ATI demos Crytek Machinima

GRAPHICS CHIP firm ATI has posted a demo created by Far Cry programmers, Crytek, that shows off the capabilities of the talented studio's next generation gaming engine and the power of the X800 graphics card.

The demo has been done in the style of a Machinima feature. Machinima is a combination of two words,'machine' and 'cinema' - simply put, it is the act of using a game engine to play out a cinematic sequence. Originating in the original Quake days, it has now become a cult mainstay, with some creators providing, in effect, regular sit-coms - check out Red vs Blue.

The Crytek demo, entitled 'The Project', is designed to run on ATI's high-end Radeon X800 XT series of cards. Far Cry was one of this years sleeper hits, coming from nowhere to be a fan favourite, thanks in no small way to its outstandingly good graphics engine.

There's no doubting that the demo looks absolutely fantastic. The CryEngine matches Doom 3 standard interiors with the beautiful exteriors of its predecessor. Whilst the demo is only supposed to run on X800XT series cards, we successfully ran it on an X800Pro and found it a jaw-dropper. Normal maps, bump maps, 3Dc compression is all in there and makes the characters and the scenery look stunning. The storyline is nothing to write home about, but you don't watch porn for the plot, do you?

What is perhaps more interesting is that Crytek used to be bankrolled by Nvidia under its 'The Way It's Meant To Be Played' scheme. Evidently, this is no longer the case. Score 1 to ATI.

You can check out the demo for yourself by going to this page on ATI.com. If you don't have an X800 card, never fear - there is a video file on that page that can show you what you're missing. µ

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