Yesterday we gave an overview of some of the DirectX 11 features we can expect to see in Crysis 2 in the next update. The patch will add advanced "parallax occlusion mapping," and improvements for shadows, water, particles, depth of field and motion blur.

There will also be additional DirectX 11 compatible tessellation and high-res texture packs, which can be downloaded separately to improve world geometry and surface detail throughout the game. The Crysis forums bring word that we can expect all of these updates to hit next week, and a report on Shacknews suggests Monday June 27.

To get an idea of what the new features will look like, check out these side-by-side comparison shots, found by forum member Vivec. You'll find the full 1.9 patch notes below.


Added Contact Shadows
Added DX11 benchmark level
Added DX11 support for Crysis 2 (the following features only work when downloading the optional DX11 package here):
Tessellation + Displacement Mapping
High Quality HDR Motion Blur
Realistic Shadows with Variable Penumbra
Sprite Based Bokeh Depth of Field
Parallax Occlusion Mapping
Particles Motion Blur, Shadows and Art Updates
Water Rendering improvements and using Tessellation + Displacement Mapping
Added Realtime Local Reflections
Added support for Higher Res Textures Package
Added various new console variables to whitelist
Fixed bullet penetration, which had been broken by a bug introduced with the DLC 2 patch
Fixed issue in MP where player stats weren't always saved at the end of a game
Fixed issue in MP where player stats would sometimes randomly reset
Fixed issue with MP time played statistic, which would sometimes be too low on leaderboards and in stats
Fixed issue with JAW rocket not firing through window's containing broken glass
Fixed rare issue where a user could not access MP with a valid CD key if they had previously used an invalid CD key
Improved advanced graphics options menu
Improved anti-cheat measurements: fixed exploit which could prevent vote kicking working against a user
Improved multi-GPU support
Improved Tone Mapping
Re-added possibility to enable r_StereoSupportAMD via config file (unsupported)

 

Maximum music. That's what the ten winners of the Crysis 2 soundtrack giveaway will be receiving shortly. If you missed out on the initial post, might we recommend that you "Like" us on Facebook? You never know when we'll give something away on a whim, especially if it involves forcing the intern to draw a laughably-bad music sheet for a sight gag. Read on to see if you won, and what Nano the winners want to see in the Crysis universe.

Congrats to the following 10 winners! The winners will be contacted shortly—soon they'll be jamming to some soundtrack goodness while they wistfully dream of their Nano inventions becoming a reality. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Josh Collison: Nanopig, maximum bacon.
Samuel Hyde: Nanofacepalm. Invisible, extra strong, and extra fast. Perfect for parties with idiots.
Sean Lincoln: Nano banana. Shortened to Nanonana
Dan Lee: Nanoburger. That cloak will prevent it from being stolen by my asshole roommate.
JJ Hernandez: Nano-Toothpaste, Maximum Freshness.
Corbin S.B.: Nano-PEZ dispenser, because nothing says wasting the military defense budget than a device that gives out candy and can also cloak.
Austin K. Ballard: Nano-segway. Raaammming speeeeeed!
Alexander Florian Steciuch: Nano pogo stick. There I said it.
Harris Goode: Nano tube socks.
Nicholas Reid: Nano glowsticks for maximum brightness

Available to preview at GDC was the latest version of Crytek's CryEngine 3. It joins Epic's next generation tech, and Battlefield 3 on the list of 'stuff you should probably consider upgrading for. No sign of a game it's associated with just yet, but that funky looking trike suggests a military based shooter set sometime in the near future. Possibly with aliens.

Our friend and sometime contributor Duncan Harris is obsessed with what he calls real-time art: capturing the beauty of video games in vast, crisp screenshots unblemished by health bars and HUDs. He uses graphics mods, ultra-resolution textures and screengrabbing hacks to squeeze out every last pixel of detail, and nowhere to greater effect than with Crysis.

Below are a few of my favourites - including the best screenshot of mud you will ever see. But grab the whole zip of 100 1920x1080 screenshots from Duncan's site Dead End Thrills for the whole collection. You'll also find some amazing images of the Mass Effect games there, and many more. Can Crysis 2's urban scenes ever measure up to this?

The voice of Duke Nukem himself, Jon St. John, endorses our podcast in the waking seconds of this week's show. Stick around to the end for Evan's mini-interview with the voice actor, sampled straight from the strip club parking lot (seriously) where the chat took place.

Live from our fidelity-capturing, professional podcast studio, Dan, Logan, Evan, Chris, Josh and Intern Anthony chat up the state of League of Legends, F.E.A.R. AI vs. Crysis AI and John Carmack's judo skills. At 40:30, Chris' debuts his segment "Truthiness and Falsity," where provocative statements and latent, unexpressed resentment among editors combine.

PC Gamer US Podcast 259

Have a question, comment or high-definition audio clip of you pouring some kind of liquid? Leave a voicemail: 1-877-404-1337 ext 724.

Quote of the week: "Your videocard will not turn into a pumpkin." -Dan Stapleton

A brave Russian mod team has challenged themselves to port the whole of GSC's survival horror, STALKER, into Crysis' more advanced engine. The project's called Cryzone - Sector 23, and is far along enough for the team to have released a video of the mod in action. You'll find the video embedded below.

The mod is the work of a team called World of Stalker. It's still a work in progress, but famous elements from the STALKER series are already in there, including the bleak landscapes, anomalies, and groups of terse Russian men sitting around campfires.

The video shows off some of the destructability and improved physics that comes with the upgrade to Cryengine 2. The mod plans to add some new features to the game, including a Far Cry 2 style healing system, in which your character must fix wounds by injecting themselves, or removing bullets from wounds. For more information on the mod, check out the Sector 23 page on the AP forums. It's a staggering undertaking, but judging from the video below, the results could be pretty spectacular.

The latest trailer for Crysis 2 seems to be narrated by the mad scientist who created the Nanosuit. He has a good old boast about how it grants his super soldiers "incredible strength", super speed, invisibility, bullet proof skin... okay actually that is pretty badass. Your arrogance is justified, mysterious old dude. The latest footage shows off the crumbling city environment, and also features plenty of aliens exploding. You'll find it embedded below.

The Crysis 2 minimum specs were recently revealed, though today Crytek clarified that they may be subject to change. They'll still give an idea of the level of machine the devs are aiming for. For more on the game check out the official Crysis 2 site, and our preview of the multiplayer. We've also got a multiplayer demo to look forward to before the game is released on March 25.

A new trailer from Crytek showcases some of the fun you'll be having in Crysis 2's multiplayer. You can watch it after the jump.

The footage shows off some death match and Crash Site action (where players must defend drop pods from the opposing team). It does a good job of demonstrating the Nanosuit's various abilities, including stealth kills and kicking cars over. It is, naturally, all very pretty.

Unfortunately for us PC crowd, the final message is a bit of a kick in the teeth: "Xbox 360 exclusive multiplayer demo begins January 25th". Nice one, Crytek. Nice one.

Crysis may be a few years old, but it's still one of the most graphically powerful games you can play. Normally that power is used to render huge islands, armies of panicky Korean soldiers and invading alien forces, but what if you took all of that power, and used it to create the biggest explosions you possibly could? Five brave gamers have done just that. Below you'll find videos of some of the biggest bangs in gaming. One man drops a fleet of helicopters out of the sky, another belly-flops onto a huge tower of exploding fuel trucks, and another man spawns a pile of 3,000 barrels and causes an explosion so ridiculous that he can't look directly into it for more than two seconds without it crashing his PC. You'll find videos of the five most insane Crysis explosions embedded below.

1. Fuel Truck Apocalypse

2. It's raining 'copters

3. 3000 barrels, one bullet

4. Mass demolition

5. Good old fashioned massive nuke

There's only one thing better than a huge bundle of great games, and that's a free bundle of great games. You know what's even better than that? Five free bundles of great games. By stunning coincidence that's exactly the number of EA Store game bundles we have to give away today. There's more than £1700 worth of games up for grabs, so read on for a chance to get your hands on Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the Dragon Age 2 Digital Deluxe Edition, both Mass Effect games, Crysis, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and more.

Five lucky winners will scoop a copy of each of the following games, courtesy of the EA Store.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Digital Deluxe Edition

The huge, destructible battlefields of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 play host to some of the most frantic and explosive multiplayer scraps on the PC. As well as a wide range of tanks, helicopters and attack drones, there are tons of unlockable weapons for each of the game's four classes, so you can customise your load out every time you go to war. You'll also get a copy of the recently released Vietnam expansion which adds four new maps and a collection of new weapons and vehicles to fight with.

Dead Space
Dead Space is a third person survival horror set on board a spaceship infested with aliens. The key to taking these creepy beasties out lies with Dead Space's arsenal of surgical weapons that let you clip the limbs off your foes one by one until all that's left is a wobbling torso. Disgusting? Yes. Satisfying? Even more so.

Dragon Age: Origins Digital Deluxe Edition
Whether you start out begging for scraps in the Elven slums or fighting rebellion in your castle as a human noble, in Dragon Age: Origins you're ultimately destined to become a hero of Ferelden, one of the Grey Wardens responsible for putting down the menace of the Darkspawn uprising. You'll also get Dragon Age: Awakenings, an expansion set after the events of the main adventure of the first game, and a copy of the Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition which comes with all of the game's nine content packs, adding extra armour and quests to the game.

Mass Effect
If you've ever wanted to command your own spaceship and save the universe, Mass Effect will let you do exactly that. There are few better lead characters than the charismatic and occasionally violent Commander Shephard. Spend your career through the universe punching out reporters and shooting suspects, or play it cool and become the saintly saviour of the cosmos.

Mass Effect 2
Commander Shephard returns to once more take on the galaxy's greatest foes. Mass Effect 2 builds on almost every aspect of the first game, adding even more characters, more spectacular locations and a brace of satisfying new combat abilities.

Crysis

It's been out for more than three years now, but Crysis is still one of the best looking games you can buy. The sandy beaches of the game's massive island are a beautiful setting for the game's superhuman firefights. Your character's nanosuit lets you tear up your enemies with invisibility, super strength and super speed.

Crysis: Warhead
Crysis: Warhead explores the emotional range of Psycho, one of the background characters from the first game. He even sheds a tear at one point. Then he pulls himself together, leaps onto a gatling gun and mows down an alien invasion singlehandedly.

The Sims 3
The best soap opera sim in the world, The Sims 3 lets you create your own family and control every aspect of their lives. Help them find a better job, true love and happiness, or just trap them all in a windowless room and watch the fireworks. You'll also get three expansion packs. The Sims 3: World Adventures lets you take your sim adventuring abroad and hunt for treasure among famous monuments. Ambitions lets you control your sim on the job, letting them become a firefighter, private investigator, doctor and even a ghost hunter. The Sims 3: Late Night takes the game to the nightclubs, letting you take charge of your sim's big nights out.

FIFA Manager 11
Take command of your favourite football team and lead them to victory in FIFA Manager 11. You'll have to manage every aspect of your team, from their finances to player signings, to your tactics on the pitch if you want to have a chance of taking home football's finest silverware.

FIFA 11
If you'd rather be scoring goals than managing your strikers, you won't find a footballing sim better than Fifa 11. The revamped engine means even more realistic ball control than ever before, and a sublime animation system adds extra crunch to every tackle.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

In Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit it doesn't matter if you're a crook or a cop, you'll always be behind the wheel of a steaming supercar. As a cop you'll be enforcing the law at 200 miles per hour, ramming boy racers off the highways of Seacrest County. As a criminal your job is to beat your fellow racers while evading capture, earning rep and buying new cars as you go.

If you fancy entering, there are a few terms and conditions. The offer is valid in the UK on www.eastore.co.uk, and is valid for PC Download only, and that no pre-orders, points packs or time cards are included and that offer can not be redeemed in conjunction with any other offer.

The best thing about the space-borne survival horror, Dead Space is the array of ridiculous weapons you can use to cut up your alien enemies. To win, post in the comments below with a weapon capable of dicing the toughest monster. Tell us what it is, what it does, and give it a name. You must live in the UK to enter. The five entries that make us laugh the most will take home a bundle.

Come back tomorrow for another great giveaway. The gift giving will continue all the way up to Christmas day.

Winners!

JamesG

tomo123456

talon03

MrCazzah

Faceinstien

I will get in touch with the instructions on how to claim your lovely prizes. Huzzah!