Crysis 2 PS3, 360, PC-bound

LOS ANGELES--After years of hints and tech-demo teases, the Crysis series is finally headed to consoles. This morning, Electronic Arts and German developer Crytek announced the development of Crysis 2 for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. The game will be the first console title that the notoriously PC-centric studio will develop directly for consoles, having let Ubisoft develop the console spin-offs for its groundbreaking 2004 first-person shooter Far Cry. Ubisoft bought the Far Cry IP outright in 2006. No release date was given.

"The development of Crysis 2 marks a major stepping stone for our studio," said Crytek CEO and President Cevat Yerli in a statement. "This is not only the next game in the Crysis franchise, it's the first title we are developing for consoles and the first title being built on CryEngine 3." In March, the CryEngine3 was shown off on the 360 and PS3 to Game Developers Conference attendees.

As part of today's announcement, EA and Crytek also announced that they were extending their strategic partnership forged in 2004. The deal came shortly after Far Cry became both a critical and commercial hit on the PC for Ubisoft, which EA still owns one fifth of. The deal is part of the EA Partners program, which lets developers pick and choose marketing, sales, and development-support services from the megapublisher. Current EA Partners and games include Harmonix (Rock Band), Valve (The Orange Box and Left 4 Dead), Grasshopper Manufacture (Unnamed PC/PS3/360/Wii project), and Epic Games (Untitled People Can Fly Project).

For more on Crysis 2, check out GameSpot's video stream and live blog of EA's E3 2009 Press Conference at 2 p.m. PDT/10 p.m. BST this afternoon, straight from the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.