While official word was scheduled for tomorrow, script writer Rob Yescombe spilled the beans early as he confirmed that the Crysis developer has acquired Free Radical. Known for its Timesplitters series and most recently Ubisoft's HAZE, the UK-based studio got itself in a spat of trouble last year and was forced to close down. Whether Crytek bought the studio only for its assets/IP or will let it restart and rehire, is unclear at this point. More details to come tomorrow ....

Crytek announced that it has set up shop in South-Korea, led by gaming industry veteran Young Mok Park. The team will expand Crytek's business into Asian markets, starting with Crytek's engine licensing business, with a dedicated engine support team for their existing and new partners in Korea and Asia.

Crytek announced that it has acquired Bulgaria-based Black Sea Studios, known for Knights of Honor, and the recent Worldshift. Under the terms of the acquisition, Black Sea Studios will remain in Sofia, Bulgaria and become Crytek Black Sea, a wholly owned studio.

While Crysis developer Crytek recently revealed it would no longer be working on any PC exclusive titles, after Crysis Warhead that is, it seems the Budapest studio might be working on a new, yet unannounced PSP title. The Crytek jobs page indicates that the Hungarian studio is looking for a PSP programmer with multiplatform development expereince, and willing to relocate with.

Citing piracy reasons, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli is the latest developer head crying wolf that PC gaming is being brought down by illegal downloads. In an interview with PC Play, Cevat states that the Crysis developer has been seriously hurt by piracy, and PC gamers that pirate games inherently destroy the platform. As a result Crytek will no longer develop PC exclusive titles, which was most likely the case either way now that its CryEngine is being ported to PS3 and Xbox 360.

Starting this winter semester, collaboration between Crytek and the Hochschule Darmstadt will begin. Not only did Crytek license the CryENGINE 2 to the school, but it will also support the students by providing them with lectures on the topics of game concepts and game design, computer animation and engine technology.

Earlier Crysis developer Crytek revealed it had transformed its Kiev satellite locations into a full-blown new studio. Now it seems Budapest, Hungary, has been chosen to set up another shop to leverage their CryENGINE 2 technology and expand the number of gaming genres for which they are developing new products.

Crysis and Far Cry developer Crytek announced the elevation of their satellite offices in Kiev to full development studio status, and the launch of a new CryENGINE 2 powered project based on new original IP.

According to Russian online magazine GameMag, the new Crytek game might very well be titles Crysis. A babelfish translation doesn not reveal any additional details except for that it will be published by EA, which we already knew, will utilize Crytek Engine 2, and is expected fall 2006. Some additional investigative research by German fansite CrysisHQ does add extra credibility to the rumor as they have discovered that domains crysis-game.com and crysisgame.com have been registered and are owned by Crytek's CEO Faruk Yerli. Now that the cat is out of the bag, we hope more information will become available.

Signature Devices announced that it has entered into an agreement with Crytek to license their 3D engine for the PC and XBOX gaming platforms. While no specific details are being revealed, a tentative "Spy Game" name is mentioned and juding from the screens it would seem to be a spy/stealth/infiltration game. Check out the first screens...

Numerous German-language sites have reported that Far Cry development studio Crytek have been raided by police and authorities after an ex-employee informed them of widespread software piracy at the studio. Reports indicate that the software has been used to create the game and that the value of the software, if purchased legally, would be over 1 million Euros. The home of Faruk Yerli, one of the three brothers who set up Crytek, has also been searched for illegal software.

UPDATE: Read more for Ubisoft's official statement...

Ubisoft and Crytek announced two rising stars of game development have joined the already talented Far Cry development team.The game's next phase in development will focus on multiplayer excellence, and leading development is Chris Auty as lead multiplayer level designer and Richard Tsao as the multiplayer producer for the game. Auty and Tsao are tasked with developing a compelling multiplayer experience as innovative as the spectacularly deep single-player game. Far Cry is a first-person shooter set in a lush tropical paradise that sets out to bring the first-person shooter to an entirely new level of entertainment and technical excellence. The expansive plans to Far Cry's unique multiplayer modes and lightning-fast online play have extended its development period to Q1 2004.