By John Walker on September 5th, 2011.
Rumours emerged this weekend that all isn’t happy-times at Crytek. The Crysis developer has been accused of mistreating staff, and sacking employees unlawfully, the accusations appearing on a Tumblr blog. But these are accusations Crytek’s co-founder Avni Yerli has rushed to deny, speaking to Develop. Amid suggestions that six-month crunch periods leave employees not knowing if they will still have a job, Yerli insists that Crytek respects and values staff.
By Jim Rossignol on August 18th, 2011.
CryEngine 3 is now free to use, as long as you’re not making any money from your creations. Crytek explain: “You can use CryENGINE 3 for free in educational facilities, even if you are charging tuition. We have always offered our engine for free to educators, but now individual students can also freely download the engine and use it to learn about real-time 3D development. CryENGINE 3 is also free for non-commercial use; if you are distributing your game or application for free (and not charging for your work in producing it, whether directly or indirectly), no additional license is required.” There’s also apparently an indie license agreement for small projects, but you need to get in touch with Crytek for details.
By Andrew Smee on June 30th, 2011.
Attention modders! Hot on the heels of the recent DX11 patch, the Crysis 2 Editor is now available (with a bunch of other tools) to download at crymod.com and mycrysis.com, which was named after a fairly strong-handed self-help book expounding advanced military weaponry over sit-ins with your therapist. The Crysis mod scene came up with some properly fantastic stuff, and armed with all the tech and tools of the bleeding now, the CryEngine looks like it’s got it’s work cut out for it as all those artist types take full advantage of the “Make It More Shiny, My Portfolio Isn’t As Bright As The Sun Yet” buttons.
The official documentation is hiding under cloak over here. He’s shy and wonders what to do with his hands alot, but he’s gradually overcoming his public speaking issues.
By Jim Rossignol on June 27th, 2011.
Woo, fancy! It’s here.
When using the new “Ultra” spec, DX9 platforms will benefit from real-time local reflections and contact shadows. The owners of DX11 platforms, in addition, will be able to enjoy hardware tessellation (requires the installation of the “DX11 Ultra Upgrade”), parallax occlusion mapping and several improvements for shadows, water, particles, depth of field and motion blur.
Phwoar, eh readers? (You probably want to download the hi-res textures patch on the same page, too.)
By Jim Rossignol on June 24th, 2011.
Speaking with Gamasutra, Crytek bossman Cervat Yerli had this to say about the Crysis games: “Crysis 1′s intention was, if I were to play it three years later, it looks great. And it does, actually, it fulfilled that. But it made it difficult for entry-level players. So with Crysis 2, we took a different direction, and it backfired a little bit.” Yerli explained that the forthcoming high-end 1.9 patch for Crysis 2, which will introduce clevers such as tessellation, realistic shadows with variable penumbra, parallax occlusion mapping, and “Sprite Based Bokeh Depth of Field”, is a “gift” to the PC high-end community. “It lifts up Crysis 2 and gives a sneak peak of how PC gaming will evolve in the future,” says Yerli, “If you support a high-end preference.” I totally support a high-end preference. That sounds like some kind of innuendo, right? Eh? Guys? Mm.
The high-end patch is out next Monday, June 27th.
By Quintin Smith on June 16th, 2011.
Did you buy the Crysis 2 ‘Retaliation’ map pack last month? Then you’ll probably be pleased to know that a second one, the ‘Decimation’ pack, has just gone on sale. Once again it’ll cost you $10, though this time you’re getting five new maps (instead of four) and two new weapons- the FY71 assault rifle and smoke grenades.
Tell you what, no video game smoke grenade will ever top the ones that were in the unpatched release of legendarily buggy 2004 soldier sim Söldner. Every so often you’d throw one that didn’t run out of smoke. Ever. It would just sit there, slowly filling the entire level with an opaque fog for minutes on end until the rendering engine crashed.
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By John Walker on May 10th, 2011.
Remember Crysis 2? Eh? Bringing it back into our memories is the forthcoming release of a DLC pack of maps, for which the good folks at Trailer Making Inc. have made a trailer. Eyes down.
By Jim Rossignol on April 26th, 2011.
A new splashpage at CryMod, which is currently being overhauled, reveals that this summer will see the apperance of both a Crysis 2 editor and a CryEngine SDK. What does this mean? Well, it means people will be able able to make levels for Crysis 2, but also that they’ll be able to make non-commercial stuff for free using the CryEngine tech. Crytek’s Mr Yerli says: “In August 2011 we will be launching a free CryENGINE SDK. If you want to use it for fun, like all our previous MOD SDKs it will be completely free of charge, to anyone who wants to play with it! You just register, download the SDK with a personalized license key and you’re good to go! If you want to use it to make a game to launch commercially, we’d like to help you with that. If you want to take your product down a traditional commercial route, we will offer an innovative low cost licensing model if you want to release your game digitally.”
By Alec Meer on April 8th, 2011.
After a couple of weeks of web-wide worrying and shouting and bickering and excellently satirical editorials, you may be glad to hear that Crysis 2 is to receive its in-doubt DirectX 11 patch after all. This comes via the official forums, wherein it was officially said on an official forum, despite being officially said on other official forums that it mightn’t happen. That seals it: all is well in PC gaming tech land. For now.
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By John Walker on March 29th, 2011.
Having played Crysis 2, the latest from the former technical innovators at Crytek, I have to express that I’m not only horrified, but also shocked, at the paucity of graphical accomplishments in what should have been a groundbreaking game. It’s quite clear that massive compromises have been made in order to keep the console market happy, meaning the PC version of the game is crippled to the point where it’s literally impossible to look at without feeling physically sick. I have put together some detailed analysis of the differences between CryEngine 2 and CryEngine 3, to prove that the developers have let everyone down.
By Jim Rossignol on March 26th, 2011.
Crysis 2 is now available in both Europe and North America. The sequel to the Crytek’s PC-only 2007 technology showcase FPS, Crysis, it’s one of the most intensely anticipated games of 2011. And it’s now multi-platform, too. What does that all mean for us?
Well, it’s a given that many computer dudes will get shot, but just how good is the shooting? And should this sparkling sci-fi spectacle be sat at the top of your shopping list? (Probably.) Here’s Wot I Think.
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