Lara Croft gets reinvented for Tomb Raider reboot
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Adventure, Eidos, PlayStation 3, Square Enix, Xbox 360,
Tomb Raider has never been a game about pushing the boundaries of the character. Lara Croft herself served as the main attraction, using her alluring sexuality to coerce fan boys into controlling her around through uninspired sequel after sequel. While the gameplay was a novel innovation back in the PS One days, Lara Croft – and Tomb Raider in particular – has been spinning her tires in a rut. Not one to let character die, Crystal Dynamics finally has decided to bring Lara in for rehabilitation.
What is it that drives the story of a game? Is it the action? Or perhaps it is the environment? Certainly these things matter, but what drives them is the character. Great stories are moved along by the characters. The old Lara Croft really had nothing going for her. She’s the trophy wife – a hot chick you married too quickly only to realize just how vapid she really is. Sure you raid tombs and look hot doing it, but why do you do it, Lara? Are you truly happy?
Ironically, Toby Gard designed the character of Lara Croft as a reaction against stereotypes. But look at Lara Croft today and she is the biggest ‘F’-you to female gamers everywhere. Saddening considering the character behind the double D’s is an intriguing one: a wealthy and well educated aristocrat searching for her own way in life.
Transforming Lara into a believable character that is both accessible and strong willed is no simple task. Global Brand Director Karl Stewart and Art Director Brian Horton had to strip down the old Lara Croft in order to birth a new, more authentic person in her place.
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Monster Lab - New Wii Action RPG Revealed
Posted by Steve Van Neil Categories: Action, Adventure, Eidos, Nintendo, Role Playing Games, Screenshots, Wii,
What’s this now? A third-party Wii game that (a) isn’t a lazy PS2 port and (b) actually looks pretty cool? Yes, it looks like Zach and Wiki will have some company on the Wii in the near future. Backbone, the developers of Death Jr. for the PSP, are cooking up a brand new IP exclusively for Nintendo’s Wii. Monster Lab is a story-driven Action RPG that’s all about customization. Indeed, the object of the game is to build, enhance, and accesorize monsters to fight against each other in turn-based combat. The Wii’s motion control comes into play in the creation process through minigames, where players will throw brains into empty heads, hoping to maximize their monster’s power. On hand to make sure that it all doesn’t devolve into complete minigame aimlessness is comic book writer Adam Beechen, who is scripting the game.
The very promising Monster Lab will be published by Eidos and is being groomed for a Summer 2008 release.
Read More | NeoGAF
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Tomb Raider Anniversary Wii Revealed
Posted by Steve Van Neil Categories: Action, Adventure, Nintendo, Wii,
In this promotional trailer for the Wii version of Tomb Raider Anniversary, Producer Morgan Gray demonstrates some of the game’s Wii-specific motion controls. Using their Wiimotes, budding Lara Crofts will be able to “touch the game world for the first time.” Not in that way! No, instead players can use the controller as a pick-axe to remove obstructions or as a brush to clean off artifacts. Wiimote-specific control schemes for the various puzzles and combat sequences are obviously a given. All in all, this brief peek hints at motion control mechanics that are surprisingly well integrated with the core Tomb Raider gameplay. Gamers are understandably wary of some of these quickie PS2/PSP-to-Wii ports, but Tomb Raider Anniversary is one to keep an eye on.
Eidos has not given official word on a release date for the game besides “Coming Soon,” but we’re guessing it will hit in time for the holidays.
Read More | Tomb Raider Anniversary
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The Min-E3 2007 Games Lineup
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Activision, CAPCOM, E3, Eidos, Electronic Arts, LucasArts, Microsoft, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Portable/Mobile, PSP, SEGA, Take2, THQ, Ubisoft, Wii, Xbox 360,
Sure, the convention is much smaller this year and all, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t a ton of games to be seen. Eurogamer has posted a list of the announced lineups and then some of what you’ll be seeing at E3. Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony have been quiet on what they’ll be showing, so it looks like we’ll need to wait until their respective showings to know for sure. The event is taking place next week, so expect it to be a busy week in news.
But please, please, please, Nintendo, show me Animal Crossing Wii. Something. Anything. Please?
Read More | Eurogamer
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Tomb Raider Anniversary Edition Wii Bound?
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Adventure, Eidos, PlayStation 2, PSP, Wii,
Rumors are floating around these parts about Eidos’ remake, Tomb Raider Anniversary, making its way to the Wii in the near future. As a business move, it would seem to make perfect sense for Eidos. Nintendo’s new console with next-gen controls and last-gen visuals would seem to be a perfect fit for a port, and translating the game will probably be quite easy, meaning more copies sold for very little extra work. Of course, Eidos could ruin this pretty easily by just tacking on waggle-rific controls. Here’s hoping their one of the first 3rd-party companies to get it right and realize that not ALL games have to use the Wiimote. I for one would be perfectly happy to see this game played with the Classic controller.
Tomb Raider: Anniversary Edition is a re-imagining of the original Tomb Raider game featuring updated visuals, an improved Lara model (taken from Legend and enhanced), along with new moves and a few additional surprises. Having had a chance to playtest the game, I can tell you that you that fans of the series won’t want to miss it…
How soon’s it coming out? Well, unless CrystalD has been secretly working on this title for a while, I think it’s safe to guess that the Wii version will trail the PS2 / PSP version (to be released this May).
Update: Looks like it’s official (see here). The game will release “this year” and will feature Wii-specific controls. Dang.
Read More | Wii.Ign.com
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