Crysis

Gorgeous New Crysis 3 Screens Show Off Destroyed New YorkCheck out these beautiful new pictures and concept art for Crysis 3, the upcoming sandbox shooter that will be released next year for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.


There are aliens, a composite bow, and a whole bunch of rubble. It all looks pretty. Really pretty. Really really really pretty.


(We saw a few of these shots when they were leaked a few weeks ago, but most are new. And real official-like.)


Gorgeous New Crysis 3 Screens Show Off Destroyed New York Gorgeous New Crysis 3 Screens Show Off Destroyed New York Gorgeous New Crysis 3 Screens Show Off Destroyed New York Gorgeous New Crysis 3 Screens Show Off Destroyed New York Gorgeous New Crysis 3 Screens Show Off Destroyed New York Gorgeous New Crysis 3 Screens Show Off Destroyed New York Gorgeous New Crysis 3 Screens Show Off Destroyed New York Gorgeous New Crysis 3 Screens Show Off Destroyed New York Gorgeous New Crysis 3 Screens Show Off Destroyed New York Gorgeous New Crysis 3 Screens Show Off Destroyed New York Gorgeous New Crysis 3 Screens Show Off Destroyed New York Gorgeous New Crysis 3 Screens Show Off Destroyed New York


Crysis

Crysis 3 Screens a New York City in Dire Need of a Landscaper All kinds of vegetative devastation happens to the Big Apple in EA's upcoming threeequel. We've already gotten a preview of the new mechanics and weapons of the Cryek-developed FPS but these new screens show even more detail than before.


Flooded streets, crumbling buildings and a scarcity of any other human beings hint that this Crysis will be a different, moodier affair than Crysis 2 when it hits next year.


(Note: Images appear as they did today on the site All Games Beta)

Crysis 3 [All Games Beta, via Reddit]


Crysis 3 Screens a New York City in Dire Need of a Landscaper Crysis 3 Screens a New York City in Dire Need of a Landscaper


Crysis

Delancey Street’s Mission Far Greater Than Just A Game VenueOn the corner of Brannan and Embarcadero streets in San Francisco, CA., an entire block is dedicated to what appears to be a Mediterranean-style condo complex.


I recently attended an Electronic Arts event there showing Crysis 3 and Battlefield 3: Close Quarters, and the unassuming architecture and building front had only one way in, through an electronic black gate. It took me a while of walking up and down the street to realize this was the entrance and the place.


It would be easy to pass by. And it would be normally safe to assume that wealthy, upper class people live the good life there. The valuable real estate faces the East Bay Bridge right across the street from the Embarcadero piers.


That assumption would be flat wrong.


The 600 Embarcadero Street address is home of the Delancey Street Foundation, a unique self-help organization designed to turn around the lives of former substance abusers, homeless, ex-convicts, and gang members. "The Average resident has been a hard-core drug user and alcohol abuser, has been in prison, is unskilled, functionally illiterate, and has a personal history of violence and generations of poverty," states the site's FAQ.


And, it appears, it's an excellent location to demo video games.


"Delancey Street is a great venue," said Peter Nguyen, director of PR, EA Games Label. "There are only so many venues with theaters in San Francisco. There is Dolby, the Metreon, which is a big theater but nothing else, and Delancey Street. We showed off Bulletstorm there about three years ago, and with Crysis 3, we wanted an intimate setting, easy access, and we needed that theater setting. We have that at EA, but we wanted to spice it up."


Delancey Street’s Mission Far Greater Than Just A Game Venue


Delancey Street started in 1971 with four people. For more than four decades, it has been an award-winning, widely acclaimed social organization that's received hundreds of civic, social, and educational awards, as well as having appeared on The Oprah Show, The Discovery Channel, and in The New York Times, Hope Magazine, the San Jose Mercury News, and The San Francisco Chronicle, among others. During its 40-year existence, more than 14,000 men and women have graduated from it to become lawyers, firemen, salespeople, truck drivers, mechanics, and realtors.


The unique social program takes in the disenfranchised and, in either a two- or four-year program, educates, trains, and graduates them back into mainstream society as functioning, non-violent, drug and alcohol free citizens. Graduates, many of whom cannot even repeat the alphabet, or are lifetime gang members and murderers, or have been reared as prostitutes over several generations, will earn a minimum high school equivalency degree (GED) and receive training in three marketable skills. Four-year graduates can earn an in-house B.A. achieved with accredited universities. Those accepted into the program live on the premises and work for free—and remain drug, alcohol, and crime free.


It's the place where the Director's Guild holds monthly screenings, where the Academy of Motion Pictures holds screenings, and where singer Bonnie Raitt, director Ron Howard, and actors such as Sean Penn, Robin Williams, Dennis Quaid, and Charlize Theron have held private parties.

The "three marketable skills" comprise one interpersonal/sales skill, one clerical/computer skill, and one manual skill. There are current 15 vocational programs. They include accounting and bookkeeping; automotive and truck mechanical repair and painting; Christmas tree sales and commercial decorating; coach and paratransit transportation services; coffeehouse, art gallery, and bookstore retail; construction and property management; digital printing and banners, silk-screen, and framing; film screening; handcrafted wood, terrarium, iron works, and furniture work; moving and trucking; retail and advertising specialities sales; restaurant, catering, event and wedding planning; upholstery/sewing; warehousing, and welding.


This remarkable organization mixes idealistic concepts with hard, realistic practices. But its social model—"each one teach one"—which focuses on self-reliance, family, and community, is what makes it run. Designed as an educational rather than therapeutic paradigm, Delancey is a life learning center. People start from the bottom up and learn to work together as a unit. Each person must teach the other: older residents guide younger ones, and more experienced residents educate newer ones. For example, new residents are responsible for guiding the next new resident. Perhaps even more important—there are no paid staff members, and everyone works.


So just exactly how do former drug addicts, criminals, and gang members live and work together peacefully? In addition to the "each one teach one" principle is another one: any act of violence, or threat of violence, is cause for immediate removal from the program. Over time, the facility starts early entrants in dorm-rooms and moves them up to their own apartment rooms.


Delancey Street's economic model is also impressive. Neither the residents nor the president of the foundation are paid. The group pools its resources and has never accepted government funds for its operations. Its 12 ventures, which range from the Crossroads Cafe, Bookstore and Gallery, its catering service, private car service, moving and trucking operations, landscaping, and screening room services—including the $150/hour theater we sat in—fund about 55% to 65% of the operation.


About 25%-35% of funds come from corporate donations of product or services, and approximately 5%-15% of funds come from financial donations. The most recent audit shows 98.6% of Delancey Street's expenditures were allocated to programs, with 1.4% to administration and funding.


Delancey Street’s Mission Far Greater Than Just A Game Venue


It's hard to imagine such an idyllic place even exists—and just how many successes its founders and residents have experienced. The 400,000 square foot facility currently houses more than 500 residents, was built in 1990 in the south of Market Street area (known as SoMa), where then-Mayor Diane Feinstein dug the first shovel-full of dirt at the foundation's groundbreaking ceremony, and Pulitzer Prize winning architectural critic Allen Temko has called it "a masterpiece of social design."


Since its humble beginnings of a $1,000 loan in 1971, Delancey Street has expanded its operations beyond San Francisco. It runs similar facilities in Los Angeles, New Mexico, North Carolina, and New York. All this built on the idea of taking down-and-out people deemed unfit for society, and empowering them with a sense of community and family, giving them work—and a sense of dignity.


The screening room where we saw Crysis 3—and where three years ago EA debuted Bulletstorm—is a 150-seat, THX certified screening room offering Simplex 35mm projectors and digital video projection, a stage, and a 24' X 11' screen. It's considered one of the three best screening rooms in San Francisco.


It's the place where the Director's Guild holds monthly screenings, where the Academy of Motion Pictures holds screenings, and where singer Bonnie Raitt, director Ron Howard, and actors such as Sean Penn, Robin Williams, Dennis Quaid, and Charlize Theron have held private parties.


Delancey Street’s Mission Far Greater Than Just A Game Venue


"I always knew about the [Delancey Street] restaurant because I used to live close to it," added Nguyen. "So when we started looking for places to show Bulletstorm [in 2010], we saw the great menu and their social cause. It's an added bonus. More power to them. We like working with them: they are very professional and accommodating."


I can tell you that learning about, and experiencing, the property and people at Delancey Street was touching. I'm generally a positive guy, but The Delancey Street experience inspired me to look into its amazing story. Every one of the people in the Cafe and in the theater was positive and professional. It made me feel hopeful about humanity.


To my knowledge in this industry, only EA has used this venue to show off games. Compared to the dozens of often dirty, sticky, cramped bars and saloons in San Francisco, it's not only an ideal location due to its proximity to CalTrain and the Embarcadero piers, but spending money to better humanity—a theme similar to the many games themselves, despite the violent means of getting there—seems like the kind of good will we could all get used to.


Douglass C Perry, former EIC at IGN, is a freelance writer and journalist. You can tweet him @douginsano.
Crysis

The Inspirational Story of the Place Where I First Played Crysis 3On the corner of Brannan and Embarcadero streets in San Francisco, CA., an entire block is dedicated to what appears to be a Mediterranean-style condo complex.


I recently attended an Electronic Arts event there showing Crysis 3 and Battlefield 3: Close Quarters, and the unassuming architecture and building front had only one way in, through an electronic black gate. It took me a while of walking up and down the street to realize this was the entrance and the place.


It would be easy to pass by. And it would be normally safe to assume that wealthy, upper class people live the good life there. The valuable real estate faces the East Bay Bridge right across the street from the Embarcadero piers.


That assumption would be flat wrong.


The 600 Embarcadero Street address is home of the Delancey Street Foundation, a unique self-help organization designed to turn around the lives of former substance abusers, homeless, ex-convicts, and gang members. "The Average resident has been a hard-core drug user and alcohol abuser, has been in prison, is unskilled, functionally illiterate, and has a personal history of violence and generations of poverty," states the site's FAQ.


And, it appears, it's an excellent location to demo video games.


"Delancey Street is a great venue," said Peter Nguyen, director of PR, EA Games Label. "There are only so many venues with theaters in San Francisco. There is Dolby, the Metreon, which is a big theater but nothing else, and Delancey Street. We showed off Bulletstorm there about three years ago, and with Crysis 3, we wanted an intimate setting, easy access, and we needed that theater setting. We have that at EA, but we wanted to spice it up."


The Inspirational Story of the Place Where I First Played Crysis 3


Delancey Street started in 1971 with four people. For more than four decades, it has been an award-winning, widely acclaimed social organization that's received hundreds of civic, social, and educational awards, as well as having appeared on The Oprah Show, The Discovery Channel, and in The New York Times, Hope Magazine, the San Jose Mercury News, and The San Francisco Chronicle, among others. During its 40-year existence, more than 14,000 men and women have graduated from it to become lawyers, firemen, salespeople, truck drivers, mechanics, and realtors.


The unique social program takes in the disenfranchised and, in either a two- or four-year program, educates, trains, and graduates them back into mainstream society as functioning, non-violent, drug and alcohol free citizens. Graduates, many of whom cannot even repeat the alphabet, or are lifetime gang members and murderers, or have been reared as prostitutes over several generations, will earn a minimum high school equivalency degree (GED) and receive training in three marketable skills. Four-year graduates can earn an in-house B.A. achieved with accredited universities. Those accepted into the program live on the premises and work for free—and remain drug, alcohol, and crime free.


It's the place where the Director's Guild holds monthly screenings, where the Academy of Motion Pictures holds screenings, and where singer Bonnie Raitt, director Ron Howard, and actors such as Sean Penn, Robin Williams, Dennis Quaid, and Charlize Theron have held private parties.

The "three marketable skills" comprise one interpersonal/sales skill, one clerical/computer skill, and one manual skill. There are current 15 vocational programs. They include accounting and bookkeeping; automotive and truck mechanical repair and painting; Christmas tree sales and commercial decorating; coach and paratransit transportation services; coffeehouse, art gallery, and bookstore retail; construction and property management; digital printing and banners, silk-screen, and framing; film screening; handcrafted wood, terrarium, iron works, and furniture work; moving and trucking; retail and advertising specialities sales; restaurant, catering, event and wedding planning; upholstery/sewing; warehousing, and welding.


This remarkable organization mixes idealistic concepts with hard, realistic practices. But its social model—"each one teach one"—which focuses on self-reliance, family, and community, is what makes it run. Designed as an educational rather than therapeutic paradigm, Delancey is a life learning center. People start from the bottom up and learn to work together as a unit. Each person must teach the other: older residents guide younger ones, and more experienced residents educate newer ones. For example, new residents are responsible for guiding the next new resident. Perhaps even more important—there are no paid staff members, and everyone works.


So just exactly how do former drug addicts, criminals, and gang members live and work together peacefully? In addition to the "each one teach one" principle is another one: any act of violence, or threat of violence, is cause for immediate removal from the program. Over time, the facility starts early entrants in dorm-rooms and moves them up to their own apartment rooms.


Delancey Street's economic model is also impressive. Neither the residents nor the president of the foundation are paid. The group pools its resources and has never accepted government funds for its operations. Its 12 ventures, which range from the Crossroads Cafe, Bookstore and Gallery, its catering service, private car service, moving and trucking operations, landscaping, and screening room services—including the $150/hour theater we sat in—fund about 55% to 65% of the operation.


About 25%-35% of funds come from corporate donations of product or services, and approximately 5%-15% of funds come from financial donations. The most recent audit shows 98.6% of Delancey Street's expenditures were allocated to programs, with 1.4% to administration and funding.


The Inspirational Story of the Place Where I First Played Crysis 3


It's hard to imagine such an idyllic place even exists—and just how many successes its founders and residents have experienced. The 400,000 square foot facility currently houses more than 500 residents, was built in 1990 in the south of Market Street area (known as SoMa), where then-Mayor Diane Feinstein dug the first shovel-full of dirt at the foundation's groundbreaking ceremony, and Pulitzer Prize winning architectural critic Allen Temko has called it "a masterpiece of social design."


Since its humble beginnings of a $1,000 loan in 1971, Delancey Street has expanded its operations beyond San Francisco. It runs similar facilities in Los Angeles, New Mexico, North Carolina, and New York. All this built on the idea of taking down-and-out people deemed unfit for society, and empowering them with a sense of community and family, giving them work—and a sense of dignity.


The screening room where we saw Crysis 3—and where three years ago EA debuted Bulletstorm—is a 150-seat, THX certified screening room offering Simplex 35mm projectors and digital video projection, a stage, and a 24' X 11' screen. It's considered one of the three best screening rooms in San Francisco.


It's the place where the Director's Guild holds monthly screenings, where the Academy of Motion Pictures holds screenings, and where singer Bonnie Raitt, director Ron Howard, and actors such as Sean Penn, Robin Williams, Dennis Quaid, and Charlize Theron have held private parties.


The Inspirational Story of the Place Where I First Played Crysis 3


"I always knew about the [Delancey Street] restaurant because I used to live close to it," added Nguyen. "So when we started looking for places to show Bulletstorm [in 2010], we saw the great menu and their social cause. It's an added bonus. More power to them. We like working with them: they are very professional and accommodating."


I can tell you that learning about, and experiencing, the property and people at Delancey Street was touching. I'm generally a positive guy, but The Delancey Street experience inspired me to look into its amazing story. Every one of the people in the Cafe and in the theater was positive and professional. It made me feel hopeful about humanity.


To my knowledge in this industry, only EA has used this venue to show off games. Compared to the dozens of often dirty, sticky, cramped bars and saloons in San Francisco, it's not only an ideal location due to its proximity to CalTrain and the Embarcadero piers, but spending money to better humanity—a theme similar to the many games themselves, despite the violent means of getting there—seems like the kind of good will we could all get used to.


Douglass C Perry, former EIC at IGN, is a freelance writer and journalist. You can tweet him @douginsano.
Crysis

The Inspirational Story of the Place Where I First Saw Crysis 3On the corner of Brannan and Embarcadero streets in San Francisco, CA., an entire block is dedicated to what appears to be a Mediterranean-style condo complex.


I recently attended an Electronic Arts event there showing Crysis 3 and Battlefield 3: Close Quarters, and the unassuming architecture and building front had only one way in, through an electronic black gate. It took me a while of walking up and down the street to realize this was the entrance and the place.


It would be easy to pass by. And it would be normally safe to assume that wealthy, upper class people live the good life there. The valuable real estate faces the East Bay Bridge right across the street from the Embarcadero piers.


That assumption would be flat wrong.


The 600 Embarcadero Street address is home of the Delancey Street Foundation, a unique self-help organization designed to turn around the lives of former substance abusers, homeless, ex-convicts, and gang members. "The Average resident has been a hard-core drug user and alcohol abuser, has been in prison, is unskilled, functionally illiterate, and has a personal history of violence and generations of poverty," states the site's FAQ.


And, it appears, it's an excellent location to demo video games.


"Delancey Street is a great venue," said Peter Nguyen, director of PR, EA Games Label. "There are only so many venues with theaters in San Francisco. There is Dolby, the Metreon, which is a big theater but nothing else, and Delancey Street. We showed off Bulletstorm there about three years ago, and with Crysis 3, we wanted an intimate setting, easy access, and we needed that theater setting. We have that at EA, but we wanted to spice it up."


The Inspirational Story of the Place Where I First Saw Crysis 3


Delancey Street started in 1971 with four people. For more than four decades, it has been an award-winning, widely acclaimed social organization that's received hundreds of civic, social, and educational awards, as well as having appeared on The Oprah Show, The Discovery Channel, and in The New York Times, Hope Magazine, the San Jose Mercury News, and The San Francisco Chronicle, among others. During its 40-year existence, more than 14,000 men and women have graduated from it to become lawyers, firemen, salespeople, truck drivers, mechanics, and realtors.


The unique social program takes in the disenfranchised and, in either a two- or four-year program, educates, trains, and graduates them back into mainstream society as functioning, non-violent, drug and alcohol free citizens. Graduates, many of whom cannot even repeat the alphabet, or are lifetime gang members and murderers, or have been reared as prostitutes over several generations, will earn a minimum high school equivalency degree (GED) and receive training in three marketable skills. Four-year graduates can earn an in-house B.A. achieved with accredited universities. Those accepted into the program live on the premises and work for free—and remain drug, alcohol, and crime free.


It's the place where the Director's Guild holds monthly screenings, where the Academy of Motion Pictures holds screenings, and where singer Bonnie Raitt, director Ron Howard, and actors such as Sean Penn, Robin Williams, Dennis Quaid, and Charlize Theron have held private parties.

The "three marketable skills" comprise one interpersonal/sales skill, one clerical/computer skill, and one manual skill. There are current 15 vocational programs. They include accounting and bookkeeping; automotive and truck mechanical repair and painting; Christmas tree sales and commercial decorating; coach and paratransit transportation services; coffeehouse, art gallery, and bookstore retail; construction and property management; digital printing and banners, silk-screen, and framing; film screening; handcrafted wood, terrarium, iron works, and furniture work; moving and trucking; retail and advertising specialities sales; restaurant, catering, event and wedding planning; upholstery/sewing; warehousing, and welding.


This remarkable organization mixes idealistic concepts with hard, realistic practices. But its social model—"each one teach one"—which focuses on self-reliance, family, and community, is what makes it run. Designed as an educational rather than therapeutic paradigm, Delancey is a life learning center. People start from the bottom up and learn to work together as a unit. Each person must teach the other: older residents guide younger ones, and more experienced residents educate newer ones. For example, new residents are responsible for guiding the next new resident. Perhaps even more important—there are no paid staff members, and everyone works.


So just exactly how do former drug addicts, criminals, and gang members live and work together peacefully? In addition to the "each one teach one" principle is another one: any act of violence, or threat of violence, is cause for immediate removal from the program. Over time, the facility starts early entrants in dorm-rooms and moves them up to their own apartment rooms.


Delancey Street's economic model is also impressive. Neither the residents nor the president of the foundation are paid. The group pools its resources and has never accepted government funds for its operations. Its 12 ventures, which range from the Crossroads Cafe, Bookstore and Gallery, its catering service, private car service, moving and trucking operations, landscaping, and screening room services—including the $150/hour theater we sat in—fund about 55% to 65% of the operation.


About 25%-35% of funds come from corporate donations of product or services, and approximately 5%-15% of funds come from financial donations. The most recent audit shows 98.6% of Delancey Street's expenditures were allocated to programs, with 1.4% to administration and funding.


The Inspirational Story of the Place Where I First Saw Crysis 3


It's hard to imagine such an idyllic place even exists—and just how many successes its founders and residents have experienced. The 400,000 square foot facility currently houses more than 500 residents, was built in 1990 in the south of Market Street area (known as SoMa), where then-Mayor Diane Feinstein dug the first shovel-full of dirt at the foundation's groundbreaking ceremony, and Pulitzer Prize winning architectural critic Allen Temko has called it "a masterpiece of social design."


Since its humble beginnings of a $1,000 loan in 1971, Delancey Street has expanded its operations beyond San Francisco. It runs similar facilities in Los Angeles, New Mexico, North Carolina, and New York. All this built on the idea of taking down-and-out people deemed unfit for society, and empowering them with a sense of community and family, giving them work—and a sense of dignity.


The screening room where we saw Crysis 3—and where three years ago EA debuted Bulletstorm—is a 150-seat, THX certified screening room offering Simplex 35mm projectors and digital video projection, a stage, and a 24' X 11' screen. It's considered one of the three best screening rooms in San Francisco.


It's the place where the Director's Guild holds monthly screenings, where the Academy of Motion Pictures holds screenings, and where singer Bonnie Raitt, director Ron Howard, and actors such as Sean Penn, Robin Williams, Dennis Quaid, and Charlize Theron have held private parties.


The Inspirational Story of the Place Where I First Saw Crysis 3


"I always knew about the [Delancey Street] restaurant because I used to live close to it," added Nguyen. "So when we started looking for places to show Bulletstorm [in 2010], we saw the great menu and their social cause. It's an added bonus. More power to them. We like working with them: they are very professional and accommodating."


I can tell you that learning about, and experiencing, the property and people at Delancey Street was touching. I'm generally a positive guy, but The Delancey Street experience inspired me to look into its amazing story. Every one of the people in the Cafe and in the theater was positive and professional. It made me feel hopeful about humanity.


To my knowledge in this industry, only EA has used this venue to show off games. Compared to the dozens of often dirty, sticky, cramped bars and saloons in San Francisco, it's not only an ideal location due to its proximity to CalTrain and the Embarcadero piers, but spending money to better humanity—a theme similar to the many games themselves, despite the violent means of getting there—seems like the kind of good will we could all get used to.


Douglass C Perry, former EIC at IGN, is a freelance writer and journalist. You can tweet him @douginsano.
Crysis

People give the mobile-game developer Gameloft guff for making games that are perhaps overly-"inspired" by other popular games.


But it's interesting to look at them as a reflection of the increasing horsepower and ambition of mobile games—they've certainly come a long way since Hero of Sparta, anyway.


This exclusive trailer for their newest game, Nova 3, demonstrates the ever-increasing sophistication. In fact, Nova 3, which is the third game in their FPS Nova series, looks like nothing so much as Crysis 2, which… well, for a mobile app is no small feat.


Crysis

When one thinks of this industry's true tech-driven developers, one doesn't have to think too hard. Count them on one hand—Id, Epic, DICE, Valve, and Crytek. When these teams reveal their games, the titles often feel more like tech demos than game demos. Last night in San Francisco, Ca., Crytek debuted Crysis 3, and it was very much like seeing a tech demo.


OK, it was a tech demo.


So let's be honest: CryEngine 3, which runs Crysis 3, is an in-your-face, razor-edged visual sledgehammer that will wow you. The demo I witnessed didn't stray from the now clearly-understood memes the game industry is known for: dazzling light effects, enormous guns, and even bigger explosions, aliens, and deaths. The presentation was a muscular audio-visual display of powerful technology. And demos like this don't come around too often.


But the experience was bigger than just better shaders, more lens flares, and bigger vistas. For those who played Crysis for the PC in 2007 or last year's multi-system sequel, you know the Crysis series has always been about setting up new ways of playing. The innovations each of the games has brought, whether they're multifunctional weapon sets or futuristic interfaces and suits, delivers a great gameplay experience, too.


Crysis 3 takes place in 2047, 20 years after the events in Crysis 2, and it returns to New York. The Big Apple has been obliterated, severed, and contained. Director of creative development Rasmus Hojengaard explains that in the aftermath of the ongoing war with the Ceph—the futuristic alien race that arrived on earth to eliminate all human life in Crysis 1—and the ever-expanding control of the international conglomerate, Cell Industries, New York has been sectioned off into containment domes. (Check out the game's new trailer up top.)

Remember the dome in the sci-fi film Logan's Run? How about the Halo in Halo: Combat Evolved?


Cell Industries has developed domes to contain Ceph threats and eradicate remaining alien cells. The drastic cleansing method means that all human life has either been moved out of the nano domes, or wiped out by the alien diseases. The domes also create perfect gameplay sandboxes. "We wanted to go beyond your standard urban war field," says Hojengaard. "The architecture of the domes gives us the ability to create a distinct artistic vision. The domes act like super-accelerated greenhouses, and in each one there are different geographic regions. In this demo we're seeing the swamps. They also tie into our gameplay philosophy."


Our demo started one-third of the way into Crysis 3 in a rainforest dome, replete with croaking frogs that leaped through the level's murky creeks. Called the Liberty Dome, it contains the "Seven Wonders"—a "wonder" represents a different geographical type, such as grasslands, swamps, rain forests, etc. And each wonder shows off Crytek's "AAA" gameplay philosophy: Assess, Adapt, and Attack.


Players will slip on the nano suit of the character Prophet, who returns from the dead in Crysis 2 (apparently he didn't die). "We brought Prophet back because he has the most heritage; he's the most layered, flawed, and the most interesting characters in the franchise," says Hojengaard. "He was a good soldier before, but now he's returned to find out what happened to his squad (killed in Crysis 2) and to redeem himself by becoming the hunter, not the hunted. It's the theme of the game, redemption and revenge."


Prophet starts the demo inside an abandoned building within the Liberty Dome and his nano suit enables him to read the new hostile situation accordingly. Sneaking through the shadows, Prophet's gaze identifies enemies, their threat level, and the weapons they wield, giving him an idea of what he's up against. This is the assessment.


Now he can adapt to the situation. Should he run in with guns blazing or pick them off one by one? Prophet's nano suit retains many abilities, the first of which is an invisibility cloak, enabling him to sneak quietly in the shadows—or silently kill. Before dropping down into the swampy muck, Prophet slings his tech bow with a standard arrow and kills a grunt-level Ceph. On the ledge below, he spies three more enemies. He quietly slays them all.


The tech bow might raise some eyebrows. What on Earth is such an archaic weapon doing in such a futuristic game? "The tech bow brings new functionality to Crysis 3," says Hojengaard very seriously. "In the previous games, weapons drained your energy. The tech bow doesn't. Also, you can use it while cloaked, giving Prophet certain advantages."


The domes also create perfect gameplay sandboxes. "We wanted to go beyond your standard urban war field," says Hojengaard. "The domes act like super-accelerated greenhouses, and in each one there are different geographic regions. In this demo we're seeing the swamps."

The arrows come in a couple of different flavors, standard and explosive (and we expect Crytek to reveal more in the future). Moving forward, Prophet sees a new Ceph enemy called a Seeker (or Decloaker), a small, scout hovercraft that can recognize the nano suit and send up an alarm. Silently taking out the Seeker, Hojengaard switches to an explosive warhead and lights up a squadron of Ceph in the near-distance, starting in on the third phase: attack.


The rest of the 10-minute demo featured full-on combat ranging from straight-up headshots to actual melee uppercuts, using assortment of weaponry and attack styles. There were some surprises concerning the new nano suit. In Crysis 1, the nano suit was not a multi-tasking suit. Players had to switch from one mode to another, one at a time. In Crysis 2, the suit could multitask. One of the new features in the third game is Prophet's ability to wield enemy weapons, not an option in previous games. EA hasn't revealed everything about the suit's new functionalities, but it's clear the suit has been infused with alien technology that enables it to adapt to alien weaponry. Crytek's visuals showed how, one-third of the way through the game, the nano suit was having trouble identifying various alien weapons, with confused numbers and tech phrases popping up.


For a sandbox FPS, the bow won't always be useful, so Prophet will have to pick up alien guns. One of them is the Typhoon, which shoots 500 rounds per second (yes, that's not a typo, 500 rounds per second). The other is a heavy mortar, which shoots plasma grenades and plasma missiles.


Another new ability is hacking. After zipping around and kicking the crap out of a bunch of Ceph, Prophet quiets down and sneaks over to a two-story building in the bush and spies a turret. From a distance, he hacks it. As it starts to mow down its own kind, he rushes toward a massive red tower structure, encountering new enemies such as the Scorcher, "the first quadruped in a Crygame," and a Pinger, a Star Wars AT-ST-type walker. "The hacking characteristic gives us a deep and varied level of play we didn't have before," says Hojengaard.


All this splendor, and yet Crysis 3 is still a ways off. Scheduled to appear on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in Q2 2013, Crytek's shooter will likely be one of the last wave games of this current generation. There was no mention of a multiplayer game, although certainly Crysis 3 will have it. We expect to see EA dribble lots of details out across the coming year, with E3, Comic-Con, GamesCom, PAX, and TGS coming up between June and September.


EA and Crytek showed off a playable title that, since the series debut with Crysis in 2007, has matured in character and grown in design complexity, has deepened with layers of options and gameplay styles, and continues a path of innovation. It's a tech-driven game, but one that consistently scores high with hardcore gamers. Here's hoping the game remains as important as the tech that's driving it.


Douglass C Perry, former EIC at IGN, is a freelance writer and journalist. You can tweet him @douginsano.
Crysis

So don't get too excited, OK? Actually, given it seems to be little more than a tease for a longer trailer, it'd help if you don't get excited at all.


Crysis

When we talk about games, the word "immersion" gets tossed around a lot. It's generally held to be a good thing: If a game has amazing graphics and audio, and a convincingly built world, we will become immersed in it to the point that it feels real.


But is it the right word? Is it actually something for which video games should strive? Does the word have meaning at all?


In this cool video essay, game academic/critic/Critical Distance maestro Ben Abraham takes a look at the word and the concept and draws some interesting conclusion. Attention, he argues, is a more useful term than immersion when talking about games that command us sensorially. Vitally, games require attention at some times but not at others, and the best games that are thought of as "immersive" (including Far Cry 2 and Crysis) give players space to find their bearings so that they're not overwhelmed when it comes time to pay attention.


The video's also got some some thoughts on Starcraft 2, the awesome theatrical production Sleep no More, Enter the Void, Uncharted developer Richard Lemarchand's by-all-accounts brilliant GDC talk, and books. Yeah! Just like, regular books. That you read.


Attention and Immersion [Ben Abraham Dot Net]


Crysis

Crysis 3 Transforms New York City in 2013 This morning EA and Crytek have officially unveiled Crysis 3, the third installment of the high-tech military shooter franchise and the second set in New York City's lush rainforests and teeming swamps. Wait, what?

The first Crysis took place on a tropical island. The second Crysis took place in New York City. The third mashes these two environments together, thanks to the power of the sinister Cell Corporation's Nanodome. Yes, New York City has been encased in a bubble and transformed into an urban rainforest, with seven distinct environments (known as the Seven Wonders) ready to put Prophet's skills and technology to the limit.


It's the perfect place for a bow, as it turns out, like the one we saw during last week's leak.


"Crysis 3 is a thrilling mix of sandbox gameplay, advanced combat and hi-tech human and alien weaponry that shooter fans will love," said Cevat Yerli, chief executive officer of Crytek via the official press release. "Leveraging the latest CryENGINE technology, we're able to deliver seven unique themes that offer stunning and visually loaded gameplay experiences. We cannot wait until people get their hands on the game."


And EA cannot wait to get fans lined up to play. Despite the game's 2013 release date, Origin is already taking preorders, with customers that commit early to the Crysis 3 Hunter Edition scoring early access to the bow weapon and double experience points in multiplayer up to level five.


They've even lined up retailer-exclusive preorder bonuses already:


  • Stalker Pack – Includes the base game, all Hunter Edition content and the following early multiplayer unlocks: for players who like to stalk their prey from the shadows the Stalker Pack provides early multiplayer access to the deadly semi-auto Jackal shotgun. This powerful, close-range shotgun comes with a unique silencer attachment, custom weapon skin and two exclusive themed in-game dog tags.
  • Overkill Pack – Includes the base game, all Hunter Edition content and the following early multiplayer unlocks: the Overkill Pack features early multiplayer access to the Typhoon assault weapon and skin. Spewing 500 rounds a second, the Typhoon gives players the ability to go guns blazing to take back the Liberty Dome. Also included are two exclusive Overkill themed in-game dog tags.
  • Predator Pack – Includes the base game, all the Hunter Edition content and the following early multiplayer unlocks: the Predator Pack delivers early multiplayer access to the Feline submachine gun and exclusive camo. With an extremely fast rate of fire and a 60 round magazine the Feline is highly effective and deadly, at short range.
They don't mention which retailer is offering which pack, but who really cares?

So yes, EA and Crytek would really like you to play Crysis 3, eventually. Did I mention the hunter has become the hunted, and that everyone is a target in Prophet's quest for retribution? I probably should have. That sort of originality must be lauded.


Who's excited?


Crysis 3 Transforms New York City in 2013 Crysis 3 Transforms New York City in 2013 Crysis 3 Transforms New York City in 2013 Crysis 3 Transforms New York City in 2013 Crysis 3 Transforms New York City in 2013


...

Търсене из новините
Архив
Архиви по година
2024   2023   2022   2021   2020  
2019   2018   2017   2016   2015  
2014   2013   2012   2011   2010  
2009   2008   2007   2006   2005  
2004   2003   2002