GDC: Crytek's CryEngine 2 Gets First Licensee

Representatives from Frankfurt-based developer Crytek (Far Cry, Crysis) have announced that that development newcomer Avatar Reality has become the first company to license Crytek’s new game middleware, CryENGINE 2 for a massively multiplayer virtual world set on a terraformed Mars. First demonstrated to the public during this week's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, CryENGINE 2 provides multiple cutting edge features such as a next generation real-time renderer, multi-threaded physics engine, character animation system, and an integrated "what you see is what you play" sandbox editor. The platform also includes a sound editor with interactive dynamic sound system, advanced AI system, resource compiler, and a network client and server system. While GDC represents the first time that the public has been given the opportunity to try out the CryENGINE 2 technology first hand, the underlying technology and graphics capabilities have seen much press attention through its use in rendering the lush vegetation and photorealistic environments of Crytek's forthcoming Crysis. “CryENGINE 2 is able to render the most beautiful images, in real-time, that I’ve ever seen in my 20 years in the computer graphics industry,” said Kazuyuki Hashimoto, president of Avatar Reality. ”We are certain that the quality of these stunning, realistic images stemmed from the technology and not just talented artists. After viewing the images, there is no question that CryENGINE2 is the perfect engine for us to use to build our massively multiplayer virtual world.” “We are very proud to have been chosen as a technology partner for Avatar Reality,” said Cevat Yerli, president and CEO of Crytek. “They possess creativity and talent that is extremely rare for our industry and combining that with our technology, we are sure that the new MMVW will be a huge success!”