The "Lara Croft Way"

26 February 2010

Lara Croft's popularity has increased dramatically over the past ten years, so it was only time to hear that Derby council will name a new inner road "Lara Croft Way". Thousands of people voted on an internet poll on the official Derby council website, and in the end Lara Croft had collected 89% of the votes from over 30,000 people. Derby was home to British developer Core Design who made the first six Tomb Raider games from 1996 to 2003.

Derby City councilor Lucy Care, said: "The vote really captured the imagination of people from across the world. Despite my lack of gaming knowledge, I accept that a majority of 89% for Lara Croft is too overwhelming to ignore. She was created in Derby and deserves to stand alongside some of the more traditional icons of the city."


CLICK HERE to visit the official site,
CLICK HERE to visit the BBC article.

Take that Mario!

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Article: Police, Models and Highway Pursuits - (Read More)

 25 February 2010

Over the years the Tomb Raider Series has picked up a series of funny and interesting stories in it’s duration, and now with a gap between the release of the third Tomb Raider movie and Tomb Raider Origins, it’s the perfect time to look back at those news stories that made our day. From identification mistakes to innocent high way pursuits, we go back to the very start of Tomb Raider in the mid 1990s.

Perhaps the most remembered story is the one from 2007 when someone decided to sell a life size classic Lara Croft model on eBay. Computer shop owner David Williams, had placed it near the window in his living room. Later that evening he received several nuisance phone calls and decided to call the police. The police turned up near midnight and saw a gun wielding silhouette of a person at the window. The police decided to corner off the street (it would have been great if that road was called Lara Croft Way instead) and burst through the front door holding guns. The police announced later that they did try to knock on the door first but there was no reply. The best part of the story has got to be what the police did next. The officers walked inside and found the life sized model near the window, the man who was selling model had to speak to his lawyers about claiming wrongful arrest and Lara was then impounded to be used as evidence...like there isn’t a limited amount of merchandise already! I bet they just wanted to have the model in the office and have their picture taken with it

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Alison Carroll Interview about "Life is an Art" (Read More)

Alison Carroll, the latest Official Tomb Raider model has been filming in "Life is an Art" a horror show that is due to be released later this year, she was interviewed about her part and how it differs from Lara Croft, the show and other future projects. Please note that the interview has a scene from that show which some viewers may find disturbing.
Click read more to see the video

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Kritsten Stewart turned down the Lara Croft role (Read More)

News released yesterday afternoon said that Kritsten Stewart has recently turned down the role of Lara Croft in the upcoming Tomb Raider film. The 19 year old from  Los Angeles turned down the role because (like Megan Fox) even though she was offered it, she didn't want to be the next Angelina Jolie.

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Article: Dreamcast - (Read More)

Since the confirmation of a new Tomb Raider Movie, there has been little information released about it. We do know that it's an origin story and will not feature Angelina Jolie. At the moment it hasn't been released if the movie will be a CGI movie or not, with that in mind I have constructed my wish list for the upcoming movie:

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Tonner's Upcoming Tomb Raider figure

16 February 2010

The Tonner company which is famous for it's high quality figures has released that it's next piece will be another Tomb Raider doll, however it won't be Lara Croft but Amanda Evert. The figure is slightly less then the Lara Croft figure, at the moment the cost is rumoured to be around $160. The figure was first seen at the 2010 Toy Fair at the Javits Convention Center in New York. And I presume like the other figures, it will be avalible to deliver to North America only.

CLICK HERE to see a photo of it at Kotaku.com

Amanda Evert first appeared in Tomb Raider Legend, and revealed more about Lara's past. Lara and Amanda had once worked together until an accident when a beast released by an anchient artefact (called the Wraith Stone) began to kill Lara's co-workers. Amanda and Lara is finally cornered and the beast runs towards Lara, but before reaching her Amanda pulls out the stone and the beast disappears. Pulling out the stone may have stopped the beast, but caused the ceiling to cave in, water to run into the room and the doors began closing. For many years after Lara believe that Amanda died by rocks falling on her...But she survived.

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Article: Know Your Target Market (Read More)

14 February 2010

There seems to be several articles on the internet about the Tomb Raider games but not that many about fandom. Although fans are one of most important aspects of any company. Crystal and Eidos are only still making TR games because there are still millions of fans who would buy the product and thats true of any company who survives this recession. One of the most important factors is to always have the target market as your first pirority.

If you have watched Torchwood: Children of Earth, you might be aware that there was some controversey with one of the episodes (Day 4), and a few weeks after the episode the lead producer and writer appeared at a popular convention and insulted the fans who disagreed with the choice for him to kill one of the characters...Ok I'm a member of the club, but still it's a good example of how you should never annnoy your fanbase.

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Nell McAndrew Raising money for Cancer Research

14 February 2010

Nell McAndrew is taking part in this year's Vigin London Marathon on April 27 to raise money for Cancer Research. CLICK HERE to see her funraising page.

This year I am taking part in my 5th London Marathon, I'm running in aid of Cancer Research UK, a charity very close to my heart. The work that Cancer Research UK does is amazing, and they were the organisation I turned to when my Dad was diagnosed with T-Cell Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. He is now thankfully in remission.
Please sponsor me what you can to help beat cancer.
Nell McAndrew x

She was the second Lara Croft official model, taking over from Rhona Mitra promoting the series.

Quote from her funraising page

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Happy Birthday Lara!

February 14th is Lara's birthday, and to celebrate Guns and Grapple has made a Lara Croft quiz to test your knowledge. Have fun!

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Ian Livingston on Game Based Learning

Ian Livingston (co founder of Eidos Interactive) talks about the the postive points of Game Based Learning and how letting children interact with video games at a young age and in schools can teach them, recent newspaper articles, change from books to technology, why people play game etc. You can view the video at the Official Game Based Learning website, CLICK HERE. The video is 35minute long.

"Technology is changing the world and people are changing too. In a survey conducted in 2008 with 18-24 year olds revealed that 75% of them would rather give up their TVs then their internet connection. People are bored about being passive receptors of information. We are living in an interactive world and interactive entertainment is a far more compelling experience then passive entertainment."

(continued)

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New Upcoming Lara Croft Statue

We wanted more merchandise, and now we've got it. It seems that we have also got the same problem...well for some. Along with the Tomb Raider Underworld Ultimate Fan Pack, the Tomb Raider Tonner dolls and the Art of Tomb Raider, you may just have to be the famous raider just to collect them. The latest piece of merchandise was created by Adam Hughes who you may recognise from some of the artwork in the Tomb Raider Comics, together with Slidshow connections he has created a brand new detailed Lara Croft Model

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Happy Birthday Keeley!

The current voice of Lara Croft (Keeley Hawes) is celebrating her birthday today. Everyone at Guns and Grapple wishes her a happy brithday.

Keeley has been the voice of the video game heroine since 2006 with the release of Tomb Raider Legend. Since then she has recurred her role in Tomb Raider Anniversary and Tomb Raider Underworld as well as narrarating Gametap's documentary on the series. It is yet unconfirmed if she will be returning to the role ecspecially since Crystal is making a origin story.

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It was also Minnie Driver's birthday on 31st January. Minnie was the voice of Lara Croft in Gametap's animated series for every episode. We wish her a belated birthday

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Keeley Hawes Adverts and Appearances

There's been quite a lot of news about Keeley released recently. Starring in several televison and magazine adverts for Boot's exclusive No.7 Range. She has also been involved in several guest role in shows as well as stepping into Alex Drake's boots for a special Ashes to Ashes show.

She has also been nominated for a Glamour award 2010.

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