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Tomb Raider: Anniversary, day and date on GameTap and more
Referred to as May Day on their design blog, Turner's buffet-esque gaming service, GameTap, has some huge announcements today. The headliner of which is a real doozy. Through a deal with Eidos, the upcoming Tomb Raider: Anniversary will be made available on the service come launch day, June 5th, and at no extra cost to subscribers. The title will also be available to non-subscribers via their upcoming digital distribution store as well. GameTap has been offering brand-new, original titles at no extra cost for a while now (see: Sam & Max, Myst Online), but to take this trend and run with a third party is huge. Closing out May Day is May 31st where GameTap will crack open its doors a bit with a new free-to-play portal. Not regulated to chump titles, the new service will launch with games such as Metal Slug, Bust-a-Move and Tomb Raider: Legend. This will be made possible with their new three-tiers of membership and a handy-dandy chart to explain these tiers (two of which are free, by the way) has been made available after the break. In other GameTap news, both the press release and blog have mentioned the Metal Slug and King of Fighters series coming to the service. Nice.
Tomb Raider: Anniversary set for June 5th (don't forget!)
Those longing to don a pair of unreasonably tight pants, shoot up ancestral tombs and mow down innocent bears (without getting arrested) would be wise to circle the date of June 5th, 2007 on their official Rhona Mitra calendars. This day marks the release of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary, a Crystal Dynamics remake of the adventure that put the grave-robbing heroine on the map, the coffee mug, the magazine cover and the unfortunate t-shirt which proclaimed, "I raided Lara's tomb." Hearkening to a time (1996!) when Tomb Raider regularly induced drool as opposed to debilitating nausea, Anniversary sees reworked puzzles, improved controls and enhanced graphics injected into one of the greatest games of all time. Play it on your PS2, PC or PSP while you wait for a sequel to last year's surprisingly superb Tomb Raider: Legend to arrive -- and don't forget to do a graceful swan dive straight into a boulder. That's always good for a laugh.
Battlestations DLC delay
Last week we told you about the downloadable content for Battlestations: Midway, which was supposed to come out today. Eidos unfortunately announced that the pack has been delayed until the end of March due to having "technical issues". While no specifics were given about the actual date in which the content will be coming to Marketplace, the "end of the month" move puts it in the same time frame as the PC version's similar update.
Eidos announces 4 franchise sequels for 360
Eidos Interactive announced new gen sequels are currently under development for 4 of its franchises. Titles include Championship Manager, Hitman, Tomb Raider and Just Cause, which had its sequel announced in October. These games are expected to be released on both the Xbox 360 and the PS3, though specifics as to when are still vague. Eidos stated that they are "assessing" the proper time for release, mentioning the equally vague "Spring 2007" European launch of the PS3. On top of the sequels, Eidos still has new IPs in the works as well, namely Crossfire and Kane and Lynch: Dead Men. So in light of this, which of these would you anticipate the most? Tomb Raider: Legend and Hitman: Blood Money were quite enjoyable on the 360. [Via QJ.net]
Batttlestations: Midway demo ready for battle
The Battlestations: Midway demo that we were promised yesterday is now available (as is a new F.E.A.R. trailer). The demo comes in at just under half a gig and promises to provide players with some WWII multiplayer action in the air and sea around the Island of Solomon. With multiple vehicles like planes, submarines, and boats, Battlestations: Midway looks to give WWII buffs a nice change of pace after the recent spate of WWII FPS games. We're going to give the demo a try and we'll post our impressions later today.In the meantime, if you've had time to play the demo, tell us what you think. Does it live up to your expectations? Does it fill the void of the missing Crackdown demo?
Battlestations: Midway demo hits tomorrow
So the Crackdown demo was pushed back, but that doesn't mean we can't have some free fun before the weekend arrives. GameSpot reports that a demo for Battlestations: Midway, the WWII combat game, will be arriving this Thursday on Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo will contain one multiplayer map, the Island of Solomon. It's a game of Americans versus Japanese in which the winner must destroy the enemy's air base, aircraft carrier, and naval base. While the WWII genre is getting somewhat tired, Battlestations' vehicular approach may just make us sit up and take notice.Anyone out there looking forward to this game?[Via Planet Xbox 360]
Metareview - Just Cause (Xbox 360)
Just Cause was a hit at E3. People were talking, and as Saint's Row was being written off as a shallow GTA-clone, Just Cause was said to be blazing new trails for the sandbox genre. Well, it's here now -- and it's a bore. Good idea. Poor execution. Game Informer (73/100) credits Avalanche's attempts to "try a few new things," but noble efforts don't always amount to a memorable game. [Oct. 2006, p.93] GameSpy (60/100) believes Saint's Row is the better choice for sandboxing on Xbox 360. (We agree). Eurogamer (60/100) coins the term: "poor man's Mercenaries" ... which sums Just Cause up well. Also available on: PlayStation 2 / Xbox / PC
Joystiq Review: Tomb Raider: Legend (Xbox 360)
There are moments in our gaming pasts that stand out with clarity from the mass of bygone levels, saves, high scores and kill counts. One of mine is a first date of epic proportions, one which launched a thousand clones and broke a million hearts. It was my first date with Lara. Lady Croft and I have a lot in common. The novelty of playing as a girl who looks great and sounds normal grabbed me back in 1996 and hasn't let me go since. A decade later, in Tomb Raider: Legend, Lara still looks the part; she hasn't put on a pound, though her poly count's up. As I put the disc in, her iconic face stares at me. This revamped Lara looks more human, more real, less like a creature from some stylised midnight fantasy. Her face is soft, her lips slightly curled in a welcoming smile -- her eyes measure me up. It's been a while.
UK sales charts, April 9-15: Croft unchallenged
The UK sales charts for last week are in, with Tomb Raider: Legend remaining calmly at the top. Movie tie-in Ice Age 2 has been boosted up to number two, but anyone avidly following the chart battle between Guitar Hero and Crazy Frog Racer will be disappointed to know that Guitar Hero has fallen to 35th while the Crazy Frog is ding-ding-dinging along at number 28, thanks to its budget price and better placement on the shelves. The ten bestselling games in the UK for the week ending April 15: 1. Tomb Raider Legend 2. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown 3. Fifa Street 2 4. The Godfather 5. Football Manager 2006 6. Animal Crossing: Wild World 7. Buzz! The Big Quiz 8. King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie 9. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 10. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
Ad critic: Lara's booty too big to believe? [update 1]
As promised, this is the second weekly installment of a series of posts in which we invite you to rip ads apart after we rip them out of magazines. Pictured here, a two-page spread that appeared in the April 2006 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (click for a high-res image). There are actually several variations of this same ad in gaming magazines, but all of them feature Lara Croft's ample posterior, a bootylicious bundle of badonka-donk so large it serves as a friggin' grenade shelf. You might even say it's the bomb. At least that's the sort of salacious thinking that the ad invites. What do you think of the ad? Does it succeed? Will it sell games? What does "seeing is believing" mean, exactly? Is it really all about the ass? Sure, we know that game quality ultimately sells games, so let's avoid talking about the quality of the game itself. What we want to get at here is whether this ad succeeds or fails to interest you in purchasing a copy of this game. Gloves off! Go to! [Update 1: fixed a small typo that nobody else noticed, but that bugged the heck out of me.]
Tomb Raider headlines weekly release lineup
Lara Croft is making her multiplatform comeback this week with Tomb Raider: Legend (PC, PS2, Xbox, and Xbox 360). Any GameCube owners feeling left out can look forward to the RTS pinball oddity, Odama. Here's the week's release breakdown:
Tomb Raider: Legend, Pandemonium coming to mobile phones
Alongside the Tomb Raider: Legend content that should be appearing on the Xbox Live marketplace anytime soon, Eidos announced today that they're working on a 3D mobile phone version of Tomb Raider: Legend. Apparently the title will feature a new movement system and back to basics gameplay; a given considering the technological limitations of mobile phones. Eidos also announced a mobile phone version of Pandemonium: a platform adventure game where the lead character Nikki can shape-change from an invulnerable duck and cover turtle to a fire-blasting dragon. Both titles will be distributed via QUALCOMM's "BREW" solution which will apparently make it easy for gamers with 3G phones to download the game onto their handset.
Lara models eveningwear in 43 new screenshots
WorthPlaying has been kind enough to post 43 new screenshots from Tomb Raider: Legend, mostly centered on Lara Croft cavorting about in a slinky black dress for an undoubtedly exciting evening shindig. And yes, we're as relieved as you are that she chose to ditch the pumps before leaping into action (to pump some lead into some fellow guests).
Eidos' comeback carried on Lara's shoulders
Lara Croft seems to be on the up; despite the declining quality and popularity of Tomb Raider titles, suddenly everyone's going mad for Tomb Raider: Legend. It looks to be the title that will make or break Eidos, and with hype-inducing tidbits released one at a time, so far it's looking good. Also, as Next Generation's interview with Eidos' Bob Lindsey reveals, the delay in releasing Legend may have a silver lining, as it ensures a captive audience during the low spring season. We'll see come April if their high hopes come true.
