Specifically, the new 314.07 WHQL drivers improves single-GPU and multi-GPU performance in Crysis 3 by up to 65%, which is quite a jump if you ask us. Plus, other games get a slight boost as well, such as Assassin’s Creed III with a 27% boost, a 19% bost in Civilization V, 14% boost in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, 14% boost in DiRT 3, 11% boost in Just Cause 2, 10% boost in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, 10% boost in F1 2012, and a 10% boost in Far Cry 3.

Crysis 3 just released today actually, so NVIDIA’s timing was perfect on this one, allowing gamers to give their video card a quick boost when it comes to graphic-intensive gameplay. NVIDIA points out in the release notes that EA recomends a GTX 560 or higher for Crysis 3 in order to play it smoothly, or a Geforce GTX 680 if you want the full effect. Of course, the GTX 690 will get you the best performance, with an increase of almost half over the GTX 680.

The new drivers also come with an “Excellent” 3D Vision profile for Crysis 3, as well as a SLI profile for Devil May Cry. You can also grab an updated SLI profile for Warframe, the free-to-play, third-person co-op shooter. All in all, the new 314.07 drivers should be a recommended download for anyone planning to tackle Crysis 3 or any of the other new games that have recently released.

This also happens to be NVIDIA’s first driver release of the new year, and with the company claiming improvements in 17 different games, you could argue we’re starting the year off with a bang. While the main focus will definitely be on the improvements made for the Crysis 3 beta, others like Assassin’s Creed III, Black Ops II, and Far Cry 3 are also benefiting from single-GPU and SLI performance boosts. So, if you’re not planning on participating in the Crysis 3 beta and are playing some of 2012′s biggest games instead, you’ll still want to grab this driver.

Of course, part of the problem is that Crysis 3 isn’t even out yet, so it’s hard to know what to expect from the beta. NVIDIA has compiled a list of recommended settings for a handful of its GeForce GTX 600 series cards. Again, keep in mind that you may need to change a few things depending on your hardware setup, but NVIDIA says that these recommended settings should serve as a good jumping off point. Sorry to say, but if you’re using a GTX 650, it looks like a lot of your settings will have to go down to low. Check out the full chart below.

This chart is just the tip of the iceberg though, with NVIDIA posting a series of performance bar charts to show how a number of its GPUs performed before and after installing the driver. NVIDIA has Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows 8 packages available for desktop setups, while those on laptops will have access to Windows 7 and 8 package donwloads. If you’re interested in downloading the driver, you can grab it now from the official GeForce site.

The beta is set in the 7 Wonders of New York’s Liberty Dome, and includes both Crash Site and Hunter game modes. Eventually, Electronic Arts said last week, PS3 and PC gamers will also have access to Open Betas on their platforms, though there’s no sign of the downloads at time of writing.

Hunter mode is the “survival” side of Crysis 3, with two multiplayer teams, one perpetually hunting the other. Hunted “troopers” automatically join the cloaked “Hunters” team when they’re killed, with the goal being to track them all down before the time runs out. As for Crash Site mode, that requires teams to capture and guard an alien pod, fending off the attempts of other players to steal it from them.

Crysis 3 Open Beta tutorial:

However, while the Open Beta is likely to be popular across all platforms, it won’t be around for long. The teaser will expire on February 12, EA says, suggesting the full release of Crysis 3 won’t be too much later after that.

Of course, you won’t have access to all of the multiplayer’s modes and maps during the beta, as that would take a lot of fun out of the full release. Instead, Crytek will only let you test out two modes and two maps. The first mode is called Hunter, which cloaks two players and tasks them with hunting down the others. Once you’re been killed by a cloaked hunter, you become one yourself, with the ultimate goal being either to survive or turn all of the other players into hunters before the round ends.

The other mode, Crash, seems to be typical territories fare, with two teams vying for control over crash-landed alien pods. Your team will gain points as it holds the territory, along with gear that will help you defend it from the opposing team. The two maps featured in the beta are called Airport and Museum, and they should support both multiplayer modes on display.

Players will also be given a taste of the game’s leveling system, as Crytek and Electronic Arts will allow them to level up to rank 10 while playing, unlocking new weapons and add-on for their Nanosuits. The beta will continue on for two weeks, after which time it’s a short wait for the launch of the game. To go along with the beta announcement, Crytek has also released a new trailer that focuses on the abilities of the Nanosuit, which you can see above. Who’s ready for some Crysis 3 multiplayer action?

[via Crysis Official Site]

T-Mobile’s CEO announced today that it will have Apple products in the US next year, while we learned that Facebook may buy Microsoft’s Atlus ad program. Crysis 3 will be launching in North America on February 19 and in Europe later that week, so if you need to upgrade any of your PC hardware, do it before then. The Archos GamePad launched in Europe today, but it won’t be arriving in the US until 2013, and NVIDIA has launched GeForce Experience, which can automatically optimize your graphics settings.

Samsung has maintained its number one position in the Chinese smartphone market with Apple falling to number six, and the makers of MediaMonkey have launched a new Android app beta. Google is funding drones to watch over endangered animals in Africa and Asia, while we learned some new information about drones here in the US today. YouTube will be rolling out a new layout tonight, T-Mobile announced that it will be ending subsidies on phones next year, and new content has been added to the Humble THQ Bundle.

Finally tonight, we have a number of original articles for you to read. Chris Burns has reviews of the both the 10terra iPhone 5 case and the iRecycle app for iOS and Android. He also examines Google’s stock issues with the incredibly popular Nexus 4. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, we hope you enjoy the rest of your night everyone!

Also during the announcement, Electronic Arts revealed that they have signed on director Albert Hughes for a new online video series called “The 7 Wonders of Crysis 3,” which we covered earlier this morning. Hughes is known for directing From Hell, Dead Presidents, and American Pimp. The series will introduce players to weapons, enemies, locations, and gameplay features that will be featured in the upcoming game.

As far as PC requirements, we also covered that a few days ago, but to refresh your memory, the minimum system requirements include a DirectX 11-compatible graphics card with at least 1GB of video RAM, a “dual core CPU”, and 2GB of RAM (3GB if running Windows Vista). Also, you’ll need to be running at least Windows Vista (sorry, XP users).

Crysis 3 is available now to pre-order, and if you do end up pre-ordering the game, EA will give you a digital copy of the original Crysis to play through while you wait for Crysis 3 to release. It’s certainly not a bad deal, but it would be better if they offered both the original Crysis as well as Crysis 2.

If you’re not familiar with the name Albert Hughes, you’re likely to recognize some of the films he has directed and co-directed. Those films include Menace II Society, Book of Eli, From Hell, and Dead Presidents. The film series is intended to set the stage for the coming video game.

The films will introduce weapons, enemies, and game play features that are new to the franchise. The films also promise stunning visuals, dynamic environments, and the intense adaptive warfare that fans will be able to enjoy when Crysis 3 ships. Crysis 3 is powered by the proprietary CryENGINE promising unparalleled visuals and dynamic game play.

Players of the game will again step into the nano boots of Prophet as he returns to New York to discover the city is encased in a Nanodome. The dome was put in place by the corrupt Cell Corporation. There are seven distinct and treacherous environments inside the dome that are known as the 7 Wonders.

Electronic Arts has shared three sets of requirements: minimum, recommended, and high-performance. We imagine a lot of users will be able to meet the minimum system requirements, but if you want to go for high-performance, you’ll need the latest and greatest. You’ll also need a machine running DirectX 11 regardless of your hardware, so you Windows XP users are being left out in the cold with Crysis 3, sorry to say. Here’s the full list of requirements straight from EA:

Minimum system operating requirements:

• Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
• DirectX 11 graphics card with 1GB Video RAM
• Dual core CPU
• 2GB Memory (3GB on Vista)
• Example 1 (NVIDIA/Intel): NVIDIA GTS 450, Intel Core2 Duo 2.4 Ghz (E6600)
• Example 2 (AMD): AMD Radeon HD5770, AMD Athlon64 X2 2.7 Ghz (5200+)

Recommended system operating requirements:

• Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
• DirectX 11 graphics card with 1GB Video RAM
• Quad core GPU
• 4GB Memory
• Example 1 (NVIDIA/Intel): NVIDIA GTX 560, Intel Core i3-530
• Example 2 (AMD): AMD Radeon HD5870, AMD Phenom II X2 565

High-performance system operation requirements:

• Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
• Latest DirectX 11 graphics card
• Latest quad core CPU
• 8GB Memory
• Example 1 (NVIDIA/Intel): NVIDIA GTX 680, Intel Core i7-2600k
• Example 2 (AMD): AMD Radeon HD7970, AMD Bulldozer FX4150

So Crysis 3 is going to be one power hungry game, but did we really expect otherwise? The footage we’ve seen of the game has looked great so far, and if you’ve got the hardware to crank everything up to maximum settings, then you’ve got some beautiful visuals to look forward to. Of course, Crysis 3 requires some really expensive hardware to look its best, so beautiful visuals may not be worth it in this case.

Crysis 3 was accidentally revealed by Electronic Arts earlier this year and is built on CryEngine 3. It’ll be available on Xbox 360 and PS3 as well as PC, but aside from a rather vague February 2013 window, we don’t have a solid release date for the game yet. We’ll let you know when a release date is announced, but in the meantime, let us know if your rig is beefy enough to run Crysis 3 at max settings.

It’s interesting that we’re celebrating the fifth birthday of Crysis. I played through the game again not long ago, and the game still has visuals good enough to look like a much newer game. Since the original game launched in 2007 there have been two other games released in the franchise.

The fourth game, Crysis 3 is scheduled to launch in February of 2013. Earlier this year, Crytek started offering the original Crysis as a digital download on the PlayStation Network, and Xbox LIVE. EA and Crytek are also offering the original Crysis as a free bonus to those who pre-order Crysis 3.

Perhaps the most interesting thing I’ve heard about the Crysis franchise in years also surfaced this week. The head of Crytek studios announced this week that the entire franchise was just now nearing break even. I can only imagine that creating a video game that still looks new and impressive today, five years ago, must have cost a fortune.

There are already other pre-order bonuses that you can get for pre-ordering Crysis 3. The new pre-order bonus for Crysis 3 is a free digital download copy of the original Crysis game on the Xbox 360, PS3, or PC. The pre-order version of Crysis 3 also gives players the Hunter Edition with a head start for multiple player gaming with immediate access to the Predator bow and the Hunter Nanosuit module and more.

Crysis 3 will be powered by the latest version of the CryENGINE and promises visuals as impressive as the original game offered back in 2007. The new game returns players to the role of Prophet as he returns to New York to find that the city is encased in a Nanodome created by the Cell Corporation. Prophet has to fight through seven different areas of the dome known as the Seven Wonders.

Another boost for those who pre-order online is an XP bump up to level 5, a unique Predator Bow Skin, and three exclusive dogtags. The Hunter Edition of the game can be purchased for computer gamers via Origin.com for $59.99. The game will launch in February of 2013.