crystal-dynamics posts

One of the co-creators of Eidos' Tomb Raider franchise, Toby Gard, has left the company's development team at Crystal Dynamics. According to Develop, Gard would not comment on why he has left the company, saying only that " I've started up my own consultancy business."

Gard was one of the main designers behind the original Tomb Raider at developer Core Design in 1995. He left Core after Tomb Raider's release to form Cofounding Factor, a development team that spent seven years creating a game, Galleon, that was finally released for the original Xbox in 2004 to poor reviews and sales. Eidos later brought Gard in as a consultant on Tomb Raider Legend and Gard ended up as the co-writer of the game's storyline along with other duties on the game. He also co-wrote and performed other duties on the next game in the series Tomb Raider Underworld. He was supposedly leading a group at Crystal Dynamics on a new project which most people believed would be the next Tomb Raider game.

[Update: We received an email from Nielsen Entertainment asking us to remove the image and we've done so as a courtesy. So instead, why not enjoy this pic of the latest Lara Croft model?]

We do love our rumors and this new one on the details of the next Tomb Raider game from Eidos (oh, excuse us . . Square Enix) seems to lean on the side of legit (for now anyway). A web site called fourplayercoop.com claims to have a mole inside the development team that took some pictures of a monitor displaying some info on the latest Lara Croft adventure.

The alleged info shows off some concept artwork and details of the type of game that developer Crystal Dynamics is making. Supposedly the game will have Lara engage in an open-world style of action game on an island. The story is also supposed to reboot Lara's origins because this game will be set early in her life and will show how she grew to be the hard-as-nails adventure babe.

Eidos may have been bought out by Square Enix recently but the game developer/publisher is still cutting jobs at its Northern California-based team at Crystal Dynamics. After letting 30 team members go last January, Kotaku has learned that the team has let go of another 25 people this week.

The team's last project was Tomb Raider Underworld which didn't meet Eidos's sales expectations. There's no official word yet on what Crystal Dynamics' next project will be although many assume it will be yet another Tomb Raider game. Meanwhile Eidos' Montreal studio is actually hiring for their two announced projets Deus Ex 3 and Thief 4.

If you had a game that sold 1.5 million copies in a little over a month worldwide that would be considered by most to be a huge hit. Not so for Eidos who announced late last week that their latest Lara Croft-starring action game Tomb Raider Underworld reached that sales mark. Even so, those numbers were below the UK publisher's expectations. The lower numbers also caused 30 people to be laid off at Eidos' Crystal Dynamics development studio.

So what to do about that, you may ask? The UK based Times web site chatted with Eidos's CFO Robert Brent who stated, "We need to look at everything, as we develop the next game. Look at how Batman changed successfully, from the rather sad character of the Michael Keaton era to the noir style of The Dark Knight." The article speculates that the next Tomb Raider game could try to appeal to a more female audience rather than the male gamer that has influenced the series since its start. Does that also mean no more live action Lara Croft models that look like Allison Carroll?

On Friday Eidos announced that due to lower than expected sales of Tomb Raider Underworld their previous estimates for their full year revenues would fall short of expectations. Now Kotaku, citing unnamed sources, is reporting that 30 team members from the game's developer Crystal Dynamics have now been laid off.

The report did not say how many other team members remain at the developer which shares space with Eidos' US branch in Northern California. Eidos said early on Friday that while Tomb Raider Underworld sold well in Europe and worldwide sales have totaled 1.5 million units so far the game did not sell as expected in the US.

Update: Our sister site Joystiq has now confirmed the layoffs via a spokesperson from Eidos.

Did you ever get that sinking feeling? Lara Croft certainly has in this new clip from the upcoming action-adventure game Tomb Raider Underworld. Croft has to deal with shooting bad guys on a cargo ship and then has to deal with the ship itself blowing up and going down into the sea. Six new screenshots from the game from developer Crystal Dynamics and publisher Eidos show off more of the ship gun battles.

Download the Tomb Raider Underworld Sinking Ship Trailer (30 MB)

With Tomb Raider: Underworld due for release next week, the folks at publisher Eidos want you to have a leg-up on the rest of the world while playing the latest action-adventure game. They have launched what they are calling the Tomb Raider Experience web site which will offer up exclusive unlockable in-game items.

The web site does this by putting you through a series of browser based games such as hitting the right key at the right time to avoid a tentacle from a Kraken or balance main character Lara Croft on a balance beam. The more times you are successful, the more points you get and the more chances for unlockable items you can receive. Tomb Raider Underworld itself is due for release on Nov. 18.

This behind the scenes video for Tomb Raider Underworld discusses the latest changes to Lara Croft and her abilities so that she can overcome past limitations.

Download HD Tomb Raider Beneath the Surface Video #3 (108 MB)
Download HD Tomb Raider Beneath the Surface Video #2 (130 MB)
Download HD Tomb Raider Beneath the Surface Video #1 (206 MB)

Two new Tomb Raider: Underworld trailers take Lara Croft to exotic locations all over the world. The "Jungle" trailer has her performing her acrobatics around jungle ruins to solve a complex puzzle, while the "Diving" trailer takes her underwater to face aquatic menaces. In both cases, she handles herself with great skill.

Download the HD Tomb Raider: Underworld "Jungle" Trailer (60 MB)
Download the HD Tomb Raider: Underworld "Diving" Trailer (52 MB)

We last saw Lara Croft running into a jungle toward some ancient ruins in the last trailer, now we actually get to see what happens when she gets there. The trailer shows off some spectacular graphics and animations that will be found in Tomb Raider Underworld, and a first encounter with some exotic wildlife. The only question is, which is really the endangered species here?

Download the Tomb Raider Underworld HD Trailer #3 (47 MB)
Download the Tomb Raider Underworld HD Trailer #2 (46 MB)