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If you're somebody attending one of the fine institutions that offer game development courses, you could very well find yourself using CryENGINE 3 soon. Crytek recently announced that it would grant free licenses for its purty new development platform to houses of higher education. It's not the first time the company has offered its goods on the arm for universities, as students also got access CryENGINE 2 back in the day.

Just like the cigarette companies, Crytek's goal is to hook 'em while they're young, as R&D manager Ury Zhilinsky hopes that providing the engine free to schools will help students and teachers "become part of our larger CryENGINE community, so they can create their own innovations and train to become the developers of the future." You know, a future with plenty of CryENGINE 3 in it -- at least up until 2012, anyway.

[Thanks, Casey]

If Crytek's, like, next next-gen-ready CryEngine 3 performs even half as well as advertised, then the tears are gonna flow -- tears of joy. Imagine an engine through which a developer, using a single editor and dev PC, can create and test a game for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 ... at the same time. (You don't even have to imagine it, actually; there's a video after the break!) That's the picture Crytek's painting as it today releases its third iteration of the CryEngine for license to third-party developers.

As promised in the press release: CryEngine 3 features real-time conversion and optimization of assets and cross-platform changes that "significantly" reduce the risk (and headache) of multiplatform development. So, in layman's terms, it renders really good graphix -- even if you have no idea how to develop on PS3.

"With its scalable graphics and computation it is next-gen-ready and with new features like CryEngine 3 Live Create the best choice for game developers and companies developing serious games applications alike," trumpets Crytek boss Cevat Yerli. "It is the only game engine solution that enables real-time development and can ensure teams are able to maximize their own creativity, save budget and create greater gaming experiences."

Okay. So what's it cost?

A running theme through Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli's presentation at GDC Europe today was the number 2012. Sure, he mentioned 2013 also, but the next Year of the Tiger showed up nearly a dozen-plus times in the executive's presentation about "the future of gaming graphics." Yerli tells Joystiq that the reason for the number is that it's the company's internal "road map" of when the next generation will begin.

"We will have our next engine ready by that, independently whether there will be hardware or not. We are assuming based on the cycle -- the Moore's Law -- and everything," Yerli told us. "If you predict the computational power and trend. You kinda know how much CPU and GPU will be there and trend. If you take those things into account you can sort of predict where things are going."

Yerli explained that the more console-centric CryEngine 3 will have more updates in the meantime, but its next "major architectural version" of the CryEngine should be ready by 2012. He wasn't sure if they'll call it the CryEngine 4 (our money says: they will).

It's no secret that some developers have a tough time with the PS3. In fact, Gabe Newell hates the thing so much he once forced an elephant to eat a crushed up 20GB model, jammed a cardboard cutout of Jack Tretton into the resulting dung pile and burned the whole thing in effigy. Karl Hilton of Crytek UK (formerly Free Radical) brings a more restrained (though ultimately more hygienic) protest today, telling Develop that the developer's technical learning curve hurt the development of critically maligned PS3 exclusive, Haze.

"We spent more time trying get the game running properly and less time to design the game properly," he said. "The PS3 is a powerful machine but a difficult one to get the best out of."

And no, before you ask, Hilton doesn't expect to have similar PS3 problems with Crytek's CryEngine 3. Shockingly.

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]

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]

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.