While some argue that piracy can increase game sales by letting players take a "try before you buy" approach, Crytek business manager Harald Seeley isn't one of them.

Based on downloads of the last Crysis patch, he argues, there were "a lot more active [Crysis] players than there were unit sales."

And since those pirates are still playing the game months after release, Seeley reasons that "then they were a sale that didn't happen but probably would have had it not been possible to obtain the game illegally."

Crytek, the studio that created the hardware intensive Far Cry and Crysis games exclusively for PC, has repeatedly stated that the upcoming Crysis Warhead will be its last PC-only game due to the abundant piracy of PC games.

But just because Crytek is no longer developing PC exclusives, that doesn't mean the company will abandon the platform. "We want to continue to provide our... Read more

With Crytek's open-world sci-fi shooter Crysis Warhead (PC) due out September 16, publisher Electronic Arts' online store has pulled back the curtain on the standalone expansion's minimum system requirements.

The specifications are nearly identical to the minimum requirements of the original Crysis, with the only significant difference being a 3GB jump in required HDD space. However, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli has repeatedly noted that the game-powering CryENGINE 2 has been "optimized to run better on a wider range of PCs."

• CPU
  Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz (3.2 GHz for Vista), Intel Core 2.0 GHz (2.2 GHz for Vista), AMD Athlon 2800+ (3200+ for Vista) or better
• RAM
  1GB (1.5GB on Windows Vista)
• Video Card
  NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Radeon X800 Pro for Vista) or better
• VRAM
  256MB of Graphics Memory... Read more

Crysis Warhead (PC) and its multiplayer mode Crysis Wars will ship to North American retailers on September 16 and head to European stores on September 12, publisher Electronic Arts announced today.

The second entry in Crytek's sci-fi shooter series, Warhead provides a new take on the events of the PC original and carries a $29.95 price tag. The standalone game is said to be Crytek's last PC exclusive due to issues with piracy and sales numbers.

"Fans of Crysis are going to enjoy more of the open-ended gameplay, cutting-edge visuals and huge, epic battles from the first game, while also finally finding out what kind of havoc Psycho was wreaking on the other side of the island," said Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli.

In addition to new singleplayer content, Warhead will pack an expanded multiplayer mode dubbed Crysis Wars. At present, Crysis Wars packs 3 modes... Read more

Several new screenshots of Crytek's next sci-fi shooter Crysis Warhead have popped up over at PC Games, offering more examples of the game's fire and explosion effects.

Described as a expansion pack by publisher EA during a conference call yesterday, Crysis Warhead and its alternative take on the events of the original Crysis will arrive on PC this fall for $29.99. To learn more, hit up our E3 preview.

Publisher Electronic Arts is planning to sell a line of PCs that will be branded and marketed as machines that can handle Crytek's beefy PC shooter Crysis.

The computers will come in several configurations, and will be released alongside Crytek's upcoming stand-alone expansion Crysis Warhead, according to some blogger.

While Crytek has mainly blamed Crysis' modest sales on PC piracy, many have pointed to the game's demanding system requirements as another culprit. Crytek has been working to optimize the engine and increase framerates for the Warhead expansion.

Crysis Warhead is scheduled for a September release.

If you want to play more Crysis levels without having to deal with all the cost of fresh-feeling content, you're in luck.

Where to start? After thirty minutes of playing Crysis Warhead, I saw a couple new guns, some new particle effects, and a new mission. A mission that, outside of a dull scripted vehicle sequence, could have passed as content from the original Crysis.

Don't get me wrong: I very much enjoyed the original Crysis, and the stand-alone Warhead's $29.99 price point keeps the lack of new features from being insulting. Apparently Warhead will include a larger variety of enemies than Crysis, though I saw only the same standard soldiers while playing it. And it will supposedly be better optimized, so a few more of you might be able to run it. There will also be some new multiplayer maps, and a couple new modes.

Did I mention those explosion effects already?

I can at least confirm that there will be no new suit powers... Read more

A listing for Crysis Warhead on publisher Electronic Arts' online store has revealed new details on pricing and new multiplayer features for Crytek's standalone shooter follow-up.

In addition to confirming the game's $29.95 retail price point, the listing notes that Crysis Warhead includes Crysis Wars, described as an "expanded new multiplayer experience" for the title.

Crysis Wars is said to include a total of 21 of maps, seven of which are brand new to the Crysis multiplayer experience. New multiplayer modes will also be included, though no further details were specified.

Set to be Crytek's last PC-exclusive game, Crysis Warhead is scheduled for a fall release.

Electronic Arts has released a few new explosive screens of Crytek's stand-alone sequel Crysis Warhead.

A PC-exclusive, Crysis Warhead is said to follow the exploits of Psycho, a character introduced in the original Crysis. More of an alternate perspective than a direct sequel, gameplay will take place during the events of the first game. More vehicles and weapons--including dual-wielded arms, as shown in the screenshots below--round out the feature list.

Crysis Warhead is scheduled for a fall release on PC.

Publisher Electronic Arts has provided us with the first official screenshots from Crytek's upcoming sci-fi shooter sequel Crysis Warhead, which hits PC this fall.

Crytek chief executive Cevat Yerli offered an assessment of piracy within the PC gaming industry, describing the market as "the most intensely pirated market ever."

"It's crazy how the ratio between sales to piracy is probably 1 to 15 to 1 to 20 right now," Yerli told IGN. "For one sale there are 15 to 20 pirates and pirate versions, and that's a big shame for the PC industry."

Yerli added that he hoped to see some change with the release of Crytek's upcoming shooter follow-up Crysis Warhead. When asked if the game would include anti-piracy measures similar to Electronic Arts' activation protocols in the PC edition of BioWare's Mass Effect, the CEO didn't directly specify but hinted at some new ideas.

"Effectively, if the game isn't an online game or multiplayer game—there are challenges regardless of what you do—the game can be cracked. The effort is to... Read more

The first teaser trailer for Crytek's shooter follow-up Crysis Warhead (PC) has been released, offering a brief look at some of the game's new additions and features.

Featuring a story which runs parallel to the events of the original Crysis, the title is said to employ a more free-roaming approach to gameplay than its somewhat linear predecessor.

Crysis Warhead will hit retailers this fall. Shackvideo users can use the HD Stream.

New details about Crytek's PC shooter follow-up Crysis Warhead have surfaced in monthly gaming magazine PC Gamer, reported by Czech gaming site Tiscali Games.

According to the preview, the possibility of a Crysis 2 relies heavily on Crysis Warhead's performance at the market. While the title isn't necessarily a true sequel, the developers stressed that Warhead is a completely stand-alone, full title.

Echoing Crytek's claims that Warhead would be optimized to run on cheaper PCs, the preview notes that the Windows Vista-exclusive DirectX 10 API won't be required to engage the game's highest levels of detail and visual effects.

As previously reported, the game focuses on new lead Psycho, one of Nomad's teammates from the original Crysis. Not unlike Valve's Half-Life expansion Opposing Force (PC), the events of Crysis Warhead run parallel to those of the first... Read more

Optimizations made to Crytek's CryENGINE 2 will allow the upcoming sci-fi shooter follow up Crysis Warhead to run smoothly with high detail settings on cheap PCs, studio CEO Cevat Yerli has claimed.

Specifically, Yerli told German outlet PC Games that a 400 euro (roughly $620) PC could run the title, with high settings enabled, at 30 to 35 frames per second. Curiously, he did not detail the resolution at which this is possible.

Despite having stopped patch support for the original Crysis (PC), Yerli said these optimizations could eventually make their to the first game. "That will take a long time, because the fixes are fairly profound," he noted. "We are still in the process of the steps, but first we want to conclude Warhead."

Though even the latest video cards can't provide a smooth framerate for Crysis at high resolutions with very high detail settings, Crytek is confident that... Read more

The fall release of Crysis Warhead will be Crytek's last PC-exclusive effort, Crytek business manager Harald Seeley has revealed.

Earlier this year, Crytek president Cevat Yerli said that the studio would no longer have any PC-exclusive titles due to issues with piracy and higher sales on consoles. However, the company announced Crysis Warhead as a PC-only release last week.

"He was referring to any new projects we will start in the future," Seeley clarified to Next Generation. "Warhead has been under development for quite some time, and we had no desire or intention to disappoint our loyal PC fans."

Though some blame Crytek's unhappiness with Crysis's retail performance on the shooter's technically-demanding nature, Seely denied that the game's requirements had any impact on its sales.

"Other's lower perceived hardware requirements did not actually translate to bigger overall sales numbers than Crysis," he explained. "You only have to look at the comparative PC sales volumes of other prominent FPS games which shipped around the same time."

Following up on yesterday's teasing, developer Crytek and publisher Electronic Arts have officially announced the second entry in the Crysis series of sci-fi shooters.

Due out this fall, Crysis Warhead will arrive exclusively on PCs and is the first title to be developed by Crytek's Budapest studio. The game is said to run on "a new, enhanced and optimized version" of CryENGINE 2, the technology that powered the original.

The game's status as a PC exclusive comes as a bit of a shock, considering that Crytek recently commented it would be moving away from PC-only development due to piracy. "I believe we won't have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future," Crytek president Cevat Yerli said then. "Similar games [to Crysis] on consoles sell factors of 4-5 more."

Expanding on the story of the original, Warhead follows Sergeant "Psycho" Sykes as he tackles the other side of the island during the time of the first game. Said to pack more weapons, new vehicles and new multiplayer content, the title carries the tagline of "Maximum freedom, maximum explosions and maximum Psycho!"

On its official forums, Crytek revealed that Warhead was the "main reason" behind the cancellation of future Crysis patches. The entire statement follows... Read more

On Monday, developer Crytek announced it would no longer be developing Crysis (PC) patches for "a good reason" that it hoped to say more about "in the very, very near future."

Apparently, the "very, very near future" meant two days.

The official Crysis website has now been updated with a teaser image for Crysis Warhead (pictured above), presumed to be the next entry in the sci-fi shooting series. No other details, such as platforms or a release date, have been unveiled.

The original Crysis was said to be the first in a trilogy, with Crytek having since trademarked multiple related names, including Crysis Wars, Crysis Annihilation, World in Crysis and Crysis Warhead.

The developer recently commented that it would be moving away from PC-exclusive development due to piracy concerns. "Similar games [to Crysis] on consoles sell factors of 4-5 more," Crytek president Cevat Yerli explained. "I believe we won't have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future."

At present, Crytek is known to have at least one console title and a non-FPS game in the works, along with its nearly-completed efforts to bring the Crysis-powering CryENGINE 2 technology to consoles. Thanks TheIneffableBob for the heads up.