15 Years of Tomb Raider – a celebration for charity

My first reaction was 15 years? No way, she’s been around much longer than that! I mean 15 years ago was 1996, that was 3 years after Jurassic Park and remembering the spiky polygons that first appeared showing the nubile Tomb Raider crawling through some tight spaces, I would have said that was at the very least 1990.  It was before iDevices, pretty much before the Internet took real hold of our lives and those pictures were being viewed in a magazine like PC Zone or similar.

Weird how time flies, but can still surprise you.

The following Press Relase details an interesting concept, a digital exhibition of Lara Croft artwork which will ultimately be raising some money for charity, so it must be a good thing. After enjoying Underworld and Guardian of Light, I am personally quite intrigued to see where the franchise is going next year and I’m sure this exhibition will whet a few appetites. Be sure to follow www.tombraider.com, Facebook.com/Tombraider or follow on Twitter @tombraider, to keep abreast of the announcements over the course of the month. Scroll down for a sample image.

Sydney, AUSTRALIA (October 6, 2011) — Crystal Dynamics, is proud to celebrate 15 years of TOMB RAIDER® with an initiative created for fans.

TOMB RAIDER was first unleashed on the world in October 1996, manifested from fantasy to reality by creator Toby Gard and the talented crew at Core Design. Little did they know how successful their adventurer would become; skyrocketed to become a household name within the year and carving a place in history as a pop-culture icon transcending the gaming space.

To celebrate the 15 year anniversary Crystal Dynamics, a Square Enix Group Studio is playing curator to a unique digital art exhibition, commissioning eight original pieces of art to be created by a selection of esteemed artists and released during the month of October.

The pieces will be created to showcase the new vision for Lara Croft in the eagerly anticipated new TOMB RAIDER game, whilst embracing the individual style of each of the selected artists.

The exhibition will begin on October 4thand starts with a piece created by esteemed artist Andy Park, artist on the original TOMBRAIDER comic book series. The month ends with a featured piece by Toby Gard, creator of the TOMB RAIDER series.

All art can be viewed over the course of the month at www.tombraider.com/15

“This is the perfect opportunity to celebrate TOMBRAIDER’s history by looking at Lara’s promising future,” said Karl Stewart, Global Brand Director, Crystal Dynamics. “We can’t wait to share each artist’s unique interpretation of what it means to be Lara Croft.”

During the month a series of events will be held to mark the celebration, including a signing by artists at New York Comic con on October 14th

As a finale to the event, a limited selection of T-shirts and posters will be available for purchase from The Nerd Machine’s website www.thenerdmachine.com with a portion of the proceeds to benefit Child’s Play charity http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

To date, the TOMB RAIDER franchise has sold over 35 million copies worldwide as of Oct 2011 and inspired one of the most successful video game film adaptation in history, grossing over $300 million at the box office worldwide.

TOMB RAIDER is in development for a multi-platform release, and is slated to launch fall 2012.