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THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS
TO RELEASE FEB
Copyright 2002 www.tombraiderchronicles.com
[ October 22nd 2002 ]
Eidos
Plc has confirmed Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The
Angel Of Darkness will not meet its high-profile
November 15 commercial debut on the Sony Playstation
II games console and PC CDROM. The London-based
publisher has stated the sixth Tomb Raider video-game
will be released in February 2003 allowing developers
Core Design more time to complete the game.
This
announcement follows a week of speculation that
resulted in a 17% loss on Eidos' share price at
close of trade Friday, although the company bounced
back 9% after trading ceased on Monday. Shortly
after making the announcement this afternoon,
shares were down again by 14.5%. to 84p. Several
gaming factions had reported that console giant
and Tomb Raider franchise partner Sony Entertainment
Corp blocked the release until certain criteria
was met.
The delay
will be a huge financial blow for Eidos Interactive
who had hoped to capitalize on the vital Christmas
trading period. However, the company may well
recoup some losses after Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
- the sequel to the BAFTA award nominated Hitman:
Codename 47 - shot straight to the top of the
ELSPA charts compiled by ChartTrack, stealing
the crown from Nintendo's Super Mario. Early indications
suggest that TimeSplitters 2 is also performiing
well after making it's debut last week on XBox,
GameCube and Sony PS2.
Lara
Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is classic
Lara as both hunter and hunted relying on her
ingenuity, athleticism and a new edge that has
arisen from her dark inner demons. The game employs
a brand new engine built from the ground up to
fully utilise the power of PlayStation 2 and the
latest PC graphics cards. The latest Tomb Raider
adventure is penned to run for an initial three
episodes with a possible spin-off series featuring
Lara Croft's new co-star Kurtis Trent.
More
details to follow.
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