Information on Crysis, the next game from Crytek, the studio behind Far Cry, has finally been released along with some high-resolution screenshots. You can click here for the gallery, or press the thumbnail below. Some information from the fact sheet has been posted below; full text is available after the jump.

Earth, 2019: A colossal asteroid crashes down to Earth.

The North Korean Government quickly seals off the island chain, claiming the mysteries of the asteroid for themselves. The United States responds by dispatching an elite team of Delta Force Operators to recon the situation and report back to the Pentagon. Amid rising tensions between the US and North Koreans, the asteroid suddenly bursts open, revealing a massive, 2km high alien ship. The ship generates an immense force sphere, freezing a vast portion of the island and drastically altering the global weather system. The invasion of Earth has begun.

The two rival nations unite to stop the aliens and save mankind. The newly formed alliance fights epic battles against the marauding Aliens. With hope rapidly fading, the player must lead a crack squad through lush tropical jungle, harsh frozen landscapes, and finally into the heart of the alien ship itself for the ultimate Zero G encounter with the aliens.

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To coincide with the upcoming Silent Hill movie (which is looking pretty good), Konami has announced that Europe will be receiving The Silent Hill Collection – a special limited box set featuring the three PS2 games that inspired the upcoming Christophe Gans movie.

Due for release in April to coincide with the Silent Hill movie’s debut, The Silent Hill Collection comprises Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room, offering a massive overview of the games that redefined the horror genre. Each game is linked to the mysterious town of Silent Hill, a mist-covered and deserted place where misshapen creatures lurk in the shadows and abandoned buildings. It was first visited in the PSOne title of the same name in 1999, before the three sequels made the leap to PlayStation 2 and added larger play areas and more grotesque imagery to the game.

Each Silent Hill title follows a central character inextricably linked to the town. In Silent Hill 2, James Sunderland’s life is shattered when his young wife Mary suffers a tragic death. Three years later, a mysterious letter arrives from Mary, beckoning him to return to their sanctuary of memories, the dark realm of Silent Hill. Silent Hill 3, however, begins with a young girl called Heather innocently shopping in a sprawling mall, only to find herself transported to Silent Hill for reasons to tied to her childhood. Silent Hill 4: The Room is a more claustrophobic entry to the series. A young man called Henry Townshend finds himself trapped in his apartment and unable to contact anyone outside. A large portal has also appeared in his bathroom and inevitably leads him to Silent Hill – and a terrifying plot that could see the town’s inhuman denizens invading our dimension.

The games all use a potent mix of puzzle-solving, exploration and combat elements, while beautifully-realised cut scenes reveal new twists in the plot as the mystery of Silent Hill is developed. The three games also boast unique elements, too, with Silent Hill 3 featuring the gradual transformation of the shopping mall into the rotting locations of the town, while Henry’s flat in Silent Hill 4: The Room is also affected by the grime and visible decay as the town’s evil seeps through the portal.

The Collection will be released this April and will be priced at 45 Euros.

Paradox Interactive today sent out information on Europa Universalis III, the upcoming sequel to the venerable strategy series. Enjoy:

• Players can enjoy over 300 years of gameplay by starting at ANY date between 1453 and 1789.
  
• Nation building is flexible: decide your own form of government, the structure of your society, trade politics and much more. The possibilities are endless.
  
• The great people and personalities of the past are on hand to support you. Take history in your hands and call personalities like Sir Isaac Newton, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or René Descartes to your court.
  
• A lush topographic map in full 3D allows for a rich and complete world view, and contains more than 1700 provinces and sea zones.
  
• Lead any one of more than 250 countries that originally existed during the game’s extensive time span.
  
• Have more than a thousand historical leaders and over 4000 historical Monarchs at your disposal.
  
• Manage more than 100 individual unit troops to secure as much power as possible.
  
• Co-operative multiplayer mode allows several players to work together to control a single nation.
  
• Customize your game: Europa Universalis III gives you the chance to customize and mod practically anything your heart may desire. Join the constantly growing and incredibly talented Paradox modding community!

Already announced for some time now, 4HEAD Studios has announced that they have partnered with 3D-IO to bring Beowulf to “next-generation consoles” as well as the PC. Further information on the companies can be found on their respective websites.

An action adventure game, Beowulf is set in the realms of Nordic mythology, telling the story of Beowulf – a “daring” hero – and his adventures in the times of the early Viking age. More information and media can be found on its website.

The upcoming Texas Hold ‘Em game, Stacked with Daniel Negreanu will feature interoperability between the PS2 and PSP version of the game. This will allow players to sync their single player game, maintaining their progress on both platforms.

Stacked will be available for the PS2, Xbox, PSP and PC soon, with users from all platforms getting to go at it online against others.

Coming as nothing but good news for everyone is an announcement from S2 Games who has declared that Savage 2: A Tortured Soul will be available for download via the S2 Games website for FREE. The complimentary version of the game will offer LAN play and against AI/practice mode; gamers who wish to go online must pay $30 for the full version.

Though the free download will not withhold any of the core gameplay elements, there will be certain features that will only be enabled in online play. The main feature that will be missing will be the ability to play against people online — other than those on their LAN. Additionally, for players wishing to build their character and save their overall stats, persistent items and experiences, purchasing an account for $29.99 will be the only way to go, thus allowing them to play the game online with other real players on servers hosted by S2 Games.

A trio of Xbox 360 titles was announced by AQ Interactive some time back – Cry On, Vampire’s Rain and Bullet Witch. Now, news has cropped up from Japan that Bullet Witch will be cursing stores this Summer. According to Gamespot’s retail sources, the Cavia-developed title will be released in the country on June 29 for Microsoft’s next-gen console.

The game has players taking on the role of a witch with magical powers… who makes use of a broom-shaped gun to take down demons and save mankind. The aptly titled game will make use of Xbox Live to download additional stages and special costumes.

No Western release dates have been mentioned. The game hasn’t even been announced for either North America or Europe, so this is a Japan-exclusive game for the time being.

These titles went gold:

• Dreamfall (April 17)
  
• Stoked Rider featuring Tommy Brunner

• Buccaneer’s Bounty
  
• Daemonica
  
• Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers (PC, Xbox, PS2)
  
• Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS2)
  
• Neighbors from Hell: On Vacation
  
• Untold Legends The Warrior’s Code (PSP)

The Quake 4 patch was omitted because it has been recalled.

• Battlefield 2 v1.22 on 3D Gamers, Computer Games and FileFront
  
• RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked! Patch #1 on Atari, 3D Gamers, FileFront and Worthplaying
  
• Will of Steel v1.2 on GMX Media
  
• World of Warcraft v1.10 (Euro) on 3D Gamers, 4players.de and GameSpot
  
• World of Warcraft v1.10 (US) on 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, FileNuts, Strategy Informer, VGPRO and Worthplaying

It’s no surprise that the oddest mash up in the history of videogames is also one of the most successful. Following the release of Kingdom Hearts II in North America, the series’ creator Tetsuya Nomura took some time to talk about the franchise with Famitsu where he revealed that he has new ideas for the continuation of the series.

He talked about a new installation which will be a spin-off based on the popular Disney/Square Enix series – it will apparently not follow a straight timeline with Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, but will fit into the flow and will have a connection to the main storyline. He notes however, that it is “still as a conceptual phase, where I’m thinking about what I want to do.”

When asked about whether he plans on doing Kingdom Hearts 3, he put on a smile, neither denying nor confirming it. Kingdom Hearts 2 has been released a few days ago, and according to this GameRankings score, it’s a critical success and most probably a commercial one too, in the case of which, a third title is almost surely guaranteed.

Through a brief post, Kotaku carries word that LucasArts will unveil a next-gen Indiana Jones game at this year’s E3 (maybe to coincide with Indy 4?). The post also mentions that LEGO Star Wars II will also be shown, as well as some “surprises.”

As it turns out, Rare games will indeed be rare on the Revolution – both the developer and Microsoft have confirmed that back catalogue titles like Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie and Conker’s Bad Fur Day will not be available on the Virtual Console service with Nintendo’s next-gen console.

This is due to the fact that Microsoft now owns rights to all of Rare’s titles, and it’s highly unlikely that they’ll allow the competitor to gain access to them. However, the silver lining on the black cloud is that Rare titles that are owned by Nintendo, including the Donkey Kong games and Diddy Kong Racing, will surely be offered.

It’d be great if Nintendo and Microsoft could work out a deal for the fans, but given the nature of competition, it’s not likely to happen.

Activision has announced that the upcoming X-Men Movie game will feature Zak Penn and Chris Claremont as its story writers. Zak Penn is the co-screenwriter for the feature film and Chris Claremont is a legendary comic book writer who was literally propelled the X-Men series into the blockbuster status that it has gained today. The game will also feature a “dynamic” musical score created by Womb Music and Chance Thomas, the man behind King Kong, Lord of the Rings and the Unreal games.

X-Men: The Official Game will let players step into the shoes of three mutants from the movie franchise: Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Iceman, as they work through the story which fits the time between X-Men 2 and the upcoming third (and most probably final) movie. The game is in the works for the PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Gamecube, DS, GBA and PC for release on May 16.