Crysis heading to 360?

By Tom Bramwell Published 16 January, 2007

Reportedly seen at CES.

Crysis is on its way to Xbox 360 - but in a radically different guise to the DirectX 10-fuelled graphics monster due out on Vista-based PCs.

That's according to reports just now filtering through from the Consumer Electronic Show, where contributors to 1UP's latest podcast claim they were able to "grill" the developers about what will be involved.

It initially sounds as though they're discussing Conan, but then matters switch to "Crysis on 360". They were told, they said, to expect a game in the same universe, and that Crytek would "not even try to replicate" the PC title or port it "in any way".

That would obviously reflect the fact that Xbox 360 runs on an inferior API to Windows Vista, making some of the lush effects witnessed in demos of the PC version largely impossible - or at least certainly impossible to achieve in the same manner.

Electronic Arts, which is set to publish Crysis on the PC later this year, was not immediately available for comment. Crytek itself though has previously said it was "confident" it could create something Crysis-related on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Speaking to our sister site GamesIndustry.biz in October, lead artist Michael Khaimzon said, "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."

To hear the 1UP discussion, forward the latest podcast to around the 22-minute mark.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (60) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 5 years ago

    360 and PS3 do not miss the API, their GPUs miss DX10 hardware features.

  • Pirotic #2 5 years ago

    I thought Crysis would run on XP with Direct-X 9, just a few of the special effects would be downscaled to Direct-X 9 SM2.0 variations. Why couldn't they just port that version to the xbox? the reasons given here sound very fishy unless they've gone and made the PC game 'Vista Only' which would be commercial suicide, even on old games you take a 2-5% performance hit when playing on Vista because of it's sloth like memory hugging interface.

  • Moonprince #3 5 years ago

    So 360 is past it then? Already old? Whens the next console coming out now that its tech is old?

    :p

  • killest #4 5 years ago

    Does that mean only PC gamers with windows vista and directx10(along with a 8800gtx) will be able to experience crysis AT ALL? :o

  • skillian #5 5 years ago

    "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."

    If they really haven't even made the decision yet it's gonna be a while before it sees the light of day...

  • UncleLou #6 5 years ago

    I thought Crysis would run on XP with Direct-X 9, just a few of the special effects would be downscaled to Direct-X 9 SM2.0 variations. Why couldn't they just port that version to the xbox?

    Wouldn't the level sizes maybe be a problem? No idea how good the 360 is at streaming such data, but the levels in Crysis seem to be bloody huge, from what we know so far.

  • Dizzy #7 5 years ago

    "So 360 is past it then? Already old? Whens the next console coming out now that its tech is old? "

    Actually true... but any system is old when it gets released. The PC world moves continously while the console world moves in 5 year update cycles.

    " thought Crysis would run on XP with Direct-X 9, just a few of the special effects would be downscaled to Direct-X 9 SM2.0 variations"

    yeah that is what I thought as well so maybe it is a bit of marketing speak to support Vista. Then again maybe they really are adding DX10 only stuff.
    Edited by Dizzy at 16/01/07 @ 10:16

  • Mordum #8 5 years ago

    @Moonprince

    Well, the PS3 and 360 are included in this article... and it would be safe to assume that the Wii certainly would'nt handle this type of game. So you're looking at about 2010/11 till the next console comes out that'll exceed PC specs (for a short time at least).

  • UncleLou #9 5 years ago

    Nothing - I wasn't referring to any graphical effects, but wondered if it's generally possible to have such big levels on the 360. Iirc, the big levels of the PC Far Cry where nowhere to be found on the Xbox version.

  • Talha #10 5 years ago

    @UncleLou: I don't think you can have big levels comparable to PC version on either PS3 or 360. Just look what happened to Far Cry in transition to XBox. True, 360 is far more comparable to modern PCs than original XBox ever was, but still, 256 MB RAM is measly and NO DIRECT X 10.

    Face it, Crysis in all its (formidable) glory is a Vista exclusive. Fine by me, really, since I already invested in a 8800 GTS and currently enjoying the smug-a-hole status ;-)

  • skillian #11 5 years ago

    It's not Vista exclusive. It's PC exclusive :)

    edit: ok, I see what you mean. Not sure I agree tho, most footage we've seen so far is DX9.
    Edited by skillian at 16/01/07 @ 10:30

  • Talha #12 5 years ago

    But then again, since EA are publishing it, ultimately Crysis will end up on every platform known to man.

    @skillian: You are right - most footage has been DX 9 and it takes your breath away. As far as I know, all we have about how the game will look on DX10 is some concept videos.

  • Skooch #13 5 years ago

    It always amuses me to read PC gamers comments about how consoles are outdated and less powerful. Isn't that obvious to everybody anyway?

    You have to pay a lot more money (at least a grand more) for a decent PC over a 360/PS3 so you would darn well expect the performance to be better. Then after that you have to update the graphics card every year and get more and more RAM, whereas a console's hardware remains the same, and yes, gets steadily more and more out of date.

    Personally, I am not particularly technical, I don't want to play with a mouse and keyboard and I don't want to upgrade my hardware every 6 months so a console suits me perfectly. Each to their own I say...

  • peteb #14 5 years ago

    i read somewhere that it may be possible to download directx 10 onto the 360 if need be. have no idea how possible that would be though.

  • Talha #15 5 years ago

    @Skooch: Hey man I didn't want to scoff at Console owners. I have a PS2 and I primarily play on that - the PC I only use for those titles which aren't available on consoles. Consoles are ace - they are less of a pain in the ass and the amount of pleasure they provide for every dollar spent is incomparable to any other entertainment device.

    All that I meant was that games with large levels like Far Cry might not make it to consoles safe and sound - it had nothing to do with proving supremacy of PC over consoles or anything.

  • Moonprince #16 5 years ago

    OH! Don't respond to my comments, I was just kidding.

    I'm sure I'll have every system and love them all at some point :)

  • UncleLou #17 5 years ago

    UncleLou: Is this when I bring up the example of Oblivion? I don't understand what level size has got to do with anything.

    Aren't level sizes always a problem with consoles? Which is why you see a loading screen behind every door in the Silent Hill games, and on every level change in Fable, or Zelda:TP. I also remember reading that the huge, non-linear levels were the reason why they couldn't port Far Cry to the Xbox, but made it into a more linear game (despite Morrowind also running on the Xbox, even with the hdd). No idea what the Elder Scrolls games do differently - would actually be interesting why so many console games have or had so claustrophobic levels if streaming isn't a problem.

  • Dizzy #18 5 years ago

    "i read somewhere that it may be possible to download directx 10 onto the 360 if need be."

    That is true. There is a rumor that the 360 GPU actually has some DX10 features (not all) since it is in a generation of its own in a way. Still a lot of people believe this will be a small subset of DX10... more like DX9+.

    "why so many console games have or had so claustrophobic levels if streaming isn't a problem. "

    I would say sadly a lot of console developers do not invest enough time in this. Halo had no loading and GeoW also has no loading... if the engine is build from the ground up amazing streaming things are possible on consoles. Still streaming will cost you CPU power. PCs have a lot more memory and can usually afford to load bigger levels so streaming isn't super high priority ;)

    In theory you can stream from a network connection so maybe in the future console games will stream levels/data from a server instead (MMORPG style)
    Edited by Dizzy at 16/01/07 @ 10:52

  • MrWonderstuff #19 5 years ago

    Considering that PC's have a larger memory configuration than consoles, one assumes this is the reason why large scale seamless environments are not possible.

  • Talha #20 5 years ago

    @UncleLou: I think one factor we are ignoring here is developer talent. I think theoretically it is possible to give the impression of PC-like huge levels on consoles - just look as SSX or the way Nurburgring loads and runs on PS2's GT4. True, they are not free-roaming levels but then, you also have GTA on the consoles.

    Obviously, if you can create a big level on a console, you'd be able to create a BIGGER one on the PC, but with a talented developer the difference must get really small.

  • peteb #21 5 years ago

    "That is true. There is a rumor that the 360 GPU actually has some DX10 features (not all) since it is in a generation of its own in a way. Still a lot of people believe this will be a small subset of DX10... more like DX9+. "

    so perhaps a firmware update (we 360 owners just LOVE our updates we do) or whatever,would sort that out?

    cool

    but i reckon theyll just do a watered down version ala far cry.

  • Dizzy #22 5 years ago

    "so perhaps a firmware update (we 360 owners just LOVE our updates we do) or whatever,would sort that out? "

    No DX api is included on every game disk. MS just has to update the DX API that ships with games.

  • lefizz #23 5 years ago

    Just a couple of points the 360 has 512 ram not 256 as someone said Also 360 runs an extension of dx 9, which is some ways is like dx 10 in other not since is is designed specifically to get the most out of the custom gpu/cpu combo in the 360. Porting the gfx engine from pc to the 360 i would imagine wouldnt be that tough at all really. Porting to the PS3 would be something of a nightmare since in that case you have to re-write the entire engine to run on Open-GL. that really sounds like a huge job to me. Also the segmented memory of the PS3 256 main / 256 gfx may well make the job even harder.

  • DanWhitehead #24 5 years ago

    Oblivion's not a great example, since the wide open spaces are plagued by pop-up and jerky rendering. I love the game, but it's pretty apparent that the game has been constructed in such a way that any major combat takes place in interior or separately loaded locations. Outdoors combat is always (in my experience) restricted to a few enemies at a time. Fine for a sprawling RPG, not so great for a fast-paced FPS.

  • peterfll #25 5 years ago

    I never saw the point in games that get hyped beyond all recognition for features that a fraction of the audience they are aimed at can take advatange of. But that's PC gaming all over really ain't it?

  • Moonprince #26 5 years ago

    I guess people feel a need to push the barriers and reach those heights! Or something.

  • UncleLou #27 5 years ago

    I never saw the point in games that get hyped beyond all recognition for features that a fraction of the audience they are aimed at can take advatange of. But that's PC gaming all over really ain't it?

    I guess you also don't understand the excitement around expensive sports cars then. Neither do I, but that's besides the point. :p

    Not sure what you're getting at, anyway - I am a PC gamer, am I not allowed to look forward to Crysis which I'll sooner or later play in full glory on my not half as expensive as you probably think PC?

  • peteb #28 5 years ago

    "Not sure what you're getting at, anyway - I am a PC gamer, am I not allowed to look forward to Crysis which I'll sooner or later play in full glory on my not half as expensive as you probably think PC?"

    are you talking about in 5 years time when you get your next "not half as expensive as you probably think" pc? :-)

  • peterfll #29 5 years ago

    I think it was more the hype they recieve. It's like, we're told you can only enjoy a game like this because of such "cutting edge" features. The truth is it's probably only recently that the average PC can do justice to - say - Far Cry.

    But no, heh, I don't want to trample on anyone's excitement. Pushing the envelope has a part to play in pushing things forward I guess.

    \that remdinds me, I must key that Porsche sitting in my communal car park.

  • peterfll #30 5 years ago

    I don't think any console has ever been "maxed out" within a year of its release, so I'm more likely to believe that's pure Epic hype (which is soooo unusual for Epic) than the 360 being tired and worn out already.

  • peteb #31 5 years ago

    didnt someone say gears was only using 30% of the 360s power? hard to believe though, judging by the fact it sounds like its going to take off whilst playing it

  • JediMasterMalik #32 5 years ago

    It'll be like predator, a completely different game, with the same setting and some assets.

  • BadBoyBonner #33 5 years ago

    Any game not running at 60 Fps is probably "maxed out".

    With consoles it's not that you aren't using every available resource, almost any shitty programmer can do that without breaking a sweat. It is what you can accomplish through efficiency at 100% system use.

    So it's not if your using everything, it's how well your using everything.

  • malteaserhead #34 5 years ago

    From Cliffy B

    I think there’s plenty of room to push and experiment when it comes to physics and AI and real-time lighting. I think we’ve only scratched the surface of what we can do with gameplay as well as the 360. There’s far more potential down the road to do more stuff. As amazing as I think Gears is, and my gut tells me I still love playing it, I think we have a really incredible experience; I think we’ll definitely push it further if we get around to dong a new version in the future

  • captainrentboy #35 5 years ago

    Can someone tell me what's so exciting about Crysis other than the rather sexy looking graphics engine?I'm not being a cock,it's just to me(going from the lil vieos I've watched) it seems to be yet another FPS.....With sexy graphics.

  • Talha #36 5 years ago

    @captainrentboy: Well the most exciting aspect IS the graphics - although I fail to find anything wrong with that. Thing is, combat/gameplay in Far Cry was excellent as well, so thats why same things are expected of Crysis, especially the new possible gameplay that comes with destrutible plants etc.

  • UncleLou #37 5 years ago

    Can someone tell me what's so exciting about Crysis other than the rather sexy looking graphics engine?I'm not being a cock,it's just to me(going from the lil vieos I've watched) it seems to be yet another FPS.....With sexy graphics.

    Huge, fairly non-linear levels, good AI - FPS games like that don't grow on trees.

  • Darren #38 5 years ago

    Crysis will probably look stunning running on a high-end 2 to 4 GB dual/quad core PC with a 768 MB DirectX 10 graphics card but I can't imagine the Xbox 360 version with its piddly 512 MB of memory in total will come even close to matching it. I reckon the differences between PC and 360 Crysis will be on a par with those between Xbox Far Cry and PC Far Cry (which to this day still remains the best version by far and the less said about the ghastly Xbox 360 version the better!).

  • Drpwnage #39 5 years ago

    The differences wouldn't be that great - The character models from Cysis screenshots are not a generational leap over Gears for example. Where the PC scores highly is in the sheer detail and volume of detail all the extra resource allows.

    Anyway the vast majority of PC owners won't be able to run Crysis at anywhere near its best for another 18 months to 2 years, which is the typical technology - time lag between highest spec PC's and the average specification the majority of PC gamers own.

  • UncleLou #40 5 years ago

    I know these games exist, disc - but then why were the levels in Deus Ex IW so small? And the ones in Thief 3, compared to Thief 2? At the time, the devs said it's not really doable on the Xbox. Having browsed a bit, it looks like a streaming engine needs to be really written from the ground up with the streaming firmly in mind, and lots of compromises have to be made - remembering any changes in the gameworld seems to be an issue, for example.

    Still a bit mysterious, the whole issue.

    As for streaming/huge level games on PCs: Gothic 1 and, to an extent, Operation Flashpoint did that years before Dungeon Siege or J&D, and you can hardly deny that loading frequency and level sizes are much less of an issue on PCs in general than they are on consoles. Not having played any consoles in a while, I was pretty shocked when I played Zelda on the Wii and discovered everything was zoned.

  • Talha #41 5 years ago

    @UncleLou: You bought a Wii? You blue-blood, you filthy traitor! Get off these forums - you have forever lost the respect of the PC gaming elite! ;-)

  • UncleLou #42 5 years ago

    Pah, Wii+PC is a natural combination! :)

  • mkreku #43 5 years ago

    The thing that makes me interested in Crysis is the fact that Crytek has implemented a sort of RPG-esque system to both the main character (in his nano suit) and his weapon. On the fly, the player can customize the weapon from being a sniper rifle (slow loading, great aim) to a grenade launcher (lousy aim, great destructive power) to close combat machine gun (super fast damage, medium aim), while at the same time choosing three different states in the nano suit: speed, strength or shield. Speed, does what it sounds like: make the player run really, really fast. Strength makes the player able to throw stuff really far, jump great heights without breaking a leg and kill people using melee. The shield makes you move slow but last longer in combat.

    Deus Ex meets Far Cry meets Predator, kind of. I'm intrigued.

  • Talha #44 5 years ago

    @UncleLou: You are such a sellout. I expected better of you than to fall for a measly console with a measly 80 MB of RAM. I am so much better than you - I fell for a $600 card that disabled half my games - now that's something to fall in love with! ;-)

    By the way, are we sure that Crysis will have open, free-roam levels like Far Cry? I haven't read anything to that effect.

  • Downside #45 5 years ago

    Is Crysis the last big "PC only" shooter to ever be written?

    The GFX aren't all that, the images still look "fake" to my eye, even the comparison shots published by crytek.

  • SomaticSense #46 5 years ago

    Uncle Lou - "I know these games exist, disc - but then why were the levels in Deus Ex IW so small? And the ones in Thief 3, compared to Thief 2? At the time, the devs said it's not really doable on the Xbox."

    Like someone said previously, it's to do with the ability of the developers.

    You mentioned about Op Flash on the PC. This was also ported over to the Xbox as well if you weren't already aware, along with the huge streaming levels found on the PC included in their full form.
    Also to expand Disc's mention of the GTA games, San Andreas is by far the biggest GTA to date and had NO loading screens during the game, not even from massive region to massive region. And on the PS2 as well plus with much improved graphics compared to the previous games.

    I think this proves the point regarding developers ability to make the most of the consoles capabilties, as Rockstar were much more experienced with working on the PS2 than say Ion Storm was on the Xbox, which would explain why they were not able to port Deus Ex 2 and Theif 3 in their full-leveled entirety and Rockstar were able to pull off what they did.
    Edited by SomaticSense at 16/01/07 @ 13:46

  • skillian #47 5 years ago

    Is Crysis the last big "PC only" shooter to ever be written?

    Umm, no.

  • Xerx3s #48 5 years ago

    "inferior API" >> errr... >> what dizzy said.

  • Xerx3s #49 5 years ago

    And didn't Epic say they already maxed out the Xbox360 on Gears Of War?

    Exactly the opposite. Beardy claimed (probably a lot of talk) that he could easily increase the performance now that he understood the 360.

  • UncleLou #50 5 years ago

    EA have done a great job with the hype marketing on this one.

    Lol, no. EA doesn't have much to do with the hype in that case.

  • Moonprince #51 5 years ago

    But each tree has been individually modeled!!!

    Heh no. I rather liked that the game characters no longer 'ghost' through bushes etc. That's a good step forward. The predator scene was also nice, with the trees coming down etc. I'd say its more of the same, just done better than anything that's currently out.

  • ronuds #52 5 years ago

    Yay... EA!!!! EA can kiss my rear end.

  • Calgon #53 5 years ago

    Ok let me clear up some stuff...

    Xenos(360 GPU... get with it) is a custom GPU, there is no equivelent on the PC market(except in Raw power... which isnt the end all especially given the differences in Console and PC developement) and it has features that would only make sense on 360 too. Although this is custom hardware, if it were on the PC market it would not quite make the full feature set required for DX10(but its not miles behind that and has its own unique features too) so yes DX9x would be where it would fall under but thats not to say Devs couldn't exploit Xenos'(Ideally theyd use everything 360 has got to offer to make sure its as close to that level of fidelity as can be) strengths and features to come close to the same result by taking a different approach than they did on the PC version(which is the way it should be done... are they going to spend the money and time needed to rebuild the engine and content to utilise the 360 hardware fully and efficiently? I doubt it very much).

    360s API is paper thin(I think Carmak used that frase), its been described as one of the best of any system yet, with a PC its necessary that there is some seperation between the hardware and gamecode/software, this is because not everyone has the same GPU in their PC obviously. The thinner the better, less resources are wasted when developers are programming closer to the hardware itself(coding "to the metal" completely is sometimes worth it but it was hard last generation for PS2 and GC devs*XBox proved it didnt need to* imagine how much more difficult modern GPUs would be).
    Edited by Calgon at 16/01/07 @ 19:04

  • manic_mouse #54 5 years ago

    Crysis doesn't look that much of a leap above GOW, I find it hard to believe that they couldn't cut some corners and get it running on the 360.

  • davisorle #55 5 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • Talha #56 5 years ago

    @bcolter: Either you never saw a PC in your life, or you just read the (unfair) EG review of Far Cry and made up your mind.

    Good on you.

  • UncleLou #57 5 years ago

    A prime example of how graphics prowess does not equal good gameplay

    It absolutely wasn't. Like the game or not, but it certainly wasn't a graphics tech demo - the level design and the AI were just as impressive as the graphics were.

  • davisorle #58 5 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • mkreku #59 5 years ago

    Uhm.. Far Cry has one of the best AI routines of any FPS I've played. I vividly remember running around inside some huge building, shooting some soldiers and then how I fled into an air duct. Imagine my surprise when all of a sudden all hell breaks loose around my character, just as I think I'm safe. It turns out one of the soldiers had followed me and actually crawled into the air duct behind me. It was a shocker. I died.

    Far Cry is one of th best FPS's I've ever played. And yes, I've played that linear boredom called Gears of War too. Luckily that tech demo ended after only 8-10 hours.

  • UncleLou #60 5 years ago

    UncleLou - Your Kidding right?

    Bit of a silly question, seeing how my opinion that level design and AI in Far Cry were good isn't exactly a very peculiar one, no?