Tom@LCO

tombfan said Laura not Lara that's a demerit

Darn that is a tuffy... I guess I'll have to go with Rhona Mitra and then Lucy Clarkson.

Great Job guys they are the best we've seen online so far!!!

A Day in the life of lead designer Harley TR : Underworld Harley White-Wiedow - Lead Designer - Tomb Raider: Underworld Developer's Note: Ordinarily, at this point in a project, my life would be all Tomb Raider all the time, but I'm eight months pregnant, so these days my main interests are food and making sure the team is as well prepared for my impending maternity leave as possible. 6:30 AM: I wake up, feed the animals, get ready for work, and then fill my purse with food and waddle out the door. First breakfast: two toaster waffles (surprisingly healthy when you look at the ingredients) with a drizzle of honey. … I pick up my carpool buddy (a character animator on our cinematic team) at her house and we chat on the way. The baby kicks quite a bit. Traffic is pretty good, so we're at work before nine. Second Breakfast: Bowl of cheerios and milk, plus a second glass of milk eaten while checking my email. Nothing is on fire, so all I need to do is reply to a few requests for information before I can get down to my goal for the day; working with the combat group to polish our first melee encounter to beta. The game won't run for me off the bat this morning, so while the computer is building the code fix for the problem, I'll go in and work on the final pass for the enemy collision as the art for this section is pretty much done. The combat designers stop by to discuss some trickier implementation demands with Player Tailoring. We make a plan and then I'm attracted to the meowing of Eric Lindstrom (our Creative Director)'s cat. I'm a sucker for animals and in my condition I'm pretty much helpless around a meowing kitten - my hormones demand that I try to do something. I haven't seen her in almost a week, and she's huge - and hungry. She's eating solid (ish) food now - he's feeding her a mixture of baby food, cat food, and cat formula out of a spoon and she's covered in the stuff. He goes to a meeting and I pet her for a while until she gets sleepy, then put her in her box and get back to enemy collision. 11:00 am - Steve Goodale, the lead systems designer, stops by for our daily check in. He's focusing on Lara's movement and platforming these days, and he's got things well in hand, so after a short discussion off he goes to get some of the things I want to see more of in game. I field some level design questions, often referring the question to Steve McManus, who will be acting as our main Level Design contact during my maternity leave. 12:00 - It's time for first lunch - enchiladas - while Eric and I go over some of the combat notes that he's collected in the past month or so. Midway into this discussion, his kitten wakes up and demands some play time. This leads to the cognitive dissonance of talking about the mechanisms of killing panthers while Eric keeps a black kitten smaller than my hand from hurting herself on the floor of my cubicle. After lunch I discover something's wrong with my collision - there's a large swath of it that's refusing to allow enemies to path correctly in this unit. I'm puzzling over that when the line starts to form again, and what with this discussion and that (how should we implement fire damage etc.) it's soon 3 pm and time for second lunch. Second lunch is leftover Greek salad from last night, and I'm curious to see if it will make the baby kick like it did then. Sure enough, as I do my afternoon rounds, the baby is kicking up a storm. 4:30 - Snack time! I grab a nectarine from the "Fruit Port" (an empty office our producers keep stocked with fruit) and a big handful of pecans and munch them while I check email again and set up some time with the combat guys to go over the changes I'd like to see in the setup and tuning of the encounter I just built collision for. That done, so is my day; I leave at 5 for my pre-natal Yoga class and get home just in time for... first dinner! Thanks to Keir for the Friday Goodness!

They say the early screens don't do the game justice to what they've refined since. I guess the new one kinda displays that... can't wait to see Lara in one like that.

New TR Underworld Podcast and New Screen Online! Huge Screen of the Next Gen Order is Online and Podcast continued from Crystal Dynamics that features new information for Tomb Raider Underworld in mp3 format. Get it all from our news page where all the links are here.

New TR Underworld Podcast and New Screen Online! Huge Screen of the Next Gen Order is Online and Podcast continued from Crystal Dynamics that features new information for Tomb Raider Underworld in mp3 format. Get it all from our news page where all the links are here.

I think Core had plans for a game with him if the character took off and he was a part of the storyline in Angel of Darkness and assumed dead with a bit of mystery. When Core Design lost the franchise to Tomb Raider all those ideas went with them when Crystal started on a new path and design of the game. I know there are fans out there that would like to see him return and who's to say one day that it might occur... After all Underworld might pursue the afterlife or the day of the dead and we might see a few characters that have passed on in the new game. I wouldn't get my hopes up though as the character might be exclusive to the Core Design of old and can't be used due to copyright but who knows. I think fresh ideas is the best path to take and not rehash the past unless it's absolutely necessary to the story lines integrity otherwise bring on new characters and keep the games nice and fresh!!!

That's what I did!

Updated with Kitty !!! Thanks Keir!

* Microsoft Xbox 360 * Sony PlayStation 3 * PC Games for Windows * Nintendo Wii and DS and * PlayStation 2

Day in the Life Eric Lindstrom – Creative Director for Tomb Raider: Underworld I was going to describe the events of Monday, May 5th as a typical day, but it was far from typical because of what happened over the weekend. But there is almost no such thing as a typical day in my job really, so here it is anyway… I had a lot of work pile up last week, as usual, because I never have ten minutes in a row to myself when I’m at the office. With my wife out of town and my kids busy with their own plans, I came home with only two aims in mind. First, catch up on work (yes, Lara comes home with me a lot), and second, when I needed breaks I would work on another origami model – I’m working on folding a model of every creature in Underworld. I don’t invent models, I only use existing patterns, but because there are creatures in Underworld that we’ve invented, I’ll have to start improvising soon. Not this weekend, though, as I was going to make a black panther, which turned out to be ironic because of what happened to keep me away from both Lara and origami. My stepson came home Saturday with a two-week-old kitten that he’d found alone in a bush. Jet black and less than a quarter of a kilo. If you’ve never seen a kitten that young, they’re smaller than you think. (And it just peed on me while I used one finger to type the previous sentence.) The shelter was going to euthanize it if we left it – kittens that young need bottle feeding and too much care, so that was that. I came to work Monday morning with very little sleep – even at night feeding has to happen every couple hours – plus a cardboard box holding a kitten that didn’t know how to suckle but just swallowed drops of formula I dribbled into her mouth. (Now she’s asleep in my lap – I’ll clean up later.) The morning would have been hasty catching up on email except for people hearing squeaking from my cube – she’s pretty loud for such a small thing. Then it was feeding time, which ended in time for our Leads Meeting. (Damnit, she moved and now I’m holding her from falling with my right hand so I’m typing with my left hand…and I’m not left-handed…) The Leads Meeting is an hour of discussing status of interdisciplinary issues, which was mostly about the upcoming Press Demo next week – I don’t know offhand how long it will be before reports on that Demo will come out, or I’d say. It’s going to be great but as always there are, as we say, a lot of parts on the floor that we still need to put together to make it come alive. Luckily the kitten (I haven’t named her – there are kids involved so the politics of naming her will be interesting and complex) sleeps through lunch so I can eat my hastily packed sandwich and junk from the vending machine. (There, I put her back in her box to sleep so I can type normally again.) After lunch, I carry my kitten-in-a-box down the hall to meet with Toby and Forest, who direct and produce our cinematics, to go over progress on cut scenes and music. There’s plenty left to do but I finished the script long ago and they know what they’re doing and have advanced to a stage where I pretty much wave them on with only a few comments here and there. I’m very happy with the music coming into the game, and it’s a struggle because the sound design is so strong, and I like the mood and feel of strong ambience and light score, that I often need to choose between great music and great ambient sound design. It’s a good problem to have, and I like having the option to go subtle, which is something you can only do when the quality is high. Then I go talk to Harley, the Lead Designer, and go over some combat reviews. We’re at the point where we are iterating on specific combat setups as a way of making the enemies better and better. We also talk about issues of ammunition, weapon balancing, and how to get the kitten to defecate. Yes, cats this young don’t even relieve themselves without help, but I won’t explain here – google it if you’re interested. Today is our monthly development update meeting with the Directors and General Manager of Crystal Dynamics, so I leave my kitten with Harley to care for and go into a room where the Alex, the Project Producer, describes our current Alpha status, steps to Beta, and how well we’re tracking to schedule. We’re tracking well in most categories, but Next Gen – or Current Gen, as we are trying to get ourselves to say – is complex so we have to be wary about everything even when it seems to be going just fine. I don’t emerge from this room for a few hours, and I find the kitten has changed hands among the producers multiple times and I have no idea how much or if she has eaten. Oh well, she’ll tell me herself soon enough – she’s very vocal. I end the day talking with Alex about a number of staffing issues. As you progress towards Beta, people shuffle around as it becomes clear which areas need more creative work and what is taking care of itself. Then I pile the kitten into the car for the long drive home – nearly an hour with traffic. If it sounds like what I do as Creative Director is mostly management, that’s because I couldn’t be specific about the content or details, and today was more of a management day that happens from time to time. Most of my time is spent going over different aspects of the game with various people on the team, deciding together whether it should play like this or that, whether it should look like this or that. On other days it’s cameras, or puzzle layout, or visual effects, and on and on. Most of my time now is spent talking about closing out the rest of the creative elements needed to reach Beta, when we can concentrate on fixing all the bugs and polishing everything. From The LCO News Thanks to Keir for the Goodness!

My First Visit to Crystal! Part Two – The Tour! by Keir of Eidos My First Visit to Crystal! Part Two – The Questions! As you may have seen last week, I wrote up an account of my recent visit to Crystal. I was out in California on holiday, and seeing as I was visiting San Francisco, I took the opportunity to meet the nice folk at Crystal Dynamics and get the inside line on life at the Tomb Raider studios (armed with some all important questions from community). Picture 1 The Crystal offices in all their splendor. While I was there, I crammed in a load of stuff: I hosted our first ever podcast, got a tour of the studio, took lots of photos, met a million charming people, ate strawberries and ultimately achieved the main goal of my mission – to ask some questions about Crystal from the community. I left last week’s installment on a bit of a cliff hanger; while touring the office I had just encountered Jason Botta, and I asked him the first of the community questions. I asked as many as I could, and not all of them got answered, but I’m sure there’ll be an opportunity in the future to ask more  Picture 2 Jason is the man. Me: Can you ask Jason Botta if he wants to go out with a date with me? Larson 1998 Jason: “I think my wife might be rather upset!” And with that Jason rushed off to get back to work and I sat down with Eric Lindstrom, the Creative Director of Tomb Raider: Underworld, and in between discussions about Underworld I put these questions to him: Ask them if Toby Gard is around and is he working on TRU. Daventry “ Toby is around and he’s our cinematics director and continues to be a valued consultant on all things Lara Croft and I’m very glad we have him.” I wouldn’t mind knowing how many people are working on underworld… Nenya awakens “It does vary, but around now it’s around 80 people.” How far ahead do you [Crystal Dynamics] plan the TR games? Legend came out in 2006, then Anniversary came out in 2007 and a brand spanking new current gen TR game will be out at the end of the year. Do you know what story you wanted to tell and how it would pan out when you made Legend? Angelus “They’re asking a lot of questions with this one! Like any good franchise, there’s always going to be another one. Anniversary was a little different, because that wasn’t in the chain, that was done as a side project. And that was why we ended up getting Tomb Raider titles that close together because it was not the same team. We have people who did Anniversary who came on and helped us [on Underworld] but Anniversary was a side venture to reward the fans. The second part of the question, about the length of time we work on a game; what we’re really doing is making a game that is two and a half years long. We started working on Underworld, the same time we started work on Anniversary, so it’s not right to think we finished Anniversary and then started on Underworld. To be precise we started in Christmas 05 on Underworld – hardcore November. I didn’t actually take any time off from Legend on which I did story design and directed, edited and co-wrote the script. I needed to hit the ground running for Underworld so I had all concept docs working for studio approval before Legend was on the shelves. I was excited because when I came back to Crystal (it was my second time here) I was the story designer on Legend, I really wanted to start work three months earlier on Underworld, but I was too busy making the game I was assigned.” Are they planning on another game in the Legacy of Kain series. Knightgames Is there any chance of another Legacy of Kain game in the future? John york “Well there is always…..” *Kathryn coughs loudly and drowns out the answer* Picture 3 Eric faces the barrage of questions! I was actually more curious about what they think of us.. There are so many useless posts bashing at Crystal for no reason (don't get me wrong, I'll probably never play Legend again and I think criticism is important).. - although I'll admit it's going better I love it. MrBear Ask how thay think of us and are comments on them! Hairhelmet12 “I don’t go to the forums for any reason other than I like doing it and I get something valuable out of it. I don’t have any obligation to do it as far as the company is concerned, I don’t even think the directors know that I do it, it’s just something that I think is very valuable and I think it’s important. ‘What do I think of them’ is a different question because I am completely unaffected by all of the mudslinging and all of the bashing. I think it’s too bad sometimes when they say ‘Oh Crystal did this’ or ‘Core did this’ or ‘Toby did this’, when it’s not true. When they say ‘Oh I hated they way they made Lara whiney and emotional, that’s true! We can’t deny that, it’s true! The fact that they have different opinions – that’s important for us to know. When they something that’s not true, that’s unfortunate but I don’t take it personally because I know it’s not true. It’s kind of like listening to gossip that you’re not supposed to listen to. That’s what gossip is, it’s people in the house next door to you, whispering about you and you don’t get to hear it, looking on the forums is like eves-dropping on conversations that are kind of going on with the assumption you’re not listening. Even though they say ‘I hope Crystal are listening!’ they still act as if we’re not. I don’t take any of it personally, I remember reading early on when the community became aware of my name somebody said ‘This Eric sounds OK but he has a way of sounding like he says a lot but really not saying a damn thing’ and I had to laugh because it was true, because at the time I couldn’t say a damn thing and I was trying to hide it as best I could, the guy saw through it and I thought good for you. So when people are going around saying about how much they hate this and hate that often it’s stuff that the community don’t even agree on. With 1500 people there’s going to be 1500 different opinions. I would hate for the community and forums not to be there, and for them not to be saying what they’re saying.” What are some of Crystal Dynamics' most favourite games right now? What are they currently playing on their Xbox 360's and PS3's? UNDERTAKER “I don’t have as much time as I’d like to play video games sadly. We currently have a Battle of the Bands tournament on Rock Band. We just finished up a Guitar Hero tournament, before that we had a Wii Bowling tournament. The Underworld team won the bowling, our producer Julie she’s a powerhouse, they know how to bowl in Nebraska! The most recent team that I played that I loved was Portal, but that’s no surprise to anyone. I loved Portal.” Game development obviously has its highs. But what are some of the lows of the job? What makes the game development process difficult? UNDERTAKER “That wasn’t on the email I saw! What are the low sides of game development? Wow. I’m thinking about all the true answers I don’t want to say! One of the lowest things is that, it’s kinda hard to explain, but imagine making a game over two and a half years that people can play and finish in 12 hours and do the division. So, you can spend a month of hard work where what you see on the screen hasn’t changed, because it’s just a lot of construction work. There are times when you go too long without seeing the thrill of what’s going to end up in the final product, and that can wear you down. But then again, it just makes it that much more exciting when suddenly it all comes together and the screen lights up and everyone sits up in their chair and says ‘Wow! This is great!’ It’s not so much a low moment, but it’s one of the more gruelling non-high points of development. There’s the fact that movies get the benefit of just filming another movie, they don’t have to invent a new camera every time. Making games and the tech that goes with it is like inventing a new camera every time, and they break all the time. I love the story of Richard Dreyfus that he tells of him and all the Jaws actors sitting on the beach waiting for the shark to work for days and days. And a lot of our low points are when the tools all break and don’t work. Then we’re stuck on paper again and there’s no sexy answer to this question!” Does Natla or any old characters such as Kurtis return, if so.. to make my question different to others.. do they die? Dizzydoil [Eric looks at Kathryn] “You don’t want me to answer this question do you?! Natla is immortal, she can’t die, but I’m not saying she’s in the game or not!” Do you plan to put this costume in TRU? (Image of Lara in trousers) KC Mraz “She will have costumes in the game of course. She’ll have shorts and long pants in the game but she’s going to be wearing a hell of a lot more than that!” And with that, Eric dashed off into an important Underworld meeting. Along with these questions we discussed lots of exciting ideas for the Underworld community campaign. Before I conclude this report, no account of a visit to Crystal Dynamics would be complete without (a much requested) photo of Riley Cooper! Picture 4 Keep an eye on the forums for more information on our Tomb Raider: Underworld community campaign, and if you have any questions or suggestions I’m only a Private Message away!

12/02/08 - WET go to wetthegame.com looks like a good one.

The first in a series of podcasts recorded at Crystal Dynamics during a recent visit there by Global PR Manager Eidos U.k. Keir Edmonds for Tomb Raider Underworld. Download the Podcast Interview here featuring Eric Lindstrom (Creative Director) and Alex Jones (Underworld Producer)

I could never get it that way I had to hide behind a stone on the upper level and shot him a million times wearing him down.

I was merely curious of the Underworld part and when I found Queen of the Underworld I guess we have to look into what that Underworld was. I recall at the end of legend Lara wanted a meeting with the council because her father was right about the whole thing. So I am thinking perhaps The Queen of the Underworld helps Lara and she speaks to her Dad. Interesting possibility if it happens. Anyways I am having fun with the what ifff's atm until we get some storyline.

I'd say at least a 100 that Takamoto had me stuck for awhile.

My First Visit to Crystal! Part One – The Tour! by Keir As many of you know I’m the Global Community Manager at Eidos. This means that a) I’m very, very lucky and I’m responsible for working with the fan communities for all of Eidos’ titles, from the brutal and murderous Hitman to the cute and sweet Pony Friends. It’s a fantastic job and would be a massive task in itself, even without the gargantuan behemoth that is the Tomb Raider community which makes sure I’m kept amazingly busy (it’s also the best community to work with – but don’t tell anyone else I said that). One of the things I like most about community management is that the interaction with the community makes the world a very small place. In my day to day duties I can answer questions and speak to Tomb Raiders from around the world; a Tomb Raider fan in Mexico wants to know if Lara will be wearing trousers in Underworld, one in Australia wonders when the next bit of goodness will be released, another in Russia has translated all the cut scenes from TR1 and 2, I love it. Indeed, when I go on holiday these days I normally encounter some Tomb Raider fans somewhere along the way. Last year when I was on a family holiday in Finland I ended up meeting with some fine Finnish TR fans on an impromptu community day in Helsinki, around 10 guys turned up and a lovely day was had by all, eating strawberries under the Nordic sun, chatting about Lara, Natla and Anniversary. So, when I had made arrangements to visit the west coast of the good old US of A, it seemed inevitable that it would include Tomb Raider in some way. The fact that I was flying into San Diego and making my way to San Francisco meant there was only one outcome – my first visit to Crystal Dynamics to see where the magic happens! So, while you’re waiting for the next update on the awesomeness that is Underworld, I thought I’d give you all a behind the scenes look at Lara’s studio. The first part of my holiday was taken up with the journey from San Diego, which took in the ridiculous (Hollywood is seriously crazy) to the sublime (coastal Highway 1, flanked by the Pacific on one side and rolling hills on the other is a beautiful way to see what California has to offer) before arriving in San Francisco. SF is a lovely place. It’s a compact, liberal and welcoming city with splendid architecture and tasty sourdough bread (not to mention quite a famous bridge). The sharply inclined streets which carry the famous Trolley Cars are framed by grand buildings exuding atmosphere which lead down to the ocean – but most importantly of all, it’s home to Crystal Dynamics. Picture 1 Me and the 4 litre Mustang I took up the coast, lol Kathryn (who is the brand manager and general goddess of the TR brand from Eidos HQ in London) was out in Crystal at the time and she had spread the word that I would be visiting. On the morning of my visit, I set off from my hotel just off Union Square. As my taxi sped south down the 32 lane freeway (OK, I exaggerate but Californian roads are big) I spotted a futuristic and plush looking office complex glinting in the distance. I had seen photos of Crystal D before, and I was sure this was it. I wasn’t wrong and with-in a couple of minutes I had arrived and found myself standing outside Tomb Raider HQ. Picture 2 The Crystal Dynamics studios in all their splendour. This fine building houses Crystal Dynamics and the US branch of Eidos. It was great to finally have the opportunity to be here, because I frequently exchange emails with a lot of the people that work behind the swanky glass façade. As I made my way in I spotted a small an unassuming chap with shortly cropped hair, a goatee and round rimmed glasses, but more about him later. I introduced myself at reception where Morgan Gray (some of you may recognise the name from an Anniversary Wii video we released a while back) was sitting on the comfy sofas catching up with the industry latest from some computer magazines. Before I knew it, Kathryn appeared and ferried me into the offices. Picture 3 I had finally reached my destination! Picture 4 This is Kathryn, who is the Tomb Raider Brand Manager is somewhat camera-shy, and she will kill me when she sees I’ve sent this out. They offices are vast, occupying an entire floor, grouped by department. Everyone sits in their own large cubicle each of which had been decorated and personalised by its occupant. Some of them were funny, others really neat. One of them even had an improvised roof, so the cubicle looked more like a cave. Before I could get a full tour of the office I had been escorted (read: frogmarched) to a meeting room where some recording equipment had been set up. Along with Mona and Justin from tombraiderchronicles.com, Kathryn and I have been working on a series of podcasts to give the community the inside line on the development of Underworld. I hadn’t initially planned to partake in the recordings (because I am shy!) but when Kathryn and Crystal said I should, I could hardly refuse. It wasn’t long until Eric Lindstrom joined us. Eric is the Creative Director on Tomb Raider: Underworld and general living legend. He’s responsible for the storyline and oversees all the creative elements of development. I had first met him many moons ago when a few members of the Crystal team visited Eidos HQ to present an overview of Underworld. I had compiled a list of criteria and points that the community wanted to see from the next Tomb Raider and taken into that meeting. As Eric spoke I remember ticking off each point I had noted down. I’m delighted to say (because it makes my job great!) that Eric has worked on Underworld with the community in mind. I appreciate you’ll only really be able to believe that when you see it, but it’s why I’m looking forward to release so much! Alex Jones (Underworld Producer, who seemed really cool but was suffering from the mother of all colds) joined us shortly after. There was time for some quick discussion and a couple of sound checks before we recorded the first podcast, which will be available for download soon so watch this space! Picture 5 No it’s not a screenshot from Underworld I’m afraid – but even the meeting rooms sound familiar! Once the podcast was recorded, we all relaxed and retired to another meeting room where Crystal had kindly provided some fresh fruit for me to graze on. As I tucked into some delicious strawberries (there seems to be a strawberry-theme developing here) Eric, Kathryn and I discussed every aspect of the community, from Eidos’ split from Core and some people’s resulting animosity to Crystal, the buzz around Underworld, and Crystal’s interaction in the community, etc. Eric mentioned that he checks the forums at least once a day. He’s not alone. As I made my way round the office meeting various members of the dev team, I discovered that a lot of the team do likewise. As the community manager, this was great to hear. I’ll encourage and manage some community interaction from the guys at Crystal for the Underworld campaign, of course they’re extremely busy, but we all agree direct interaction would be great for the community. Picture 6 No Tomb Raider community day is complete without fresh strawberries! Yum! We continued chatting and I asked some questions from the community. I’ll give you the answers in next week’s instalment of my visit. With the questions answered Eric had to dash off into some important meetings. It was great to spend some time with him, and I was suitably excited to hear in person about how much he values the community and its opinions. Now is a good time for me to tease you and say that we have some really cool ideas for this coming up! Next up was my tour of the studio. The offices are deceptively huge. My photos don’t really do them justice. There are lots of people busily scurrying around, and they’re all really helpful which is just as well as I frequently got lost and when I asked directions, everyone was super helpful. I must have met about a hundred people in the space of a couple of hours. Here are some photos of the offices I took while I was wondering around…. Picture 6a Imagine this x 10,000 in area! The first thing you notice, apart from the size is that Lara is everywhere. Concept art here, renders there. This was fun to see, but the coolest part of the office was a massive wall covered in concept art from the game. As you walk from left to right, the storyboards and concept art play out the main details of the game. Yes, it’s a long walk from the one end to the other, and yes I did walk all the way to the end – but I’m not going to show you any photos of that! Picture 7 Picture 8 First I met Juli who’s a producer on Underworld (and the office Wii Bowling Champion). She is a really great laugh and proudly showed off her Wii Bowling Trophy. As Eric said ‘They sure know how to bowl in Nebraska!’ Picture 9 Picture 10 Picture 11 This is Jae. He works in creative services, which means part of his job is to take and distribute the screenshots which I get to pass onto you guys. He is a top bloke. He was really interested to meet me as he’s another one who enjoys browsing the forums. You might be seeing some more of him in the future! Picture 12 This is the nerve centre of TR:U - Eric’s desk. It was empty at the time as he was in his important meetings. It’s pretty neat compared to some of the desks I saw and it would seem he likes to unwind with a nice stout after a hard day’s work on TR! Picture 13 I ran into Morgan again, he happily posed for a photo! This guy is so laid back he’s practically horizontal Picture 14 Crystal have comfy sofas (and the TV is guarded by a familiar face to ensure there isn’t any slacking!) I didn’t have time to sit down though. Picture 15 No time for a snack either! Picture 16 I discovered where Eric had got too. Here he is with Forest and Toby in discussion about some important cinematic matters. Toby is a decent and down to earth chap, I had a good chat to him shortly afterwards. At the end of the day, Kathryn and I got the train back to SF central with Forest, she told us some secrets about how Crystal create some of the sound effects (more on this later!) and she gave me some tips for some cool bars in downtown SF to visit. I met a million more people, but didn’t get photos of everyone. However, one of the guys I really wanted to meet was Troels Folmann. I’ve spoken to him a few times on email and I’ve always been a huge fan of the music in Tomb Raider; I loved what he had achieved in Anniversary. It was getting to the end of the day and I hadn’t had a chance to speak to him, until my meanderings took me past his office - low and behold there he was. I popped my head round the door to say hi and he invited me in for a long chat. Picture 17 He’s seriously cool and was really interested and excited to hear about my work with the community. Troels is another guy that spends a lot of time reading the forums and checking on community consensus. If you’ve ever created a thread about the music in the game, chances are Troels has read it. I told him I definitely wanted to do some community related features about the music in the game and he agreed that we must, so watch this space. Finally, I bumped into a certain Jason Botta. He is a master of understated cool. It was a pleasure to meet him, but more importantly, it gave me the chance to ask the first questions from the community and make him (somewhat reluctantly) pose for a photo request! Picture 18 While I was chatting to Jason, I took this opportunity to ask the first of the questions from the community so read the second instalment for the Q&A session with Eric Lindstrom and Jason in which we talk about Crystal’s view of the Tomb Raider community, what it’s like to work on Underworld, if Crystal knew about Core’s version of Anniversary and lots, lots more! Out next week!

I recently was reading my local Sunday paper and the article was about the Aztec temples and holiday traditions that included Dia De Los Muertos The Day of the Dead. I found this interesting as the new game called Underworld starts apparently or in some part is in Mexico at the Aztec temples and Underworld is mentioned in regards to Aztec mythology, Mictecacihuatl is the Queen of Mictlan, the underworld, ruling over the afterlife with Mictlantecuhtli, another deity who is designated as her husband. So I was thinking that there might be a relationship regarding this day in the game to speak to the dead and possibly some past characters or family members for whatever reason to help her find her mother or help Lara with some dilema in the game. In any case I find it interesting as it could be her Father or Kurtis Trent if he is dead and possibly Von Croy also... Dunno if anyone thought of this possiblity but I thought I'd share in what I felt as a possibility in relation to the Underworld name and Mexico. I've listed some Wikipedia info below. What do you think? Origins of Day of the Dead The Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico can be traced back to the indigenous peoples such as the Olmec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Mexican, Aztec, Maya, P'urhépecha, and Totonac. Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors have been observed by these civilizations perhaps for as long as 2500–3000 years. In the pre-Hispanic era, it was common to keep skulls as trophies and display them during the rituals to symbolize death and rebirth. The festival that became the modern Day of the Dead fell in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar, about the beginning of August, and was celebrated for an entire month. The festivities were dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl, known as the "Lady of the Dead," corresponding to the modern Catrina. In most regions of Mexico, May 5th honors deceased children and infants where as deceased adults are honored on May 6th. This is indicated by generally referring to May 5th as "Día de los Angelitos" (Day of the Little Angels) and May 6th as "Día de los Difuntos" In Aztec mythology, Mictecacihuatl is the Queen of Mictlan, the underworld, ruling over the afterlife with Mictlantecuhtli, another deity who is designated as her husband. Her role is to keep watch over the bones of the dead. She presided over the ancient festivals of the dead, which evolved from Aztec traditions into the modern Day of the Dead after synthesis with Spanish cultural traditions. She is said now to preside over the contemporary festival as well. Mictecacihuatl is known as the Lady of the Dead, since it is believed that she was born, then sacrificed as an infant. Her cult is sometimes held to persist in the common Mexican worship of Santa Muerte.

Mac Life Magazine May 2008 Tomb Raider Anniversary Mac Review Tomb Raider Anniversary Parkour Plunder Lara Croft trades Indiana Jone's whip for a pair of big guns. The two characters end up in similar adventures, however, stealing priceless artifacts from around the world. But unlike the creakier Dr. Jones, Lara uses her athleticism to vault through traps, off walls, and over pits. This acrobatic style makes Tomb Raider Anniversary an exciting game, even though it occasionally frustrates. Anniversary is easily the best Tomb Raider game released for the Mac. This title remakes the original with all-new graphics, control, and puzzles. The graphics look as good as - or better than - any other current game, with jungle settings that almost feel humid, and stone monuments that actually look brittle. Subtle shadows creep through the 3D enviroments to bring out depth. Lara also looks great (as per usual), but we were especially sold by her movement animations. So much of the game is a kinetic adventure, and it's exciting to maneuver her on swinging ropes, climbing along ledges, and dive-rolling under closing doors. It took us a long time to learn all of Lara's actions, althought onscreen prompts usually help beginners. A keyboard and mouse will work in a pinch, but we had the best results with a gamepad. Her fancy footwork makes the adventure puzzles possible. Lara is usually trying to plunder ancient riches, but there's always a flying dagger, giant boulder, or swinging ax about to spring at her. You'll have to figure out how to dodge these obstacles, but more often, you'll need to discover ways around locked doors and over high ledges. And while these controls often work well with puzzles, sending our hero swinging over a ravine to safety, we were still sometimes frustrated. We knew at a few points, for example, that we had to push backward off a ledge to catch someone, but consistently failed the leap. These occasional points of constant, repetitive frustration steal Tomb Raider's well-deserved momentum. The bottom line. While the controls take practice and patience to master, Tomb Raider Anniversary pays off with unmatched action. -- Zack Stern Feral Interactive www.feralinteractive.com Price: $50 Requirements: 1.8GHz or faster Intel CPU, Mac OS 10.4 or later 512MB RAM, 64MB dedicated VRAM ------------------------------------------------ + Fantastic graphics and sound define the enviroments. Exciting acrobatics are full of action. Challenging puzzles. ---------------------------------------------------- - Intel Macs only. Occasional points where you know what to do but can't make Croft succeed. Enemy AI lamely charges for you, sometimes getting trapped behind minor obstacles. Thanks to Gia for her typing skills

I saw it the other day in my playstation magazine... I wasn't happy that was the only format.

You can get it new in the UK but it's no longer listed on Amazon for the USA

The drought is over as our friends at Eidos release a few new images of the New Lara Croft from Tomb Raider Underworld. Check out the comparison image to see the differences. TR: Underworld New Image 1 TR: Underworld New Image 2 TR: Underworld New Image 3 TR: Underworld New Image 4 TR: Underworld New Image 5 The Gallery Contains these images as well as all the other categories for Tomb Raider here.

The drought is over as our friends at Eidos release a few new images of the New Lara Croft from Tomb Raider Underworld. Check out the comparison image to see the differences. TR: Underworld New Image 1 TR: Underworld New Image 2 TR: Underworld New Image 3 TR: Underworld New Image 4 TR: Underworld New Image 5 The Gallery Contains these images as well as all the other categories for Tomb Raider here.