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[Infernal Mass]

"In a trading update from Eidos today, the company mentioned that all but 500,000 copies (which shipped in early July) of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness have been shipped in this past financial year. Therefore, Eidos believes that it will meet the original market expectation for operating profit. However, gamers and critics alike have not been too enthused over Lara's latest adventure. Consequently, Eidos announced that they are making some changes:

In recognition of the Company's need continually to enhance the value and maximize the commercial opportunity of one of its key franchises, for which all intellectual property rights belong to Eidos, the Board has concluded that it will transfer development of the franchise to its Crystal Dynamics studio in the U.S. The next Tomb Raider game is scheduled to release during the financial year to June 30, 2005. In the light of this decision, the Company will now be evaluating the Core Design studio's on-going direction and contribution as part of the Group's overall development capabilities."

well the Smith brothers have been there from the beginning. Without them on the team the game may have a completely diffrent feel. However, it may be just what the series needs....

[Vicious_2003]

Remember that post where I related The Tomb Raider series as it stand now to a bag of flaming dog doo ? . Turns out i was right. Seems like Lara's latest rehash has been nothing more than a steeming pile. Its become painfully obvious that there just trying to milk this so called "Franchise Title" for all its worth and then some (Hmm reminds me of Metallica ). In my opinion it sucked from the very begining (DOESENT remind me of metallica) and now that there have been so many great action adventure games the newest one looks even worse in comparrison . Shes a big boobed chick who raids ancient tombs , its a stupid premise to begin with, I wish theyd just scrap Tomb Raider all together, I think taking it out back and ending its misery with a 42. calliber bullet would suffice.

BTW, I know there are probably some super sensative TR fan boys who are going to be pissed off by this post, heres my advice to them. "Its just a video game, get over it"

[Frozen]

Honestly I think the origina lidea of Tomb Raider is nice, but the people behind it is mediocre. I remember a thread (posted bi DigiMortal, I think) showing an interview which spoke nothing but mediocricity. That's the same problem the guys behind Mortal Kombat have always had.

I haven't played the latest release, though, so I can say nothing about it, but I'm not really attracted to it to find out.

[dan da man]

Yeah, TR AOD of Darkness was a disaster, it was PS2 biggest hit title of the year, but the real TR are he first ones, they wont ever beat them!.!

[Infernal Mass]

the same sorta thing is happening with BloodRayne 2. Majesco is giving the sequel to another team besides Terminal Reality (developers of the first game).

Core Design doesn't own Tomb Raider..Eidos does, therefore they can do whatever they want with the series..but i seriously hope they consider leaving the smith brothers in charge of the art and overall creativity of the game..and leave the technology to crystal dynamics.

For those unfimiliar with Crystal Dynamics they are responsible for the Legacy of Kain games

[goodman]

Methinks your one of the very few who is thinking about Tomb Raider right about now, Digi. As for BloodRayne, i wasnt impressed enough to think of it in the future, other than rental, for sure...

[dan da man]

News from Dave Perry's website...

www.gamesanimal.com

(Obviously Eidos agreed that Angel of Darkness was shyte also)

News breaking this morning sees Eidos, the UK’s leading publisher, ditch Core Design in favour of shifting development work on Tomb Raider games to an American studio.
“Eidos will now be evaluating Core's on-going direction and contribution as part of the group's overall development capabilities,” said the firm in a statement.

“Tomb Raider work has shifted to Crystal Dynamics an outfit that has a proven successful track record of being able to work cohesively with Eidos, a trick that Sports Interactive, Free Radical Design and Core haven’t fully mastered.

“As to what this means for the franchise remains to be seen. Lara failed to make the essential evolutionary leap with Angel of Darkness, and this has to be rectified for the brand to retain its super-AAA status. The mechanic that underpinned the game is simply obsolete. The third-person action game is now a subtly balanced, and highly tuned genre, with certain control and interactivity procedures now expected by players. The fact that Lara still revolves on the spot, still will try and walk into walls is just not acceptable any more. The fact that players must endlessly search environments pressing the action button in order to progress has no place in the modern videogame.

“Despite entering at Number one in the UK, albeit for a short time, it’s unlikely that Eidos will ever recover the development spend invested into AOD. Although the franchise is clearly in the black, tough times loom with franchise-driven consolidation poised to sweep the industry, purging/robbing it of smaller games.

“A key franchise such as Tomb Raider cannot afford to gamble its future on a development process that in this hardware generation, was simply not up to the task.

“As to whether this news is related to the recent departure of Core and Eidos director Jeremy Heath-Smith was not clarified. “