Crytek claimed a coveted prize yesterday when our futuristic FPS, Crysis 3, won the trophy for best Visual Arts at the Develop Industry Excellence Awards.

Taking place in Brighton, the Develop Awards are the only peer-voted prizes for UK and European games developers which focus purely on creativity, teamwork, and inspiring innovation. Over 500 people from companies around the world were in attendance Crysis 3 walked away with the top prize in the competitive Visual Arts category.

The game was released in February this year, and continued the series trademark blend of diverse sandbox gameplay, thrilling action and barrier-raising visuals. Crysis 3 is set in a dillapidated reimagining of New York City, where the slow creep of nature and destructive impact of war has altereted the landscape to dramatic effect. Players assume the role of Prophet as he explores the city’s spectacular seven wonders and battles both human and alien foes bent on his destruction.

See the game in action and find our more at www.crysis.com.

A little piece of Crytek history has gone on show in an Italian museum dedicated to gaming. The artifact in question is a copy of the demo disc originally shown by Crytek’s founders, the Yerli brothers, at the E3 expo in 1999. On the strength of the disc’s contents, the trio were offered a deal with NVIDIA that proved to be the first major step on the road to Crytek’s growth.

Das in Frankfurt am Main beheimatete Entwicklerstudio Crytek baut derzeit eine eigene Publishing-Abteilung auf um künftige Projekte selbst zu veröffentlichen, sagte Dirk Metzger (bisher bei NC Soft für das Marketing zuständig). Bisher hat Crytek für Marketing, Kundendienst und Communityarbeit mit Electronic Arts zusammengearbeitet.

Nach Metzgers Angaben befinden sich die entsprechenden Teams derzeit im Aufbau und werden ihre erste Prüfung mit dem F2P-Shooter Warface zu bestehen haben. Warface befindet sich in Russland bereits im offenen Beta Status. In Europa wird es voraussichtlich noch 2013 soweit sein.

Die Publishing-Vereinbarung für Warface mit Trion-Worlds (Rift) scheint nun nicht mehr aktuell zu sein. Obwohl Crytek angekündigt hatte sich auf Free-to-Play (F2P) Spiele zu konzentrieren, gab es eine Ankündigung des Spiels "Ryse" für die XBOX One als Exklusivtitel.

Nicht zu vergessen, das sich Crytek die Rechte an "Homefront" gesichert hatte als der Publisher THQ insolvent ging. Laut Metzger kann sich Crytek bei solchen Titeln wieder eine Zusammenarbeit mit anderen Publishern vorstellen.

Related Links:
- Forenthread @ Crysis-HQ.com (INFO Thread)
- Warface-HQ.com

Audio is a key component of game design, providing unique technical and creative aspects for a non-linear medium. It is used in videogames to enhance environments, dramatize script and scenes, create a sense of realism, immerse the player into the game, and much more. Games like Far Cry, Crysis, and Ryse: Son of Rome would not be the gaming experiences they are without sound, so audio teams are highly important in creating a sonic identity for Crytek games.

Audio and sound design is an art as much as any other discipline. Industry expert Simon Pressey, who recently joined Crytek as Director of Audio, explains the importance of making a videogame a sonic experience as much as a visual one. “The development of the sound of a game, it’s like creating a world. Sound design is a highly creative field: a large portion of sound has to be created from scratch. A lot of that creation is combining existing sounds into a new one that’s more suitable. For example, a shield bashing sound can be created by combining sounds of roaring cougars. Audio is also about perspective, subtlety, and perception: it doesn’t matter where the sounds eventually come from, as long as they sell the experience.”

Crysis 3 players can now take aim in an exciting new setting thanks to the arrival of our Crysis 3: The Lost Island DLC expansion pack. Featuring new multiplayer maps and game modes, and two brand new weapons, the DLC invites players to return to the scene of the original Crysis by taking up arms on a remote tropical island off the coast of Lingshan.

Available in the US from today (June 4) and the rest of the world tomorrow (June 5), The Lost Island DLC invites players to compete on the new Ascent, Coastline, Creek and Crossing multiplayer maps; trying their hand at the new ‘Frenzy’ and ‘Possession’ game modes at the same time.