Topic: Crysis for the consoles.... UPDATE: No Crysis spin-off to come to the X360

[MysterD]

You might remember this thread on Mind's Eye about one of Crytek's own, Bernd Diemer, senior game designer of Crytek, saying PS3 or X360 wouldn't have enough power to handle Crysis:
http://z7.invisionfree.com/The_Minds_Eye/index.php?showtopic=8492

Well, here we go, another designer from Crytek speaks:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=20224

Crytek confident it could port Crysis
Matt Martin 16:14 06/10/2006

Although no plans are currently in motion, reveals lead artist

Crytek's lead artist, Michael Khaimzon, has revealed that the developer could confidently port highly-anticipated PC title Crysis to PS3 and Xbox 360 - although there are no current plans to do so.

Speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz, Khaimzon said, "I don’t think there would be any problem to convert anything we work on to the next-gen consoles if we decided to.

"We have enough power here, with programmers and artists, to be able to do such a thing. It's just a matter of making the decision."

Khaimzon's comments will only fan the flames of rumour which surround Crysis - a first-person shooter already wowing consumers and critics alike - that publisher Electronic Arts may bring the game to home consoles after release on PC early next year.

Discussing whether the team at Crytek would be interested in working on the next-generation of home consoles, Khaimzon added: "I'm pretty sure it would be interesting for us to do stuff on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.

"We would just have to see how much of a sacrifice to the game we'd have to make. Or whether there would be a sacrifice at all, maybe we could find a way to make the game look exactly the same as it does on PC on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3."

When asked directly whether there was a possibility that Crysis would appear on home consoles, Khaimzon replied: "There might be, the decision isn't mine to make. I don’t know of any official plans to do so, but I know there are rumours and talk, but I couldn't say anything concrete."

[idolminds]

"We would just have to see how much of a sacrifice to the game we'd have to make. Or whether there would be a sacrifice at all, maybe we could find a way to make the game look exactly the same as it does on PC on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3."

Bolding the words fanboys will outright ignore and state for a fact that it can and will be done.

[gpw11]

Well, it's not like we didn't know the orginal statement was bullshit anyways.

[MysterD]

Well, it's not like we didn't know the orginal statement was bullshit anyways.

Agreed. Whether it can be done well in a certain amount of time they are to supposed to make it in (pretty much until EA makes them kick the console version out the door, I bet....hehe.), that's another story. We don't know how much Crytek will need to sacrifice on the console versions; or if they will even need to anything at all, to get it working on the consoles the same (or close to it). We'll have to see exactly how it pans out, if it actually winds up there.

Crysis is being published for EA. I am betting EA will want to drop this game pretty much....ummm.....everywhere they can make a $$$, both on the PC and consoles.

[MysterD]

UPDATE: A brand new Crysis spin-off game will be coming to the X360, since the original Crysis is too powerful for consoles...

New Crysis Game Coming to 360
Straight-up conversion not technically feasible.

By Patrick Klepek, 01/16/2007
The folks at Crytek have stated several times that taking their ridiculously good looking PC shooter Crysis into the console world wouldn't be possible without sacrificing a noticeable amount of visual fidelity. But, clearly the demand is there, so what's Crytek to do? Apparently, take core elements of the PC game and develop an all-new Crysis game for Xbox 360, as revealed late last week on The 1UP Yours podcast.

Crysis is one of the first games to take serious advantage of Microsoft's DirectX10 technology, something that can't simply be patched into the Xbox 360 hardware. Consequently, a version of Crysis will be appearing on Xbox 360 eventually, tapping certain story elements of the PC version and structuring the gameplay differently to suit the console's strengths.

That still doesn't explain how I'm (or anyone, for that matter) going to afford a machine to actually run Crysis when it comes out later this year, but console owners can breathe a little easier now; hopefully an official announcement on the spin-off will be forthcoming soon.

[Jedi]

Hang on weren't these the guys who said their game was too much for the 360 to handle? Or am I thinking of someone else?

[MysterD]

Hang on weren't these the guys who said their game was too much for the 360 to handle?

Correct.

Or am I thinking of someone else?

Nope, you are correct -- it was Crytek.

[Jedi]

ah ok... 

Like to know what happened to that statement. My guess was the guy was a Fanboy and his boss decided there was money to be made on the console 

[MysterD]

ah ok... 

Like to know what happened to that statement. My guess was the guy was a Fanboy and his boss decided there was money to be made on the console 

I guess they are doing like what Ubi did w/ Far Cry.

Far Cry on the PC is one version entirely....
...yet the console versions of Far Cry are also different (namely built much better for the system to handle, graphically....), yet keeping a lot of the same core gameplay and storyline elements.

Crysis is going the same path. PC version will be one version, yet the console versions will be different -- but, they will keep a lot of the same core gameplay and storyline elements.

[idolminds]

Crysis Averted

January 16, 2007 - There is no joy in Mudville. EA has officially stated that Crysis is not planned for Xbox 360.

In a recent installment of its weekly podcast, 1Up Yours, gaming website 1Up revealed that an Xbox 360 version of Crysis was currently under development. In the podcast, editors claimed that during CES they had spoken to developers at Crytek who asserted that the Xbox 360 version of the game would be completely different from its PC counterpart due to the 360's lack of Direct X10 support.

However, an Electronics Arts rep disputed the claims. Apparently, there was some sort of miscommunication which led the editors to assume that a 360 version of the upcoming shooter was currently in development. EA's spokesman confirmed that this was nowhere near an official announcement and expected a retraction to be forthcoming.

[Pugnate]

Yay. We have exclusivity.

[Cobra951]

ah ok... 

Like to know what happened to that statement. My guess was the guy was a Fanboy and his boss decided there was money to be made on the console 

And now I'll sound like a 360 fanboy, but after much studying up on its architecture and power, I can say that statement was unfounded anyway.

[MysterD]

And now I'll sound like a 360 fanboy, but after much studying up on its architecture and power, I can say that statement was unfounded anyway.

Well, let's look at it this way....
Crysis PC is being made for both Win XP to support DX 9 and Win Vista to support DX 10.

So, here's my question: why can't the X-Box 360'ers get a direct DX9 port of Crysis, since the X-Box 360's hardware and software is similar to that found in say DX9?

I could understand DX10 giving the X360 trouble, but DX9??? Are you kiddin' me???

Well -- a company did have trouble porting Quake 4 to the X360 -- probably b/c that game was kicked out of the box way too early, though to make the X-Mas rush, I bet....

Regardless, I want that PC version of Crysis!

[Jedi]

Crysis Averted

Huh I and here I thought the 360 had DX 10 silly me.

[Cobra951]

Unlike the original Xbox, the 360 is not a modded PC.  It's a gaming system from the ground up, and has some very good pipelines set up between the 3-core CPU, GPU and memory.  This includes the GPU itself (i.e., it's not a modded version of a Radeon GPU.)  It's designed specifically for, and in concert with, the rest of the hardware design.  The claimed overall performance is 1 TFLOP.  (Sony claims 2 for the PS3.)  The OS is not Windows/DX, but considering the source, it's got to be similar.  My guess is that it's some focused subset of those software technologies.

Don't tell me that it can't do Crysis technically.  I won't believe it.  If it's aimed at a different group of gamers, then that's another story.

[Jedi]

Unlike the original Xbox, the 360 is not a modded PC.  It's a gaming system from the ground up, and has some very good pipelines set up between the 3-core CPU, GPU and memory.  This includes the GPU itself (i.e., it's not a modded version of a Radeon GPU.)  It's designed specifically for, and in concert with, the rest of the hardware design.  The claimed overall performance is 1 TFLOP.  (Sony claims 2 for the PS3.)  The OS is not Windows/DX, but considering the source, it's got to be similar.  My guess is that it's some focused subset of those software technologies.

Don't tell me that it can't do Crysis technically.  I won't believe it.  If it's aimed at a different group of gamers, then that's another story.

In which case - regarding what D said above - it wouldn't matter if they took the DX 9 based game or the 10 based, as they would have to do some reworking anyway. I don't think anyone actualy believed it when they said the 360 wasn't powerful enough but I'd love to see them comment on that statement now, I hope some reporter asks them about during a preview interview 

I could understand DX10 giving the X360 trouble, but DX9??? Are you kiddin' me???

And why's that D?

[idolminds]

I'm guessing there would still need to be some sacrifices due to RAM limitations. Most gamer PCs now have 1-2GB of system RAM and DX10 cards will probably have 512-1GB of RAM on them. Compare that to the 360s 512 total RAM.

While it would be changed, I doubt it'd be changed in any meaningful way. The 360 can put out some nice stuff, just look at Gears of War.

How large are the areas in GoW? I imagine nothing approaching Far Cry level size, but just some estimate would be nice.

[Jedi]

I'm guessing there would still need to be some sacrifices due to RAM limitations. Most gamer PCs now have 1-2GB of system RAM and DX10 cards will probably have 512-1GB of RAM on them. Compare that to the 360s 512 total RAM.

Actualy it has 10MB embedded on the graphics card for a grand total of .... 522. 

[idolminds]

Oh snap, guess it'll handle Crysis fine then.

[Pugnate]

Actualy it has 10MB embedded on the graphics card for a grand total of .... 522. 

How does that work?

Yea I am sure they can do Crysis without some of the bells and whistles.

[gpw11]

" EA's spokesman confirmed that this was nowhere near an official announcement"

Lets not kid anyone....that just summed up the whole thing right there.  I'd be willing to put money on the fact that some form of Crysis will hit the 360 in the future. 

As for technical limitations - marketing.   If they couldn't scale it down enough for the 360 to run it, then good luck getting it running on 95% of PCs out there.  And console RAM doesn't equal PC RAM at all considering the difference in speeds and pipelines.  Yeah, some sacrifices would have to be made, but it's not like it's the same thing as  a brand spanking new PC with only 512 MB of DDR.  Chances are all we'd see would be levels broken up into slightly smaller portions and the obvious lower resolution. 

And honestly considering the potential of the 360's procedural synthesis capabilities, they can do a more with less memory and probably save money while doing it. 

[Pugnate]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162532.html

Crytek has good reason to be concerned. The ban would almost certainly apply to its critically acclaimed 2004 first-person shooter Far Cry and its high-profile current project, Crysis, which is being bankrolled and published by Electronic Arts. According to the Focus TV report, Crysis has a budget of more than 20 million euros (approximately $27 million), which would make it one of the most expensive games ever made. Though they would not divulge an estimate of Crysis' cost, EA reps told GameSpot that figure is "not accurate."

With a budget like that you think they don't want to tap every market?

[gpw11]

Holy shit, that's a lot for a game.  Yeah, we'll see it on all the consoles.

[Cobra951]

As for technical limitations - marketing.   If they couldn't scale it down enough for the 360 to run it, then good luck getting it running on 95% of PCs out there.  And console RAM doesn't equal PC RAM at all considering the difference in speeds and pipelines.  Yeah, some sacrifices would have to be made, but it's not like it's the same thing as  a brand spanking new PC with only 512 MB of DDR.

Exactly.  Both the CPU and the GPU can address the system memory directly as their own in the console.  Graphics data don't have to be streamed from system memory to video memory across a bus.

[Pugnate]

Yes while it won't run at full visuals, surely they can port the DX9 version.

[Jedi]

Your kidding... is thart a screen shot from the game in question? If so then what PC could run that?

[Pugnate]

Not only is that a screenie from the game, but that is from a while back. They said it looks much better now.

The rig show casing the game used a dual core processor and the 8800GTX. The frames were easily at 60FPS. They are working on that and hope to get better performance.

The funny thing is they are able to get better performance on Vista vs XP, because games designed from the ground up for Vista are supposedly able to get 25% better performance due to better utilization of the hardware.

According to M$ if a game was designed from zero for two identical machines, one featuring Vista and one XP, then Vista would get at least 25% better performance, because of the way it was designed to compliment gaming. However currently we see all DX9 games running much worse on Vista.

M$ says it is because of drivers and stuff. Anyway all this could be marketing hype. But I know for sure that Crysis running rig was getting at least 60 fps.

Let's just hope there is more to the game than fancy graphics though. Currently S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is something I am looking more forward to.

[MysterD]

Not only is that a screenie from the game, but that is from a while back. They said it looks much better now.

The rig show casing the game used a dual core processor and the 8800GTX. The frames were easily at 60FPS. They are working on that and hope to get better performance.

The funny thing is they are able to get better performance on Vista vs XP, because games designed from the ground up for Vista are supposedly able to get 25% better performance due to better utilization of the hardware.

According to M$ if a game was designed from zero for two identical machines, one featuring Vista and one XP, then Vista would get at least 25% better performance, because of the way it was designed to compliment gaming. However currently we see all DX9 games running much worse on Vista.

Well, I would expect DX9 games to run worse on Vista....

DX10 is pretty much native to Vista...
...while DX9 is something that is probably, more or less, emulated on Vista.

M$ says it is because of drivers and stuff.

Probably.

Anyway all this could be marketing hype. But I know for sure that Crysis running rig was getting at least 60 fps.

I'd like to see someone trying to run Crysis at full on Vista, while someone w/ the same settings on XP -- and see what it runs better on.

Let's just hope there is more to the game than fancy graphics though. Currently S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is something I am looking more forward to.

I want to play both STALKER and Crysis. Two shooters I'm definitely looking forward to.

[Pugnate]

I think it depends on optimization though. If they spent the time to optimize the XP version they maybe there would be less of a difference. Look at how awesome Blizzard are. I am sure if they wanted to, they could render the entire history the dinosaurs to run in real time using a GeForce 2 MX and a Pentium 2.

[Pugnate]

I don't see how it is possible to match a high end PC when Crysis finally rolls around. I was looking at this article:

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6147028/p-2.html

f you click on the link scroll down to high end PC, which is again using a 7900GTX (old article), which is a joke compared to the 7950 or the 8800.

   

    Oblivion looks better on a high-end PC than on the Xbox 360. Note the additional foliage visible in the background. We matched up resolutions for screenshot comparison purposes here, but a high-end PC with an AMD Athlon FX-60 CPU and GeForce 7900 GTX graphics card can enable all the settings and take resolutions up to 1600x1200 or more and still maintain smooth frame rates

Even with a GeForce 6600GT the PC was able to match Oblivion

   

:

    A medium spec PC with a decent processor and a mid-range DirectX 9 video card like a GeForce 6600 GT allows you to enable a few more graphics settings like view distance and some shadows. Take it easy on the view distance settings since they will lower the frame rate. The Xbox 360 version of the game looks slightly better overall, though not by much

The 6600GT running Oblivion looks almost as good. So if that is the case how in the world can you expect Crysis to run on the 360?