14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer Crytek, best known for creating the Crysis first-person shooter franchise, has announced a number of new details on the GFACE multiplayer online gaming service that it plans to launch in the coming months.
The main feature of GFACE is the friends list but with a number of extra features, like the ability to initiate video chat directly from the interface and an easy-to-use invitation system that is based on drag-and-drop, similar to that already in use in the Battlelog service from DICE.
GFACE is used with a browser and because it is designed as an add-on, it can be used with a number of different games and it can also be employed to stream video games from an external server instead of simply running them on the host PC.
The new Crytek service also allows gamers who use different devices, from PCs to mobile phones, to take part in the same experience as long as the video game allows for support roles in addition to the first-person shooter gameplay.
The service allows gamers to also access friends lists and other content while playing or watching media.
GFACE will also have a host of social and communication features and it seems that the developers see it as a gaming companion to the already widely available Facebook and Twitter.
GFACE is at the moment in closed beta stage and it is not clear when the service might be launched to the general public.
Crytek has not yet announced any plans to integrate the new online gaming service with any of its high profile games and it will be interesting to see whether other developers and publishers are interested in integrating it.
Crytek is now working on Warface and on Homefront 2 for THQ and fans are also talking about a Crysis 3 being in development.