Lara Croft's Big Comeback 96
Next Generation has a piece talking to Eidos marketing chief Bob Lindsey about the restoration of Lara Croft's good name. From the article: "Lindsey says the negative associations surrounding Lara will be swept away with a single decent iteration, arguing that Lara, far from being a one-decade wonder, has legs. 'Eidos has learned in spades that just because we make it, does not means they will come,' he says. 'Users are very discerning about what is a good experience and what is not. If you create a big franchise like Tomb Raider, one that has sold more than 30 million units globally, you can't afford to burn it with something that does not deliver.'"
Re:Comeback... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Comeback... (Score:1)
Then I was very interested.
Then I was VERY VERY interested.
The I was VERY VERY VERY interested.
Now I'm not so interested anymore.
Its About time... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Its About time... (Score:2)
Yeah, what kind of hardware do you need to get that kind of resolution? I have seen similar screen shots from other games, but never live. I want build a gaming machine and I want it cheap, fast, and reliable and I want all three.
Revolution (Score:1)
Re:Its About time... (Score:2)
Guild Wars, and F.E.A.R.
Mind you, the latter runs like a slideshow on my system, but BOY is it pretty. And creepy.
Re:Its About time... (Score:2)
My Firm Belief (Score:5, Funny)
Perky, uplifting statements from the director of marketing tend to arouse my suspicion. It seems to me he's just attempting to implant totally artificial marketingspeak in our heads.
(Boobies! *snrk*)
Re:My Firm Belief (Score:2)
Re:My Firm Belief (Score:2)
BOOBIES!
(if anything deserves all caps, it's that)
Shifting focus to her other attributes? (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, I suppose after all those Chest Reductions [kotaku.com], somebody at Eidos was bound to notice eventually
What about her waist? (Score:1)
Re:Shifting focus to her other attributes? (Score:1)
I'm Not Exactly Opposed... (Score:2, Interesting)
Additionally, I don't necissarily agree with their idea regarding canning huge franchises. Sometimes you just have to know when to put Ol' Yeller down - I would hope that Eidos realizes when that time comes for Tomb Raider
Re:I'm Not Exactly Opposed... (Score:1)
Re:I'm Not Exactly Opposed... (Score:2)
Re:I'm Not Exactly Opposed... (Score:1)
Make SPINOFFS! oh how they love making spinoffs, oh and let's not forget the tried and true remake on another platform!
look at Capcom, how many Street Fighters are there?
How about Square with Final Fantasy VII?
Capcom again with the Megaman games?
I can See Edios doing tons of spinoffs about lara and maybe even a remake on a future handheld.
I am with you though in hoping they kno
I don't think Lara will be. . . (Score:3, Funny)
Oh, wait. You meant the character Lara Croft.
Never mind.
Success of first (Score:2)
Re:Success of first (Score:2)
I wouldn't say so. Sure, it might have had its faults, but it still has many aspects that even today are quite popular. For one there is the HUD-less screen, most of the time there is no HUD at all shown, only when an enemy aproaches you energie bar is shown, thus giving quite a cinematic experience. Then the gameplay, which is basically Prince
Re:Success of first (Score:3, Interesting)
What's interesting is that the massive bosom was supposedly a complete accident. According to the Wikipedia article [wikipedia.org], character designer Toby Gard was, "fudging around with the model when he accidentally blew up Lara's bosom to 150% of what he intended it to be." While he was correcting his mistake, the other desi
Re:Success of first (Score:2)
There is a special place in hell for people who think Lara Croft is anything like the first female hero in a video game. Fact is there are many before her, and all are better. Lara is an example of all that is wrong with female game charachters, not what is right with them, yet she has compleatly stolen the spotlight from the likes of Samus Aran.
Re:Success of first (Score:2)
I am certain that the designers of Metroid thought it was a guy inside that armor. They just retconned Samus into being female. I mean, by that argument, the character you play in Zork was the first female. And why not?
Re:Success of first (Score:2)
Err... it's not a retcon just because it's a surprise.
Samus was revealed to be female at the end of the first game [vgmuseum.com] provided you didn't leave it on overnight or something (it's kind of hard NOT to beat it in under 5 hours unless you're actively trying)
Re:Success of first (Score:1)
Re:Success of first (Score:2)
Re:Success of first (Score:2)
Fortunately, back then, it didn't keep track of item percentages, so if you weren't the completionist type (I wasn't until I started getting into RPGs), and didn't get too unlucky (picking the wrong fscking hall to drop into to get the ice beam) you could generally pull it off on the second play-through with the bonus missles you got from dropping Kraid and Ridley and the E-tanks that were right in the open.
I mean, come on... who has only played through the origina
Re:Success of first (Score:1)
Oh, thought it was a guy and then accidentally brutally not only put a woman in the end credits, but also designed an alternate player sprite that was clearly a woman? (Start Metroid with code "000000 000020 000000 000020", or if you prefer the more famous code, "JUSTIN BAILEY" with the rest as space, and you'll get the alternate sprite [wikipedia.org].)
Also
Re:Success of first (Score:2)
Re:Success of first (Score:2)
Re:Success of first (Score:2)
So basically... (Score:2)
Well, do it then (Score:3, Insightful)
While Tomb Raider's original interface was novel at the time, the idea of specifically leaping up to ledges, swining on vines, leaping over platforms, all with a more manual approach to gameplay, ultimately what they need to do is adopt a more 3rd person style shooter system, where the character responds more quickly and some of the movements are automated to make the franchise shine. I don't want to play another version where I spend a hour falling off a platform because they keyboard and or gamepad doesn't respond quickly enough.
Just, don't make another movie out of it, please!
Re:Well, do it then (Score:1)
Re:Well, do it then (Score:1)
Re:Well, do it then (Score:2)
"No jump button? Why the hell don't I have a jump button in a 3-D game?"
And yet, Nintendo provided other opportunities to fill the gap (instead of timed jumping, solving puzzles) and, a few moments of fine-controls (a few heart containers took some maneuvering to get to).
That said, I seem to remember back then a distinct, strong desire not to become "the female Link". Perhaps
Re:Well, do it then (Score:2)
Tomb Raider, in my opinion, failed totally to be anything better than a mediocre novelty because the controls schemes are too mechanical, they felt fake, and they were sluggish.
I used to hate how walking forward just a tad took you forward an exact and predictable amount. Turning turned you a
Let's just hope... (Score:2)
Re:Let's just hope... (Score:2)
What I've been wondering is where are the nude patches for the movies?
Angelina Jolie... *drool*
Did anyone else get a stiffy watching her in Hackers? Smart chicks rule.
Re:Let's just hope... (Score:2)
Then again, I personally find her very, very unattractive. Something about her giant mouth and how she has this weird face that makes her look like an alien.
Re:Let's just hope... (Score:2)
Getting hollywood to accurately portray a single piece of modern technology is a frickin miracle - even The Matrix fell short in spots when it came to technobabble - and you expect them to accurately portray a smart modern female technophile? I was willing to settle for their best effort - best being used extremely loosely here hahaha
The
Romulan Hotness (Score:1)
She looked a bit like a Romulan in Hackers. But a damn hot Romulan!
With pix.
http://images.celebritymoviearchive.com/members/th umbs/d/down-Angelina_Jolie-Hackers-Trailer-720x480 .jpg [celebritym...rchive.com]
Re:Wait.... (Score:1)
At this point [gamerankings.com] and this point [gamerankings.com].
I wouldn't know, I never played it myself precisely because of the big boobies. Not that I don't like big boobies, but history has taught us that they're used to sell shitty products, so I've always discriminated againt them in cases like this.
Re:Wait.... (Score:1)
Re:Wait.... (Score:2)
Played it once. Died a lot. Cursed poor camera and indistinct graphics.
Yawned.
Never bothered again.
Re:Wait.... (Score:2)
BTW, although she always had a somewhat unrealistic body, the really huge boobies only came in the foll
What a brilliant plan (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm sure that releasing the nth sequel of a tired franchise will bring back their reputation for innovation.
Re:What a brilliant plan (Score:1)
Re:What a brilliant plan (Score:2)
1) In general, they do try to add new things to the sequels (ie, the vacuum element in Luigi's Mansion and the water squirter thing in Mario Sunshine), and that the games generally stand well on their own.
2) At the same time, they do release other non-franchise titles, aka Nintendogs, Elektroplankton, Odama, and so on.
Not every game a company makes has to be 'innovative'. Some can ju
Re:What a brilliant plan (Score:1)
Nintendo definately does a good job for nearly all of the games that use Mario, especially when compared to the Croft franchise. I just wish that we'd see less of the 'Oh God, another foo game?', and not necessarily for the Tomb Raider series but in general. While we're wishing, I'd also like two ponies, and a new Sam and Max.
Re:What a brilliant plan (Score:2)
There is nothing wrong with a sequel if its actually good and new enough in terms of gameplay. And as far as I can remember there hasn't been a decent TombRaider on the current generation of consoles, Angle of Darkness wasn't any good and the rest seems to be for PSone and friends, so doing a good sequel now would be quite ok. The annoying part with sequels is only if they recycle the same engine
So... (Score:2)
Dont call it a Comeback... (Score:1)
Re:Dont call it a Comeback... (Score:1)
Disappointment?
Is that what the kids are calling them these days? (Score:3, Funny)
Video game of dreams (Score:1)
Duh (Score:2)
Isn't this the problem with the videogaming industry as a whole? Isn't virtually every publisher counting on the name and the packaging to sell the game instead of bothering with a good game? It's only been said a few thousand times on Slashdot now.
I would think a game review site that isn't a payola machine or an outright front controlled by the publisher would be welcome, but maybe there's so much crap floating
Re:Duh (Score:2)
I almost never pre-order games anyway, so I don't care if a review is written after the game is on the shelves. Even after release, a trustworthy review would be pretty valuable. Personally I'd rather wait an additional month and know more about what I'd be getting.
Re:Duh (Score:2)
I generally read penny arcade - and while not a traditional review site, I've found their insights keen. They recently did a strip about a reviewer (maybe an editor?) at a big mag that actually wrote what he thought about a game - I would suggest trolling the archives to find his name and paying attention to his mag in the future.
Re:Duh (Score:1)
What games sites are you reading? I see a lot of sites and magazines that give previews that are pretty much advertisements, but most of the established sites are fairly honest in their post-release reviews. Game Informer, Gamespot, Computer Gaming, etc. Gamespot even puts reader scores and scores from other sources right next to their own.
So really, what are you reading? "Joe's Super Madden EA Awesome
Re:Duh (Score:2)
I've seen horrible games reviewed glowingly on site after site, in magazine after magazine. I get XBOX mag - ok I expected that to be an advertising rag. I get Game Informer - which if I actually sit down and read it and compare reviews for some games to the actual gameplay experience, I sometimes wonder if I got the right game.
I'm not sa
Re:Duh (Score:1)
But, the _reviews_ seem to be accurate and as harsh as necessary. Look at the last months issue, as an example. They don't give out good scores very often.
Re:Duh (Score:2)
The cover is obviously for sale; no problems there, you've got to make your money somewhere right? However the cover is apparently a two-for-one package deal with a glowing review included. I, like you, have come to the conclusion that any game I see on the cover of Game Informer is definitely one I want to stay away from hahaha
Ditto on the previews; such obvious a
Re:Duh (Score:1)
This isn't really the case, though. Very frequently the game that gets slobbered on in the "cover story" preview gets ripped to shreds two months later in the actual review. More ofte
All the way (Score:2)
Oh yeah, and they go all the way up! ;-)
Too late.. the only way to rescue the series is... (Score:2)
Re:Too late.. the only way to rescue the series is (Score:1)
Lara Croft's Big Bouncy Comeback (Score:1)
*rimshot*
Well, of course she does! (Score:2)
What else would those short shorts be showing off?
Although prosthetic legs would certainly explain why the controls sucked in Angel Of Darkness.
Really? (Score:2)
R-i-g-h-t.
Next time you're going to be telling us that Cameron Diaz has ears, or Salma Hayek has elbows.
Balderdash. I can't remember seeing them even ONCE.
More of the same. (Score:2)
Unfortunately, from what I've seen of screenshots so far it looks like the game is going to play pretty much like the previous Tomb Raiders; it's just more of the same.
The only reason I see this game enjoying any success is because the lead character is hot. Some guys will have a good time staring at her rear all day. It's interes
Ahh... (Score:2)
So even bigger tits then.
Re:Ahh... (Score:1)
But still pretty obscene - they did the best they could, but realised that the world wasn't ready for a realistically proportioned Lara Croft just yet....
Re:Ahh... (Score:2)
The key words are physics and animation. This time around it's not the size of the balls that matter it's how high they bounce.
Sigh, am I the only who liked Tomb Raider? (Score:2)
More or less the game was just fun to play. The sequel was sorta fun as well except it somehow never had the magic moments of the first and was a lot harder. Then came the console save points. Remember game designers, save points are a hardware limitation, NOT good game design.
ME the PAYING customer want to
Re:Sigh, am I the only who liked Tomb Raider? (Score:2)
Re:Sigh, am I the only who liked Tomb Raider? (Score:1)
Oh hell yeah. Annah and Fall-from-Grace... t3h h4wt.
No more enemies (Score:1)
Lara the Murderess (Score:1)
hmm... (Score:1)