It is very exciting for me to be able to say that the original Crysis is coming to the PS3! Some of you may be wondering how we are going to bring the large open environments that Crysis is known for to console. The expansive jungle sections, the pure white sand beaches, the open vehicle levels… maybe you’re shaking your head that it cannot be done. I’m here to tell you that we’ve accomplished this and you will be able to experience the remastered, single-player campaign for Crysis on October 4th in North America and October 5th in Europe.

So how did we do it? As Egg Shen said, it wasn’t easy! Without the power of the CryENGINE 3, we would never have attempted it, but with fully deferred lighting, a PS3-specific rendering pipeline and SPU-enhanced physics code, together with more efficient memory layouts and more intelligent algorithms, we brought the experience of Crysis to consoles without compromise.

With that said, we didn’t just want to port the game straight onto console; we wanted to make sure we tailored the experience to suit it. We’ve brought the Crysis 2 Nanosuit and controls into the console version of Crysis and we have greatly improved the ease with which players can perform their Nanosuit powered exploits. The Nanosuit gives players options on how they want to play Crysis – from stalking your prey like a stealth predator, to hurling yourself into battle like the Hulk – with the intuitive Crysis 2 controls, nothing gets between the player and the impressive action. We’ve also rebalanced all the combat and weapons to suit the DualShock 3 controller and made improvements to the AI. Also, if you have a 3D capable TV, you can immerse yourself in the beautiful Crysis world with fully integrated stereoscopic 3D support!

For those of you who missed Crysis the first time around, this experience delivers intense, stealth-action and furious battles in large, open jungle environments with jeeps, tanks, boats, helicopters and intelligent AI. If that isn’t enough, you also take the fight to an unknown alien race and board their ships where the laws of physics no longer apply. When you finally emerge, a shocking surprise is awaiting as you discover that the world you once knew has undergone a dramatic alteration.

Crysis comes to PS3 on October 4th in North America for $19.99. On behalf of everyone at Crytek, I really hope that you enjoy playing it as much as we enjoyed developing it!

Recently I spoke with Executive Producer Nathan Camarillo about those trademark Crytek visuals, and about the new multiplayer demo, which just hit PSN last night.

PlayStation Blog: We know Crytek can produce on the PC. How do you utilize the PS3 to live up to the high PC standard?

Nathan Camarillo: It’s the core of CryEngine 3 that’s able to scale appropriately and we can adjust per platform exactly what we wanna get out of it. We want the exact same gameplay experience, the same fun, the same intensity, all the same visual information that you need to understand and play the game appropriately. It’s just a lot of under the hood magic.

PSB: One recent IGN article said Crysis 2 didn’t look very good on PS3. CVG/PSM disagreed. What’s your response?

NC: I’ve gone on the record saying that if you stick PS3 and 360 side by side I would challenge anyone to find any meaningful difference. I don’t see it at all.

PSB: Talk about 3D implementation Crysis 2 on the PS3.

NC: In Cry Engine 3 we have a really tricky implementation of 3D – we’re able to generate the 2nd image with little to no impact. We don’t lose visual quality, we don’t lose resolution. You get the same experience as you get in the 2D game, except it’s in 3D, which is better. It’s more immersive, it feels better.

The 2nd part of our implementation is: we don’t throw things out of the screen at you. We start at the TV screen and then push in. This avoids eyestrain and eye fatigue, because we want you to play this for hours and hours. If you’re playing single player it’s easily 10-12 hours for a good gamer to get through the game.

PSB: What should PS3 gamers be looking out for in the demo?

NC: In most games you’re mentally programmed to stick on the ground. If you wanna go one level higher, go find a ladder, go find some stairs. It takes until people see someone jump in front of them that they realize they can jump there. You gotta break the habit of being ground-constrained like in other games.

If it’s one story high, you can jump there. If it’s a story and half, you can jump and pull yourself up. So it really changes the speed and pace of multiplayer. I can’t wait for PlayStation 3 owners to get their taste of crazy, insane nanosuit multiplayer action.

That wait is now over – the Crysis 2 multiplayer demo is now available on the PlayStation Store, featuring two game modes on two maps. Try it out and share your thoughts in the comments.

The March episode of Qore covers some serious ‘must have’ titles. The lead story features fantasy role-player Dragon Age 2 as Veronica Belmont catches up with Bioware‘s co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka and Lead Designer Mike Laidlaw as they walk through the story, combat, classes, and a revamped tactics system that should appeal to both RPG and action fans. And, the action is awesome. Don’t miss the different gameplay examples of the Warrior, Mage, and Rogue classes. Which one do you think is Veronica‘s favorite?

With inFAMOUS 2 set in a New Orleans-inspired city of New Marais, music will again be an integral part of the sequel. Audrey Cleo follows the making of this unique soundtrack managed by SCEA’s Jonathan Mayer who pulled together an eclectic collaboration between the funk jazz of Galactic and rock drummer Bryan “Brain” Mantia, By the way, the gameplay in this story is very, very fresh.

Itching to play a FFPS (Futuristic First Person Shooter)? Ready to try on a nano suit for your PS3? Now set in New York City, Crysis 2‘s got amazing graphics, sweet weapons, and a beefed-up nano suit that looks quite dashing in HD.

Motorstorm Apocalypse comes in from the jungle and goes urban in this rev’d up new version. Qore‘s preview shows off the epic new environments featuring new vehicles classes including muscle cars and choppers. It’s the end of the world and we’re driving just fine…

And, finally, Qore subscribers will have early access to the SOCOM 4 beta coming later this month to this episode’s download center. And, look for Qore’s full game preview of SOCOM 4 in next month’s April episode.

Note: This Beta is now available on the Download Center!

We hope you enjoy the March episode of Qore – presented by the PlayStation Network.

E3 may have come to a close, but we couldn’t be more excited by the plethora of great games and content available for PlayStation fans. Along with PlayStation Move and a host of exclusive titles coming from our first party developers, our publishing partners were out in force taking full advantage of everything PS3 and PSP have to offer.

One of the biggest surprises at E3 was Gabe Newell from Valve’s arrival on the stage at the press conference earlier this week. He acknowledged his appreciation for the PS3 as “the most open platform of all the current generation consoles.” He went on to not only announce that Portal 2 was coming to the PlayStation 3, but also to state that it’ll be the “best version on any console.”

EA also introduced several exclusives to PS3 including the special edition version of Medal of Honor that comes with the 2002 classic Medal of Honor Frontline, which has been updated and re-mastered with HD visuals. And those of you looking forward to Dead Space 2 can pick up the premium edition, which includes Dead Space Extraction. A prequel to the original Dead Space, Dead Space Extraction will be fully Move compatible and also offer trophy support. Offering these packed-in hits like Medal of Honor Frontline and Dead Space Extraction is something only possible on PS3 because of Blu-Ray.

Fans of Assassin’s Creed can look forward to an exclusive beta of the new multiplayer campaign within Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, with the beta hitting PSN in late summer. 2K Games’ Mafia II will also feature unique content for PS3, including exclusive day-one content including missions, story and gameplay. There’s also the much-anticipated shooter from Crytek, Crysis 2, which will sport 3D-compatible graphics on the PS3.

These along with other great titles, including Kojima’s recently-released masterpiece Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Sony Online Entertainment’s much-anticipated MMO DC Universe Online, are expanding our library of titles and offerings for gamers, and help make our family of products some of the best of the industry.

Once you’ve digested all things E3, keep an eye out in the coming weeks and months for further news and updates from our publishing partners.