Crytek arming Crysis Warhead?

What we heard: Crytek has built a reputation within the industry as being technical wunderkinds, wowing audiences first with the verdant, tropical island in Far Cry in 2004, and then delivering an even more impressive frozen paradise with Crysis in 2007. As such, a good deal of attention--and rumormongering--has been given to the Germany-based developer's next project.

The latest gristle for the rumor mill comes from USPTO patent plunderers Trademork. After sleuthing through the USPTO's online database, the patent hunters discovered an application to trademark filing by Crytek GmbH dated March 3, 2008, for Crysis Warhead. The application carries a number of descriptors, including "computer games software and electronic games...for computers, consoles, and individual portable gaming systems; software games downloadable from a local or global computer network; motion picture films, namely, motion picture films featuring comedy, drama, action, adventure and/or animation, for broadcast on television."

So what is Crysis Warhead? To begin with, it could be nothing. As the application was filed by Crytek, and not Crysis publisher Electronic Arts, the German outfit may simply be protecting the name for some future potential use, similar to its trademarking of Crysis Wars and World in Crysis in 2007, as noted by Trademork.

However, according to Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli during the Crysis Post-Mortem at this year's Game Developers Conference, Crysis went through a number of iterations and overhauls, some of which came during the game's final countdown to launch, before reaching its final state.

That being said, the team undoubtedly has a firmer grasp on what, exactly, Crysis is as the developer goes into its next project, so this application could be the first indication of the title for the next installment in the lauded first-person shooter. As noted by Yerli in an interview with fan site inCrysis, the game has been storyboarded as a trilogy, Crysis' overwhelmingly positive critical reception--and decent sales--serve as a good indication that Crytek will proceed with the series.

Crysis Warhead could also be the name of the much-speculated console adaptation of Crytek's shooter. Much of the criticism levied against Crysis was its crippling system requirements, and many have come to believe that the current generation of consoles may not be capable of powering the game. However, at GDC, Crytek showed off to select audiences for the first time an optimized console version of the CryEngine2 running on an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Crytek also gave audiences a look at a fully tweaked CryEngine2 running smoothly on a budget $600 PC, which lends further credence to the game's potential ability to scale.

One last bit of support for Crysis Warhead being a console port of the PC game is the title's similarity to that of Far Cry Instincts. In 2005, Crytek's Far Cry publisher Ubisoft ported a tweaked version of the original PC game to Microsoft's Xbox. Since then, Ubisoft has exhibited a proclivity to continue the tradition of tacking on a noun to the end of the various Far Cry console ports and pseudosequels, including Far Cry Instincts Evolution for the Xbox, Far Cry Instincts Predator for the Xbox 360, and Far Cry Vengeance for the Wii.

The official story: EA had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus that Crytek has announced Crysis Warhead as the title of any specific game. However, the soon to be trademarked title would fit for several projects, including a Crysis sequel or a console adaptation of the PC original.