Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Message Board

Microsoft's Games with Gold program goes all Square Enix-y in January with Sleeping Dogs and Lara Croft. Xbox 360 gamers with a Gold Xbox Live subscription will be able to download Sleeping Dogs for free January 1 through 15, with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light free from January 16 to the 31. Read more...

Welcome, friends! Welcome. Come in. Take a seat. Here at Crazy Tom Braider’s Gently Used Car and Videogame Emporium, we have everything you could possibly want to suit your baddie-horde-bashing, 2000-year-old-Mayan-warrior-co-oping needs. We also have one car, but that’s not for sale because it’s mine. Then again, I suppose that Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light isn’t technically for sale either, given that it’s actually free-to-play by way of this crazy ad-powered Core Online gadgetmowhatsit. Yessir, our prices are craaaaaazy. And by that I mean kind of confusing.

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With all the stress of Christmas shopping, you may have left someone off your gift list: Yourself. This is just a friendly reminder that Microsoft has you covered this week, with 50 percent discounts on Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light and Prince of Persia Classic. You can grab both at $7.50 and $5, respectively, starting tomorrow. Lara Croft is co-op too, so you could even claim that you bought it for someone else (good luck explaining why it only works on your Xbox though).

Oh, and if you're looking for a digital lump of coal, Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime will also be 50 percent off at $5.

#igameoftheday I was a big fan of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light when it came to consoles and, it turns out, I'm just as big a fan of the iPhone version. More »

We can't remember all the transgressions Kain and Raziel have carried out against one another (didn't dude rip other dude's wings off and throw him into hell?), but we're happy to see them working together for a common goal in the Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light DLC trailer below.

Crystal Dynamics presents the Raziel & Kain character pack for Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. The stars of the Legacy of Kain games replace Lara and Totec (character models and voices) as the two iconic characters embark on a wild adventure that requires them to work together to defeat a new threat in an unfamiliar world.

As part of Xbox LIve's "Countdown to 2011," today's deal is the excellent downloadable title Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light at 50 percent off, which means the co-op adventure can be yours for 600 Microsoft Points (that's $7.50). That's quite inexpensive for some time with Lady Croft. We'd say "cheap," but she ain't cheap.

Also available today is the free Kane & Lynch character pack for Guardian of LIght. Don't ask questions, just let the weird wash over you.

Finally, there's a dose of randomness with a pet monkey for your Avatar, half off for 120 MSP ($1.50). "He's not horrible. He's lovely. He's a lovely little monkey."

#gameface Lara Croft's face adorns the 56 iPads that make up the "world's largest iPhone" at London's St. Pancras International station. Once the installation was completed the devices were given away to celebrate the iPad release of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. More »

New Zealand's iTunes App Store revealed Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad well before the game's official announcement in North America -- a tweet from Crystal Dynamic's global brand director Karl Stewart soon after confirmed its veracity. The game will arrive tomorrow for $6.99 (iPhone) and $9.99 (iPad), and its content is said to be unchanged from the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network game released to critical fanfare earlier this year.

Two-player co-op is included, and both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth options will be at your disposal. As far as the recently released DLC for the game is concerned, however, it's not clear whether or not it'll end up on the App Store version -- we've asked Crystal Dynamics to clarify.

Lara and Totec's now mobile adventure will be available to North Americans starting tomorrow morning at 12:01AM EST.

#clips Are career criminals Kane and Lynch finally going to appear in a great game? It would appear so, as the PC version of Tomb Raider spin-off Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is getting some unexpected playable characters. More »

Ever wondered what playing through Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light would be like if Lara was Adam 'Kane' Marcus and Totec was James Seth Lynch, eponymous characters of the Kane & Lynch series? According to a hack of the PC version that popped up on YouTube - along with a helpful confirmation straight from developer Crystal Dynamics' Twitter account - soon enough you'll be able to experience such bizarreness firsthand as both characters will be available for download at some point in the future (remember: before the end of 2010).

Also revealed was that other Kane from CrystalD's past: Kain and Raziel (of Legacy of Kain series fame) will be the second character pack. Names are also put to the second and third content expansions: "Things That Go Boom" (number two) and "Hazardous Reunion" (number three). The YouTube clip after the break shows a bit of our old friends Kain and Raziel in action ... for the first time in seven years. Quick, someone explain YouTube to them!

[Note: Crystal Dynamics is asking fans to tweet their choice for which character pack should come first. Instead, we're going to ask you to decide in our totally scientific poll, just below.]View Poll

PC players of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light despairing about the lack of online play can now see a bit of sunshine coming in through a crack in a cave wall. Just one day after the release of the co-op-enabling patch for the PSN version, developer Crystal Dynamics tweeted that it's now available through Steam as well.

Since PC gamers have been waiting the longest (by an admittedly slim margin), your PC pals should be the happiest about the arrival of online play. You should notice an extra spring in their steps leaps across chasms and an unmistakable joie de vivre in the way they clamber up walls using your ad-hoc spear handholds.

Just seven short weeks after its release, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is finally a finished game on the PS3. Crystal Dynamics just announced that the title's online co-op title update has finally gone live, meaning we're just a PC patch away from the game reaching its full potential on all platforms.

It's not that we're unhappy for the update -- we are -- but it's been an exercise in frustration seeing Crystal Dynamics get so close to knocking one out of the park only to have missing features pluck it from the air at the last second.

... Oh man, did we just complete a successful sports metaphor? Don't worry, we won't get NBA Jam-style swelled heads. Holy crap, that's a double! And a double's a thing in baseball, right? So three!

Okay, two-and-a-half.

Those of you hopping in to Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light on Xbox 360 tomorrow will find not only the newly added ability to play with a buddy online, but also the first of the game's DLC packs, "All the Trappings." (You'll remember it as a way of saying, "Hey, sorry we sold you our game before we implemented all of the features we promised.") The new area and its combination of puzzles and combat challenges will be free for 30 days.

Plans for online support in the PS3 and PC versions are still unannounced, but if Square Enix tries to charge you guys for "All the Trappings," we promise to support all of you in a well-earned freak out.

Coming to Xbox, free for 30 days.

How Lara got her groove back.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light owners will finally discover online co-op on Xbox when the long-awaited patch is implemented October 27. Crystal Dynamics just announced the news and noted that the update for PS3 and PC is "coming later, stay tuned."

The company also reiterated that the first DLC pack would be free "to say thanks for your patience." Guardian of Light was one of the standout downloadable titles of the summer, despite missing a key feature at launch. It was originally intended to be patched in during September, but Lady Croft slept in and missed the date.

The prodigal daughter returns...

#laracroft The news today that the PlayStation 3 and Steam/PC versions of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light will be out next week confirmed that online co-op won't be available at launch, just as it wasn't on the Xbox 360. More »

A new way to enjoy Lara.

Much like their Xbox-playing counterparts, folks hoping to do some remote Tomb Raiding with an online pal on PS3 and PC will have to cool their jets for a bit. According to a press release from Crystal Dynamics, the PS3 and PC versions of the Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light are still slated to arrive on September 28 -- however, contrary to what was previously promised, the new versions will not have online co-op capabilities until "a later date." A Crystal Dynamics representative explained the 360 online co-op update will go live "in the very near future." We've followed up to find out if it will arrive alongside the new versions, as was announced last month.

We've also contacted Crystal Dynamics to get a better idea of what "a later date" entails for the PS3 and PC versions. For the developer's sake, we sure hope it means "before we plan to launch all those DLC expansions later this year."

Crystal Dynamics needs a bit more time to get the online experience just right.

Just one year after launching a retail portal for Xbox Live content, Amazon is "no longer selling Xbox Live Arcade game codes," according to a statement on the site's Xbox Live page. Following a prompt on the same page to buy Castle Crashers for Xbox 360, for example, shoppers will find the item listed as "Currently unavailable," with a notice adding, "We don't know when or if this item will be available again."

It's unclear why Amazon discontinued its Xbox Live program, considering the retailer continues to sell codes for games on PlayStation Network and Nintendo's WiiWare service. "You can continue to purchase Xbox Live points on Amazon.com and those points can be redeemed through your Xbox 360 console to purchase any of the games that were previously available," Amazon notes. (Those points can also be redeemed through the Xbox.com Marketplace, which does not offer standalone content codes for sale.)

In related news, Microsoft has partnered with GameStop to sell Xbox Live content codes in stores. Following a recent trial, codes for more than 45 downloadable games and add-ons will be offered in the retailer's locations nationwide, including the XBLA Summer of Arcade selection Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. With supposedly only "15 percent" of gamers buying downloadable games, GameStop President Tony Bartel told USA Today's Game Hunters that "the marketing and selling of downloadable content in store as a meaningful way to participate and expand the sales of digital content, providing the customer with a richer gaming experience." Essentially, the brick-and-mortar exposure should make more people aware that downloadable games exist in the first place -- something Amazon.com might not do so well.

Just one year after launching a retail portal for Xbox Live content, Amazon is "no longer selling Xbox Live Arcade game codes," according to a statement on the site's Xbox Live page. Following a prompt on the same page to buy Castle Crashers for Xbox 360, for example, shoppers will find the item listed as "Currently unavailable," with a notice adding, "We don't know when or if this item will be available again."

It's unclear why Amazon discontinued its Xbox Live program, considering the retailer continues to sell codes for games on PlayStation Network and Nintendo's WiiWare service. "You can continue to purchase Xbox Live points on Amazon.com and those points can be redeemed through your Xbox 360 console to purchase any of the games that were previously available," Amazon notes. (Those points can also be redeemed through the Xbox.com Marketplace, which does not offer standalone content codes for sale.)

In related news, Microsoft has partnered with GameStop to sell Xbox Live content codes in stores. Following a recent trial, codes for more than 45 downloadable games and add-ons will be offered in the retailer's locations nationwide, including the XBLA Summer of Arcade selection Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. With supposedly only "15 percent" of gamers buying downloadable games, GameStop President Tony Bartel told USA Today's Game Hunters that "the marketing and selling of downloadable content in store as a meaningful way to participate and expand the sales of digital content, providing the customer with a richer gaming experience." Essentially, the brick-and-mortar exposure should make more people aware that downloadable games exist in the first place -- something Amazon.com might not do so well.

#review In 1996, Lara Croft burst onto the scene with the first Tomb Raider. Time hasn't been so kind, and over the years, her popularity has dipped. But with spin-off title Guardian of Light, is she back with a vengeance? More »

Presumably to make the sting of that delayed online co-op less painful, Square Enix will offer the first DLC release for Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light to Xbox 360 players for free -- for one month.

"...We will be offering the first DLC pack for free for the first 30 days, exclusively on the Xbox 360," Crystal Dynamics general manager Darrell Gallagher said in the press release, "so that gamers can get a taste of some of the exciting extras we have in store." This DLC pack is the first of five. Square Enix didn't announce a release date for the DLC, but it wouldn't be much of a conciliatory measure if it didn't arrive before the September 28 release of the online patch.

When Lara Croft triumphantly steps out into the sunlight, precious trinket held aloft, everyone cheers (and momentarily overlooks the dead Royal Bengal tiger at her feet). But that immortal moment of success always overshadows a lonely line of work, fraught with deadly pits, unstoppable boulders and hideous creatures. Nobody ever talks about that unglamorous time Lara broke a hip inside the tomb of Qeutzalopec and had to chew on a giant spider leg for three weeks.

In temporarily putting the Tomb Raider brand aside, Crystal Dynamics has finally given gaming's iconic action archaeologist a helping hand. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light introduces an unexplored social element into a franchise that I've come to adore for its sense of isolation and discovery. A second player, acting as Aztec guardian Totec, necessarily disrupts that atmosphere, but also facilitates unplanned moments of creativity. Enter: Spider Bowling.

#xbox360 This is a custom-made arcade cabinet for this week's downloadable Xbox Live Arcade game (coming later to PS3 and PC) Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light. Xbox Live hype man Major Nelson Tweets that he's giving this away. More »

#dlc The first two letters are the same, but the third one's different, according to developer Crystal Dynamics, unveiling plans to release five different batches of Downloadable Lara Croft for Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. More »

Guardian of Light details reveal staggered multiplayer rollout.