While I don’t normally get all hot and bothered over tech demos, I have to admit that I am thoroughly impressed by what Crytek has achieved with CryEngine 3. The animations alone have me looking forward to seeing what developers can do with the horsepower they’ll be getting. Of course, giving a person a Stradivarius doesn’t mean they’ll automatically become a concert violinist. It’s in the way that you use it. Here’s hoping that CryEngine 3 gets used well.

Electronic Arts’ top man in Germany, Gerhard Florin (pictured) says enough is enough. In an interview last week with Spiegel, Florin called Germany’s USK rating system “censorship” and called on the country to use the PEGI ratings, used across the rest of Europe.

What we’re doing here [with USK rating] is censorship. And no one complains. When we talk about games here it’s about violence or their alleged addictiveness, and not about their cultural status. The few good studios are asking themselves why they should stay here anyway.

The boss of the USK noted that the government’s (gotta love this title) Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons often is what’s stepping in against violent games before they get to the ratings board.

“It’s hard when half-truths are being used,” said USK’s Marek Brunner. “They say the USK does this wrong, the USK does that bad and why doesn’t this get a rating?”

EA: German Ratings are ‘Censorship’ [GamesIndustry.biz via Game Politics]

Off Screen: CryEngine3 PS3 Next to Xbox 360 [GameVideos]

Granted, it’s not the most exciting clip—there’s no guns, Koreans or explosions—but it is showing that, as texture counts become ever less important, it’s things like the lighting on show here that will make all the difference.

If this proposal passes, Crytek will be forced to leave its native Germany.

Sixteen interior ministers met in early June to form a proposal that would ban the product and distribution of games “where the main part is to realistically play the killing of people or other cruel or un-human acts of violence against humans or manlike characters.”

The goal is to push through proposal into law by September of this year.

“A ban on action games in Germany is concerning us because it is essentially like banning the German artists that create them,” Crytek boss Cevat Yerli stated. “If the German creative community can’t effectively participate in one of the most important cultural mediums of our future, we will be forced to relocate to other countries.”

A petition against this act has been signed by 64,000 Germans — something that will cause the government to officially review this game ban proposal.

“The current political discussion will deprive German talent of its place on the global game development stage,” explained Yerli, “and deprive German consumers of entertainment that is considered safe and fun around the world.”

Germany has traditionally had strict standards and regulation of what it considers excessively violent video games. Many Germans seem fed up with this attitude handed down from upon high as evident by a recent protest in the German city of Karlsruhe, which attracted an estimated 400 gamers.

‘Killerspiel-Diskussion’: Crysis-Schöpfer Cevat Yerli droht mit Abwanderung aus Deutschland – Seite 2 [PC Games via Edge]

“It’s a question of more than economics,” says Crytek CEO and president Cevat Yerli. “At the end of the day we’re paying salaries and we all have to live, but that’s one side of this job. But most importantly and a bit more tangible to us are the families, the nephews, and sons who ask, ‘Why aren’t you going to consoles?’”

Wowzers. They’ve gotta pay salaries, and the children are begging them to release Far Cry on consoles. This makes us slightly depressed.

Yerli does add that Crytek decided not to release a console Crysis unless it could live up to the reputation of the previously released titles Crysis and Far Cry. This makes us slightly happy.

Console Crysis was ‘inevitable’ [GameSpot via Cheat Already Blog]

The interior ministers of Germany’s 16 states have unanimously asked the German legislature to ban outright the distribution, sale, and development of violent video games. Such games have been a big part of the national conversation since a 17-year-old went on a gun rampage March 11, killing 15. Naturally, the shooter owned a shooter – Crytek’s Far Cry 2 – and playing it for two hours before the killings was enough to link games to the tragedy.

The demand is definitely politically timed – the interior heads want it ASAP, before German elections Sept. 27. Again, this is (snicker) a Far Cry from legislation introduced to parliament, but it was enough to fire up German readers who sent it to us, who already point to the country’s extremely strict youth protection laws, and are generally disgusted by lawmakers’ tendency to blame technologies they don’t understand.

Germany’s Interior Ministers Ask Bundestag For Total Ban on Violent Games [GamePolitics; also tipped by reader Michael J.]

Crysis 2 is going multi-platform. Don’t expect this E3 trailer to shed light on how it will look on consoles. It doesn’t.

The game is the second entry in the planned Crysis triology and will be published by EA. “The development of Crysis 2 marks a major stepping stone for our studio,” said Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek. “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.”

No word on a release date.