The Tomb Raider franchise has been out of the movie business for near ten years now, which is about the aging time it takes before Hollywood looks at a property and tries to recycle it for lack of new ideas. With the recent release of a popular new title in the Tomb Raider video game series, it looks like this reboot may finally be coming to fruition.
GK Films, the company that grabbed the film rights up in 2011, will be joining forces with MGM to create a new Tomb Raider for a new generation. And the old generation too, of course, since we’re still around and haven’t really aged that much since the last flick.
Sorry folks, but there’s no info on what to expect and certainly no names attached to the project yet. We can only warn you that it is coming.
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ABOVE: At first glance, I thought this was a still from the new Tomb Raider game, then I realized it was a Lara Croft cosplay by Réka Lukoviczki. I’m blown away at how stunning this is. Really, whoa! [GAS]
Each and every week we scour the Internet for nothing but the best in nerdy art. We leave no digital stone unturned, we poke and prod every nook and cranny of the Interwebz. Why? Because we love you, and we love to bring you weekly feed of nerd art.
On with the dump!
Above: Years before young Lara Croft was the world traveler she was just someone looking for an adventure. While gamers around the world are experiencing this through the new Tomb Raider reboot, Eve Ventrue put together a moment of eerie calm for the soon famous treasure hunter. [XombieDIRGE]
Hit the jump for Mutant Turtles, a predator and a giant fist! (more…)
40 may be the new 20–or whatever, but apparently not if you’re the most popular heroine in video game history. For now that a Tomb Raider reboot featuring a fresh, young Lara Croft is in the stores, Varietyreports that the newest installment in the game’s film franchise, previously starring Angelina Jolie (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life), will be following suit–assuming it ever gets off the ground: The third cinematic outing of the buxom adventurer/archaeologist has spent the last few years in Development Purgatory.
The last anyone heard concerning the project was back in 2011, when it was reported that Iron Man writers Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby would be penning the screenplay. There’s not been a peep since, and Variety has not mentioned if they are still attached to the film.
This new iteration is being developed by Crystal Dynamics and GK Films. Crystal Dynamics head honcho Darrell Gallagher spoke of their new vision for the franchise and partnership with GK:
“They are working from this new take that we’ve given them. It’s a good partnership. We’re seeing the challenges through the same lens.”
He continued,
“It was important for both of us to have a cohesive version of the franchise. We didn’t want to see a film version that was a continuation of the old Tomb Raider films.”
Granted, restarting the series with a 21 year old Lara Croft is not the stupidest idea to pop up over the several years a third Tomb Raider film has been in development, but 86ing the only star power this frankly weak franchise ever had (the only things I enjoyed about these films were Lara’s wetsuit and Chris Barrie) and starting from scratch strikes me as risky….if not a foolish and rather transparent attempt to cash in on the popularity of origin stories like Batman Begins, Casino Royale, or X-Men: First Class.
Show me a star and a director, and maybe my tune will change.
Friday night were the 10th annual Video Game Awards, hosted by Samuel L. Jackson on Spike. The night’s big winner was The Walking Dead: The Game from Telltale Games, who also took home Studio of the Year. See a full list of the winners below the cut.
But even more important than the night’s winners are the world premiere trailers revealed at the show. Compiled here are trailers for BioShock Infinite, Tomb Raider, The Last of Us, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Dark Souls II, Halo 4: Spartan Ops, Gears of War: Judgment, Assassin’s Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 and The Phantom Pain.
The game that is. Yes, we are now rebooting video games, welcome to the future.
The classic 90′s action adventure game that turned a few hundred polygons into a sex symbol (it was a simpler low-res time) will be coming back to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on March 5th of next year. Simply titled Tomb Raider, the game will focus on the gritty beginnings of fictional English archaeologist/tight shirt enthusiast Lara Croft. The tale of how she went from a young and innocent girl in a muscle shirt to a hardened woman bent on survival in a torn muscle shirt.
Yep.
So, Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics took to the games official Facebook page today to reveal a dozen new screenshots. As much as I want to groan at the thought of a video game reboot, I do have to say it looks pretty. I would go so far as to say it looks like they are taking the franchise into Uncharted territory.
Yea, I meant it that way. Check out the pics after the jump.
Can’t a girl just catch a break? Lara Croft is a queen among video game protagonists, but she can’t seem to avoid scandal. For years some would applaud the Tomb Raider franchise for their feminist hero while others couldn’t look beyond her gigantic rack. In the new reboot/origin story titled Tomb Raider revealed at this year’s E3, Croft is less boobalicious, just as kick ass, and still haunted by controversy.
First, there’s the trailer, “Crossroads,” which was our first look at the new game. In it some scumbag approaches Croft, gets all skeevy, runs his hand from her hip and upwards, suggestively, and she proceeds to kick his ass. Not gonna lie, the scene made me a little uncomfortable but I knew Croft would deliver a satisfying comeuppance so I really didn’t dwell on it. Then Ron Rosenburg, a member of Crystal Dynamics, the development team behind Tomb Raider, had to open his big mouth and clarify to us Croft was in danger of being raped and that her being able to overcome this sexual assault is key to her “evolution”. Wha-? In a video game?
RON: “And then what happens is her best friend gets kidnapped, she gets taken prisoner by scavengers on the island. They try to rape her, and-”
KOTAKU: “They try to rape her?”
RON: “She’s literally turned into a cornered animal. And that’s a huge step in her evolution: she’s either forced to fight back or die and that’s what we’re showing today.”
Not surprising, and rightfully so, people are a upset. If she wasn’t a woman would the game have even taken this direction? Probably not, which makes you wonder why they felt the need to include a scene depicting sexual violence at all? And then, why make it part of the climactic finale to your E3 debut trailer?
Crystal Dynamics has since released a statement saying this was all a misunderstanding. Here’s an excerpt,
In making this Tomb Raider origins story our aim was to take Lara Croft on an exploration of what makes her the character she embodies in late Tomb Raider games. One of the character defining moments for Lara in the game, which has incorrectly been referred to as an ‘attempted rape’ scene is the content we showed at this year’s E3 and which over a million people have now seen in our recent trailer entitled ‘Crossroads’. This is where Lara is forced to kill another human for the first time. In this particular section, while there is a threatening undertone in the sequence and surrounding drama, it never goes any further than the scenes that we have already shown publicly. Sexual assault of any kind is categorically not a theme that we cover in this game.
Yeah, we just mistook when Rosenburg said , “They try to rape her,” as meaning they try to rape her. Silly us, we’ll listen better next time. Whatever their real intention with the scene the fact is they were careless in including it and not realizing the ramifications. It’s lazy, bad, and sadly cliched writing to include a scene of sexual violence, especially against a woman, in their game.
Add this to earlier comments made by Rosenburg in the Kotaku article where he tells us we’ll want “to protect” Lara and we’ll “root for her in a way that you might not root for a male character,” I’m kind of wanting busty Lara Croft back.
Still no word if the scene will be altered in game. Tomb Raider releases March 5th, 2013.
Some of gamings heaviest hitters have already been revealed at E3, with Lara Croft, Assassins Creed, God of War, Star Wars, The Avengers, and exciting IP’s like The Last of Us, Beyond, and Watch Dogs all showing off some kind of footage in the first two days of the event.
Below you’ll find some of trailers. Old characters, new characters, a ton of explosions, and some amazing graphics that all look next gen, even though this cycle seems like it’s going to continue on a little bit longer. At the bottom, tell us which game you’re most looking forward too, if you ask me, right now, it’s Beyond, though seeing Star Wars 1313 has me reconsidering.
Tomb Raider
An origin story, and a reboot, SquareEnix is trying to climb back to its roots with a grittier, bow and arrow carrying Lara Croft who is going on her first adventure. In the trailer, Lara is, frankly, getting the shit kicked out of her and the idea behind these trials and tribulations is, apparently, to humanize a character who has risen to near mythic proportions.
Other points in the game will apparently show Lara killing a person for the first time and it will also show the toll that that takes on her. Developer Karl Stewart repeatedly mentioned Batman Begins when talking about the reboot while on G4 this afternoon, so that gives us, I suppose, some frame of reference for the tone that the creative team is aiming for.
Tomb Raider is headed for release on March 5th 2013, and I’m sure OG Raider fans and even Uncharted fans will surely want to check it out.
Watch Dogs
The trailer starts slow as the main character, hacker Aiden Pearce, walks the impossibly rendered streets of Chicago toward an art show. Once there, Pearce interacts with a contact, purposely fails at being conspicuous, and then exits the club quickly with security on his trail — in seconds, we’re back on the street, but it has turned into a war zone, and Pearce is a target, ducking bullets, jumping over cars, and fighting for his life before he gets his man and sends him a message.
Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs is one of the most buzzed about IPs at E3, with a detailed backstory involving overreaching security measures, the “grid”, and more than a bit of intrigue and tech wizardry. What is it that makes the game standout? Beyond it’s impressive visual presentation (which was slightly juiced, in that it was presented on a high quality PC and not a console in it’s demonstration), Watch Dogs sets a foot on some fresh soil with the main character’s ability to control the environment around him. Pearce doesn’t wait for a walk signal or waste his effort trying to talk his way in past a guard, he messes with traffic lights and people’s cell phones, while also (seemingly) having access to pertinent information about every single NPC and interactable that he walks by. It’s a mind numbing amount of detail and playability, and yet we don’t really know where the ceiling is on this game, and that might be the most exciting part about it.
For trailers of some of the other impressive IPs like The Last of Us and Beyond, check out our rundown of Sony’s E3 presentation here.
Gears of War: Ascension
A prequel to the first God of War and a bit of an origin story, the gameplay footage on display above shows off some sick combat scenarios, with Kratos (surprise, surprise) fighting a giant hydra, and also battling a massive half elephant, half man. The big news is the added multiplayer which will see players creating their own Spartan to worship one of four Gods (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades or Aries). Obviously, the choice of God dictates the direction of the gameplay.
God of War: Ascension is set for a March 12, 2013 release, and there is talk about a Collectors Edition that will feature, among other things, an 8″ bronze Kratos statue and exclusive DLC. The price point on the CE is said to be $79.99, here’s a link for more details on that.
Star Wars 1313
There are virtually no details about the new Star Wars game 1313, which is a completely in-house effort, in the way that Star Wars Force Unleashed 2 was. All the branches of the Lucas tree, including ILM have a hand in the creation of this game which is in pre-production right now, and nowhere near a release date.
The crumbs of a premise that have dribbled out are that the game takes place between the two Star Wars cinematic trilogies on the 1313 level of Coruscant in the some what less cosmopolitan section of the planet, meaning it is the seedy underworld. The main character is a Bounty Hunter, which has led to some speculation that this could be a Boba Fett game, which if confirmed might shake the whole of geekdom off of it’s cushy perch. The game is 3rd person and those graphics that you’re peeping in the above trailer? That’s the way the game is supposed to look, with a seamless visual transmission from cut scenes to gameplay, though again, high quality computer, not a console demo, so the final package may be slightly less smooth and orgasmic.
Assassin’s Creed 3
We’ve got 2 separate gameplay videos for Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed 3, which is showing off a new assassin and a new timeline, with the game taking place before, during, and after the Revolutionary War. Connor, a half British, half Mohawk, hatchet wielding badass killer is the star of the show here, hunting down his prey in a camp in the first video from Ubisoft’s presentation (above) and steering a ship in the second from Sony’s presentation (below).
Assassins Creed 3: Liberation
Not to ignore the handheld market entirely, we thought we’d show you the trailer from the PS Vita exclusive, from the ground up, AC3 game, which will also star a completely different and new assassin in the form of Aveline, whose story takes place in 18th Century in Louisiana.
Marvel’s Avengers: Battle for Earth
Another Ubisoft title, we know next to nothing about this one and all we have is a cinematic trailer, so “Yay! Avengers game!” and that’s all we can really say because we don’t know what it will look like or be about — hence the worthlessness of most cinematic trailers.
Random News Bit:Destructoid reported that a Dead Island sequel, called Dead Island” Riptide, is in development.
E3 is one of the most boner-inducing nerd-fests on the face of the planet. In past years it has not failed to live up to the hype of all the wonderful toys it promises. This year is no exception, as top video game developers push the limits and try to outdo each other.
Here are some sneaks at a few of the fine offerings that gamers can expect to see in the near future.
The new Resident Evil 6, pushing the zombie hordes to the point of world-wide invasion:
I must have missed a few years in RE development, cause when did they get this fkn epic? I got pretty bored after the 2nd RE title, but this one makes me want to go back and try again.
Release Date: October 2nd of this year.
A gameplay demo for the new Tomb Raider origin game:
Again, a big Wow! Quite the improvement over what I remember Tomb Raider to be. Looks like a truly epic experience in gaming, not just one of another 50 shoot-em-up/stab-em-up first-persons that come out every year.
Release Date: Early 2013.
Dead Space 3 demo, showing the new co-op feature:
I’ve never played the first two in this series, but aside from the general aesthetics (which are very pretty indeed), this game looks pretty much like a dozen other shooters that have come out over the years.
Release Date: February 2013.
Here’s a little bit of the new Devil May Cry.
Apparently in this one you get to play an unlikeable, annoying douchebag as the main character. I was never a fan of the original DMCs, but this one, aside from being slightly more shiny, looks pretty much the same as all the rest.
Release Date: January 15, 2013
Trailer for the Transformers’ Fall of Cybertron game:
I’m not sure if there’s anything more to this game other than blowing other robots up, but it looks pretty epic.
Release Date: August 28, 2012
And more exciting than most (at least to me) – Aliens!
The Aliens: Colonial Marines trailer (with a bit of interview at the intro.):
After viewing that, I have to say that I am not as impressed as I hoped to be. The choppy combat looks several years out-of-date, though I guess they’ll be cleaning a lot of it up before the release next year.
Release Date: February 12, 2013
Another Medal of Honor game as well. I’ve been away from this series for quite some time, but when did we stop getting to kill Nazis? That was the only reason I played this game… oh well, guess the glory days are over.
And here is the trailer, complete with a very annoying soundtrack:
With E3 right around the corner some big video games news is beginning to leak out. Here we’ve got a few trailers for games that might be of interest to you: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Guardians of Middle-Earth, LEGO Lord of the Rings, and the new Tomb Raider! At least one of those games has to get you all hot and bothered.
It’s the LEGO one, isn’t it? You and that hobbit fetish, I’m telling ya.
Anyway, first we’ve got some news about new Star Wars game called Star Wars 1313.
Players will take control of a lethal bounty hunter in the never-before-explored expanses of Level 1313, deep below the surface of Coruscant. Using an arsenal of exotic weaponry to hunt down marks, the player must also uncover the truth surrounding a criminal conspiracy in this third-person cinematic action adventure game. It’s a bold new take on the “Star Wars” galaxy, intended for mature audiences.
Finally, show Boba Fett was a real badass bounty hunter can do. 1313 will also feature, “epic set pieces and fast-paced combat with a mortal, well-equipped hero who cannot rely on supernatural powers to survive his dangerous environment.” Look for Star Wars 1313 to make it’s official debut at .E3, June 5-7th
Sounds pretty kick-ass, doesn’t it? I mean, Jedi are neat and all, but who’s cooler, Luke or Han?
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