Tomb Raider: Anniversary
"Tomb Raider" is the first game in the titular franchise, and introduced the series' gameplay standards and its protagonist Lara Croft. Developed by British studio Core Design, "Tomb Raider" was a commercial and critical success, and was followed by five successive games between 1996 and 2000. Their sixth "Tomb Raider" game "" was beset by developmental problems and rushed to release, resulting in low sales and mixed critical reception. The game's failure and Core Design's fatigue with the series prompted franchise publisher Eidos Interactive to move development of "Tomb Raider" to the American studio Crystal Dynamics, who rebooted the franchise with "". "Legend" released in 2006 to critical and commercial success.
Tomb Raider (1996 video game)
An infamous footnote in Lara's history is the so-called "Nude Raider" patch. This patch was created externally and was never housed on the Eidos or Core websites. The patch, when added to an existing "Tomb Raider" game (PC-based versions only), caused Lara to appear naked. Contrary to rumour, there is no nude code in any console version of the game. In 1999, Core Design considered taking legal action against websites, which hosted nude pictures of Lara Croft, stating that "we have a large number of young fans and we don't want them stumbling across the pictures when they do a general search for "Tomb Raider"". In April 2004, it was falsely alleged that an insider from Eidos reported to a "Tomb Raider" electronic mailing list that Eidos had begun suing gamers using the "Nude Raider" patches. Eidos sent cease and desist letters to the owners of nuderaider.com who were hosting the "Nude Raider" patch, enforcing their copyright of "Tomb Raider". Sites depicting nude images of Lara Croft have been sent cease and desist notices and shut down, and Eidos Interactive was awarded the rights to the domain name "nuderaider.com".