One of Hideo Kojima's lesser-known works (to most English-speaking folk, anyway) is Snatcher, a game released to the West on the Sega-CD/Mega-CD way back in 1994. Featuring cyberpunk elements, this adventure game is fondly remembered by some, and the focal point for a new mod in Crysis Wars.

ModDB user ASH172 has been working on this project since February of last year, all by his lonesome. The mod, which looks to recreate the classic game in full, was started using Crytek's CryEngine2, SandBox2 and SDK tools, but now ASH172 is looking to transfer the project over to the Crysis Wars engine, SDK, and tools.

Snatcher enjoys quite the cult following, and in the right circles will net you a stabbing should you diss it. So, in the interest of internal organ preservation, we're totally down with this.

[Thanks, Buffel!]

CryTek's newest, shiniest piece of tech is CryEngine 3, which will be put to use in the upcoming PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Crysis 2. While the first footage of the console versions looks remarkably similar to what you'd get from a PC, a closer examination reveals how top-end gaming PCs are still capable of rendering better graphics with CryEngine 2. According to tehdaza on YouTube, "CryEngine 3 running on console hardware is about the same as CryEngine 2 running on 'medium' settings." The look of the console versions can be recreated on the PC by using low textures, high shaders and object geometry and medium on all other settings.

You can check out the video after the break. In it, you'll be able to compare the draw distance of the two engines and see the change in physics, texture work and more.

[Via N4G]

When Crysis 2 was announced, we looked forward to seeing the evolution of one of the most eye-catching FPS titles ever created at this week's E3. Well, folks, it looks like we'll have to wait a bit longer for that, because the trailer released for E3 is sorely lacking in the content department. Well, unless the kind of content you're looking for is big chunks of broken glass floating in a black space.

Crytek isn't waiting around for the next wave of consoles to hit before melting eyeballs in the living room. In fact, publisher Electronic Arts announced that the German developer is already prepping a follow up to Crysis, this time for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as well as the PC.

Creatively titled Crysis 2, the title is the first built using the studio's new console-ready middleware, CryENGINE 3. Nothing else is known, though with E3 kicking off this week we've opened up a new box of tissues just in case we hear more.

Like momma always said, if you're gonna effect change, the best place to be is on the inside. Avni Yerli, managing director and co-founder of Crytek, has joined the GDC Europe advisory board, where together with existing members he hopes to "create a conference that will hit the industry's nerve."

GDC Europe's Frank Sliwka put it another way, offering hope that Yerli's membership will "elevate the conference to a whole new level." Let's just hope the board's processors can handle the stress without -- dare we say it -- crying.

When Crytek snatched up Free Radical, we imagine some dreams of not being jobless came true, and now that the acquisition is complete, it would seem Crytek is giving free reign to Free Radical. In an interview with Develop, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli says the new Crytek UK is working "on things that they always dreamed to do."

"We are providing the team a roadmap and the chance to grow, which is why we were picked as a partner, and not anyone else," Yerli added. Could such a "dream project" be TimeSplitters 4, which is what Free Radical was working on before the acquisition? Hopefully we'll hear more at E3.

You know, Frankfurt has given us so much. There's Saint Bartholomeus' Cathedral, Hauptwache, to say nothing of the annual Festival of Stoneware. Now, the German city's own Crytek is giving you yet another gift: A free trial of the multiplayer-only Crysis Wars, beginning today and wrapping up April 17. You can find all the details here.

Also announced this morning: Crysis: Maximum Edition, which includes Crysis, Crysis: Warhead and Crysis Wars, bundled together for latecomers to the series for $39.99 beginning on May 5. ... What, you thought Frankfurt would give you that for free too? You've already got Wäldchestag, how much more do you need?

[Update: The trial's apparently not going to start until around 3 p.m. EST. Sorry about the confusion.]

German developer Crytek recently filed three new trademark applications and, in a move that shook Joystiq at its very foundation, none of the names trademarked start with the word "cry." "Carvatar," "Kingdoms" and "Gface" have all been filed for by the developer -- names for games already in development for next gen, perhaps?

We reached out to Jens Schäfer, PR manager for Crytek, who told us, "I'm sorry but we usually don't comment on trademark applications." The law of wild speculation dictates in situations like these that we must make up the silliest possible explanation and as such, we offer you this: Hyper-realistic, car-based avatars with face recognition software tied to Gmail accounts to be used in Crytek's upcoming MMO, Kingdoms. That's the obvious answer.

Trademark 1 - Carvatar
Trademark 2 - Kingdoms
Trademark 3 - Gface

Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli had some major statements to make about the future of console development and his company's proprietary engine, CryENGINE 3. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Yerli said, "If I want to make a next-gen launch title I could do that by pushing the boundaries of the engine," referencing CryENGINE 3 as the bridge between generations. Expounding on the reasoning behind this, Yerli said, "If it's for PS3 you can develop on the PS3 and you're done with it ... the next hardware comes along you have to start again. Whatever happens, we don't want developers to be the victims of change and repositioning."

Crytek has stated before that it expects the next-gen by 2011 -- a predicition it's not alone in making -- but never before has it made these type of assertions with such authority. Citing talks with Microsoft and Sony, Yerli says, "We wanted to make an engine that's ready for next-gen inherently. Writing the driver layers for the next PlayStation or next Xbox will be quite simple for us." So what you're saying is Crysis 2 will be coming packed-in with the X-Station 2160? Count us in!

[Thanks, Mocib]

Crytek revealed that it has considered the possibility of a streaming game service like OnLive or Gaikai before, but abandoned the idea due to technological limitations. "We had our research in 2005 on this subject but we stopped around 2007 because we had doubts about economics of scale. But that was at a time when bandwidth was more expensive," CEO Cevat Yerli told GamesIndustry.biz.

High-speed connections have yet to be cheap or reliable enough to work, in Crytek's estimation: the company determined that a streaming service may be possible sometime between 2013 and 2015. This is also the approximate period in which most consumer PCs will begin to be able to run Crysis. Yerli said that such services must rely strongly on broadband providers.

"We're not involved [with OnLive], we just allowed Crysis to be tested on it," Yerli said. Publisher EA is behind the addition of Crysis Warhead to the service.

The manufacturer of beautiful virtual worlds your computer can never run, Crytek, has just released a video for the latest iteration of its own CryENGINE, uh, engine: CryENGINE 3. Aside from being a pain to type, it's also a platform for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, MMO, and DX9/DX10 development (which we already knew) that provides scalable computation and graphics for all major upcoming platforms, making it "next-gen ready." In speed tests, the engine ran at over 800 Van-Dammes per second, destroying CryENGINE 2's record of 150 Stathams per second.

Cevat Yerli, CEO & President of Crytek, really thinks the company has a winner here and hopes that developers will use the tech to get started on tomorrow's great games today. He describes the new engine as "a revolutionary change from our previous PC-only engines," and will likely love the money Sony and Microsoft toss at Crytek to make Crysis 2: Strike at the Plant where Billion-Dollar Cybersuits are Made a timed exclusive.

CryENGINE 3 will be on display at GDC09 all of this week. Head past the break for the announcement video showing the engine in action for the first time.

When Crytek, developers of Crysis, said they wanted to move into console development, they weren't kidding. The team announced their brand new graphics engine today, one that works on DirectX 9/10, PS3 and Xbox 360. The engine's scalability will allow developers to work on a variety of genres, such as action games and MMOs; however, in addition to focusing on the now, Crytek is touting their new engine is the only one designed for the next generation of gaming.

Carl Jones, director of business development, refuses to be humble about this announcement. "CryENGINE 3 will set the benchmark for complete game engine solutions in performance, and services to game engine licensees and their players," he touts. "We've been preparing a long time for CryENGINE on consoles and we're confident that Crytek will again amaze developers at GDC."

The business team will be available at GDC later this month to discuss licensing details. In addition, Crytek will undoubtedly showcase the new tech during public presentations at the show. We're interested in seeing if the new CryENGINE will be able to come close to replicating Crysis' incredible visuals on today's home consoles.

Crytek's past console experience has been nonexistent, and with the company doing away with PC exclusivity, it needs to get its feet wet in the console arena. Now that the company has acquired what is left of Free Radical, it can do just that.

"We always planned to enter the console market and it was part of our strategy even before the acquisition," said Cevat Yerli, president and CEO of Crytek. "This step will certainly bring us forward a bit faster to achieve our goal to develop high quality games on consoles." Before you start getting excited for a console port of Crysis or something, know that Crytek has not revealed any projects yet, though we could be hearing about something sooner rather than later. Employees there are set to begin work on a major project soon, Yerli confirmed.

The administrators responsible for selling off the remnants of Free Radical have confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that Crytek's rumored acquisition of the company has gone ahead. Cameron Gunn of ReSolve Partners stated, "We are pleased to announce that a sale completed to Crytek late last night thus preserving over 40 jobs."

A full announcement is expected at some time later today and will hopefully include more detailed information, as it's not yet clear whether Free Radical's IPs have also been obtained by Crytek. We'll keep you informed.

Free Radical's future just got a little less Haze-y (we know, sorry). We already knew that an announcement regarding the developers of the TimeSplitters series and Haze would be coming tomorrow, but we may have just skipped ahead to the ending. A single anonymous source had told us that Germany's Crytek – the developer behind the original Far Cry and Crysis – have acquired the UK-based Free Radical. While writing this very post, 1UP reported that Haze scriptwriter Rob Yescombe confirmed the very same thing. We're trying to get a comment from either party (or they can get a hold of us here!).

It's not clear what the ramifications of this are: While Battlefront 3 is rumored to be in development at either Rebellion (in the UK) or Pandemic (in LA), the latest in Free Radical's longest-running series, TimeSplitters 4, could still be on the table. Of course, Crytek would have to make a few changes ... there's got to be some way they can fit the word "cry" into the title somewhere.

[UPDATE] GamesIndustry.biz has confirmed via the administrators that the sale has gone ahead. As a result, 40 jobs have been saved. A formal announcement is expected later today, when we'll hopefully find out more details.