Crystal Dynamics is threatening to bring out the big guns after a leak of a memo and concept art on Tomb Raider 9 Sunday morning. The new game is a prequel featuring a much younger and less experienced Lara Croft than the one in the screen above. Four Player Co-op has taken down the contraband media but the article remains.

“Say hello to the concept art for the new Tomb Raider reboot. Our mole, deep behind enemy lines (and armed only with his digital camera), woke me up at 2 in the morning to deliver you these goods. I haven’t had a chance to fully digest the information here (getting it to you as quickly as possible was my paramount concern) but it seems like the new Tomb Raider will be, wait for it, Open World. Looks like the combat system has been completely revamped and that the story is starting over from Jumpstreet. I have no idea what the story is with the clawed… things… but, out of everything, they excite me the most. More screens through the portal.

Update: We all knew it was coming, it was just a matter of when. Crystal Dynamics’ lawyers swooped in with a fancy email asking us to take the pics down. We will be discussing the whole ordeal on this weeks Bullshot! (link opens in iTunes) which we are recording tonight. It will probably show up in your iTunes early Sunday morning. Thanks to Kotaku, Joystiq, 1up, and others for picking the story up. It’s been a hell of a day.”

The original Tomb Raider concept art is still on display at Gamersyde for the moment. Get it while its hot.

InFamous is an action packed trip into a familiar genre with an interesting twist. You start out as Cole McGrath, a poor schmuck who has a mysterious delivery package blow up in his face, leaving him with burgeoning electrical based powers and everyone else in a six block radius with a slight case of death. You emerge from your baptism by fire, crawl out of the blast zone and run for your life guided by your buddy Zeke as the police force hunts you down.

Once you reach the relative safety of your roof top penthouse, the game truly begins throwing you into a grand conspiracy masterminded by a clandestine mystical organization. As you unravel the mystery, you can either fight your reputation as the bringer of the apocalypse or revel in the new coolness that is you and start building your own evil empire.

Read the full article

What if you could play as a walking war-machine construct? A golem of destruction with a pure heart and good soul? This concept might fit naturally into a modern sci-fi setting or even some good old space opera, but a number of years ago – in an attempt to spice things up and introduce some new ideas – Wizards of the Coast sponsored a contest to find its next D&D campaign setting.

Greyhawk, The Forgotten Realms, Planescape, Ravenloft and the various other settings apparently just weren’t as marketable. The company wanted some fresh, new ideas. This opportunity became a chance to let the amateur and professional developers compete to see whose concept would become the next official D&D setting.

The result of that contest was Eberron – a fantasy world in keeping with the core of Dungeons & Dragons, but one that turned things on its ear just a bit with concepts like – Halfling plainsmen riding dinosaurs, living constructs, shapeshifters as player races and adding a very Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider pulp feel to its core adventures placing players in a world that operates on magic, outside the fantasy constraints of pseudo-medieval Europe or even an Asian fantasy amalgam.

Eberron was built around a different mythology and cosmic organization. There exists magic powered public transportation, airships and great dungeons of fallen civilizations alongside an invading alien force and mysterious magical elf ancestors who refuse to go off into antiquities and instead guide the path of the entire elvish race.
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Brand new footage from Naughty Dog’s action adventure sequel Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has been released. Clocking in at just under six minutes, the footage shows off more of the game’s single player aspect.

By jumping over walls, flipping over objects, etc., we can see from the video that not only is the game’s protagonist, Nathan Drake, able to interact with the environment, but the enemy AI will do so as well. Uncharted 2’s departure from Tomb Raider-esque jungles to a war torn urban setting certainly gives the game an eerily resemblance to Metal Gear Solid 4.

Most notably, as we watch Nathan zig-zag throughout the city rubble as the enemy patrols the area, the possibilities of stealth play become apparent. And just like the original, the sequel will certainly be delivering in the eye candy department again.

My favorite part of the video has to be the riot shield interception shown towards the end. I laughed.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is slated to arrive this fall for the Playstation 3 console.

Maxim has compiled its most wanted videogame babes of 2008. Usually these lists pick the top ten, but Maxim just couldn’t stop there. There are seventeen lovely ladies, virtual and real live knock out that give playing videogames an extra thrill.

Several of these heroines are a given. The list wouldn’t be complete without Tomb Raider: Underworld’s Lara Croft modeled after Alison Carroll and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3’s Gina Carano as Russian hottie Natasha Volkova and Jenny McCarthy as Special Agent Tanya Adams.

Maggie Q as Detective Chase Linh in Need for Speed: Undercover may have been overlooked due to the games underwhelming ratings. Of course the virtual girls are well represented including. Zoey from Left 4 Dead is a pick as well as several secondary characters and enemies.

I’d say you could read the article for details but let’s be honest with ourselves, shall we? You can view the whole The 17 Hottest Video Game Babes of 2008 list on Maxim.

Eidos and Crystal Dynamics has released a patch for the PC version of Lara Croft’s latest adventure, Tomb Raider: Underworld. Fixes include some occasional crashes, the addition of autosaves for each chapter with the save slots being increased, they have also fixed the bacl screen deadlock when skipping the doppelganger cinematic, and a compatibility issue with some Realtek sound drivers that caused crashes.

The full list of fixes and additions are listed below and thy include the ones mentioned above.

• Inability of users to map the mouse buttons.
• Inability of users to map the ‘center camera’ button.
• Some occasional crash fixes.
• Graphics card stability:
  1. A change to re-enable use of some graphics card features on ATI hardware, with their latest drivers.
  2. Progress has been made towards addressing stalling on GeForce 6/7 series hardware.

• Fixed compatibility issues with certain Realtek sound drivers which could cause crashes.
• Autosaves now made for each chapter. Number of save slots is increased to accommodate these.
• Bug with ramp not raising in Xibalba.
• Fixed black screen deadlock when skipping doppelganger cinematic.
• Issue with door lever at Kraken room entrance.
• Occasional control issue during headshot move.
• Fixed an occasional problem when entering a save game filename.
• Some PDA fixes.
• Some cinematic subtitle fixes.

You can get the patch by hitting the badge below or by visiting FileFront here.

Welcome readers to our weekly edition of GameTap Thursday. Not only will you be getting another dose of American McGee’s Grimm Volume 2 this week, but subscribers are in for a treat with the addition of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl and Digby’s Donuts. There is also good news for those who have signed up for the free end of the gaming service, because Tomb Raider Anniversary is free to play for one week only.

Grimm Volume 2, Episode 15: The Pied Piper: The Pied Piper has rid the kingdom of its rat infestation, but when the King gets cheap and refuses to pay for his services–the piper leads the kingdom’s children into the river. How much more nasty can it get? Add that dirty little troll Grimm into the equation and find out for yourself.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl: The landmark first-person shooter with RPG elements from THQ comes to GameTap. Set in the city of Chernobyl after a fictional 2006 nuclear disaster, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a “sandbox” style game, allowing players to explore the large in-game world as they please in a non-linear fashion. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has sold over 2 million copies to date.

Digby’s Donuts: Digby has big plans to become the donut king of North America. He’s starting small, though, just one shop at a time. And he’s got a rather…unique mechanism for sorting and organizing his tasty treats. With your help, his chain will soon span the coast, and America will be up to its ears in donuts — that is, unless you drop too many.

Tomb Raider Anniversary: Eidos celebrates ten years of Tomb Raider by reinventing the original Tomb Raider game with an expanded storyline and levels that have been redesigned from the ground up. Lara also has new abilities and tools not present in the original.

Next week on December 18, Grimm sinks his grubby hands into A Christmas Carol which will be free to play until December 31.  As always, for more information on the over 145 free games from GameTap or how to become a subscriber, check out the official website.

Those of you who are undecided on Tomb Raider: Underworld have a try before you buy option. Eidos has provided gamers with a demo for the latest adventures of Lara Croft. The demo is a heft 1.19 GB and is currently featured on Filefront. If you’ve been taking your time deciding on a personal purchase or are considering Underworld as a holiday gift, this is a no risk option.

The newest 1Up Show is live and this week you will get a unique perspective on just how violent the offices are at 1UP.  Too many “bike” accidents apparently.

Ryan Scott, Shane Bettenhausen, and Richard Li discuss Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, and you can also watch Sam Kennedy and Nick Suttner chat about the things they liked most about Tomb Raider: Underworld–as well as some of the more frustrating aspects of the gameplay. Especially the “there for the sake of it” combat.

Towards the end you can check out David Ellis and Peter Brown’s experience with the Killzone 2 Multiplayer beta.

Due to Thanksgiving, there will not be a 1UP Show next week; however, you can still get a special LTTP segment via the iTunes feed and on the site where they will be talking about some of the games you may have forgotten about or missed out on due to all of  the “AAA” titles that took precedence during the past few months.

Here is a bit of news that will get the male portion of our audience to perk their ears up a bit: Angelina Jolie not only allows her children to play videogames, but thanks to Konami’s Let’s Pilates for the Nintendo DS Jolie is now reaping the benefits of the gaming age.

According to a report from SFGate.com, we are now privy to the knowledge that Jolie is using the the game to rid herself of that pesky baby weight she accumulated while carrying the twins she bore back in July. Through her son Maddox’s DS, Jolie has been exercising using virtual pilates and thanks to the loose lips of a family insider, we know that she is such a pro at it that she “tries to get in an hour of Pilates three times a week” and is apparently already at the hardest setting.

If you are still wondering how this considered gaming news and not fodder for tabloid pulp, just wait–there’s more. During a recent interview with Britain’s Harper’s Bazaar, MSNBC reports that Jolie and Brad Pitt both allow their children to play videogames, but are steadfast in explaining the difference between reality and entertainment.

“My kids play video games. I let them play with toy soldiers”, she said. “We don’t take war and violence lightly, but we don’t hide it from anybody”. The same goes for their movies–they explain to their children that while they both may be acting violently in their movies, there is a big difference in real-life, even when playing a character like Lara Croft:

“I tell stories that are about the type of woman I’d want to meet. The type of woman where I think, even if it’s silly characters I’ve played, like in ‘Tomb Raider’, there’s something about her that will be fun for my daughters to see one day.”

Where or how she needs to lose weight is beyond comprehension, but then again I never thought I would ever be talking about Angelina Jolie and gaming in the same context outside of Tomb Raider; however, thanks to Gears of War 2 being released today, it is a slow news day. Therefore, lay the blame where it really lies–with Cliff Belinski.