Tomb Raider: Underworld Trailer, and Release Date

The Miracle Of Science: Checking Out Monster Lab

I was drawn to take a quick peek at Eidos' Monster Lab because of the clever character design art mural all around the play area. The game has you enlisting the aid of three mad scientists, each with a different specialty, to try and take down one ultimate scientist who's mastered all three abilities — alchemy, biology, and one that seems more mechanically-oriented. It's on Wii and DS, but I saw the Wii version.

Monster Lab has the player building creatures and exploring a cartoonishly eerie supernatural land to collect parts to build and strengthen monsters to fight other monsters. As players progress through the narrative, they'll be able to enlist the help of each mad scientist to build new items and reach new areas.

So it's a bit collection and construction, a bit combat, and a bit story-based exploration — a pretty clever core idea with a cool aesthetic.

Age Of Conan - A Million Shipped, 700K Registered

We often talk about the differences between 'sold' and 'shipped' announcements, generally coming to the conclusion that the numbers would be relatively close, but sometimes the gap can be a bit bigger. Early this month, Funcom announced that Age of Conan was about to pass the one million copies shipped mark, which is a lovely milestone to reach and all, but in their latest pat on the back press release they place the number of accounts at "more than 700,000". This means that somewhere between 25-30% of those shipped copies either a) haven't been purchased or b) have been purchased and haven't been activated.

While 700K is nothing to sneeze at, it's still a great deal less than a million. Just something to ponder the next time you see one of those snazzy shipping number press releases. Speaking of press releases, hit the jump for Funcom and Eidos loving on some sales charts.

This Is How You Make A Lara Croft Action Figure

There have been plenty of action figures based off of Tomb Raider starlet Lara Croft over the years, but nothing quite like this baby right here. Standing at a whopping 17 inches tall, this Tonner Doll Company creation skirts the fine line between action figure and tiny actual woman, a skirting I doubt many fans will mind much at all. Lara features rooted hair, a variety of outfits, and 14 points of articulation, along with grenades and her signature dual automatic pistols in case her new owners get fresh.

The first 100 Tomb Raider: Legend inspired figures are going on sale today at the Wizard World Chicago show, with the remainder now available for preorder via Tonner Direct at the relatively reasonable price of $124.95, shipping in the third week of July. As an action figure junkie, I am currently surveying my apartment for things to sell. Anyone need a couple cats?

Lara Croft Figure Preorder [Tonner Direct]

Eidos yesterday launched an official Tomb Raider: Underworld Web site and sent out a couple more screenshots, including the one above. More importantly, it confirmed the game is due out in November for the 360, PS2, PS3, DS, Wii and PC. Screenshots and other discussion follow the jump.

Battlestations: Pacific Debut Trailer

Age Of Conan's All-Dancing, All-PVPing Evolution Plans

So Funcom and Eidos released Age of Conan, and hundreds of thousands of players have signed up...what now? The two companies have revealed their plans for evolving Age of Conan over the coming months, with heaps of new content influenced directly by player feedback in the pipes.

It all starts out later this month with a major PVP update, which they are calling "To The Death." The update will institute consequences and rewards for engaging in PVP battles, including the promised PVP leveling system and a Fugitive system, that will make it easier for other players to hunt you down the more lower-level characters you kill.

Other planned updates include guild alliance warfare, allowing guilds to team up and even form alliance keeps while fighting over "wonders of the world" that grant special powers, a system of in-game achievements called Powerpoints that will reward players for completing various tasks with points they can spend on special gear and powers, new areas to quest in, and a combo-based dancing system motion captured from professional dance artists. Joy! Hit the jump for more details on the evolution of Age of Conan.

Did Gerstmanngate Hurt Kane & Lynch?

While we may never know what actually happened, months have passed since the internet exploded over Kane & Lynch, GameSpot and reviewer Jeff Gerstmann. Now that the dust has settled what does Kane & Lynch developer IO Interactive think about the way it went down? Did it hurt game sales? Says Thomas Howalt, business development director at IO Interactive:

It sold well, we broke even and it's still selling. We had some really harsh reviews and there was all this noise about this thing with GameSpot and it sort of went over my head whatever people were fighting about. The web has it's own voice and it can be very loud... You know, what I see today is a lot of people picking it up, playing the free levels we put out. We get a lot of people playing online. You can argue are the graphics good enough, is it up there with the best? But it only takes two weeks and you're no longer the best looking game out. I've been playing games since Pong so I take these things lightly. In the end it's about sales and we have games like Freedom Fighters which is still selling.

Oh, it's always about the sales Thomas. Hence the problem.

IO Interview [Games Industry] [Pic]

Where In The World Is Brian Crecente?

San Francisco. That game would have been a whole lot shorter if they had just been upfront about things. I didn't even ask you guys a geography question! Crecente is out for the better part of this week, hopping between San Francisco and LA for various events with companies such as Electronic Arts, Sony, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Eidos, and Sega. While he is out of the tower he'll still be posting, in fact he should be posting some rather interesting information, starting this evening. Keep your eyes peeled, while the rest of us concentrate on juggling keeping the site from exploding while randomly uploading videos of our pets onto YouTube.

Take us out, Rockapella!

The First Doctor Who Console Game Looks Like This

SCi Spurns Infogrames Buyout Bid

French Atari parent Infogrames wants to purchase Eidos parent SCi, and has already extended it a "financially disciplined" offer, Infogrames revealed today via a regulatory announcement.

However, says Infogrames: "The SCi Board has declined, at this stage, to entertain Infogrames' offer."

Infogrames is still raring to go on the bid, though, saying that it has "sufficient resources" to satisfy the offer, and adding it has also "secured commitments" that will help fund SCi's potential working capital requirements. "Importantly," the statement adds, "Infogrames is in a position to move expeditiously with its proposal."

Report: Mass Layoffs Hit Eidos

SCi, the parent company of Tomb Raider publisher Eidos, got a cash injection from its investment buddies at Warner Bros., the company announced today. The $120 million bailout is good news for SCi, but not so much for Eidos, as 1UP writes today that "sources have informed 1UP that Eidos's entire PR, marketing, and sales department has been laid off as part of the deal with Warner Bros." Yikes! That must be the translation of SCi CEO Phil Rogers "I want more distribution muscle in North America" statement.

Eidos' parent company announced earlier this year that it would be laying off 25% of its staff and killing fourteen projects, focusing on "cornerstone" titles like Tomb Raider, Hitman, Championship Manager and Deus Ex.

Layoffs at Eidos in Light of Warner Bros. Deal? [1UP]
Lara Croft creator SCi gets cash boost [Reuters]

Age of Conan Is Priced In Gold

In a Funcom investor briefing, the company has spilled the pricing strategy for their MMO Age of Conan. United States gamers will pay $59.99 for the game and $14.99/month for the subscription. (Meanwhile, European gamers will pay 49.99 Euro and 12.99 Euro/month.) A quick skim through the briefing reveals some other interesting factoids, like that the game has already gone gold, Funcom expects 500,000-600,000 active subscribers at launch and internal surveys show that a "large proportion" of beta testers would like to buy it. Anyone out there considering cheating on their WoW account?

AoC Briefing [TenTonHammer via Maxconsole]

"The IGN and FilePlanet audience has consistently told us that Age of Conan is one of their most anticipated games of the year, and we are very pleased to partner with Funcom and Eidos on the Open Beta," says Senior Vice President of Consumer Products at IGN, Jamie Berger.

Preorder Age Of Conan And Get Early Access For $5

The release of Funcom's Age of Conan is a little over a month away, and preorder offers are in full swing across North America, Europe, and Oceania. Players who preorder will get exclusive in-game items, such as the War Mammoth and Killer Rhino mounts (accessible after level 40), and a special storage belt dealie. As a special bonus to those who reserve themselves a copy, Funcom and Eidos are offering a three-day head start, where you'll be able to play the game before those suckers who didn't put down some cash, all for the low, low price of 5 USD (or 5 EUR). What, you have to pay? Not quite sure what world that makes sense in. It doesn't seem to be referring to the $5 you put down for reserve either. You get 30 days free play in the box, why make players pay $5 for the first 10 days? It boggles the mind, but hey...a head start is a head start. Hit up the Age of Conan website for details on participating retailers.

Grisly Beheading Blamed On Hitman

18-year-old Jean Pierre Orlewicz is currently on trial for first-degree premeditated murder, after he and a friend ambushed 26-year-old Daniel Sorenson last November, stabbing him multiple times in the back before sawing off his head and burning his body. After the prosecution spent the better part of yesterday describing a young man fixated on committing a crime, the defense revealed the real reason behind the teen's murderous drive. Hitman. A CNN reported had obviously never played the game.

They dealt with it with a videogame called Hitman that he used to watch, and it was a video game where you got impressions that you would kill somebody - hit them from their backside, where they were not aware that they were being killed.

CNN Video Report On Trial [CNN via GamePolitics ]