Only good things can come when you combine the forces of Crysis with Back to the Future.

A mod by Tirido made the rounds this weekend on the social news sites, and for good reason. It brings a functional DeLorean into the game (and Crysis Wars) that you can play around with for fifteen minutes or however long it takes before the concept grows old.

To get the full effect, I suggest you watch the video above here instead. You can thank Reddit user Dave10 for that one. While the mod may not have serious longevity, it's the creativity behind the idea that counts.

The fact that someone thought to make such a thing brings a tear to my eye.

Um, okay.

So Crytek has teamed up with a UK event called Gamecity Squared where they’re going to make Crysis happen. In real life. An area in Nottingham, UK will be transformed into a “real-life tropical jungle, complete with exotic flora and fauna.” People that participate will wear the Nanosuits from the game and they’ll even be able to use the invisible cloak. In real life.

What?

The event will take place from October 29-30. This sound really strange and we can all blame Big Download if this doesn’t actually happen.

Seriously, what?!

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard anything on Crysis 2. The news on the game has been slow, but what we have seen so far is pretty enticing. A couple of new videos from GamesCom 09 have popped up and while I’m glad to see some new stuff on the game, the trailers really aren’t that informative.

Yeah, the Nanosuit 2 is pretty badass. In fact, I think they’re the best videogame armor around. Let’s see some action though, Crytek! Bring on the “pew pew pew” and the choke slams!

You can check out the two new teasers after the break and both videos feature a rather beautiful musical score. Straight out of Final Fantasy style music.

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Ever notice how there are quite a few videogames that feature protagonists with high-tech armor? So did we! This past week, Brad talked with the designers of these very games, asking what the armor of these characters says about them and the world they live in, as well as what the design process entailed.

First, Brad spoke with Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski about arguably the most recognizable videogame armor around these days, the Gears of War COG armor. We were told it "required many iterations" during the design stage to reach the point where the armor felt "iconic."

Next, Fallout 3 lead designer Emil Pagliarulo told us everything we needed to know about the Brotherhood of Steel's Power Armor, saying it allows Wastelanders to go "on the offensive" and "beyond survival."

On Thursday, the lead designer of Crysis, Sten Hubler, revealed to us that the original Nanosuit was much bulkier than what we're familiar with, and that players weren't meant to get the suit until around the halfway point when the aliens show up. 

Finally, Brad hit up Section 8 lead designer Robert Siwiak for insight into the design inspirations for the 8th Regiment's futuristic suit of armor. The team "explored designs that paired the sleek Eastern luxury car aesthetics with the aggressive hot-rod/muscle car designs from the West, and combined that with military intent and purpose."

Make sure to also check out the gallery for an exciting look at the concept art for the different types of armor we've been discussing.

Crysis starts easy. Raptor team HALO jumps onto an island in the Korean-occupied Lingshan Island chain. Their objective is to evacuate US civilians, mostly researchers who have stumbled upon something unknown and exciting. The Koreans attempt to resist the US Special Forces unit, but it’s fruitless action. Each member of Raptor team is wearing a Nano Muscle Suit, the most advanced armor ever created. Fit to the human frame, the suit allows for greater agility. Synthetic tendrils of muscles extend and contour where natural muscles lie underneath. Gray and white and serious, the armor offers more than looks. The exoskeleton allows the wearer to become invisible, become more resilient to damage, to be stronger and faster.
 
The story of Crysis soon spins into the realm of science fiction when the US-led invasion of the island is crippled by an alien counter-invasion. The suit becomes a necessity as opposed to an obvious advantage. It becomes the only clear way to win.

It’s interesting armor, unlike anything else in the game. I want to know why. You see, I’m on a journey of sorts. I want to know why studios include the armor that they do -- hulking, space-like, whatever -- in their games. I asked four developers the same two questions about the armor in their game worlds. Crytek, like Epic Games and Bethesda, answered them.

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If there's one thing we could always afford to talk about more, it's mods. Earlier today, I was greeted by an email message regarding a mod for Crysis and Crysis: Warhead called MechWarrior: Living Legends.

As some of you may know, I've never gotten into the MechWarrior series, but it doesn't take a dedicated fan to see that giant robots running around in gorgeous CryEngine 2-powered locales is a mighty good thing. The mod, which Wandering Samurai Studios has been working on for more than two years now, recently got a new trailer.

The footage (viewable after the break) is all in-game and taken directly from pre-beta multiplayer playtests. It seems I wasn't the only one impressed by what I saw -- apparently, Crytek hired MechWarrior: Living Legends' lead developers for their work on the project.

The mod, according to its creators, who call themselves "hardcore fans" of the classic MechWarrior games, "features large scale combined arms mutliplayer gameplay" using "battlemechs, tanks, aerospace fighters, and battle-armor [from the] BattleTech/MechWarrior universe."

Like I said, MechWarrior is a series that's unfamiliar to me, so I'm going to nod my head agreeably.

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What were The Weather Girls thinking?!

For decades, people around the world have raised their hands in the air and danced to the international hit early ‘80s anthem “It’s Raining Men,” but has anyone actually thought about the cataclysmic disaster that could be if it really did, one day, rain men?

1UP user “l4gg3r92” did. And with the help of the Crysis level editor he reenacted what would happen if the world was flooded with a downpour of testosterone and overgrown body hair.

The result is fascinating to look at, but totally horrifying to realize. Can you imagine what would happen if this penis-filled storm front moved in from time to time? Poor Tim Robbins would never be the same again.

Hit the jump to check out the impressively awesome video.

[Via GayGamer]

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Forty billion years ago, Sony Computer Entertainment’s Kaz Hirai told the world that it could take developers up to nine years to figure out how to maximize the hardware of the PlayStation 3. His statement was an exaggeration, of course, but it’s interesting to note that Crytek has supposedly pushed the shiny black machine to its limits with Crysis 2. At least, they have according to Crytek’s Cevat Yerli.

"The interesting thing is we did run a performance analysis on the PS3 devkit, and you know the funny thing is the occupation on all the CPUs, the Cell and the GPUs, is pretty much –- the needle is at the limit,” the executive told Gamasutra.

Yerli would later mention this hardware “breakthrough” happened recently, and his studio would have had to develop a “compromised strategy” for the console releases of Crysis 2 if the limit hadn’t been reached.

This is a win-win for console owners. We get a rocking, beautiful game AND we don’t have to pay ridiculous amounts of money for ROMs and RAMs (or whatever).

Or at least that's what I presumed, watching this thing. I mean, what can I say about reflections and explosions happening in the reflections of shards of glass floating about, forming up to the Crysis logo. And thus, I've summarized the entirety of the trailer for you. Sorry to spoil it.

But hey, if you want to check it out, it's waiting for you, right after the jump! Are any of you actually excited by this, or just want to speculate on the greatness that Crysis 2 will surely be?

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With Crytek constantly touting the power of CryEngine 3, specifically how well it looks and runs on home consoles, it should come as no surprise that Crysis 2 is coming to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as PC.

But now I'm getting ahead of myself. Crysis 2? Yep, it was announced today. Unfortunately, no screenshots or actual information accompanied the standard vague press release. We do know that EA will be publishing the game through its Partners program, but that doesn't exactly have the same effect as say, I don't know, in-game foliage.

So instead of talking about what little there is to know about Crysis 2 at this point in time, I propose we talk about how awesome an open-world Jurassic Park (or Predator) game could potentially be if it used CryEngine 3. Go on, discuss! view full story + comments

Crytek is offering Crysis Wars for free ... for the third time. Starting today, you can download the multiplayer mode of Crysis Warhead and experience the thrill of popping dudes in the head without having to purchase the full version of the game.

Speaking of full purchase, Crytek and EA are offering a bundle of Crysis goodness on May 5th. It’s called “Crysis Maximum Edition” and it includes all three Crysis games -- Crysis, Crysis Warhead and Crysis Wars. The suggested price is $39.99, which doesn’t sound so bad if you have a computer that can handle Crytek’s stuff.

The multiplayer trial ends on April 17. You can go to the official Crysis page here to download the client and fill out digital paperwork. (As of right now the web monkeys haven’t updated the page to reflect that the trial has started.)

I still haven’t checked out Crysis Warhead or Crysis Wars and that really bothers me. What am I missing?

EA and Crytek are aware that gamers have some extra time on their hands during the holiday season. That’s why (starting the December 19) the publisher and developer combo are rolling out Crysis Wars for free. The offer is valid through December 28, at which point EA will pull the plug on the free fun.

If you didn’t know, Crysis Wars is the multiplayer component of Crysis Warhead. It features three different modes that shooter fans should be familiar with and over 21 maps for players to kill each other in. To keep with the feeling of the season, Crytek will be unveiling the Holiday Map Pack this week and it will be available through this offer.

To get in on the action, simply register at the official Crysis website and then download the game. Apparently, you can do this preemptively as the key is generated to only work on the dates above.

As I am sure you will all remember, Spore was at the center of quite a fiasco last month when gamers, angry at EA's continued use of the invasive DRM tool SecuROM, lashed out on Amazon, absolutely trashing it in reviews and giving it an insultingly low rating. Well, with Crysis Warhead coming out and packing that very same DRM, the chicanery is happening all over again.

So far, Crysis Warhead sits at one-and-a-half stars out of five, with 159 of 206 user reviews giving it a one. The reviews are full of warnings about DRM, one likening SecuROM to a computer virus, as the savvy consumers are doing all they can to warn the general public.

This whole thing is turning into a war of attrition between EA and its customers. While Electronic Arts reassures itself with the fact that only a small percentage of the market knows/cares about DRM, it surely can't be happy with review upon review advertising that which it tries to keep secret. At any rate, the company now knows that this issue isn't going to simply go away.

I, for one, still find this whole situation fascinating. So often do gamers let companies do what they like out of sheer apathy. It's encouraging to see some customers take a continued stand for once.  

[Thanks, Wardrox]

Crysis Wars, the updated multiplayer modes that came with Crysis: Warhead will be offered for free on October 10-12. The opportunity is available in downloadable format via Crysis’ official website beginning October 6th. After registering on the site and downloading the client, a special key will be tossed your way that will enable the free play through the weekend.

It’s also of note to mention if you’re not down with this whole Internet multiplayer thing all the kids are doing, you can download the client and play over LAN prior to the above deal starting on the 6th. It’ll be like those days in your dorm room with Goldeneye, minus funky controllers and someone screaming, “Quit looking at my screen!”

I never got into Crysis, thanks to my Macintosh handicap, but I’ve always wanted to try it out. Are any of you thinking about jumping on this deal? Am I missing out on anything?

[via 1UP]