Crytek's CryEngine 3 technology, which we've seen most recently in the company's own Crysis 2, is the driving force behind a $57 million project from the US Army aimed at teaching its soldiers how to fight.

While virtual battlefields have long been a staple of military training, the new Dismounted Soldier Training System (DSTS) looks to blow previous efforts out of the water, using the latest in gaming tech to give soldiers one hell of a realistic video game experience training ground run.

The DSTS isn't a simple game played on a PC or console. It's a full virtual experience, with soldiers donning a vest and helmet (both lined with cameras, vibrators and sensors) and then standing on a 10x10 foot pad, which is also full of sensors.

This means the experience is almost fully motion-controlled, and instead of being projected on a screen, the program's visuals are displayed on a pair of virtual reality goggles attached to the soldier's helmet.

CryEngine 3 comes into it with its ability to model not just infantry combat but vehicle and aircraft controls as well, and also display wildly different terrain and weather conditions.

The DSTS is expected to go into service next year, with around 100 units available for training.

[via GamePro]

Crysis 2 for $34.99 heads up a day of video game bargains at Amazon.com today, with Madden, Sonic, and PC MMO Rift all on the receiving end of deep discounts. As seen on Cheap College Gamers!

Crysis 2 is about to get its first piece of downloadable content, in the form of four new multiplayer maps. It'll be out on May 17 on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 (PSN service dependent).

For about a year, Crytek has offered universities a free license to its CryEngine 3, the guts of this month's big release, Crysis 2. Since it made the offer more than 250 universities have asked for the code, the studio reports.

That's a pretty significant indicator of the mainstream utility of gaming code in a college classroom, if not of the mainstream presence of games design in their curricula.

"From its very first days, Crytek aimed to strongly support students and educators by sharing the CryEngine tools with universities," Avni Yerli, managing director at Crytek, said in a statement. "Thousands of students now have access to the same cutting-edge technology that the world's best developers are using for their ongoing projects. With our CryEngine 3 educational SDK we want to enable them to achieve their vision and create their very own innovation to become the next generation of developers."

You don't have to be a university department head or a bigtime developer to get your hands on Crysis' development tools. A modkit will release to all users sometime in early summer, Crytek has said.

Over 250 Universities Worldwide Signed Up For CryEngine 3 Educational License [Gamasutra]

A modding toolkit for Crysis 2 will release in early summer, Crytek said today in an announcement. If that's not enough freedom for you, the CryENGINE SDK releases to developers in August. The Crysis 2 modkit will be free, the company's CEO said.

CryENGINE 3 is "internally, the same engine we give to our licensees, the same engine that powers Crysis 2," Cevat Yerli said. The complete version includes "C++ code access, our content exporters (including our LiveCreate real-time pipeline), shader code, game sample code from Crysis 2, script samples, new improved Flowgraph and a whole host of great asset examples, which will allow teams to build complete games from scratch for PC."

For those not looking to develop on that scale, the Crysis 2 toolkit will arrive at an unspecified date before then, "in early summer," Yerli said. "This will allow you to build new maps, items and more custom content for Crysis 2."

CryENGINE SDK will likewise be free but, of course, for those looking to commercialize their work, Crytek will have a licensing agreement to keep everything square.

Be Free... Be Creative... Be the Developer [Crymod.com]