A new Crysis trailer just popped up on IGN and GameTrailers already ripped it for our enjoyment. It shows some of the uses of the muscle suit as you punch over cars and throw people onto rooftops. There's plenty more views of how detailed the jungle foliage is, and some additional erection worthy explosions too. The physics of a rock slide look great and you even get to see an impressive alien battle in action. I like how they show the game's title before, after, and even during the trailer just so you don't forget what game footage you're watching. You get to see some more dirty environments deeper in the island and there's even a quick peak at an abyssal hole in the land with a fiery bottom. There's not much to see of riding vehicles, but my favorite part are the brief night vision scenes showing how drastically different the game's appearance can be from the day time footage we've all seen. None of this trailer disappoints.

P.S. - The WarioWare: Smooth Moves review and giveaway will be up on Monday some time. I'm skipping over the First Impressions post because I should be done by then. All I'll offer for now is that . . . I'm disappointed.

P.P.S. Pan's Labyrinth was an awesome movie, even arguably a lot better than Children of Men, you should all go see both. The Ico and Shadow of the Colossus fans out there will probably enjoy Pan's Labyrinth a lot, and maybe even Silent Hill fans as well. Plus, TheLastBoss loves itself a good villain, and Pan's Labyrinth has one of the best I've seen in a long time. Children of Men felt a lot like Half-Life 2, but with way more realistic characters. Two of the scenes seem to last ten minutes without a single camera cut, and deliver action in a way you rarely see in theaters.

Ok, let's just call it off. Crytek, cancel your game, pack up and go home. Fool me once, shame on . . . whatever Bush said. This futuristic PC game feels more like Pong with how much the news bounces back and forth. People hoped that Crysis would be made for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, but the official list quickly dwindled down to just PC, with Crytek telling both Microsoft and Sony that their next gen systems couldn't handle the game. It made us feel like shit for buying a 'next gen' console that already had games overstepping it, but we did. I went to Vegas and tried the PC game out for myself at CES and confirmed from the lead designer Jack Mamais that it was indeed only for the PC, and that not a single line of code has been written for an Xbox 360 or PS3 version . . . yet. But 1UP insisted that a completely different, sub-par version of Crysis would be on its way to Xbox 360.

So what's the verdict on all this childish nonsense? Electronic Arts has just stepped in like an irritable mother on the phone and slapped all involved parties across the face, telling everyone to shut the hell up, and that an Xbox 360 version of Crysis is NOT planned. It's at this point where I stick my tongue out at others and say "I told yuh so," which receives another stern slap from EA. Hopefully this is the last of the major Crysis news we hear until it's finally out later this year. I predict it gets delayed to 2008, just to cause more trouble.

When I was at CES last week, the lead designer of Crysis told me in person that not a single piece of code has been written for a 360 or PS3 version of Crysis. Then the 1UP podcast said that an Xbox 360 version of Crysis was in development. Then a lot of people on the Internet said "uh . . no," but 1UP insists that despite the huge backwards graphical steps it would take to produce, Crysis will eventually be released for the 360 as a new game based off core pieces of story and gameplay from the original PC game.

Why only Xbox 360 and not also the arguably far superior powerhouse PS3? My guess is because Microsoft seduced Crytek away from their enemies much like they did with Ubisoft's Assasin's Creed. So if this is all true, then that will make many 360 owners happy - there's not many people with computers powerful enough to run Crysis, although there's nothing that guarantees that the 360 version will be anywhere as exciting to play as the PC game.

I actually got a chance to play through a level that Crytek threw together for the open gameplay Crysis booth. Head designer Jack Mamais was standing next to me as I played through the area, watching how I decided to progress through the level. So will this really be the best game of the year by far? Simply put, no, I really don't think it will be. Here's why...

There's no arguing that the graphics are amazing. Some DO argue that they're not crisp, and that each scene's graphics are too blendy and washy, but that's honestly personal preference. But there are some things worth being concerned over. First and foremost - Jack told me that there will only be 10 missions in the game, which each range from 20 minutes to an entire hour to complete. That alone makes me doubt the game wil be able t ostand above the rest for 2006, even in just the PC world of gaming. Plus, I thought I saw the game lag when looking at others play, and it was confirmed when I played through the level. It didn't happen to everyone, but at times the combat would skip while I was aiming and shooting.

There were also several other issues which aren't worth getting upset about, but worth mentioning - there was a graphics glitch that displayed a textureless wall that disappeared once you ran into it, and the enemy response to combat fire was disappointing by how boring it was. There was also in-game blur effects that seemed excessive, but can be turned off in the options if it gives you a headache.

The guns and gunfire was cool though, and mowing down enemies in a small, deserted town area was fulfilling, as was shooting down helicopter. I don't know if I've ever seen a game have such high amounts of foliage and remain so natural looking, so this game will definitely be worth trying, and you'll probably even want to buy it, but it still doesn't look like the knockout game that many had hoped for.

Jack Mamais also mentioned that no code at all had been written yet for an Xbox 360 or PS3 version of the game, so it looks like an extremely expensive PC is your only choice.

Crisis diverted! That was a close one! I guess I'm lucky I held onto that PS3 after all - apparently the truth is that they sold 999,999 PS3s before they ran out. They just wanted to take mine, repackage it, and meet their quota. So we made it! Let's celebrate this diverted crisis with the highest quality version I could find of the new Crysis gameplay video. Hopefully the shit I see here is as impressive as this video - I still think the PS3 could have handled it, but it definitely looks like it will stress the best of the best PC's out there.

It's 2 PM over on the east coast, but only 11 AM over here. If you've been following my posts all day, this is the last of the auto-drive TLB action. I SHOULD be in Vegas by now running around grabbing all the free stuff I can find. I'll try to keep the news coming with whatever cool gaming booths I run into. I promise the ride back from Vegas won't be nearly as hectic - it's time for some fun! Hope you enjoyed the ride to get here - at least you didn't have to sit in a plane all day! Vegas Baby! Here we go!

I'm starting to learn a little French - no, not night classes and pocket sized books, just video games. Jeux-France continues to provide with new pictures consistently. This week it's Crysis. Crytek Studios FPS set in the year 2019. We've seen a million impressive forest pictures already so the green themed pictures aren't much new, but the blue pictures give us a look at some of the in game enemies. With suction tubes for legs, they look pretty similar to the monsters that gave Neo hell in the Matrix movies. I'll be calling the monsters vacuum cleaners until more info surfaces. Not sure how to say it in French though. Monstre d'aspirateur?

Crytek has another trailer for your PC gamers, this time with more camera action than you can handle. The new Crysis trailer takes you under and over water and land as it moves a single camera shot around an entire island. The camera isn't afraid of an entire tank coming at its lens, but it finally stops when it runs into a man with a gun longer than tank's dick on viagra. Crytek wasn't kidding when they said PS3 and 360 wasn't ready for their game yet, although I did notice one lighting slip up on the mountain grass. 10 bucks says the level's goal is to either get inside the pipe in the background at the end of the video, or to blow it up. Expect plenty more videos like this one from now until fall of 2007 when this game finally comes out.