It had been the subject of rumors for weeks, with a leaked video containing a scratch soundtrack showing off the graphically improved, original Tomb Raider hitting the Web, which was then promptly pulled from just about everywhere. Then, on Thursday, Core Design, original Tomb Raider dev house released the following statement:

The video of Tomb Raider: 10th Anniversary Edition that appeared on certain sites was an unauthorised release of an internal presentation of a game that was being developed by Core Design until very recently. It was running on PSP and used a Core-developed engine. However, following a recent review this project has been officially cancelled by SCi.

That seemed to pretty much wrap it up for the Tomb Raider remake. That's a shame. It was looking so good.

But then...

...parent company and publisher Eidos revealed that the game was still coming, courtesy of current Lara Croft reign holders Crystal Dynamics. They're the ladies and gents responsible for the generally well-received recent Tomb Raider: Legend. They'll be bringing the "one-off" title to the PlayStation 2, PSP and PC, but what exactly this game will contain is still somewhat of a mystery. The previously available video was apparently the work of Core Design's vision of the game, so what Crystal Dynamics will have to offer is, like the release date, to be determined.

Maybe someone from either CD would like to send us a tip and shed a little more light on the story?

Here's the full, somewhat clunky, press release:

Eidos Confirms 10th Anniversary Edition of Tomb Raider

June 16, 2006 - Eidos Interactive, one of the world's leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, confirms today that they are developing a special '10th Anniversary Edition' of Tomb Raider.

The new game is being developed by Crystal Dynamics, who recently launched Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend on Xbox 360, PS2, Xbox, PC and PSP, with versions on Nintendo DS, GBA and GameCube later in 2006.

"Our '10th Anniversary Edition' of Tomb Raider, is a one-off title to celebrate both Lara and Tomb Raider, it will appeal not only to the loyal fans of the Tomb Raider series but will also attract a totally new audience." Said Larry Sparks, Head of Brands Management at Eidos.

Tomb Raider originally launched in 1996 and is still one of the best selling videogame franchises of all time, with over 30 million copies sold.

The special '10th Anniversary Edition' of Tomb Raider will be available on PlayStation 2, PSP and PC.

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