Crytek today announced that its Crysis-derived multiplayer game Crysis Wars will be free to play through April 17.

To participate, grab the four-part trial client, install the 1.4 patch, and follow the instructions at mycrysis.com to generate a CD-key.

The trial serves as a hook for the upcoming Crysis Maximum Edition, a compilation of Crysis, Crysis Wars and Crysis Warhead. The pack will sell for $40 beginning May 5.

As the September 16 release of Crytek's sci-fi shooter Crysis Warhead (PC) approaches, Valve and Crytek today announced that both Warhead and the original Crysis will soon be sold through Valve's digital distribution client Steam.

Said to go up for pre-order this weekend, Crysis and Crysis Warhead are slated to hit Steam by mid September. No price points were provided. Faylor's Take: Opening up Crysis and Crysis Warhead to the Steam audience is a smart move for Crytek, especially given the low overheads of digital distribution.

However, don't get too excited about the idea of Crysis publisher EA bringing its major games to Steam. As with Valve's own The Orange Box, Crysis and Crysis Warhead are published through the EA Partners program. Going by the announcement's wording, the Steam debut of Crysis seems to be more of a Valve and Crytek, not EA, thing.

While some argue that piracy can increase game sales by letting players take a "try before you buy" approach, Crytek business manager Harald Seeley isn't one of them.

Based on downloads of the last Crysis patch, he argues, there were "a lot more active [Crysis] players than there were unit sales."

And since those pirates are still playing the game months after release, Seeley reasons that "then they were a sale that didn't happen but probably would have had it not been possible to obtain the game illegally."

Crytek, the studio that created the hardware intensive Far Cry and Crysis games exclusively for PC, has repeatedly stated that the upcoming Crysis Warhead will be its last PC-only game due to the abundant piracy of PC games.

But just because Crytek is no longer developing PC exclusives, that doesn't mean the company will abandon the platform. "We want to continue to provide our... Read more

Optimizations made to Crytek's CryENGINE 2 will allow the upcoming sci-fi shooter follow up Crysis Warhead to run smoothly with high detail settings on cheap PCs, studio CEO Cevat Yerli has claimed.

Specifically, Yerli told German outlet PC Games that a 400 euro (roughly $620) PC could run the title, with high settings enabled, at 30 to 35 frames per second. Curiously, he did not detail the resolution at which this is possible.

Despite having stopped patch support for the original Crysis (PC), Yerli said these optimizations could eventually make their to the first game. "That will take a long time, because the fixes are fairly profound," he noted. "We are still in the process of the steps, but first we want to conclude Warhead."

Though even the latest video cards can't provide a smooth framerate for Crysis at high resolutions with very high detail settings, Crytek is confident that... Read more

The fall release of Crysis Warhead will be Crytek's last PC-exclusive effort, Crytek business manager Harald Seeley has revealed.

Earlier this year, Crytek president Cevat Yerli said that the studio would no longer have any PC-exclusive titles due to issues with piracy and higher sales on consoles. However, the company announced Crysis Warhead as a PC-only release last week.

"He was referring to any new projects we will start in the future," Seeley clarified to Next Generation. "Warhead has been under development for quite some time, and we had no desire or intention to disappoint our loyal PC fans."

Though some blame Crytek's unhappiness with Crysis's retail performance on the shooter's technically-demanding nature, Seely denied that the game's requirements had any impact on its sales.

"Other's lower perceived hardware requirements did not actually translate to bigger overall sales numbers than Crysis," he explained. "You only have to look at the comparative PC sales volumes of other prominent FPS games which shipped around the same time."

On Monday, developer Crytek announced it would no longer be developing Crysis (PC) patches for "a good reason" that it hoped to say more about "in the very, very near future."

Apparently, the "very, very near future" meant two days.

The official Crysis website has now been updated with a teaser image for Crysis Warhead (pictured above), presumed to be the next entry in the sci-fi shooting series. No other details, such as platforms or a release date, have been unveiled.

The original Crysis was said to be the first in a trilogy, with Crytek having since trademarked multiple related names, including Crysis Wars, Crysis Annihilation, World in Crysis and Crysis Warhead.

The developer recently commented that it would be moving away from PC-exclusive development due to piracy concerns. "Similar games [to Crysis] on consoles sell factors of 4-5 more," Crytek president Cevat Yerli explained. "I believe we won't have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future."

At present, Crytek is known to have at least one console title and a non-FPS game in the works, along with its nearly-completed efforts to bring the Crysis-powering CryENGINE 2 technology to consoles. Thanks TheIneffableBob for the heads up.

In the company's most recent Crysis update post on the Crymod forums, Crytek has revealed it currently has no plans to further patch the sci-fi action game.

The company understands that "this news will disappoint many of you", but notes, "we are confident that the things we are working on will be appreciated by the community". Additionally, development on the Linux dedicated server for the game has ceased.

Considering recent comments by Crytek's Cevat Yerli, this news doesn't come as a huge shock. Although the game has sold well, the company still believes piracy significantly impacted retail performance. Yerli also said at the time that the company would move away from PC-exclusive development.

In other Crysis news, inCrysis has discovered that Crysis Warzone has been trademarked by Crytek. Other recent trademark submissions include Crysis Wars, Crysis Warhead and World in Crysis. These names could indicate an expansion pack, or a sequel.

Crysis and Far Cry creator Crytek has revealed its intent to focus more on consoles and move away from creating PC-exclusive titles due to the "huge piracy" problems of the platform.

"We are going to support PC, but not exclusive anymore," Crytek president Cevat Yerli told PC Play. "Similar games [to Crysis] on consoles sell factors of 4-5 more. It was a big lesson for us and I believe we won't have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future."

The studio had previously revealed it was working on at least one console title and a non-FPS game along with the still-underway efforts to bring its CryENGINE 2 technology to consoles.

The Crytek president noted that piracy had significantly hurt the retail... Read more

A hotfix update for Crysis has been released, updating Crytek's action game to version 1.2.1. The 37mb download fixes a security hole in the game which caused client and server crashes during online games. You'll need patch 1.2 installed before updating to 1.2.1.

The second patch for Crytek's Crysis (PC) is now available on FileShack.

Bringing the graphically intensive shooter up to version 1.2, the 361MB download resolves a number of memory leaks, removes grenade controls during cutscenes, and fixes a many other issues. For all the details, scope out the full patch notes.

It's taken a while, but the first Crysis Mod SDK release is here. The 407mb download includes 3D Studio MAX and Photoshop plug-ins and tools, a resource compiler, a sample mod and various sample assets. More documentation is available at doc.crymod.com.

A feature film based on Crytek's platinum-selling sci-fi FPS Crysis (PC) is in the planning stages, reports Kotaku. "A Crysis movie is definitely planned," revealed Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli. "We are in active talks already. I think we will close this topic before the end of this year."

A film based on Crytek's previous title, Far Cry, is currently in post-production. It was directed by the ever-reviled Uwe Boll before he resigned from big-budget projects, and guest stars Anthony Bourdain, the world-traveling maverick chef.

Though Boll's past efforts have transformed Sega's House of the Dead and Gas Powered Games' Dungeon Siege franchises, among others, into poorly received box office releases, Yerli is still eager to see the film.

"Unfortunately, we have not been involved in the film since very early when it was a script," explained the CEO. "However, I think the script changed and improved radically since then, at least I hope it has, since I can't wait to see the movie."

Other topics discussed by Yerli included the possibility of Crytek being acquired by a larger publisher--"If it were a cultural fit, yes, but we would have strong... Read more

In the first weekly Crysis update on Crytek's forum, community manager Alexander Marschal broke down some of the changes planned for Crysis (PC) in the forthcoming 1.2 update patch.

"The patch as itself is nearly finished from a content point of view." wrote Marschal in the update. "The test phase will last until EA's and Crytek's Quality Assurance departments are satisfied... we have to wait for additional feedback from both QA departments in order to set and announce a release date."

Notable changes include tweaked damage for players hit by cars at lower speeds and an automatic team balance mechanism for multiplayer matches. Team colors have been added to death and kill messages to more properly attribute in-game carnage. A list of known Crysis 1.2 patch changes follows.... Read more

There's a Crysis post-mortem on IGN, asking Crytek's Cevat Yerli about the use of DirectX 10, system requirements and detail levels, low sales, the change in gameplay in later parts of the game and support plans.

The first Crysis patch is finally available, updating the game to version 1.1. A 139mb download, the patch offers bug fixes, gameplay tweaks and performance improvements for DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 rendering modes. ... Read more

Soon after the release of Crysis, a patch was announced as coming within two weeks. Those two weeks long since past, Crytek has finally sent out an update on the situation.

According to Crytek, good progress was being made until the company ran into "heavy technical issues" right before the final build. Though an updated version of the patch has been created, Crytek and EA quality assurance teams won't get to it before the first week of January. Crytek hopes that the patch will make it out soon after.

While that first patch only features performance updates and bug fixes, a second patch is being worked on simultaneously. This patch will incorporate fan feedback and introduce new single-player and multiplayer features. Once that patch has been released, the SDK will become available as well.

When November industry sales data was released this week by tracking firm NPD, the PC platform was notably absent from the list of top ten best-selling games despite the release of high-profile titles such as Epic Games' Unreal Tournament III and Crytek's Crysis. Now, according to NPD data released by market tracking site the simExchange, it seems both games kicked off with disappointing initial sales--neither approached 100,000 units.

The report shows Crysis as selling 86,633 units at retail since its November 13 release; the game's potential audience has no doubt been limited by the game's notoriously steep system requirements. Meanwhile, Unreal Tournament III saw considerably flatter sales, tallying 33,995 since its November 19 release. Prior to the release of this data, many gamers had predicted low sales based on the game's sparse player count; at the time of writing, its current online player count is actually below the single-player-oriented Crysis.

It should be noted that Unreal Tournament III in particular released about halfway into the month, with only two full business weeks of availability, though the numbers are undoubtedly lower than publisher Midway and developer Epic expected.

In an interview with Crysis (PC) fansite inCrysis, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli revealed the first patch for its recently released visually intense shooter Crysis would be coming within 14 days.

"We are collecting up all the user feedback now and planning patches that will address as much as possible as fast as possible," Yerli told inCrysis. "The first patch will be out in 7-14 days."

Nvidia VP Roy Taylor also added some promising information on the updates concerning performance issues due to the game's steep system requirements. "Performance will improve, almost with every single driver drop and patch of the game," Taylor wrote. "Literally every day and week we keep working on the drivers we can see improvements."

For more on Crysis, check out Shacknews editor-in-chief Chris Remo's review.

After years and years of tech demos and presentations, Crytek's behemoth of a Far Cry followup arrives in stores today. Was Crysis worth the wait? Is the PC-exclusive shooter really good enough to warrant those system upgrades you've been putting off? After reading Chris Remo's informative review, I think you'll know the answer.

Once, I was holed up in a small wooden HQ building, sitting in the window and alternating picking off enemies--scanning while cloacked, squeezing off a headshot, then ducking out of sight while my shield recharged, feeling very pleased with my stealthy self. I swear to you, when an enemy grenade rolled up and blew away half the building, leaving me exposed to a group of now very pissed off North Koreans, I nearly shit my pants out of sheer surprise and shock.
Read on...

Crysis, Crytek's long-awaited and gorgeous-looking Far Cry followup, has gone gold and entered the manufacturing process. It will hit stores November 16.

"We are extremely proud of what we have been able to accomplish with Crysis," said Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli. "We wanted to push the boundaries both visually and with open-ended, non-linear gameplay and we believe the end result delivers that vision."

Though the title doesn't hit for another couple of weeks, gamers can whet their appetites and test their system's worth with the single-player demo.

Those interested in the game are also urged to read our chat with Yerli about the technology behind Crysis in order to plan their system upgrades accordingly, and our preview of the full game for more gameplay details.