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.
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Crysis Warhead Due Next Month
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:
- 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.
- 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.
Crysis PC Game - News: Mod SDK & Patch 1.2 - Status Update
So, it was Wednesday yesterday and time for another weekly update from Crytek Dev Team reporting to the world-wide community on the progress of various Crysis related topics. This time they have got an update on the Mod Software Development Kit and also a new status report on the long awaited patch 1.2 for Crysis. It also introduces quite a few new bug fixes of the change log and new features that are included.
Mod SDK – Status Update
As you know from the last weekly update the Mod SDK is coming along quite well. We have been able to fix the remaining issues on the example assets and made them fully functional within the past week. They are also being made compatible to the different exporters the SDK includes.
The respective documentation about the asset creation for CryENGINE2 is finished as well. It will cover the basic questions to get everyone started on this topic and includes install instructions, new tutorials and also some new references for you to read through.
We do not want to tell too much, but you should check out Crytek’s Modding Portal within the next few days, since we got a more or less “small” surprise for the whole modding community which should get everyone working on new levels, assets and more.
The game source code for the SDK is still in preparation to get it working properly with the upcoming patch 1.2. We are confident to deliver the complete Mod SDK to you around the time we ship the new patch. In conjunction we also want to update the official CryENGINE2 documentation on http://doc.crymod.com with quite a few new tutorials and references.
Patch 1.2 – Status Report
We also got news from the development status of patch 1.2 for you. The final installer has been sent to the EA and Crytek QA departments for content verification. The feedback from them until now is positive, so no major errors could have been found so far.
What we are currently working on is the localization for the patch readme file. It needs to be translated into the various languages the game supports. After this is done the files will be verified if they have been translated properly and then get implemented into the installer.
When this step is completed the patch is ready for distribution and allows us to name you a release date for it.
Patch 1.2 – Bug Fixes & Features Introduction
In every Crysis Weekly Update we are going to feature a few of the upcoming bug fixes and/or features from the change log and talk about them a bit more detailed. The introductions for this update are:
Singleplayer/Multiplayer – Audio Hit Feedback
To improve the overall readability in-game for Singleplayer and each Multiplayer game mode Crysis has to offer we decided to implement additional audio hit feedback functionality. This applies to bullet impacts to the enemy player model you are shooting at.
By hitting the torso, arms and legs you will clearly hear the audio feedback and thus recognize much easier that you hit someone. By giving a headshot the sound will be different and can be clearly identified as such. This feedback also can be enabled and disabled by the specific console variable “g_useHitSoundFeedback”.
Multiplayer – Connection Error Warning Messages
With patch 1.2 we introduce even more readability, not only to the in-game part as well but also to the general user interface. Currently it is not that easy to locate the error with your Crysis installation and set up if you got disconnected from an online server with the message “Server Authentication Failed” or “Disconnected from server”.
This will change with the upcoming patch since we implemented quite a few new error messages that give you more details on the reason why you have not been able to either join a server at all or stay connected to one server.
- If a player is missing the map the server is running:“Could not find mapname”
- If the player has the map but it differs from the servers version:“Map version differs from server”
- If the player was kicked from the server:“Kicked from server”
- If the player was banned from the server (if they attempt to reconnect):“You have been banned from the server”
- If the player has a different version of the game to the server:“Unable to connect, game version differs from server”
- Client error while connecting to devmode enabled server without the client running devmode:“You must be in devmode to connect to this server”
- Client error attempting to connect to servers while in devmode and the server isn’t:“Cannot connect to this server while in devmode”
Change Log Abstract
As usual we are going to inform you about additional bug fixes/tweaks included in the patch. With the upcoming weeks we try to inform you as good as possible about the change log, but no promise that we can finish the whole list until the patch is released – it is quite huge!
1. Optimizations and Stability
- Corrected a number of memory leaks with FSAA modes.
2. General Fixes/tweaks
- Fixed player receiving damage from rag dolls.
- Fixed an issue where key bindings were not saved until the player resumed the game.
3. Weapons
- Moved assault scope further away from the camera to allow for a better peripheral view while zoomed.
- Nano-Disruptor grenade will no longer disrupt the revive invulnerability effect.
- When prone with a sniper rifle, the attachments menu should no longer be cut off.
4. Vehicles
- Fixed a number of issues where players getting out of vehicles would get stuck in walls.
- Improved vehicle handling under braking and boosting.
- Reduced collision damage multiplier for actor-vehicle collisions in MP.
5. Singleplayer
- Halved suit energy required for punching in strength mode.
- Helmets will never deflect shots when the player hits them while using weapon sights.
6. Multiplayer
- Added a number of warnings for incorrect map version and missing maps when connecting to servers. (already introduced further above)
- Players will no longer be banned for team killing while in pre-game period.
- Fixed not being able to scroll player names on end of game scoreboard.
7. New Features (already introduced further above)
- Added some additional audio hitfeedback functionality to multiplayer and singleplayer bullet impacts. Headshots will include an audible ding in multiplayer games.
- Added additional audio feedback for player hitting enemies. The feedback can be disabled with "g_useHitSoundFeedback 0".
...
-Crysis Dev Team
Source
Crysis PC Game - News: Mod Software Development Kit - Development Status
Crytek published another weekly update reporting to the world-wide community on the progress of various Crysis related topics. This weekly update focuses on the Mod Software Development Kit for Crysis.
We welcome you to the “Crysis Weekly Update #3”, which is an official status report from Crytek to the world-wide community in order to get you up-to-date on the progress of various Crysis related topics.In this update we want to talk about the Mod Software Development Kit for Crysis that is scheduled to ship around patch 1.2. In addition to that we are going to introduce you to quite a few new bug fixes of the change log and also new features that are included. We also got news on the status of patch 1.2 for you which is nearing completion.
Mod SDK – Development Status
The long awaited Mod Software Development Kit for Crysis is in development for quite some time already. Within the past weeks we have made great progress on it to get everything ready when patch 1.2 ships. The installer for the SDK is already completed and has been verified.
Next to the installer the important tools such as the resource compiler, FMOD designer for sound, polybump plugin/application and of course the exporters for 3DS Max 8, 9 and 2008 are finished and included as well. This should allow every modder to export their creations to the Sandbox2 Editor based on the documentation we provide for this.
Currently the team is working on getting the example assets functional in the Sandbox2 Editor and making them compatible to all the different exporter versions. These are being used as reference how different objects (characters, vehicles and more) are set up correctly. Also some minor adjustments and bug fixing are left to be done.
The game source code for the SDK is currently being prepared based on the final patch 1.2 source. Once this has been finished the whole SDK is getting put together and will get checked for stability and usability.
Right after everything has been approved the SDK will be made available to the whole modding community.
Patch 1.2 – Status Update
Additionally we also got some interesting news about the upcoming patch 1.2 for you. In the first weekly update we mentioned that the content is locked and will not change unless another issue is found.
This means we have set up the final installer for patch 1.2 and sent it to both EA and Crytek QA departments. They will now do a last final test on it and verify its functionality. Once this is done we can schedule a release date and let the community know about it.
However, even though the patch 1.2 is nearing completion there is still a bit of work ahead of us. We hope to get everything done in time in order to release the multiplayer focused patch for Crysis in the upcoming weeks.
Patch 1.2 – Bug Fixes & Features Introduction
In every Crysis Weekly Update we are going to feature a few of the upcoming bug fixes and/or features from the change log and talk about them in more detail. The introductions for this update are:
Multiplayer – HUD Readability
Tweaking the information displayed on each player’s HUD in a PowerStruggle match was an important topic for us to address in the upcoming patch 1.2 in order to improve readability for new as well as more experienced players.
The first new addition to the HUD is about a new icon that is visible when you purchased a vehicle. This allows you to directly see where the vehicle is located.
Additionally the red near-death HUD effect has been improved together with the visual feedback for a player being hit, to ensure enough readability is provided while being in combat and not having enough time to check the health status in the right lower corner.
For a quicker reference during a PowerStruggle match new numbers have been added to the top HUD screen information. These numbers display the percentage of how far the alien energy of the respective team is. The numbers are visible for both teams all the time.
The last part of the readability update is about the TAC icon for enemy players that will now disappear when the player who is carrying a TAC launcher cloaks. This adds more dramatic to the endgame scenario and also re-implements the cloak mode as useful tactic to get closer to the enemy HQ. Still cloaking consumes the most energy and thus needs to be used very carefully since on uncloaking the energy is low and the player is very vulnerable to bullets.
Multiplayer – Air Combat Balancing Part 2
Last week we introduced you to the first part of the air combat balancing topic. It included adjustments to the air and anti-air vehicles. Based on the analyzed data and feedback from the community a list of balancing changes have been created which are being applied in patch 1.2.
Today we release the second part of this balancing topic which is about bug fixes and upcoming tweaks to air and non-air vehicles.
All Air Vehicles:
- Added new shell ejection effect for air vehicles.Explanation: This increases the visibility of an air vehicle shooting at a target.
VTOL:
- Fixed an issue with incorrect "friendly fire" icon in multiplayer VTOLs.Explanation: Sometimes the enemy aircraft would get the red cross of friendly fire showing up which is fixed.
- VTOL cannon now has correct spin up or spin down sounds.Explanation: Increases readability when a VTOL is starting/stopping to fire with the mounted machine guns.
- Fixed issue with VTOL weapons not overheating correctly.Explanation: Adding more balancing to the air combats since mounted machine guns in VTOLs now cannot be used constantly due to the appearing overheating.
Anti-Air Vehicle:
- Greatly increased AAA damage vs. VTOL and Helicopter.Explanation: Anti-Air Vehicle now can be seen as offensive weaponry against the air superiority of the VTOLand Helicopter.
Rocket Launcher:
- Adjusted damage of rockets vs. AAAExplanation: To complete the scissor, paper, stone principal the Rocket Launcher damage against the Anti-Air Vehicle has been adjusted accordingly. Even though this vehicle might be very powerful against air vehicles it is still vulnerable against ground units, especially tanks and Rocket Launchers.
Change Log Abstract
As usual we are going to inform you about additional bug fixes/tweaks included in the patch. With the upcoming weeks we try to inform you as good as possible about the change log, but no promise that we can finish the whole list until the patch is released – it is quite huge!
1. Optimizations and Stability
- Fixed a number of memory leaks with some procedural vegetation and destroyable objects physicalization.
2. General Fixes/tweaks
- Allows loading of custom “objectives.xml” files inside the respective levels folder.
- Decoupled basic speed-mode movement speed from current suit energy level. Sprinting still takes up energy.
3. Weapons
- Players are no longer revealed to enemy on enemy mini map when using silencers on weapons unless they are within 5 meters of another player.
- Improved the behavior of guided rockets, when aiming through player collision proxies. This should reduce instances of rockets flicking away from targets occasionally.
- Fixed an issue with some weapon effects that would cause explosions not to be rendered.
4. Vehicles (already introduced further above)
- Fixed an issue with incorrect "friendly fire" icon in multiplayer VTOLs.
- Added new shell ejection effect for air vehicles.
- VTOL cannon now has correct spin up or spin down sounds.
- Fixed issue with VTOL weapons not overheating correctly.
- Greatly increased AAA damage vs. VTOL and Helicopter.
- Adjusted damage of rockets vs. AAA.
5. Singleplayer
- Player will now be prone if loading a level that was saved while they were prone.
- Fixed issue where after saving the game manually while in the shell, the save will not immediately appear in the save list.
6. Multiplayer
- The vehicle you purchased is now visible with a blue icon. (already introduced further above)
- The loadout menu no longer changes to the weapons menu when an alert event occurs in the game.
- When using PDA, if any player captures a location it will no longer revert to the first page of the PDA.
- TAC icon for enemy players will now disappear when the player who is carrying a TAC launcher cloaks. (already introduced further above)
7. New Features (already introduced further above)
- Added numbers to energy bar in PowerStruggle for quicker reference.
- Improved red near-death HUD effect and visual feedback for player being hit.
So that’s it for the third Crysis Weekly Update! We hope you enjoy the information and thanks for your irresistible support. Do not miss the next update on Wednesday!
-Crysis Dev Team
Source
Crysis PC Game - News: Patch 1.2 – Cheat Protection
Crytek is getting regular with its official reports to the world-wide community on the progress of various Crysis related topics. In this weekly update they talk about Crytek’s internal cheat protection which they are going to fully implement with the upcoming patch.
We welcome you to the “Crysis Weekly Update #2”, which is an official status report from Crytek to the world-wide community in order to get you up-to-date on the progress of various Crysis related topics.
In this update we want to talk about Crytek’s internal cheat protection we are going to fully implement with the upcoming patch. In addition to that we will introduce you to quite a few new bug fixes of the change log and also new features that are included.
Patch 1.2 – Cheat Protection
The first topic of today is all about multiplayer, cheating and what can be done against it. With the upcoming patch, Crytek’s internal anti-cheat solution is being fully implemented into Crysis. Since release of the game we have been working on this, attempting to get it as effective as possible.
Punkbuster and the anti-cheat solution are able to run in conjunction on one game server, but also can be used separately if needed. Still Crytek recommends having Punkbuster as well as the internal solution from Crytek running on a server in order to reach the maximum possible cheat protection.
The cheat protection we will implement is very configurable for administrators of a Crysis server. With the console variable “sv_cheatprotection” you can choose between three default security levels, whereas three is the highest and recommended for clan matches. Security level one and two are recommended for public gaming.
In addition to all that, the cheat protection system can be set individually to even protect modifications. This ensures that all upcoming multiplayer mods for Crysis are protected against cheaters as well.
Patch 1.2 – Content Clarification
Even though we are aware of the most requested features of the community, there are a few things that did not make it into the patch. This is because internally we would like to ensure they are given enough time to meet our quality standards and are not rushed.
Thus we have to tell you that neither the auto download functionality nor Team Instant Action are included in the patch. Both features would have delayed the patch significantly if we would have included them. Still, we are currently discussing internally about what can be done to get these features for Crysis realised. Once a final decision has been made we will let you know for sure.
Patch 1.2 – Bug Fixes & Features Introduction
In every Crysis Weekly Update we are going to feature a few of the upcoming bug fixes and/or features from the change log and talk about them a bit more detailed. The introductions for this update are:
General – Crysis Mod Loader
With this addition mods can be managed through the games main menu UI (User Interface). Whether you develop mods on your own or you just play them, this should ease up the usability significantly.
By launching Crysis with patch 1.2 installed you will have a new selection in the main menu called “Mods”. If you click on it the new mod interface will appear. There you will see an automatic listing of all modifications you have installed for Crysis.
By selecting a mod you will see the respective splash screen and some more detailed information. All these things can be easily adjusted and set via an XML-file in the respective mods folder. It will allow each modder to add their personal logo and detailed information to their modification.
Once clicked on a mod you then have the ability to load it, or unload it if you are currently running this mod and want to switch back to original Crysis again.
Multiplayer – Air Combat Balancing Part 1
Within the past weeks we have collected and analyzed various data and feedback from the community about the current air combat situation on the servers. With the upcoming patch we would like to introduce you to quite a few significant changes to the air vehicles as well as the anti-air vehicles and ground defense.
Since these balancing adjustments affect different aspects of the multiplayer we had to split them up in two parts. The first part which we are going to talk about today is about bug fixes and tweaks to air and non-air vehicles.
Generally the overall imbalanced situations that appear in-game at the moment are being resolved by making the VTOL a bit more vulnerable and less powerful, but still trying to keep it as effective weaponry.
All Air Vehicles:
- Overheat sounds have been added for the mounted guns.
- First person view limits for helicopter, VTOL and APC rear seats added.
Helicopter:
- Helicopter wind effect no longer plays after vehicle is destroyed.
VTOL:
- Increased VTOL vulnerability to being hit by other aircraft cannons.
- Fixed issue with VTOL weapons not overheating correctly.
Anti-Air Vehicle:
- Fixed issue where the AA cannon only produces tracers from the left side barrels.
Change Log Excerpt
As usual we are going to inform you about additional bug fixes/tweaks included in the patch. With the upcoming weeks we try to inform you as good as possible about the change log, but no promise that we can finish the whole list until the patch is released – it is quite huge!
1. Optimizations and Stability
- Fixed crash with AI triangulation in the editor.
2. General Fixes/tweaks
- If climbing a ladder while cloaked, energy no longer depletes at the same rate as if player were standing still.
- Mouse cursor will no longer be permanently removed on attaching gamepad.
3. Weapons
- Decreased air speed of grenade launcher projectile for better readability.
- Added smoke trail to grenade launcher shell for better visibility.
4. Vehicles (already introduced further above)
- Added overheat sounds for VTOL and helicopter guns.
- Fixed issue where the AA cannon only produces tracers from the left side barrels.
- Added first person view limits for helicopter, VTOL and APC rear seats.
- Helicopter wind effect no longer plays after vehicle is destroyed.
- Increased VTOL vulnerability to being hit by other aircraft cannons.
5. Singleplayer
- Increased player melee damage and decreased AI melee damage
- Increased damage of most player-fired weapons and decreased damage of most AI-fired weapons.
6. Multiplayer
- Team killed players will no longer drop their weapon.
- Grenades are now visible in the hands of enemies in multiplayer.
7. New Features (already introduced further above)
- Added mod loader to the main menu. User created content can now be loaded and unloaded through this menu.
So that’s it for the second Crysis Weekly Update! We hope you enjoy the information and thanks for your irresistible support. Do not miss update #3 on next Wednesday!
-Crysis Dev Team
Source
Crysis PC Game - News: Patch 1.2 – Development Status
Here is an official status report from Crytek on the progress of various Crysis related topics. In this update Crytek gives us a glimpse about the current development status of the long awaited Crysis Patch 1.2, along with introduction to a number of bug fixes and also new features that are included.
We welcome you to the “Crysis Weekly Update #1”, which is an official status report from Crytek to the world-wide community in order to get you up-to-date on the progress of various Crysis related topics.
In this update we want to talk a bit about the current development status of the long awaited Crysis Patch 1.2. In addition to that we are going to introduce you to a number of bug fixes and also new features that are included.
Patch 1.2 – Development Status
Alright, let’s begin with the first topic. Patch 1.2 has been in development for quite some time now and we are very satisfied with its current progress. The patch as itself is nearly finished from a content point of view.
This means no new features and major changes are getting implemented unless a critical issue appears and requires immediate fixing. At the moment the tasks that are left to be done are testing the whole patch content-wise and installer-wise to ensure all bug fixes/features are working as intended and nothing else is broken.
The test phase will last until EA’s and Crytek’s Quality Assurance departments are satisfied with the overall quality and stability of the whole patch. Since this is a very important part of the patch development we have to wait for additional feedback from both QA departments in order to set and announce a release date.
Patch 1.2 – Bug Fixes & Features Introduction
In every Crysis Weekly Update we are going to feature a few of the upcoming bug fixes and/or features and talk about them a bit more detailed. The introductions for this update are:
Weapons - new grenade indicator icon
With patch 1.1 we have activated the client visibility of a hexagon icon for both team mates and enemies that displays where a grenade has been thrown at. With patch 1.2 we are improving this feature and made it more readable for everyone.
We got rid of the hexagon and replaced it with a nifty colored triangle. Additionally the type of the grenade has been added as text as well. Friendly grenades show up marked as blue on the HUD and enemy grenades as red marked.
Multiplayer - Added team colors to kill/death messages
To improve the readability of the kills/deaths that are going on during a match we added colors to these messages that appear in the upper left corner of the HUD.
Members of your team are getting displayed in a blue color whereas enemy players are displayed in a red color. So obviously seeing a blue name killing a blue name is not good and should be avoided
Since this is the first weekly update that is being sent out we are going to inform you about additional bug fixes/tweaks and also name some new features that will be included. With the upcoming weeks we try to inform you as good as possible about the change log, but no promise that we can finish the whole list until the patch is released – it is quite huge!
1. Optimizations and Stability
- Fixed potential server exploit that could cause servers to crash.
2. General Fixes/tweaks
- Added mouse wheel scrolling support for server browser.
- Fixed an issue where in unarmed mode, the character's arms will suddenly reappear and disappear when picking up and dropping an object.
- Added new effects for vehicle shattering after being frozen.
3.Weapons
- C4 will now stick to doors correctly.
- Added new grenade indicator icon. (explained in detail further above)
- Adjusted explosion radius of grenade launcher to be more efficient vs. players.
4. Vehicles
- Added check for players riding on vehicles while not seated to prevent them being killed.
- Tweaked damage for players hit by vehicles at lower speeds.
- Adjusted wall collision damage for civilian car.
5. Singleplayer
- Improved AI machinegun handling (both stationary and mounted machineguns on vehicles).
- Fixed an issue with "Escort Prophet out of sphere" objective failure causing reloading issues.
6. Multiplayer
- Added team colors to kill/death messages (explained in detail further above).
- Fixed some game states not properly resetting after game restart.
- Fixed issue where VOIP doesn't work properly on non-dedicated servers.
7. New Features
- Added auto team balance. Players will now be moved from full teams to the opposing side when dead if the numbers are unbalanced. (Can be disabled/enabled via cvar)
So that’s it for the first Crysis Weekly Update! We hope you enjoy the information and thanks for your irresistible support.
-Crysis Dev Team
Source
Crysis PC Game - News: Multiplayer Security Update!
Official news from CryTek about multiplayer security and related issues:
Greetings Community!
Crysis has been out for quite some time already and we constantly focus on getting the Multiplayer part more balanced and the servers less filled with cheaters. The last point is a topic we want to address today. The following is only the beginning of our initiative against Hacks, Cheats and Trainers. We know this is going to be tough, but we think it is rudimental and absolutely necessary.
Alliance with Punksbusted.com
With this day we would like to announce our collaboration with the well known Anti-Cheat web site www.punksbusted.com . Many of you may know this page from other popular multiplayer games, but here a summary what the group is about.
PunksBusted (PsB) was founded back in the year 2002. They are currently providing several games with the latest Md5 checks and a global master ban list. Most common hacks out there can be detected with the right Punkbuster configuration, and thus we decided to work together with these guys.
The Master Ban List
Together with PsB we have been working on a new Punkbuster configuration which is ready for release now. In addition we are going to use the Punkbuster streaming technology which is linked to PsB's Master Ban List (MBL) for Crysis.
So what is this MBL? In a few words, it is a list that streams the Punkbuster log files of a server to www.punksbusted.com . Afterwards these log files are being analyzed and cheat violations are being added to a Master Ban List (MBL).
This list prevents cheaters who have been added to play on all Crysis game servers who are streaming to Punksbusted. Following you will find a description how to set up your server correctly in order to be able to stream to PsB.
We are also using the Auto MBL tool to provide new cheat related Md5 checks to the game servers. These will be updated as soon as we have found a new cheat for Crysis which can be detected this way.
Streaming To Punksbusted.com
Every game server for Crysis can stream to Punksbusted.com. All you need to do is following:
- Register free on punksbusted.com
- Chose "Membership" and then "Apply"
- Fill out the form (don't forget to add Crysis game servers)
- Application is being verified and Clan ID being sent via email
- Once you have received the login information proceed as following:
- Open "pbsvlog.cfg" inside your Pb folder.
- Enter your Clan ID into this field:
pb_sv_loguser <clanID> // Your Clan ID
- Download the Auto-MBL tool to get updates from PsB automatically.
- Keep in mind: "pbsv.cfg" requires manual updating!
- Changes to your game server need to be updated on the PsB page.
New Punkbuster Configuration
As already mentioned above we have created a new Punkbuster configuration together with PsB which can be downloaded further below and applied to your server. This configuration contains 4 files:
- pbsv.cfg
You can find general PB settings, cvar checks and all Md5 checks in this config file
- pbsvlog.cfg
In this config you need to add all needed informations for streaming
- pbsvuser.cfg
This is an empty placeholder file the Auto MBL tool will update with the latest Md5 checks
- reloadbans.cfg
This file is needed to reload the ban list. So players which where deleted from the MBL will be unbanned.
Crysis Trusted Server Providers
Several Crysis game server providers already updated their public servers and more will follow during the next days. Especially our Trusted Server Providers KGN and i3D.net have been very cooperative and most of their servers are running the new configurations. So try them out and enjoy some great Crysis Multiplayer experience!
More to come regarding this topic!
-Crysis Dev Team
Source
Crysis PC Game - News: Patch 1.1 Released
Crysis is finally patched and now goes to version 1.1.
Crytek has finally released the first long awaited patch for Crysis which brings the game to version 1.1. It fixes a few bugs, makes several tweaks and creates a few updates. Here is the full list of fixes, updates and tweaks:
Fixes
* Fixed: Potential crash in D3D10
* Fixed: Orange boxes apearing when hispec savegame loaded into lowspec game.
* Fixed: Inconsistent damage dealt to vehicles when shot by LAW.
* Fixed: Reflection resolution on D3D10, MultiGPU reflection update fix
* Fixed: Memory leak with FSAA modes
* Fixed: Infinite ammo hacks.
* Fixed: Memory leak in D3D10 when switching screen modes
* Fixed: Muti optimizations
* Fixed: When player melees during gun raise animation, their gun will be in a permanantly raised position.
* Fixed: Crash when loading savegame with level exported recently by editor
* Fixed: Virtual keyboard does not function properly when a game pad is connected
* Fixed: Users can lose the ability to look around with the Right Stick
* Fixed: Setting screen resolution to "default" stops user from selecting last resolution
* Fixed: Bug when changing resolution in D3D10
* Fixed: Issues with Depth of field and water droplets in D3D10
* Fixed: Crash on NaN warning
Updates
* Added: Motion Blur UI and V.SYNC UI options
* Optimized: Motion blur
* Optimized: FSAA (Full Scene Anti-Aliasing)
* Optimized sound id implementation
* Enabled VSync functionality in D3D10
* New benchmarking files for ice CPU benchmark.
* http/xmlrpc password protected remote control session
* Marked debug cvars as cheat
* F12 (screenshot) now works in restricted mode as well
Tweaks
* Reduced LAW splash damage vs. infantry in PowerStruggle mode
* Slowed Rocket projectile speed down in MP slightly
* Disabled automatic turret bounding boxes on vehicles to prevent issues with LAW hit detection
* Reduced grenade explosion radius in multiplayer
* Clamped water tesselation to avoid cheating in MP
* MultiGPU improvements with depth map updates
Download the Crysis Patch 1.1 (142.4 MB, freeware).
Crysis PC Game - News: Upcoming Patch #1
Crytek have sent out an update on their upcoming first patch. Overall, the new patch won't introduce any major changes and won't have a large change log; it's intended to be a small patch to fix the most frustrating and obvious issues:
Today we have got a little update on our upcoming Crysis Patch #1 for you. Even though there is no final change log available at the moment since the patch is still work in progress we would like to give you a rough overview what kind of issues are being addressed.
Crysis Patch #1 – General Content
First of all we don’t have set a release date for the patch yet. We are still working on it, but we are very confident that the patch will be out right after it has been verified and checked for stability. We will let you know immediately once we have more specific information on this for you.
As for the content it self, the patch is going to address following categories:
- Overall Performance
- Adjustments to LAW and Grenade balance in multiplayer
Please keep in mind this is not a major patch to the game, but more an update on performance and some Multiplayer tweaks that have been requested by the community.
Pre-Order/Special Edition Exclusive Vehicle (Amphibious APC) – Online Issues
A few of the people who got access to the Amphibious APC wonder why they are not able to purchase that vehicle in one of the factories. This is related to the fact that the dedicated server need to be logged into Gamespy to allow people who purchased the pre-order/SE version of Crysis to buy the vehicle ingame.
We already informed most of the server hosting companies about that and we recommend everyone who is setting up a dedicated server to read the Official Dedicated Server Documentation 1.2
Weapon Sound loop – Workaround!Some committed community members found out a temporary workaround for the sound looping bug that occurs in some multiplayer sessions. In the case you experience this bug please follow this instructions:
- Open console and type in “con_restricted 0” (without “”).
- Type in “s_soundenable 0” (without “”) to disable sound completely.
- Type in “s_soundenable 1” (without “”) to enable sound again.
So whenever this bug occurs just follow the steps above and the bug should be gone. Crytek is also trying to solve that problem once we are able to reproduce it in-house.
Thanks to these members for finding this workaround!
-Crysis Dev Team
Crysis PC Game - News: Crysis Now Available!
Crysis is already available in selected countries.
Those living in german speaking countries such as Germany and Austria, as well as other countries such as Australia, will be likely to find Crysis sitting on the shelf at their local games store.
Source
Crysis PC Game - News: Special Edition and Available Languages
Crytek's Community Manager, Alex Marschal has sent out an email today containing official information relating to both the special edition of Crysis and the various languages that Crysis will be available in. First is list of supported languages...
Crysis Languages
The game itself will be available in 14 different languages whereas some versions include several languages depending on where they are going to be sold. The “Crysis Special Edition” will be available in English only.
A list of full audio supported languages can be found here:
- German
- English
- Italian
- Spanish
- French
- Turkish
- Russian
- Japanese.
And here a list of the languages we support via text only (audio is English):
- Polish
- Czech
- Hungarian
- Traditional Chinese
- Korean
- Thai
Here's some clarification on the Crysis Special Edition and the Pre-Order deal.
Crysis Pre-Order/Special Edition – Exclusive Content
This is about clarifying the confusion that came up about the un-lockable vehicle in Multiplayer only that people will receive when pre-ordering Crysis or purchasing the Special Edition of it.
First of all, yes there will be such a vehicle exclusively for the people who pre-order the game and/or purchase the Special Edition. It will be available in multiplayer only and is not transferable to other persons.
Other than that the vehicle needs to be purchased for a specific amount of Prestige Points in one of the available vehicle factories, but can only be entered by the person who bought it. Once this person has left the vehicle it can be used by other team mates and also can be lock-picked by the enemy.
There's obviously going to be a few people unhappy about the exclusive vehicle, but it's not even close to what happened with BF2 and its expansion packs which gave owners of the expansion an extra line-up of weapons which could be used when playing on normal BF2 servers. EA sure knows how to make the world go around.
Source
Crysis PC Game - EA Crysis Site Renewed
EA have updated the look of the official Crysis website. Besides the new look, the only major content addition is an interactive nanosuit information guide.
Go to the Official Crysis Website
Crysis PC Game - News: Crysis Now Gold!
The time has finally come, Crysis is finally complete and ready for mass production before being distributed around the world. But the work on Crysis isn't over yet. Crytek are already working on the first patch which will include fixes for many bugs and other issues present in the SP Demo. Nvidia and ATI are also still working hard on drivers so you can get the most of your graphics hardware when playing Crysis.
Source: Crysis-Online
Crysis PC Game - News: Crysis Demo Now Available to All
The Crysis Singleplayer Demo has been released early to the surprise of many. This is the full Singleplayer Demo with 32-bit, 64-bit, DX9 and DX10 plus quad-core support.
- nZone
- FileFront
- Worthplaying
- Gamershell
- 3D Downloads
- ActionTrip
- Fragland
- GGMania
- Computer Games.ro
- PixelRage
- GameSpot
- Internode
Any reports saying that the demo is leaked, or that it is DX9 only, are fake. I hope you all enjoy the demo!
**Note**
It is recommended that the latest drivers from Nvidia be installed. Also make sure you install all the windows Vista hotfixes (link below).
Download Latest Nvidia Driver
Windows Vista Hotfixes
Source: Crysis-Online
Crysis PC Game - News: Crysis Day on October 26th - Community Note!
One of Cryteks Community Managers, Alex Marschal, has provided all fan sites with an update on the demo situation. Here's the full press release...
Greetings Community!
Due to the steady increasing rush on new information about the upcoming Crysis Singleplayer Demo we would like to give out a few additional details that might be interesting for you. J
Crysis Singleplayer Demo
The demo is going to be released officially on Friday, October 26th at 1:00PM (GMT+1). It will be exclusively available for those who pre-ordered Crysis for about 24hours via the EA downloader. On Saturday, October 27th at 1:00PM the demo will be put online for download an all public sites, so keep tracking your favourite fan site.
Crysis pre-Demo Party!
Join us to the pre-demo party powered by InCrysis.com. It will occur at 1:00PM GMT (2PM CEST), Friday 26th of October on IRC. You'll need an IRC client or use a web-browser version. For those using a client, connect to "irc.gamesurge.net" and join #inCrysis.
In attendance will be Sebastian Spatzek (QA Manager), Eric Lagel (MP Dev. Manager), Michael Kolkau (Senior MP Level Designer), Chris Auty (Lead MP Game Designer) and Alex Marschal (Community Manager) from Crytek. During the party you'll have the opportunity to put your questions forward to the Crytek team. There will be some prizes up for grabs also!
This is a community event for all fan sites and their users. The more people in attendance, the better!
Another Surprise…
The upcoming Singleplayer Demo including the Sandbox2 Editor is not the only surprise you can expect from us. Stay tuned for another news message sooner than you might think!
There you go then! At exactly 12:00PM GMT (1:00PM GMT +1), the demo will be released to those who pre-ordered from the EA store. Exactly 24 hours later, it will be made available to the general public.
Source: Crysis-Online
Crysis PC Game - News: Demo Delayed
The bad news is that the Crysis demo has been delayed until the 26th of October. This is no doubt a huge blow for those who missed out on the beta. The good news however is that when the demo is released, it will come with the Sandbox 2 editor so modders and map makers can have content ready for the release of Crysis.
Crytek didn't delay the demo for no reason, and although the fact that it was originally scheduled to be released on the same day as Halo 3 may have had something to do with this delay, there's many reasons as to why Crytek pushed the demo back a month. Here's what Cevat Yerli said in an official press release...
Hi everyone, We have some news to announce.
First, I am sorry for the bad news - the Crysis single player demo will now be available everywhere on October 26th, 2007. We are taking some extra time to make sure you that you have an amazing experience but also we did not want to risk the release date of Crysis at this stage. To get the game into your hands by November the 16th, we had to make this call.
Now the good news - the big surprise. The SP demo will be released with our CryEngine 2 - Sandbox 2 game editor, giving the community the opportunity to get familiar with the vast amount of tools they will have at their disposal four weeks before we ship, something we have always wanted to do. This is an exciting time for us at the studio as the development of Crysis comes to an end and we are only a few weeks from Gold Master.
We appreciate your patience and are looking forward to getting Crysis into your hands on November 16th.
Thanks
Cevat Yerli
CEO & Crytek
Crysis PC Game - Crysis Receives 16+ PEGI Rating
Europeans can expect to see a big fat 16+ PEGI rating on Crysis when it shows itself instore on November 16th (15th for some). Strong language and violence are the two major factors which have determined this rating. So while this news isn't surprising, it's good to have confirmation. This rating doesn't apply to Germany though. Germans can expect to see Crysis with an 18+ rating.
More information can be found on the official PEGI website...
Go to PEGI.info
Crysis PC Game - News: Gamespot Zero-G Exploration
Gamespot has just posted a new article on Crysis. Besides clearing up the story, they also let loose on many of the intricasies of the aliens and their environment. Along with the article is a new video from within the alien vessel.
With the demo for Crysis coming out next week, as well as the game itself in November, EA and Crytek have begun to reveal more of the game to us. This eagerly awaited first-person shooter promises to raise the bar for graphics fidelity to all new heights, but Crytek wants to also prove that the excellent gameplay in 2004's Far Cry was no fluke. To that extent, we got to delve through a level that appears midway through the game that shows off the alien environment and zero gravity combat. So read on for some details, but please note that what follows contains spoilers for the game.
Crysis is set in the near future and deals with an alien invasion. However, while these aliens are from outer space, they arrived on Earth thousands of years ago and remained in hibernation until scientists discover one of their vessels on a remote Pacific island. You'll play as a member of a US Special Forces team sent to investigate and you'll encounter the North Korean military, which is also racing to secure the island. We went into the ancient alien vessel ourselves in a level called Core. Without spoiling the entire story, your character, clad in a high-tech nanosuit, will find himself stranded inside an old mine shaft. However, as you explore the shaft, you'll discover it's an alien vessel, and you're all alone and cut off from outside help.
One of the major points of Core is the sense of exploration and discovery. In fact, there's no real objective to this mission, we're told. After all, you suddenly find yourself in an alien environment and have no idea what to do. Thus, your job is to watch the aliens to go about their business, trying to decipher what's going on around you. "The game effectively tells the story of the aliens" through such observations, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli said. It's all part of what he calls the game's "ambient storytelling" at work. It's an effectively eerie storytelling technique because you'll find yourself in an environment that is both alien and perplexing at the same time. If you shoot out some of the crystal formations on the walls, the shards float through the air instead of fall to the ground. Little particles flow through the organic corridors of the ship, looking like the detritus that floats around at the bottom of the ocean. The lighting is also muted and diffuse, making it feel like you are underwater. Incredibly, we were playing the DirectX 9 version of the game, so the DX10 version should look even better.
While Crytek won't let us show the aliens, we can discuss them, and they look like nothing seen in a game. The developers told us early on that they went through an entire game's worth of concept sketches to come up with the single alien species in Crysis, and it has paid off. These aliens aren't bipedal like humans. Instead, they're aquatic in nature, with thin, ghostly tendrils for appendages. They're almost like phantoms, in a way, because up close you realize that their skins are translucent, and you can actually make out their skeletal structure through the light. Yerli noted that they were inspired by marine life, and it shows. Seeing them is like watching documentaries of deep sea life that has never seen sunlight. The aliens dart through zero gravity the way fish swim through water. One second they're floating serenely, the next they're zipping around with great velocity. One tactic is that they can swarm you, racing all around your field of view, forcing you to spin around to track them. Then, suddenly, one will dart head-on at you, like a shark going for the kill. The impact of such a collision hurts, and then the alien darts away just as quickly.
We were armed with the standard assault rifle during this mission, and you've got to be careful about how often you use it because we didn't see any extra ammunition scattered around the alien ship. Thankfully, you can load up on ammo shortly before you enter the alien vessel, but from that point on, you need to conserve. Getting in a firefight with the aliens can be dangerous, because they're so quick that you can burn through a lot of ammo just trying to hit them.
Navigating through a zero gravity environment sounds like it could be difficult, but we found it fairly easy and only got turned around once. It didn't take long for us to realize we had backtracked, so we headed back in the right direction. Yerli said that this bears out in the company's focus testing because almost everyone gets through the level properly. There are all sorts of subtle hints of where you need to go, from flashing lights to the "flow" of particles around you. There are also some environmental puzzles that we encountered, such as a device that strengthened the flow of particles through the corridor, making it impossible to progress forward. We were told that all environmental puzzles in the game will have at least two solutions; one involves using weapons and the other involves your nanosuit's abilities. You can use your rifle to take out the device, which slows down the flow of particles and lets you pass. In this situation, you can also use your nanosuit to boost your speed, which lets you swim past the device.
One thing that we haven't covered yet is just how amazing the game sounds, which is something that cannot be conveyed through screenshots. But being inside the Core level is an incredible audio experience. If you don't have a surround-sound setup or really good headphones, invest in them because they'll pay off just as much as a new video card. Throughout most of the level, there's just a layer of sonic tension conveyed through the ambient sound effects. The alien ship also "moans", which has a big significance in the game as well. It's like listening to the sound of humpback whales singing. One of the cooler moments we encountered was when we found out that by using our nanosuit to cloak, it actually muted the ambient sound. This will play a role in the game because some sounds are loud enough to actually hurt you.
The music for the game is also very haunting and powerful, coming from composer Inon Zur, a noted video game veteran. Zur's credits include SOCOM II and Prince of Persia. But just because Crysis is a big-budget game, it doesn't mean that EA and Crytek went out enlisting top-notch Hollywood talent to provide voices in the game. "I was opposed to the idea in the beginning," Yerli said. "Crysis needs to stand on its own...without the point of having famous composers or actors or writers." From what we saw in the Core level, it's a safe bet that Crysis will be more than able to stand on its own.
;)
Crysis PC Game - News: Crysis Singleplayer Demo Announced
And we have a date, the 25th of September, 2007. This certainly gives Crysis fans something to look forward to over the upcoming weeks. It's also good that Crytek have given us a month's notice as the extra time will allow some of us to get new rigs. Thanks to Alex Marschal for sending out this great news. Here's a quote from the press release...
PC gamers now have a reason to mark a big circle around September 25th on their calendars as the single player demo for Crysis will be lighting up rigs worldwide in just 30 days.
Consisting of the entire first level in Crysis’ epic single player campaign, “Contact,” gamers will get to finally experience first-hand the stunning visuals, revolutionary Nanosuit gameplay and open-ended level design that make Crysis one of the most anticipated shooters and PC games of all time. The demo is also poised to include a huge surprise from Crytek, but for now you’ll just have to wait and check out the latest Crysis Nanosuit trailer by following the link below
......continued......
Crysis is coming off award-winning showings at the German Games Convention, picking up Best PC Game of GC honors from the panel of experts judging the show and from E3, where it also won the Game Critics Awards Best PC Game of E3 2007. The countdown to Crysis ends on November 16, 2007.
In other news, the Nanosuit trailer originally posted on Gametrailers is now available in higher quality and without any watermarks. You may download that below.
Source: Crysis-Online
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