I’ve forgotten how many times I’ve played the recent Tomb Raider games, Legend and Anniversary. After getting completely disillusioned with the franchise, thanks to Angel of Darkness, I was more than satisfied with Crystal Dynamics’ take on Lady Lara Croft’s adventures even though the puzzle elements left a big huge gap in Legend, (not so bad with Anniversary). And for those that were eagerly awaiting Eidos’ announcement at E2 2007 about the next game in the series in vain, there’s hope yet.

Talking to SPOnG.com, Eidos’ Ian Livingstone talked about how the next game in the series was already “Well in development” and said that the third Tomb Raider movie adaptation hasn’t yet been given the green signal yet, while gushing all over Angelina Jolie. Considering the cliffhanger with which Legend ended, and the seemingly obvious ties to the Atlantean storyline in Anniversary, the next game is something I just can’t wait for. On the other hand, if you don’t have any other console except a Wii, enjoy the first look at the Wii edition of Tomb Raider: Anniversary, which, according to senior producer Morgan Gray “adds more tomb raider to Tomb Raider”. Xbox 360 owners can expect to see Tomb Raider: Anniversary as Downloadable Content on Xbox Live sometime next month, whereas PSP, PS2 and PC owners can rush out right now and pick up their copies at stores, if you haven’t already done so.

Eidos’ Ian Livingstone On The Future of Tomb Raider [SPOnG.com]
Tomb Raider: Anniversay (Wii) - Preview Video

… and how to tell if you are one of them!

Here’s the simple 5 Step test.
5 – You buy Tomb Raider because you just heard that Tomb Raider Legend has a Hot Coffee mod available for download on Xbox Live!
On an added note, read this.

And get the patch from here.

4 – You think John Leguizamo makes a cool “Luigi”

3 – You heard about Metal Gear Solid and decided to invest in an Ageia PhysX board. Just to see how Solid and Liquid Snake will move.

2 – You just heard about the new Bodyguard game for the Wii. Featuring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, of course!

1 – Truth is stranger than fiction. You go to a gaming expo and check out fucking PINBALL on the latest Dual Cores available.

So did you pass the test?

The Boob is back! And it’s younger, firmer and more supple than before. Now, now, before you start complaining to the women in our lives about our debauchery, we mean Lara Croft, swear! After delivering a power-packed punch to adventure gaming and rescuing the almost-dead Tomb Raider franchise from the gutter with Legend, Crystal Dynamics has finally put a date on when we can expect to play with lil’ Lara again.

Continuing from Legend’s cliffhanger ending, the Anniversary Edition retells the story of the first Tomb Raider, except that this time, the story is more deeply involved with the plot that was unveiled in Legend. Seeking to understand her future and her father’s legacy, Lara heads back to the past to search for answers to questions that Legend raised. As we’ve already been told, the game will feature a revamped Legend engine and will not be set exactly the way the original was, even though most enemies and puzzles will find their place in the remake.

The much younger Lara, minus her friendly companions and her trusty maghook, will make her way through Incan ruins and the sunken Atlantis, battling humans, wolves, bats, bears and even velociraptors and a T-Rex to get to the bottom of this mystery. Anniversary is exclusive to the PC, the PS2 and the PSP, (WHY! I just got an Xbox 360!) with the PC and the PlayStation 2 versions enjoying a June 5 release date, even as the PSP version gets pushed back yet again. We just hope Anniversary does a much better job with the Tomb Raider puzzle elements as well as enjoying a decent run on the PSP, which is something Legend screwed up on big time! We will have an extended preview of the game as well as our experiences on using the camera to look down her blouse soon enough. Hit the preview image on top to get a bigger picture of the luscious Karima Adebibe…