Crysis- too soon for it's time?

For kicks, I thought I would screen capture what Crysis looks like on my system with the recommended "optimum system settings". This was done by hardware scanning my computer using the game's autodetect feature. Following are the recommendations:

Video Mode: 800x600
Anti-Aliasing Quality: Off
Advanced Options: All set to Low

I don't think I have to to tell you which image is from my computer!

Despite how horrible it looks on my system, I can't fault Crytek for pushing the technological envelope. I much prefer that game developers target the top-of-the-line systems they anticipate will be on the market upon release rather than develop to the systems with the most market share. I guess that's the trick though. With average development times spanning several years, it's always a moving target. In this case however, it looks like Crytek overshot the optimum configuration by a year or so.

My only complaint with Crysis is that the developers could have done a better job in degrading the image quality for those without $5000 machines. I love how it swaps the environmental sky with a stock 2D image on my system! ;) If I can play BioShock and GOW with most of the eye candy turned on and decent framerates, then I should be able to play Crysis in a similar manner. It's no surprise that despite generally positive reviews, sales have been less than stellar.