comment on any sequel of future iterations of Crysis.

PC Play: You said you wanted the Crysis sequel to have graphics of a motion picture quality. Can you offer us some more, juicy details about that?

Cevat Yerli: Hehe, did I? Well that was the aim with Crysis already. We will certainly see what we can do, but have to be quite patient to find more info on this.

PC Play: Crytek has been opening some new studios around Europe, which are supposedly specialized for some new projects. You said that it's nothing like you did before. Could you give us a hint what it is about?

Cevat Yerli: I cannot unfortunately. It will take a while till we hear more about this.

PC Play: Cevat, many thanks for your precious time.