Update: Crysis WarHead Specs (08/13/08 Thursday)

Electronic Arts has revealed the system requirements to Crysis Warhead via its online store. While the original Crysis was universally praised for its graphics, many gamers were intimidated with the first-person shooter’s system requirements.

Crytek President Cevat Yerli has said that Crysis Warhead, the follow-up to the 2007 shooter, would be better optimized for a wider range of computers and should run anywhere between 30-35 frames per second at high settings on a $620 rig. To see if his word holds up, you can take a look below:

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
Storage: 15GB
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
ODD: DVD-ROM
OS: Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Microsoft Vista
DirectX: DX9.0c or DX10

While the technical specifications are nearly identical to the recommended specs of the original Crysis, three more gigs of hard drive space are required for Warhead. Gamers can test out their gaming rigs when Warhead launches on September 16.

Published by: Electronic Arts
Developed by: Crytek Studios - Budapest
Release Date: September 16, 2008
Genre: First-Person Shooter

Update Thursday 06/05/08 11:20AM US Western Pacific Time Zone

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."

Redwood City, Calif. – June 5, 2008 – Maximum freedom, maximum explosions and maximum Psycho! Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and award-winning independent studio Crytek today announced Crysis Warhead® – the parallel story to Crysis, one of the most critically-acclaimed first person shooters and PC games of 2007. Shipping exclusively for the PC this fall, Crysis Warhead is the first title to be developed at Crytek´s Budapest studio, and is built on a new, enhanced and optimized version of Crytek’s CryENGINE® 2 technology.

“We were very pleased with the reception of Crysis from both gamers and media after our launch last year,” said Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek. “That being said, one of the key principles of our studio is to always raise the bar. With Warhead, we are focusing on refining our storytelling and game performance, while also delivering more of the visually stunning graphics and immersive, free-roaming gameplay everyone loved in Crysis.”

“The best result of a partnership that we can ask for in the EA Partners program is when a world class independent studio like Crytek chooses to continue to work with us,” said David DeMartini, Vice President and Global General Manager, EA Partners. “Crysis was an amazing game and is going to be a blockbuster franchise. We could not be more excited to be working with Crytek to launch another hit with Crysis Warhead this year.”

In Crysis Warhead, players will don the Nanosuit of Sergeant Sykes, also known as ‘Psycho’, one of the most memorable characters from Crysis. More brash and aggressive than his Delta Force squadmate Nomad, players will experience Psycho’s parallel story during the events of the original game, finding that life on the other side of the island is even more intense and explosive than they ever could have imagined. Luckily, Psycho’s Nanosuit is just as capable and he’s equipped with an even bigger arsenal of fully customizable weapons and new vehicles, giving players access to the tools they need to dominate any situation. Aside from this new, exciting single player campaign, Crysis Warhead will also feature new multiplayer content. Stay tuned for more details this summer.

Crysis Warhead has not yet been rated by the ESRB or PEGI. For more information about the game, please visit www.crysisthegame.com

EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electro Alongside today’s super-exciting announcement of Crysis Warhead we wanted to take the chance to bring some clarity to some misunderstandings we have seen in the community after last week’s Crysis Monthly Update.

As you know, it was a very hard decision for us to cancel Patch 1.3, but in the end it was important we shift our focus to some of the new and exciting things we are doing with Crysis Warhead. We have a lot of great content planned for the community and as we get closer to launch, we’ll be sharing a lot of details of what we are working on behind the scenes. This was the main reason behind the cancellation of the patch and while piracy was and continues to be an issue with Crysis, it did not have any role in our decision to cancel this patch.

We also want to make sure you all know that we are not ending our support of Crysis. We still have www.crymod.com, our official modding portal, up and running – a great meeting place not only for modders, but also for all who are interested in playing new, custom content. In addition we have plans to continue updating the CryENGINE2 documentation and video tutorials frequently

And of course, your dedicated community management teams are still here and active in our official forums and fansite forums.

The important point is that we are not giving up on our current community and we hope that the announcement today pleased you. Stay tuned for more information on Crysis: Warhead... there is a lot more to come.

Updated 06/25/08

Begins when the original game’s Nomad character parts ways with Warhead’s new hero, Psycho, and follows him all the way until the two are to reunite again on board the aircraft carrier.

Mostly located on the other side of the island.

Less linear approach and more sandbox type of gameplay, as opposed to the original.

Same nanosuit and the same functions, with more likely to be revealed later (definitely a "surprise" in that matter is promised).

Singleplayer campaign to last 8-10 hours.

At least two new weapons, the granade launcher and double SMG.

Improved enemy AI, betterily able to organize itself and follow tactics.

New vehicles incl. Armored Scout Recon (about the size of a jeep with a mounted gun) and a hovercraft, both playable in multiplayer as well.

New team-based MP mode and less complex than the original two.

Betterily optimized to run faster than the original game on the same hardware.

Won’t require DX10 for maximum details and full effects.

Dialogues done by Bioshock’s Susanna O’Connor.

Completely stand-alone and as noted by developers, not an add-on but a full title.

The possibility of Crysis 2 to rely heavily on Warhead’s sales.

Link to CryTek