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Crytek registers 3 new trademarks, none start with 'Cry'

by Ben Gilbert { Apr 8th 2009 at 4:15PM }

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 says Cry Engine 3 ready for next-gen, working very closely with Microsoft and Sony

by Ben Gilbert { Apr 7th 2009 at 8:00PM }

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 believes streaming games will be viable ... in 2013

by JC Fletcher { Apr 2nd 2009 at 1:45PM }

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.

GDC09: Crytek announces CryENGINE 3

by David Hinkle { Mar 23rd 2009 at 5:54PM }

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.

Continued →

CryENGINE 3 ready for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360

by Andrew Yoon { Mar 11th 2009 at 9:09PM }

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 Free Radical acquisition speeds up console development plans

by David Hinkle { Feb 11th 2009 at 1:24PM }

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.

Crytek's Free Radical purchase confirmed, 40+ jobs saved

by Jem Alexander { Feb 4th 2009 at 9:40AM }

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.

Crytek acquires Free Radical [update]

by Jem Alexander { Feb 3rd 2009 at 7:35PM }

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.

Crysis Wars free trial coming next weekend

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 5th 2008 at 4:00PM }

For those who are reading this on a computer that is unable to meet the minimum system requirements of Math Blaster, feel free to skip this post. We won't be offended. For those discerning PC gamers who are still with us, you may be interested in a recent offer from Electronic Arts -- next weekend, the standalone multiplayer expansion to Crytek's demanding shooter, titled Crysis Wars, will be free to download and play online. Starting 11 a.m. on Friday, and running until 11:59 p.m. Sunday, you'll be able to jump on to any of the game's online servers for some nano-suit infused multiplayer combat.

Of course, after you've registered on MyCrisis.com and downloaded the full version of Crysis Wars (right here), you can play the game immediately, albeit offline using a LAN connection. We're assuming you already have a cadre of PC gaming acquaintences with appropriately powerful rigs -- don't you, you sociable so-and-so, you.

Crytek already gushing over the PS4

by Jem Alexander { Sep 22nd 2008 at 9:00AM }

Crytek are itching to get their hands on specifications for the PlayStation 4. The company's CEO, Cevat Yerli, gave his keynote at the start of the recent Game Convention in Asia, during which he stated that Crytek would be using the PS4 as a basis for future development. He calls it the most important machine of the next generation and states that "we are linking ourself to what the PS4 will take up as [its hardware] position; that is the console makeup that will drive all our research, so we cannot wait to know what the [machine] will be about. That's probably the most important missing information we have right now in our company."

Exciting stuff, but the PS4 is a long way off, yet. No doubt Sony is hard at work behind the scenes putting plans together for what could be included in their next console, but it'll be a while before anything is revealed. Yerli expects it to arrive in consumers' hands in 2011 or 2012, giving the PS3 a five or six year lifespan before his new younger brother arrives. Not that the means the end of the road for the PS3 -- just look at how well the PS2 is doing right now and how many games are still being released for it. Basically, the PS4 is going to be insane, but don't start drooling just yet.

Crysis Warhead on the cheap: EA's 'Warhead PC' priced at $699

by Christopher Grant { Sep 8th 2008 at 6:20PM }

Hoping to disprove the notion that everything with the word "Crysis" on it requires the latest, greatest supercomputer – and several ounces of irradiated uranium – to run with a framerate in the double digits, EA has teamed up with UltraPC to sell what it's (unofficially?) calling the "Warhead PC" – a single SKU offering that brings some of console gaming's simplicity to the PC gaming world.

In short, the team at Crytek wanted Crysis Warhead to run on far more systems than Crysis did, so they built their own lower-end "Warhead PC" which they used to test the game on throughout its development. Dropping frames on the Warhead PC? Tweak it until it runs smooth as butter. With a "hard cap" to aim for, the developers were able to guarantee a minimum level of performance using the following specs: an Intel Core Duo e7300 running 2.66GHz, an Nvidia 9800GT video card, and 2 gigglebytes of RAM.

The Warhead PC will be available to preorder on September 16 – the game's launch day – for $699, a far cry from the hundreds of bajillions we had saved up for a Crysis rig of our own. We'll spend the rest of that money on tricking out the rather bland box – seen above – with enough blue LEDs to burn our retinas. Ahh, PC gaming ...

[Via Big Download]

GC 2008: Crysis cost $22 million, next Crytek engine due 2012

by Randy Nelson { Aug 19th 2008 at 11:30PM }

Speaking at the outset of this year's Leipzig Games Convention, Crytek boss Cevat Yerli revealed that the developer's graphical tour de force, Crysis, cost an estimated $22 million to create. Yerli has previously lamented the effect piracy has had on the title, but reiterated that it's still recouped the development costs, saying, "If it wasn't profitable I wouldn't be able to stand here."

Best known for their stunning visuals, Crytek's game engines are also guilty of bringing even the mightiest of gaming PCs to their knees. While the upcoming, heavily-optimized Crysis: Warhead promises a significant performance increase even on mid-range systems, Crytek is already cooking up its next GPU melter, which Yerli says should be ready by 2012. That's when he anticipates GPU tech making the next major leap in its evolution; until then, he expects fellow developers to focus more on what they already have to work with, by means of stylized graphics and hardware accelerated physics.

Source – Crysis cost 22 million to make, IGN
Source – Crytek: New engine in 2012, IGN

Crytek predicts 'next-gen' consoles will arrive in 2011 / 2012

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Aug 19th 2008 at 6:25PM }

We are all interested in the future. Indeed, as the great Criswell so astutely observed, "We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives." And it wouldn't be much of a life if it wasn't spent playing the latest video games, no doubt powered by trillions of tetraflops and a giggle-inducing number of gigabytes. Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli has seen this future (it's where he bought his Crysis-capable computer), and has concluded that the next generation of consoles -- as in the Xbox 720 and the PlayStation 4 -- could arrive in 2011 or 2012.

Discussing "The Future of Gaming Graphics" at Leipzig's GC Developer Conference, Yerli estimated that Microsoft and Sony's next offerings would arrive "in three to four years' time, although there are good reasons why it should be 2010 already...but we'll see." Crytek, which most recently worked on Crysis Warhead, has also pinned 2012 as the debut year for its next in-house engine and follow-up to last year's impressive CryEngine2.

Regardless of timing, we're pleased to see that not everybody thinks the current cavalcade of consoles is our last.

Crysis Warhead detonates Sept. 16 in NA, Sept. 12 in Europe

by Justin McElroy { Aug 13th 2008 at 10:00AM }

Those of you whose computers e-cowered in fear at the system requirements for Crysis will get another chance to enter the game's world when Crysis Warhead lands in Europe on Sept. 12 and Sept. 16 in North America. More than just a side story to Crytek's excellent game, Warhead purports to actually be a touch less system-intensive than its burly predecessor.

Special side note for those of you who love bargains as much as throwing bad guys into oceans with your cyber-muscles: You can pre-order the game right now in the EA Store for $24.99, a five-dollar savings for you, the consumer.

Intel: Some example of Ray Traced gaming likely in 2-3 years

by Ross Miller { Jul 31st 2008 at 9:15AM }

Already looking to the future, Intel's Dr. Michael Vollmer expressed hope towards the future of ray traced visuals in gaming. When asked by PC Gaming Hardware if there were developers already working on ray traced games, Vollmer said, "I dare say that in two to three years time we will see something," noting that he keeps in touch with companies all over the world.

Ray tracing is a graphics technique that is capable of some impressive, photorealistic visuals but conversely is very computational-intensive. Vollmer also said that the raytracing demo shown last month should be seen as a technical demo and that the graphics portion had been taken from the non-raytraced optimized Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Speaking of which, we couldn't think of a more likely candidate for showcasing raytraced graphics than John Carmack and Id Software, except maybe Crytek. If Vollmer's estimates are accurate, we hope to see some ray traced frag fest in time for the 2011 Game Developers Conference.

[Via Blue's News]

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