Livingstone hypes next-gen Lara

Eidos exec Ian Livingstone OBE has claimed that the forthcoming next-gen iteration of Tomb Raider "is like watching television", and revealed that another big screen outing for Lara Croft is also in the works.

The Britsoft firm's product acquisitions director was speaking in an exclusive interview with GamesIndustry.biz sister site Eurogamer TV, following his recent talk on 10 years of Tomb Raider.

On what to expect from the next-gen version, he commented: "I've seen some of the in-game models and it's just like watching television; if you felt you were in love with Lara Croft previously, you ain't seen nothing yet. You'll be drooling when you see the new Lara as she appears in the next iteration."

During the presentation, hosted by the Game On exhibition at London's Science Museum, Livingstone revealed that the Tomb Raider franchise has netted revenues in excess of USD1 billion, with lifetime sales of over 30 million units.

Lara Croft's two movie outings have also accounted for hefty revenues of US$ 430 million - and Livingstone confirmed that work on a third big screen outing, again starring Angelina Jolie, is also underway.

"There's a possibility - we've been talking to Paramount, who've agreed to assign a scriptwriter," he told EGTV.

"That's nowhere near the green-light process but it's a very healthy start to have a scriptwriter which they're going to pay serious amounts of money to write the first script."

Eidos is currently working towards next year's release of Tomb Raider 10th Anniversary Edition, due for an imminent unveiling in the specialist press.

The full Livingstone interview, part of a special celebration of 10 years of Tomb Raider, is now showing in Episode 5 of The Eurogamer TV Show. The show also carries an extensive documentary on the recent UK launch of Wii, going behind the scenes at retailer HMV's flagship store, plus an exclusive tour of Sony's London-based '3 Rooms' - a dedicated brand space for PlayStation 3 running until next March.