Editorial: Crytek take to the consoles

What does this mean for ALL gamers, console and PC alike.

by XboxOZ360:

©2008 Grant Smythe:

It had to happen sooner or later, as more and more developers see the advances consoles are making in “This-Gen” and now heading towards even more advances in the “Next-Gen” iterations which should be beginning to arrive around 2010.

It would be foolish for developers to no longer consider consoles as a main platform for delivering their excellent products. Not only are the getting more advanced, but they have a huge market share that they want to share with other console developers. But the added bonus of reduced piracy is definitely influence many, especially Crytek who’s Crysis game was one of the most pirated games last year.

What are your views on the move, not only by Crytek, but other Ex-PC only developers. Personally I think it’s great for gaming as a whole. Rather than allowing games to remain in the bedroom, they will have access to the HD Entertainment and Lounge Rooms of the modern day gaming family.

Why not share say Crysis as an example, on your brand spanking new 46″ – 50″ (or bigger) HD TV with your friends. All in the comfort of your own lounge room, feet up on the leather recliner, drink at your side and 7.1 Surround Sound scaring the bejikens out of the next door neighbours. Who by the way, have just happened to call the police because they thought WWII just started next door. That is much better than being huddled over a rickety old office chair, or slumped in a bean bag in a smelly bedroom with no room to swing a cat, let a lone a mouse (pun intended)

Crytek Harald Seely

Crytek’s Harald Seeley shared his ideas of this move with EDGE Online recently and had some excellent things to say. I’ve been saying many of these things in a variety of forums and blogs across the net with regards to how developers are becoming more tech savvy with smaller memory over the last 12months or more.

They can now extract more from less than they ever had, and as Harald Seeley commented, it simply makes their R&D departments work more creatively on getting around the issue, which in turns opens up more doors for all their platforms that they develop for.

Far Cry was their main push into gaming, and they have come a long way since then. We now see Ubisoft’s new Far Cry 2 shaping up exceptionally well, (and Far Cry 3 already on the boards by the way) with both visuals, physics and lighting effects like we’ve never seen before on any console. Not to mention their Map Editor that was shown recently running on the 360, which is nothing short of mind boggling for a console. Now we have both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 and PC versions all being on par with each other making development mush more even.

Could this come to consoles

The interview is well worth the read, even if it is 2 pages, and very eye opening with regards to their approach now. We’ve always said games like Crysis and it following iterations would and could be playe don the xbox 360 (as well as the PS3, not leaving you Sony guys out – okay).

The biggest screams will be heard from the PC gamers more than anything else. You can note the little reflections of bitterness in the reporter doing the interview, asking if Piracy was overcome on PC’s would they return to making PC’s their prim market.

Personally I believe no current day mainstream developer can ignore the consoles any longer. While each console has it’s pros and cons, the developers do manage to work out a balance in the end, which is the main thing really. The end result is that gamers of all styles are getting more higher quality games than every before.

However, it is interesting to note throughout the interview about the remarks re Crytek shifting to consoles as well now with regards to PC’s. Do keep an eye out for the comment scattered amongst the interview.

Moves like this have a huge impact on developers in general becoming more creative. Not only with their plots, but in how they build games. Instead of simply making them more bloated, they learn ways of getting the most out of the consoles technology, which has a much smaller memory (for a reason), and then transfer that technology and knowlege to PC. Allowing smaller Gaming Rigs to run at better speeds and give PC gamers with limited budgets a decent crack at those high end games only some Monster Gaming Rigs could run in the past.

Who knows what is possible. It seems to me that in the end, everyone wins. How about you ?

©2008 Grant Smythe:

Filed under: Console gaming, Industry News, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | crysis, Crysis Warhead, crytek crysis, crytek on consoles, crytek piracy, xbox 360 crysis