Each of the TRs have sold extremely well, including merchandising. The latest TR comes with an EIDOS Store catalogue o' stuff. You can now log on and purchase Lara watches, backpacks and beanies along with a ton of other TR crap. (We are waiting for something useful like Lara action maxipads with wings) The movie version is on schedule and fans don't really care, right?

Well, not exactly. The fact that TR hasn't improved much since its introduction is causing a bit of backlash out there on the fan sites. Perhaps EIDOS is gambling on the Lara fan base being a constantly renewable resource with each episode. And the gamble seems to be paying off. Despite the call for a boycott because of some pretty nasty bugs with the save game feature (since fixed with a patch) and a copy protection blunder that causes users with CD burners as their only CD drive not to be able to even read the CD, the game is currently number one in the UK and number three in the US, behind no less than the latest Barbie adventure.

So, you've been on an iceberg in the North Atlantic for the last three years and don't have a clue what we're on about? OK Sherman, jump into the wayback machine.

Back in 1996, Lara Croft's appeal (believe it or not) wasn't primarily those now famous mammary glands. Tomb Raider was exciting because it was different. Arguably the most interesting sight at E3 that year, she was swimming through great looking water, battling (bears, was it?) and generally walking about this place that looked like a Turkish bath. The use of advanced technology to give the player control of a real-time polygonal character in large beautiful 3D environments to do a range of actions was the most compelling character driven game since the 2D Prince of Persia in the early '90s. This was before the real live silicone enhanced Lara models, the bikini and evening gown ensemble and that belly button ring…back when she was still just a game. But she was real-time 3D and that water…that water was beautiful!