It almost sounds too good to be true. Almost? It is too good to be true. Could Cry Engine 2 on consoles really look any where near as good as Crysis on the PC? Crytek’s Engine Business Manager, Harald Seeley, states that they expect the console versions to “look like they’re running at high settings, or nearly high settings, on a PC.” *Shock.*

When asked what differences there would be between the PC and console versions of the Cry Engine 2, and whether the engine will be tailored to each platform, Seeley replies:

Yes, we definitely tailor the engine specifically to each platform. More than just the difference in CPU and video hardware capabilities of PCs and consoles is at play here. So are the much smaller memory budgets we must work with, the lack of a hard disk on some models, and the acceptance requirements of the hardware vendors themselves. All have an effect on how we approach each version of the engine.

The surprising thing has been how well the consoles can perform visually, once this tailoring is in place. We expect the final outcome will result in games that look like they’re running at high settings, or nearly high settings, on a PC. Actually, we found it as much or more challenging to address the memory limitations of the consoles when converting our current AI system, as we did while converting our rendering engine or physics system, which was not something you might have expected at the start.

As to the differences between Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 development, and the possibility of a Wii engine, Seeley states:

Well there is no doubt that porting our engine to the PlayStation 3 is the more challenging of our two ongoing conversion projects, but that works to our advantage in the end. We feel certain we have the ability to get the most that is possible out of that platform, and therefore PS3 games which run on our engine in the future will definitely stand significantly apart from other games that don’t.

We haven’t seen a great deal of demand for third party engines for the Wii, the limited complexity of games which can be developed for that console also limits the need for the kind of sophisticated tools and middleware which we are known for. So I doubt we will be providing any engine technology for that console in the near term.

Poor Wii, but bring out the parade for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3! For the rest of the interview, please visit IGN.

Next time you jack-in with your PlayStation 3, you’ll be prompted to update to the latest firmware release, version 2.17.

Sony is detailing only minor changes with this upgrade. The online stability of some unnamed PS3 games has been addressed.

Slightly more interesting, Kotaku is reporting that the Japanese Playstation.com site claims the update also makes PS2 games that require the PS2 HDD playable on the PS3. If you’re playing Final Fantasy XI, give it a shot.

The beauty of Unreal Tournament 3 is that the PC community can create maps for PS3 owners to play. It’s such a revolutionary setup for consoles, that you’re really getting a lot of bang for your buck with this insane multiplayer experience.

Now a Halo map has been created from scratch for the game:

This is a remake of the Halo map named Wizard. This was a great close quarters map and I felt it would be right at home with Unreal Tournament 3.

This also has full bot pathing so you can play singleplayer without having to find a server with someone hosting this map.

Enjoy the screenshots below, but most importantly enjoy this new map, which can be found here.