Living Lara: Part Six
Eidos has a new Lara Croft model and she's hooooooooot.
Published: February 15, 2006
For all the crap that Eidos and indeed their flagship series, Tomb Raider, have gone through in the past couple years, Lara Croft has persevered. It helps that while the games were slowly getting worse, Hollywood was courting video games' First Lady, and pumped out two movies to keep her in the public spotlight.
Now, things have shifted back to the games -- and rightfully so. After cranking out the highly ambitious but cripplingly flawed Angel of Darkness, Eidos finally had enough of Core Design, the original developers of the game, and handed the project off to Legacy of Kain: Defiance developer Crystal Dynamics (who quickly went to work with a modified version of the Defiance engine).
This you probably know by now, but did you know that the latest real-life Lara, Miss Karima Adebibe, will be put through the ringer as Eidos' oh-God-please-make-us-look-good-again spokesperson hope? Yep, Eidos is pushing the former tomboy (her word, not ours) and High Street fashion store assistant though "a grueling training program which includes an SAS survival, combat and semi automatic weapon firing course in Eastern Europe, as well as a crash course in world archaeology, deportment, elocution and etiquette in order to portray Lady Lara Croft, the 11th generation Countess, archaeologist and action hero."
“This is an incredible opportunity for me and one which I plan to grasp with both hands” exclaims Karima. “It’s a huge challenge to follow in the footsteps of people like Nell McAndrew and Angelina Jolie, but life is all about challenges and this is perhaps the biggest one for a model and actress.”
“Karima has all the assets needed to accurately portray the world’s favorite female action hero” gushes Matt Gorman, Brand Controller for Tomb Raider, all while trying not to giggle at the realization of his double-entendre. “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend sees Lara at the very height of her powers so this makes Karima the 7th and most important Lara Croft yet.”
Yes, assets indeed. The buxom brunette will assume not only the visage of Lara, but her updated outfit, which frankly does look at least a little more functional than the previous skin-tight outfits the models had to baby powder themselves in and out of. Adebibe will make the usual modeling appearances (we'll likely see her at E3), but she'll also appear in TV commercials and make the talk show circuit as the game finishes up.
Now if we can just arrange an interview and get through it without tripping and falling and accidentally proposing when she starts talking with that accent...
Now, things have shifted back to the games -- and rightfully so. After cranking out the highly ambitious but cripplingly flawed Angel of Darkness, Eidos finally had enough of Core Design, the original developers of the game, and handed the project off to Legacy of Kain: Defiance developer Crystal Dynamics (who quickly went to work with a modified version of the Defiance engine).
This you probably know by now, but did you know that the latest real-life Lara, Miss Karima Adebibe, will be put through the ringer as Eidos' oh-God-please-make-us-look-good-again spokesperson hope? Yep, Eidos is pushing the former tomboy (her word, not ours) and High Street fashion store assistant though "a grueling training program which includes an SAS survival, combat and semi automatic weapon firing course in Eastern Europe, as well as a crash course in world archaeology, deportment, elocution and etiquette in order to portray Lady Lara Croft, the 11th generation Countess, archaeologist and action hero."
“This is an incredible opportunity for me and one which I plan to grasp with both hands” exclaims Karima. “It’s a huge challenge to follow in the footsteps of people like Nell McAndrew and Angelina Jolie, but life is all about challenges and this is perhaps the biggest one for a model and actress.”
“Karima has all the assets needed to accurately portray the world’s favorite female action hero” gushes Matt Gorman, Brand Controller for Tomb Raider, all while trying not to giggle at the realization of his double-entendre. “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend sees Lara at the very height of her powers so this makes Karima the 7th and most important Lara Croft yet.”
Yes, assets indeed. The buxom brunette will assume not only the visage of Lara, but her updated outfit, which frankly does look at least a little more functional than the previous skin-tight outfits the models had to baby powder themselves in and out of. Adebibe will make the usual modeling appearances (we'll likely see her at E3), but she'll also appear in TV commercials and make the talk show circuit as the game finishes up.
Now if we can just arrange an interview and get through it without tripping and falling and accidentally proposing when she starts talking with that accent...
