EA's Crysis-ready PC Costs $699, Specs Unveiled; Aims to 'Make PC Gaming Convenient'

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Following up on word that publisher Electronic Arts was readying a line of Crysis-ready PCs, more details, including pricing and system specifications, have surfaced.

Priced at $699, the one and only Crysis Warhead PC was made with the involvement of EA, game developer Crytek, hardware maker Nvidia, and system builder UltraPC. It will launch alongside Crysis Warhead on September 16, and pack the following:

  • CPU: Intel Core Duo e7300 (@2.66GHz)
  • Video card: Nvidia 9800GT
  • RAM: 2GB

The system actually represents the internal benchmark Crytek Budapest used when developing the stand-alone Crysis expansion, and is said to run Warhead with High settings at an average of 30 frames per second. "For us as a team, that was really valuable," franchise producer Bernd Diemer told Chris Remo. "We had a tangible border we could bump our heads into."

"When we started working on Warhead, we decided performance was a big issue," he explained. "We said, 'Guys, we're going to build a PC which has a maximum price of six or seven hundred dollars, and it has to run Warhead in high spec at an average framerate of 30'...All the milestone presentations we did for EA, for the [founding brothers] Yerlies, for the team, all the new prototypes, we showed on that machine."

While more details aren't slated to arrive until the system is officially announced this week, Diemer was clear that the PC does not signal a new player in the hardware market. "EA's not getting into the hardware business, and Crytek isn't either," he promised.

"The biggest thing for us is convenience," Diemer concluded. "We want to make PC gaming convenient."

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 8, 2008 7:45 AM

    Interestingly that's only $99 more than what the xbox 360 and PS3 cost initially, and it does a lot more.

    Though I think you could build one yourself cheaper.

    I'd say this is a good move though.

    • reply
      September 8, 2008 7:51 AM

      Not quite. The Xbox 360 launched at USD $399 for the high-end model. The high-end PS3 launched at $599 so you are correct there.

      • reply
        September 8, 2008 7:56 AM

        (don't forget to add $100 to the 360 for the wireless network adapter.)

        • reply
          September 8, 2008 8:00 AM

          The PC this is being compared to does not appear to have wireless by default so I can't include that as part of the comparison.

        • reply
          September 8, 2008 8:17 AM

          Oh please.

        • reply
          September 8, 2008 8:20 AM

          Fail.

        • reply
          September 8, 2008 8:26 AM

          not to mention you can just plug your 360 into any router or laptop to bridge the connection

        • reply
          September 8, 2008 8:27 AM

          (don't forget to add the $15,000 TV and Sound system the 360 requires)

        • reply
          September 8, 2008 11:44 AM

          :sigh:

        • reply
          September 8, 2008 2:54 PM

          hahaha I love how everyone hates this point, because it is so good. A console dedicated to Online Connectivity.. and it comes without Wireless built in. How fucked up is that?

          • reply
            September 8, 2008 4:52 PM

            We dislike the point because it's a non-issue. You can connect perfectly well using ethernet, which is how pretty much everyone I know with a 360 gets online. And, if you do want wireless, there are solutions for $30-$40 out there that do the job as well as the MS-licensed adapter.

          • reply
            September 8, 2008 5:03 PM

            Compared to this PC and the point of the OP how does that even apply?

          • reply
            September 8, 2008 8:52 PM

            [deleted]

          • reply
            September 9, 2008 1:30 AM

            I've been using Live for years, and I don't have a wireless adapter. My PC doesn't have a wireless adapter either, and I doubt the Crysis machine does.

          • reply
            September 9, 2008 6:09 AM

            Actually I dislike this point because I also use my 360 to stream movies from my Macbook Pro with Rivet. Since the MBP is using wireless I'd never ever ever use the wireless 360 adapter to receive the stream as well.

    • reply
      September 8, 2008 7:56 AM

      Yeah, it's a start. Hopefully PC manufacturers who sell to brick and mortar will get on board and offer gaming PCs with gaming hardware and then market them as explicitly as a gaming machine.

      As much as people scoff at EA, they made a big first step here...though I wish they would market it as a gaming PC not a PC that can run Crysis.

    • reply
      September 8, 2008 11:40 AM

      wander how many 360s are bought by people whos old ones broke, quite a lot i bet

      • reply
        September 8, 2008 11:47 AM

        Except for the fact that Microsoft's warranty covered the ones who broke. So, not too many I imagine.

        • reply
          September 8, 2008 1:13 PM

          Wouldn't you have to pay the shipping costs to send the broken one back?

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