Given that Crystal Dynamics hasn't done much of anything other than Tomb Raider since 2005, and given that Eidos/Square Enix have telegraphed a "reboot" of the Lara Croft franchise, sounds like it's a good bet that's your prestigious AAA franchise. Unless they're referring to Legacy of Kain, of course.

The ad listing mentions multiplayer maps, which indicates competitive online, not just cooperative campaign support.

Next Tomb Raider has Multiplayer? [CinemaBlend via Joystiq]

Back in July, the city's council asked for suggestions for two new roads. After getting over 100, the city council narrowed down the choices to eight. Those choices can be voted on via internet by anyone able to access the internet. You don't have to be a Derby resident! Which means that the city will most likely be getting a street named after Lara Croft.

It has been noted that there is a connection between Derby and Lara Croft. The studio behind the original Tomb Raider was based in Derby before shuttering in 2006.

Vote in the link below. Vote wisely.

Derby [Official Site via Derby Telegraph via Joystiq via The Escapist]

Look I don't know from Asian potato chip advertising, so you're just going to have to take this minute-long TV spot, as confusing as a Silent Hill plotline, at face value.

What we believe it to be is Pringles Asian segment targeting video gamers with a none-too-subtle, potentially copyright-infringing homage to two wildly different properties. But maybe the folks at Fuck Yeah, Lara Croft! have a better idea. They were the ones who spotted it.

Now, I dig Tomb Raider. But after Zero Punctuation's brutal review of Underworld, I'm started to feel mighty uncomfortable about all the animals Ms. Croft knocks off on her way to steal valuable stuff from dead people. In all seriousness, I actually apologized to the virtual panthers I shot up during my own review of Underworld. Because I'm a huge softie. And a cat owner. And maybe a little crazy after 10 straight hours of gameplay on deadline.

Enjoy the artwork, from the over-sexed to the over-manga'd. This image comes from Joe Jusko.

40 Various Styles Artworks of Lara Croft [The Design Inspiration]

Right now, Gard (pictured above) says, the m.o. is to fire a bunch of people at the end of a project, but keep around a core team for future work on the IP. "[A]nd it's not really working out the way it should be," Gard said.

It seems like the industry wants to move to a more Hollywood model by bringing in experts for shorter periods of time and then leveraging their outsourcing, but also building small teams for projects.

But they haven't actually fully embraced that yet and I'm just wondering whether or not there's a way people will actually start doing that. The industry is still very stuck in its ways of building their internal teams.

Gard's consulting business - ding ding ding - could exploit that short-term need for experts, which is one reason he left Crystal Dynamics. Another, according to his remarks, is that he'd taken Tomb Raider about as far as he could, and he wasn't working much with Lara Croft anymore.

It's always difficult doing that but you can get stuck doing the same thing over and over, The only real way that I can really effect Lara Croft is to be in charge of a project. More and more as I was working at Crystal, especially on Underworld where I was just doing cinematic work, the reality is the control of the characters is in the hands of the creative directors and the publisher.

Gard: Time was right to leave Tomb Raider [GamesIndustry.Biz via GamerReports]

The city is taking suggestions for names of two stretches of road, and one of the more popular ideas is Lara Croft Way. The city's marketing director thinks it's a great idea too. "Personally I would be in favor of something that projects something new and modern about the city so I quite like the Lara Croft idea," said John Forkin, the director of Marketing Derby.

And that's even considering other suggestions of a more robust tradition - Florence Nightingale Way and Rolls Royce Way, among them. Nightingale lived in the area, and Rolls Royce is a major employer.

I wouldn't be surprised to see them go with Lara Croft here. In Europe, they go for recognition in naming their public construction. As opposed to the United States, where it seems most bridges, overpasses and stretches of highway are named for some transportation commissioner, retired general or state senator no one's ever heard of.

Lara Croft is Lined Up for Derby Inner Ring Road Immortality [Derby Telegraph via Destructoid]

The site that originally posted the images, Four Player Co-Op, says that Crystal Dynamics also contacted them asking to take down the pictures.

Sounds like the concept art that seems to show another reboot for the long-lived franchise are real. Of course, that doesn't mean that those images, or the description included with them, will ever actually see the light of day.

Should it?

Rumor: Tomb Raider Reboot Art, Details Leaked [Kotaku]

It's hardly shocking that Eidos - bought out by sequelmeisters Square Enix of course - would be planning another Tomb Raider. Existing IP is a big chunk of a studio's value as an acquisition target, and Eidos' Ian Livingstone even said to expect a Lara Croft reboot a couple months ago. Still, this is someone else's rumor and someone else's photos. We've emailed Eidos PR if they want to take a swing at this rumor, first reported today by 4Player Co-Op.

In the shots (which you may see here) you can see a mounted Lara (on horseback, stupe) firing arrows at zombiefied creatures with gnarly, ouchy-looking appendages. The concepts for her foes are barely more than silhouettes, but they all look ugly and threatening, Lara herself has a look that backs off the overt sex appeal and makes her into a more athletic, ass-kicky fighter.

From the descriptions, this figures to be a reboot origin story similar to the kind of treatment Batman, James Bond and even the Hulk have gotten in cinema. Livingstone had hinted that would be the tack of this story. Here's a transcription of some of the text on the screen, which appears to be from an internal website:

When a sudden storm destroys her research vessel, a young and inexperienced Lara Croft finds herself stranded on a mysterious and remote island hidden off the shores of Japan. Despite several signs of various inhabitants the island is oddly deserted, and an uneasy feeling settles in as strange sounds emerge from the shadows. With only her determination, inner strength, and resourcefulness to help her, Lara must overcome the challenges of a harsh and unforgiving journey that will take her across a vast island wilderness and deep into the claustrophobic and menacing underground tombs from the island's past. As she struggles to prevail through brutal combat encounters and treacherous exploration, Lara will be pushed to her limits and forced to adapt to her situation in order to survive and escape from the lethal predators that stalk her every move.

[...]

• Origin story. "This new Tomb Raider concept reboots the franchise by exploring the origins of Lara Croft's transformation into a hardened adventurer as you unravel the story behind the island's mysterious past."

New weapons, new ways to use them, and a reworked combat system are also hinted at in the text. If anything else dribbles out about this leak, we'll be sure to update it here.

Tomb Raider Reboot - The First Details? [4player Co-Op via Joystiq]

The Tomb Raider franchise is getting a cinematic reboot with Dan Lin, the movie's producer, saying, "It is an origin story so it is a younger Lara Croft. It will have character-driven action." This is the third film in the Tomb Raider movie series — the last one was in 2003.

A source tells The Sun (yes, yes, we know) that Jolie was originally keen to reprise her role as Lara Croft in the blockbuster film franchise, but now "feels robbed". "Angie isn't a fan of the Transformers films and believes Megan won't do the Lara Croft character justice," the source adds. "She's also annoyed because she thinks Megan copies everything from her, from her tattoos to her style." (But will she copy Jolie's cool mom status?)

Back in January, a spokesperson for Megan Fox stated, "Megan is not involved in this movie." So either Jolie is getting upset for no reason or The Sun is making up shit for no reason. Or maybe Megan Fox is actually involved in this movie.

Regardless, the really important question is what does Angelina Jolie's father, actor Jon Voight, think? "They're both very beautiful and they're both kind of sexy girls." Thanks, Jon!

Angelina Jolie is furious that Megan Fox has been tipped to take the lead role in Tomb Raider [The Sun]

We first heard stirrings of these new layoffs earlier this week, receiving several tips from people purporting to be former employees or friends of former employees. Now an Eidos spokesperson has confirmed the layoffs, citing the need to "focus resources" as the underlying reason behind them.

"We can confirm that Crystal Dynamics has made a reduction of approximately 25 people at the San Francisco studio. This decision is a reflection of the continued drive to focus resources at the studio. We would like to thank all of the employees affected by this difficult decision for their hard work during their time at Crystal and we wish them all the best in the future."

This latest round of cuts follows rumors in January of another 30 or so employees cut loose from the developer following poor performance of the latest Tomb Raider title, Tomb Raider Underworld.

With no currently announced projects and the recent acquisition of parent company Eidos by Square Enix, one cannot help but worry about the future of the remaining Crystal Dynamics employees. Tomb Raider was a large part of the allure of Eidos to Square Enix, so we wouldn't be surprised if they took Lara out of Crystal Dynamics' hands in an attempt to revitalize the franchise once again.

I'm personally hoping that the developer sticks around long enough to deliver a new Gex title.

Addressing shareholders following Square's purchase of Eidos, Square Enix boss Yoichi "Imperial Hot" Wada told of the company's success in creating a "number of deliverables from one worldview" for their franchises. Which is corporate speak for "we make a fuckton of money from Final Fantasy spin-offs, anime and toys".

He then said this was something that Eidos - another company with strong internal IP - had been lacking. But no more! With franchises like Tomb Raider, Hitman and...Kane & Lynch now a part of the Square Enix marketing juggernaut, Wada says "we are considering creating synergy by diversifying revenue sources for each Eidos IP, applying our approach".

"Our approach" being, you guessed it, an endless stream of Tomb Raider toys, cartoons, mobile games, WiiWare games, and iPhone games.

Speaking in an interview with About.com during the premier of Terminator Salvation, producer Dan Lim explains that the new Lara Croft film will be an origin story with a strong focus on character development, which is definitely a new direction for the film franchise.

"We're rebooting Lara Croft...It's a great origin story that we're going to tell, a very character-oriented, I would say more realistic than the past Lara Croft movies...It's not full-on action. I would say it's like Terminator, it's character driven action. For me, the Lara Croft games and movies have gone a little too action-oriented. I wanted to have action, but with character."

But who is going to play the new Lara? When questioned about the casting, with About.com's Rebecca Murray specifically mentioning Angelina Jolie, Lin's response was "It is an origin story, so it is going to be a younger Lara Croft."

So no casting news yet, but with a younger Lara Croft it seems like Angelina Jolie might be on the outs. She can still pull off pretty, but young might be a bit of a stretch. Perhaps they'll pull a Spock and slip her in there by way of time paradox. Angelina Jolie is as good a reason for a time paradox as I can think of.

Dan Lin Interview - Terminator Salvation and Lara Croft [About.com via Tomb Raider Fanboy]
image

Speaking to Gaming Indians, Livingstone says IO Interactive is working on a new Hitman title; Kane and Lynch 2 has a hoped-for release of September, and he doesn't exactly dispel the idea that Eidos Montreal's "secret project" is Thief IV.

That leaves Tomb Raider, which released Underworld last year to disappointing sales. Are they working on a sequel to that, too? Oh hell yes they are!

"The next Tomb Raider, I think, will surprise a lot of people and reinvigorate the franchise. There are some remarkable things we're doing in the next Tomb Raider to make you say, "Oh Lara, I love you so much!"

All this is in addition to Deus Ex 3, already underway at Montreal. (Livingstone indicates that might be released in 2010.) What, no Just Cause 2? Oh, right ...

That's five projects, all of them sequels. I think porn studios come up with more original IP. Of course, Hitman 5 probably sells better than "Donkey Punch 22."

Eidos President Talks Arkham, Thief, Hitman, Tomb Raider and More [Gaming Indians]

In honor of Mother's Day, we celebrate moms in gaming – from the bit parts to the big players. Some are examples of the best parenting you could imagine; and some are so evil, they're unfit to be called "Mom." Join us now as we separate the June Cleavers from the Joan Crawfords of video game mothers.

Mothers in… Role-Playing Games
Role-playing games have the highest number of moms of any video game genre. This is because RPGs have huge, sprawling plots with huge, sprawling towns and a huge, sprawling casts of characters who you may or may not encounter depending on how you play the game. In most RPGs, you see moms as non-playable characters in towns, in flashbacks depicting the hero's reason for revenge. Some RPGs even have them as playable characters or main villains. Sadly, RPGs are also the number one "mom dies" offender, as nearly every RPG features a plucky youth out to avenge a destroyed village that usually has within it a dead mother – or at least one that's been turned into a monster.

There are way more mothers in RPGs than we could count – especially if you're going through side quests, all PC RPGs, all Japanese RPGs that were never released in the US, Final Fantasy X-2 and every single optional flashback for every possible playable character. So we've populated this list with moms who 1) had the most impact on the game's main plot or that 2) appear in the game beyond a single expository cut scene. This leaves us mostly with moms who appear in Japanese RPGs; but be sure to apologize to your dead mother in Fallout 3 for us.

Mada, Dragon Quest V – Mother of the main character: Mada gets kidnapped and becomes the subject of his quest.

Matriarch Benezia, Mass Effect – Mother of Liara T'Soni: Benezia is enslaved and later killed by Shepard in battle, but she makes up with Liara right before dying.

Polka's Mom, Eternal Sonata — Mother of Polka: this country lady is very well adjusted to time loops and apparently never taught her daughter not to talk to strange 19th Century composers she might meet while wandering around at night.

Yohn, Suikoden Tactics — Mother of Kyril: Yohn is a mute demon trapped in the wrong world who sticks around to care for her son, even though he doesn't know who she is for pretty much the whole game.

Gina , Chrono Trigger — Mother of Chrono: In one of the game's endings, Gina accidentally goes into the time portal, thus restarting the whole plot from the beginning.

Jenova, Final Fantasy VII — Mother of Sephiroth (sorta): Jenova is... an alien? We're not even sure she's a she, but "she" spends a lot of time in a jar and looks creepy.

Angeal's Mother, Crisis Core — Mother of Angeal: This small-town lady is very nice to all of her son's friends from the army, even the ones that turn evil and cause her matricide.

Queen Brahne, Final Fantasy IX — Mother of the real Princess Garnet and foster mother to her lookalike of the same name: Brahne gets fat, turns evil, tries to kill her adoptive daughter and later repents and dies in Garnet's arms.

Sarah Sisulart, Lost Odyssey – Mother of Liram: Sarah goes a little crazy and turns herself into an old woman when she thinks her daughter's been killed, but turns back into a hot nerdy chick when she finds out she has grandkids.

Seth Balmore, Lost Odyssey – Mother of Sed: Seth is immortal, but her son isn't, which is sort of weird for both of them. But they're both pirates, so there's some common ground at least.

Best Mom: Yohn… because she's selfless as only a mother can be.

Worst Mom: Jenova… because she's emotionally unavailable. And responsible for Sephiroth.

Mothers in… Fighting Games
Fighting games have a fair few mothers among their playable characters. The plot structure (or lack thereof) leaves room for all kinds of people to enter whatever world championship fighting tournament of the week is going on for various reasons that don't necessarily make any sense. So if you can have a panda, a geisha, a cyborg and whatever the hell Voldo is supposed to be enter a tournament for personal gain, a mother doesn't seem like such a weird contender. Here's a list of a few prominent mommies:

Sophitia, Soulcalibur series – Mother of Patroklos and Pyrrha: Sophitia is an Athenian who fights on behalf of the Greek God, Hephaestus, to regain Soul Edge. The sword entwines itself with her daughter's spirit, forcing Sophitia to spend eternity defending Soul Edge from anyone who tries to claim it. She's protecting her daughter.

Michelle Chang, Tekken series – Mother of Julia: Michelle fights in one of the Iron Fist tournaments to rescue her kidnapped mother and then adopts an abandoned baby named Julia. Then Julia goes on to fight in an Iron Fist tournament to save Michelle when Michelle gets kidnapped. Circle of life.

Dural, Virtua Fighter – Mother of Kage: Dural probably started out as a good mom when she was human, but then she got kidnapped and turned into an evil cyborg. That knocks her out of the Mom of the Year running.

Jun Kazama, Tekken series – Mother of Jin Kazama: Jun is the Chosen One, a wildlife activist, and a single mom. Over the course of four games, she somehow found time to save pandas, birth a son, thrash a bunch of her extended family and possibly fake her own death or perhaps dies for real when her house burned down.

Nina Williams, Tekken series – Mother of Steve Fox via in-vitro fertilization: Nina is a world class assassin who gives birth to a son while in cryogenic sleep. Though it appears she couldn't care less that she has offspring, she does neglect to assassinate him. That counts as maternal instinct, right?

Maria, Dead or Alive series – Mother of Helena: Maria is a world class opera singer who had an affair with the head of a sinister corporation. She later took a bullet for her bastard daughter onstage in the middle of an aria… what a way to go.

Crimson Viper, Street Fighter IV – Mother of Lauren: C. Viper is a working mother in the spy profession. Her life's goal is destroying the weapons produced by a sinister corporation, but somehow she made room in her busy schedule to have a daughter.

Justice, Guilty Gear – Mother of Dizzy: No one's really sure how it happened – least of all Dizzy, who was found abandoned at age 3.

Best Mom: Maria… because nothing says "Mommy loves you" like taking a sniper's bullet to the heart.

Worst Mom: Crimson Viper… because she's a workaholic. Did she even call her kid after fights? No!**

Mothers in… Action/Adventure and Survival Horror Games
Here's where the role of the mother in video games become complicated. Because these types of games usually have a more focused plot than fighting or role playing games, adding a mother usually means casting her in a narrow role that doesn't include speaking parts. Occasionally, these moms even wind up as antagonists by default. However small their part, though, these mothers sometimes make an appearance worth mentioning. Here are a few notable examples:

The Queen, Ico – Mother of Yorda: She basically had a daughter so she could sacrifice the kid and live a bit longer. I guess some species do eat their own young, but jeez…

Annette Birkin, Resident Evil 2 – Mother of Sherry Birkin: Depending on how you play the game, Annette either hid the G-Virus in her daughter's locket or cures her daughter of the T-Virus. Either way, she did abandon her kid during a zombie apocalypse. Poor form, Mom.

Amelia Croft, Tomb Raider series – Mother of Lara Croft: Like her daughter, Mrs. Croft has issues with touching ancient artifacts she probably shouldn't. Luckily, Lara learns from her mommy's mistakes and everybody's happy… until Lara has to shoot zombie Amelia when they meet up in Underworld.

Mrs. Sanderson, Chibi Robo – Mother of Jenny: Mrs. Sanderson has real marital problems that cause her to lock herself in a bathroom and threaten divorce, leaving all the housework to Jenny and her toy robot.

Ex-Mrs. Hopkins, Bully – Mother of Jimmy Hopkins: This woman lacks both fashion sense and parental priorities. She ditches her kid at a boarding school to run off on a honeymoon with a new husband and then sends Jimmy a fugly sweater at Christmas.

Maggie Monday, Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse – Mother of Andrew Monday: Like Jimmy Hopkins' mom, Maggie could use some priority adjustment. She lets her son's city get sacked by zombies and then becomes a zombie herself so she can marry Stubbs. This basically leaves Andrew with a wrecked city and a zombie for a stepfather. Thanks, Mom!

Ma Cipriani, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories – Mother of Toni: Toni never called his Ma while he was in hiding. Given that she dates guys who are into paraphilic infantilism, I can see why. Ma puts a hit out on her son and then calls it off in a fit of maternal pride when Tony finally becomes a made man.

Best Mom: Amelia Croft… because not even good moms get it right all of the time and how was she supposed to know that sword would teleport her, her husband would die and her daughter would be left an orphan?

Worst Mom: The Queen… because what she did to Yorda is way worse than what Joan Crawford did to her daughter. You think being hit with wire hangers is bad? Try being turned to stone.

Mothers in… Shooters
Here's where you barely see any moms at all. The shooter genre is reserved for masculine things like guns and aliens and spies and other stuff that doesn't leave much room for maternal influences. You'll find a lot of dads in shooters, though – but Father's Day isn't for another month, so sit tight.

*SPOILER WARNING: BioShock, F.E.A.R. 2, Metal Gear Solid 4*

Jasmine Jolene, BioShock – Mother of Jack: Jasmine was Andrew Ryan's mistress and a "dancer" which is 60s code for "prostitute." Even if she didn't accept money for sexual favors, she was certainly in a hurry to accept money for her freshly-conceived embryo. That's worse than the fairy tales where parents trade firstborn sons for magical enchantments.

Dr. Bridgette Tenenbaum, BioShock and BioShock 2 – Mother of all the Little Sisters and the Big Sister: Tenenbaum didn't give birth to any of the poor darlings, but her research created them. She eventually stepped in to foster them and shower them with toys and secondhand cigarette smoke to make up for the brainwashing.

Eva, Metal Gear Solid 4 – Mother of Liquid and Solid Snake (kinda): Eva would have gladly had Naked Snake's babies the ol' fashioned way, but the Patriots had other plans. She eventually serves as surrogate mother to the clone babies Liquid and Solid and starts calling herself Big Mamma to compensate for having nothing to do with mothering them.

The Boss, Metal Gear Solid 3 – Mother of Revolver Ocelot and the US Special Forces (which one do you think she's more proud of?): The Boss probably had no business leading the Battle of Normandy while nine months pregnant. But despite being a bad mom to Ocelot, The Boss wins major motherhood recognition as a Mother Goddess figure to at least half the cast of the Metal Gear Solid series.

Alma Wade, F.E.A.R. and F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin – Mother of Paxton Fettel, Point Man and countless telepathic clone soldiers: Alma became a mother at the tender age of 15 against her will. It's hard to tell if she harbors any feeling for her offspring conceived in captivity – bloodlust sort of obscures any tender intent. However, in Project Origin, Alma's grown up a bit and appears to have invested in being mother to the protagonist's baby, which she deliberately conceives.

Best Mom: The Boss… because out of this sorry lot, she's easily the best role model.

Worst Mom: Jasmine… because she sold her only son to his father's enemy before the son was even born. That's like the opposite of mother-like behavior.

(Dis)Honorable Mentions
Sora's Mom, Kingdom Hearts — She has one line and the whole first part of the game is about her son trying to build a raft to run away from home. Clearly the parenting thing isn't working out.
Mother Brain, Metroid — "She," if that's what that thing in the jar can be called, is an alien with no maternal feelings whatsoever.
You, Fable II, The Sims games and Harvest Moon games — Even if you play as an upstanding paragon of parental vigilance, you're going to be guilty of neglect at least half of the time in these games.

At this point, you're probably wondering why Cooking Mama isn't anywhere on this list. Apart from the lack of a convenient genre into which to cram the game, there's no evidence that Cooking Mama is even a mother. Do you see her kids at any point in the game? For all the player knows, she's just calling herself "Mama" so she doesn't have to call herself a chef, the poor self-hating hash slinger.

That's all we've got for the best and worst mothers in video games. Think we missed somebody important? Drop a line in the comments. And don't forget to call your mom on Mother's Day!

**CORRECTION: C. Viper occasionally does call her daughter after fights. But the workaholic ruling still stands.

According to recently released lifetime sales figures from Eidos' new owner Square Enix, it appears to be Tomb Raider Anniversary, the remake of the original Tomb Raider, released in 2007. Somewhat surprising, considering that game was actually quite good, in contrast to Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, which was not good in almost any sense. Anniversary was even outsold by the phoned-in Chronicles, when Eidos grunted out five games in just five years.

Lara's appeal has definitely become more selective over the past 13 years, as shown in Square Enix's report on Eidos star franchise.

Some positive figures there for Tomb Raider: Underworld, which seems to have turned things around a bit after the release of Anniversary, but we doubt that Lara will ever experience the glory days of Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider II.

Square Enix has also revealed lifetime to date sales figures for Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts, which number crunchers will want to file away in the unoccupied areas of their brains.

Anyone For Lifetime Final Fantasy Sales Figures? [Kotaku]

Eidos held their shareholders meeting yesterday, during which a vote was held to determine if the Square Enix takeover bid would be approved, with 85% percent of the company's stock represented in the voted. After an overwhelming majority voted in favor of the takeover, an Emergency General Meeting was held, during which the motion to accept the acquisition was approved.

So what happens now? According to the plan laid out by Eidos management, Eidos stock is delisted on April 21st, and by May 6th, everything Eidos belongs to Square Enix. That's when we start calling them Squidix.

Square takeover of Eidos given green light [GamesIndustry.biz]

Artist Tom Rhodes has come up with a series of paintings showing his own, personal take on many of the bigger names in gaming. We've got a grumbly plumber, some banged-up, poorly-dressed martial artists from the early 90's, a drug-dealing Duke and possibly the cutest little proper hedgehog you'll see today.

Below are some highlights, but Tom's site has plenty more.

Old Game Characters [Plan To Fail, via Go Nintendo]

Guess they need to fill her contract until the character gets an overhaul.

Compared to previous Lara Croft models, poor Alison Carroll has had it rough with everything from NSFW publicity pics, creepy stalker pics and even archaeology questions.

But, look, she's a good sport. Cellphone guns, ring, ring!!

PRETEND LARA CROFT EXTENDS PRETENDING CONTRACT INTO 2009 [UK:R]

Previously planned for a December launch, the two new downloadable levels from Eidos and Crystal Dynamics will give Tomb Raider: Underworld fans new areas to explore, new skin tight outfits and extra Achievements. What they won't provide is a sense of stability.

Eidos doesn't have new date for Lara's next mini-outing, but we'll operate under the assumption that the second batch, dubbed "Lara's Shadow," may not make its March 10th release date either. Just to keep from breaking down into tears again.

That, and the games aren't exactly tearing up the sales chart.

So what gives? While the previous Tomb Raider flicks were made by Paramount, the film rights reverted back to publisher Eidos. Last December Time Warner increased its stake in Eidos to 19.92 percent. Included in that were Tomb Raider motion picture rights.

The project is still early in development, and Angelina Jolie does not appear to be involved. A new Lara Croft actress, director and writer are still not attached. The reboot is expected to revamp the character, the film franchise and the high kicks.

Warner Bros. Rebooting Tomb Raider [ComingSoon.net]