Tomb Raider: Underworld Trailer, and Release Date

Multimedia Roundup: Lego Batman, Tomb Raider, Blitz II

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.

Former Lara Croft, Fitness Guru

Nell McAndrew is apparently launching her own "lifestyle companion" mobile fitness application in the UK, used to create workout routines from a database and develop a meal plan. Who's Nell McAndrew? 1998's model for Lara Croft, of course.

McAndrew seems to have left her Lara days behind her, though, as the announcement makes no mention of her role as one of the first Tomb Raider models. Shame, because I'd love someone to promise me I can look like Lara Croft. I mean, Nell McAndrew is pretty and all, but come on! Lara Croft!

Anyway, for those who might've been wondering what McAndrew has been up to lately, full announce after the jump.

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]

12" Lara Croft Figure Is Surprisingly Tasteful

SCi, developers of Tomb Raider, Hitman and Deus Ex, have canceled 14 of their projects and plan on laying off 200 people and cutting their annual operating costs by £14 million as part of a company restructuring plan meant to get SCi back on track.

"Following our business review over the last six weeks, we are initiating a clear action plan based on three fundamental strands of activity: a radical change in our structure to a studio-led business, a top to bottom programme of product improvement and efficiency and a considerable cost reduction plan," Phil Rogers, Chief Executive of SCi Entertainment Group said, in a prepared statement. "To get SCi on track we have to act rapidly and effect change quickly. We must allow the world-class people that we have within the Group to focus on strong, profitable titles which will create the value our shareholders deserve."

A chief part of that plan is a fundamental change to the way the company does business with SCi shifting from the current centrally-controlled development and publishing model to a studio-led one, similar to the labels model that EA moved to last year.

Under the new structure, SCI would have studios based around "cornerstone products" like Tomb Raider, Hitman, Championship Manager and Deus Ex. The company is also creating an Eidos PLAY studio which will "fuse together casual and new media resources." Finally, production services will form part of the studio group and be relocated to Montreal from London.

I blame the Wii... well that and a company that has essentially been living off of three franchises for nearly two decades.

SCi Corporate

Get Your Hands on Lara Croft For (Almost) Free

Lara Croft is ten years old today (doesn't that make you feel dirty?), and to celebrate, Eidos is letting you play Tomb Raider Anniversary for free.

Of course, nothing in life is truly free, is it? You can access the game through TrialPay, an alternative payment service, but only after you sign up to try or buy an offer from one of their blue-chip advertisers. To sign up for your free subscription to Tomb Raider Anniversary, go to the TrialPay sign-up page.

See? Lara's a classy broad. She wouldn't be givin' it away for nothin'! Her momma raised her better than that!

The work of Becky Schaefer has recently resurfaced on the blogosphere (hate that word, btw) so now seemed like as good as a time as any to introduce you to her art if you hadn't encountered it previously. These Lara Croft cross-stitchings (Schaefer's 2003 graduate arts degree project) subvert the traditional by introducing a modern, digital (female) icon into a classic (traditionally female) analog activity. The result? It's a bit jarring and induces introspection. What do you think of it?

Game Heroine Invades Bucolic Needlepoint Landscapes; Wreaks Aesthetic Havoc [via shinyshiny]

Do These Gaming Franchises Need To Retire?

Management credibility is rock bottom, given heavy use of questionable provisions, failure to achieve release targets, at a time when market is booming.

The January issue of PLAY magazine will feature a first look at Tomb Raider Underworld, which is said to take place in after the events of Tomb Raider Legend.

According to the article, quotes heavily over at The Tomb Raider Chronicles, the game's emphasis is on "bringing Lara's world to life, a lush, vast, interactive world that reacts and remembers. It's pure woman versus the wild."

For instance, in a level in Southern Mexico, Lara leaves footprints behind in the mud, which are eventually washed away by the rain. The bodies of those she kill, though, will stay as will debris from her destructive path.

TOMB RAIDER UNDERWORLD EXCLUSIVE [The Tomb Raider Chronicles, via Computer and Video Games]

An interview with Stephane D'Astous of the newly opened Eidos Montreal story reveals that Deus Ex 3 is being built on the foundation of the latest Tomb Raider games. The studio is using the Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raider engine that was so handy in transforming Lara Croft's series into something people wouldn't be embarrassed to play as the foundation for the third installment of the popular series. The reasoning?

We chose the Crystal engine because we plan to help develop this engine more and then share it back with the rest of the company, the other Eidos studios. Having that technology from the start gives us a great advantage and foundation for our coders - there are no doubts about the approach, and we have few uncertainties.

Q&A: Stephane D'Astous, Eidos Montreal [Develop via CVG]

Tomb Raider Underworld Coming Next?

Have you seen the movie Underworld? OK, great. Now take that movie and relate it in absolutely no way to Tomb Raider Underworld, the rumored next TR sequel since the trademark was discovered. Said to revolve around the Mayan calendar, or more specifically, the five unnamed days at the end of the year known only as "Wayeb'." During this time, the realm of the living and dead was said to blur, leading us to only one, inevitable plotline in the game: giant ghost/zombie jubblies.

Tomb Raider Underworld [via gamelife]