Art of Tomb Raider Book Delayed

From Art of Tomb Raider Blog:

Here's a quick update on the book's progress and a few new pages.

The final file is at the printer and a few minor adjustments are being made to correct color, contrast, etc. Everything looks fantastic and it is wonderful to see things wrapping up nicely. Here's the bad news. Unfortunately our print run has fallen during the Chinese New Year, so delivery will be delayed until February. I wanted to have it in my hands for Christmas too. Humbug!

Until then, here are a few pages from Volume II which covers the Crystal Dynamics Years.

You can view the photos HERE

The "Art of Tomb Raider Book" features 568 pages of Tomb Raider concept art, renders, etc from all of the Tomb Raider games. The special edition book is limited to 2000 copies. To find out more visit the Official Site CLICK HERE

Never before seen Legend/Anniversary/Underworld Concept Art released

Yesterday, Toby Gard posted on his website never before seen concept artwork he created for Tomb Raider Legend (2006), Tomb Raider Anniversary (2007), Tomb Raider Underworld (2008). The pieces were drawn to be used as promotional photos, but were rejected. As well as the unseen work, there is also a number of renders that Toby Gard had created for the games. For each one he gives his opinion about the renders.


CLICK HERE for the unseen concept art
CLICK HERE for his opinions about the promotional artwork

It would have been interested in seeing some of the unused concept artwork pieces as promotional pieces. I quite like the third and fourth pieces.

Toby Gard created the Tomb Raider series in 1995. His first ideas for the game was similar to Indiana Jones movies, it featured a male lead character, tombs, a brilliant storyline and loads of hidden relics. Later this idea was changed to avoid a lawsuit, it soon featured a female lead character which after a few modifications became Lara Croft.

40 Various Styles Artworka of Lara Croft

thedesigninspiration.com has posted 40 pieces of brilliant, detailed, artworks created by fans on their website. The pieces of artwork is a collection that shows the various ways Lara Croft can be portrayed. From comic designs by Motorfish and Core Design's Lara pieces like Nebezial and Cuson. But all pieces are fabulous.

CLICK HERE for the website.

Keeley gives her Christmas Top Tip

Keeley Hawes, current voice of Lara Croft, has revealed her Christmas Top Tip for this year in a video for CHASE Children Hospice. She is join with a group of other guests.

She recorded her section of the video in between scenes while filming the third series of "Ashes to Ashes"

New Pringles Advertisement Starring Lara Croft

Lara Croft has appeared in a new advert promoting Pringles. The video can be seen at Pringles Asia Facebook page (Click here) and their YouTube page (Click Here). You can also view the video below.



The actress who plays Lara is still unknown.

Lara has appeared in previous advertisements which has included being the face of Lucozade (also known at the time as Larazade) and also Visa.

Final Chapters have been uploaded

The final four chapters have now been uploaded onto Guns and Grapple's Charity page which has been raising money for Children in Need. I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has donated because of Guns and Grapple or through the site. I don't know the final amount because it was linked directly through to the charity's donation page, but I do know that we have raised quite a lot of money. Thank you for making this project a success!

So far the total for the appeal show the charity has raised 12,691,312

Thanks again, and I hope you have enjoyed the crossover story!

CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY

Chapter 3 of Children in Need story is up

The third chapter of Guns and Grapple's story "Past and Present" is now avalible. The story to to raise money for Children in Need and raise awareness mainly in the UK, but around the world as well.

Visit our GAGM's new section to read the latest chapter. Click here

Second Chapter of "Past and Present" is released

The second part of "Past and Present" is now online! "Past and Present" is a Tomb Raider and Torchwood crossover which was wrote to raise money for Children in Need.

Click here to go to the site!

Petition to Eidos at Eidos Forums - Underworld for PSP

A new petition at the Eidos Forums has began today in hope that Eidos will released Tomb Raider Underworld for PSP. In 2006 with the release of Tomb Raider Legend, the game was released on PSP, XBOX, Nintendo DS, PC, GameBoy Advanced, Gamecube, and Playstation 2, however the sequel (Tomb Raider Underworld) was only released on PC, XBOX360, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Nintendo DS and Wii. It seems strange that Eidos and Crystal will only release the sequel on different platforms then the first part.

Click here to view the petition

Charity Fundraising Event Starts!

Guns and Grapple has a brand new section to raise money for Children in Need. Over the past few months I have wrote a Tomb Raider and Torchwood crossover to raise money for the charity. The is split into seven different chapters which will be released in the next few days before and after the appeal show (20th November click here for more details)

Children in Need is a charity based in the UK that helps children and their families that need support. The charity helps facilities that provide care for disadvantaged children. Through out the year they help fund hundreds of different facilities. The charity continues during the year but it holds an annual show. It is a charity that I feel strongly about and I hope others do too. If you are outside the UK and can't see the show you can see the sketches on the official site or the BBC's YouTube account.

Click here for the section.
Click here for the Children in Need site.

New Identity confirmed for Square Enix and Eidos

Square Enix Ltd and Eidos Interactive Ltd announced yesterday that the two companies has combined business in the UK and will operate under the new name of Square Enix Europe Ltd. Square Enix Europe is the unified business unit representing the sales and marketing offices in the United Kingdom and France and Germany which together promote titles across the globe.

“Today marks a major achievement towards the goals we announced in July and represents the creation of an efficient and powerful structure for game development and publishing” states Phil Rogers, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix Europe. “We have a formidable product-line up which truly showcases the diversity of our exceptional gaming brands.”

It now has headquaters in Wimbledom, London, Square Enix Europe develops and publishes entertaiment content under the brand names of Square Enix, Eidos and Taito. Square Enix Europe now also manages several sucessful development studios including Crystal Dynamics, IO Interactive, Beautiful Game Studios, Square Enix London Studios and Eidos Montreal.

Happy Birthday Nell McAndrew

I had forgot to mention on Friday that it was Nell McAndrew's Birthday. Happy Birthday! Nell was one of the first Official Lara Croft model in the mid 90's. Since her role as the video game heroine she has appeared in Tomb Raider related projects such as Gametap's Tomb Raider Documentary, ran in half marathons raising money for charity, opened new shops, tested out new gadgets, recorded adverts for Activia and more!

Although it was many years since she portrayed Lara, she said in the Gametap Tomb Raider Documentary, she is "still recognised in the street" and she posted on her website "I can't believe how many years ago it was when I represented the computer character and that it is still as popular as ever thanks to all you Tomb Raider fans!"

Salt Trailer Released starring Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie has been filming her upcoming film for the past several months. Angelina is playing the leading lady, Erika Salt, in the movie Salt which is set to hit cinemas next year.

Erika Salt is a CIA agent until she is accused of being a Russian sleeper spy. Detirmed to start a new life, Erika runs away to hid her identity, believing that she is not who she was accused of being. She needs to use all her skills to avoid capture as well as protecting her husband.

In 2001 Angelina Jolie portrayed Lara Croft in the first of two Tomb Raider movies by Paramount Pictures. The first film showed the fans how dedicated she was to the role by going on a special diet, taking firearms training, and hand to hand combat training. For several scenes in the film, she had to travel to Cambodia, there Angelina said that she felt at peace and calm. Later in 2003, she reprised her role, where Lara had to meet an old boyfriend in order to obtain pandora's box before it fell into the wrong hands. In the movie, Angelina did a fantastic job at capturing Lara's character and how she would feel under those kind of pressures.

Keeley Hawes appears in new No.7 Promotional Photos

Keeley Hawes who has recently began filming BBC’s Ashes to Ashes, has appeared in a new promotional photoshoot for No.7 advertising their Christmas gift sets and products:
• The limited edition gold palette
• Limited edition gold hightlighting palette
• Limited edition red lipstick

There is also a number of photos that we haven’t had in on Guns and Grapple before.

Topics (Previous Photoshoots)

Full Photo, previous copies had just the face (Previous Photoshoot)

Limited Edition items - Christmas Photo shoot (New Photos!)

Lara Croft leaves her mark even when there is no news!

Normally I would wake up have breakfast and read the latest Tomb Raider news going through official sites, emails etc, although with Crystal Dynamics and Eidos busy on their next Tomb Raider project and the people involved in the upcoming movie unwilling to release any other detail apart from "Origin story" which I can imagine bugs Angelina (it would bug me too) who has been forced to leave her role for another women to step in the role. You can probably bet that news is hard to come by these days and the media is slowly forgetting Lara (cue "awww") However if you wake up and find that she is spending time on a number of "Top 10" and "Babe of the Day" at IGN.com it makes the job on writing Tomb Raider news articles that much easier.

• Alison Carroll (as Lara) was appointed "Babe of the Day" on October 22nd. There is an article about her (click here) and a selection of photos from The Sun photoshoot. 

• Lara's profession as an "Archeologist" also came in second place in the "Top 10 video game profession". She was beaten by Halo's Master Chief Click here

• On a random note, they also did a "Top 10 Videogames babes that would still look sexy even with a beard" of which Lara Croft was 8. Click here!

• Tomb Raider got a mention in the "Top 12 Forthcoming Franchise Reboots" where Lara got mentioned at the start of the article. Click here.
  

• On the Daily Mail website they asked the question "Where did Hollywood's heroines go?" You can probably tell with that title alone it will feature Tomb Raider or Lara Croft at some point. Click here.

• Back to IGN.com, they wrote an article about Video characters that should die. Despite Lara being on here, she's ninth, so I don't think they want to get rid of her yet. The article also has Link (1st place) and Master Chief (7th place). Click here!
  

Keeley Hawes and Underworld in SFX Sci-Fi Awards 2010

The SFX Sci-Fi Awards 2010 has nominated Keeley for several awards.  You can also vote for Tomb Raider Underworld in the videogame section too!

Best Actress - Keeley Hawes
Sexiest Female - Keeley Hawes

Best Video Game - Tomb Raider Underworld (Under Other)
Best Collectable, Toy or Boardgame - Tomb Raider: Underworld Ultimate Fan Pack (Under Other)

Click here for the site

Lara Croft in the 20 shameless franchises

Lara Croft has appeared in a list of 20 shameless franchises as number 16 run by the Telegraph, click here for the site.

16) Lara Croft
The buxom, gun-toting archaeologist has enjoyed numerous incarnations since her Tomb Raider debut in 1996. She has been voiced by three different actresses in video games, with Minnie Driver taking over for the 2007 animated series, and Angelina Jolie doing the honours in the two Tomb Raider films. The one constant in all her depictions, which include comic books, novels and even theme park rides, is her caricatured female figure, with the original game designer joking in an interview that her enhanced breasts were caused by a "slip of the mouse".

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

It's seems strange to be writing this since it doesn't feel like it's been a year but today is the first anniversary of Guns and Grapple being online, and I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has helped me over the past year and the months before it was on the internet.

Ostercy, Katie, Jana, Tanya, Max, Keeley, Ms.Nemeth, Karen, Luce, Sam, Emma-Rose, Gavaudin, Charmaine, Bex F, Becky B, Rebecca H "Gene",   Justin,  cubbie866 and kls010, and of course my family and friends who have been forced to put up with my obcession over the past few years.

Over the past few months we have used several free website hosts including webs.com, facebook, blogspot, freeforums, and if anyone wants to create a Tomb Raider site I highly recommend them.

Today I have created a forum to celebrate. Click here for the link. I hope to see you there.

Tomb Raider/Torchwood Crossover

In my previous posts I have mentioned that I would be writing a story to raise money for Children in Need. The story is a Torchwood and Tomb Raider crossover called "Past and Present" and will begin in Lara's past while on a journey with her father to London. The story is split into chapters which will be released daily.

At them moment my sister is still editing the last few chapters and when they're finshed I will begin the project. You can donate to Children in Need via a box that I will put on the site. You can give money through paypal via the justgiving website. You can donate as much as you want even if it's just 1p. Thank you for any donations.

Children in Need is a charity based in the UK. It helps disadvantaged children. Every year BBC1 holds an appeal show to raise money. Last year for the appeal show CIN recieved £20,991,216. Click here for the official site.

I wanted to write a Tomb Raider and Torchwood story because if anyone has watched Day 4 of Torchwood: Children of Earth, you might probably understand why...Bring him back! Anyway it's a story which is unusual to write and I wanted to interest people, I didn't want a crossover which people have read before. Also Torchwood star, John Barrowman is also involved this year, he is taking part in the "Around the world in 80 days" challenge.

More information to come.

Katie's "Get your Herbon" Competition Entry

As well as covering news about the series we also post news about projects fans have created. This post although though about Tomb Raider might interest you. You may have been to Katie's Tomb Raider website run by  fanfiction writer, Katie Fleming. As well as running both screenshots site and stories page she is also finshing her diploma in Advertisment. As part of her project she is entering the "Get your herbon" competition. The prize is $15,000 for the winner. The top five with the highest amount of views on Youtube will entered for the prize.

Click here to go to Katie's "Get your Herbon" entry