Eidos Confirms 360 Tomb Raider: Anniversary Plans

Following online rumors over the last few weeks, officials from British publisher Eidos Interactive have confirmed that Tomb Raider: Anniversary will be made available for the Xbox 360 – initially as downloadable episodic content and thereafter as a standard retail release. The game has already been released on PlayStation 2 and PC, with a PSP release to follow at the end of the month and a Wii version sometime after, where it has met with considerable critical and commercial success. It is an expanded remake of the first Tomb Raider game from 1996, using an enhanced version of the graphics engine created for 2006’s Tomb Raider: Legend. The game will be released through Xbox Live Marketplace in four episodes, the first time a full retail game has ever been serialized in this manner on the Xbox 360. The first two episodes will be available in September, with the next two due to arrive “shortly afterwards”. A full retail version is also planned for the Xbox 360 before the end of 2007. In order to download the episodic content, users will need a copy of Tomb Raider: Legend on Xbox 360. The price for all four episodes is put at 2,400 Microsoft points ($30), with the Croft Manor tutorial level from the game available as a free download with both sets of episodes. Other downloadable content related to the game, including picture packs and theme packs will be released at the same time. “We have created this version of Anniversary specifically for digital distribution as episodic content. This is part of our strategy to grow our presence in online and digital distribution as we believe there are huge growth opportunities arising from this delivery format and we intend to capitalize on the increasing demand for digitally downloaded content,” said Eidos CEO Jane Cavanagh. "Lara has always been at the forefront of technology and this world first initiative with Microsoft really highlights that fact. Ultimately we also intend to make the title available at retail so that it reaches the maximum possible audience,” she added.