14 DAY TRIAL // XLGames have just signed for the license of Crytek's CryEngine 2, the tool used to create the upcoming Crysis first person shooter. In case the producer's name doesn't sound familiar, let me remind you that the head of the company was deeply involved in the creative process behind the famous Lineage MMO.
Jake Song founded XLGames in 2003 and if you're a Lineage fan, he's the man you should be thanking, since he's the title's creator. Song has dealt with Crytek's technologies before, using the first CryEngine for a MMO called Aion, which hasn't been released yet. We've seen a similar deal back in July, when MindArk, a Swedish developer also signed an agreement with Crytek, that granted them the use of CryEngine 2 in the Entropia Universe title.
Faruk Yerli, managing director of Crytek seems to be confident in Song's abilities and creativity, praising his skills and showing his confidence in the fact that the development tool will be put to good use. When a brilliant mind meets top-notch technology and the final product is supposed to be a MMO, WoW is sure to have some competition. Will the next Lineage title use CryEngine 2, or are XLGames planning something totally different? Knowing the potential of this cool engine, we tremble at the perspective of playing a realistic MMO, with superb environments and brilliant lighting effects.
Even the World of Warcraft fans have mentioned that they aren't very keen on the game's cartoonish graphics, so a change of the MMORPG genre will surely be well received. Song seems to have discovered a gold mine and his popularity will surely grow if he releases a Lineage sequel, featuring Crytek's wonder dev tool and the same gameplay mechanics from the past installments. In the meantime, one could only think about a killer combination coming from Blizzard - a WoW 2 using the Unreal Tournament 3 engine... How's that for a competition?