Ian Livingstone, the head of the studio developing the reboot of the series, has spoken out against those who have blown the alleged ‘rape’ scene out of proportion.
There are a number of reboots going on in the world of interactive entertainment and entertainment itself. Spider-Man’s ‘Amazing’ reboot hit cinemas recently and a Superman reboot is also said to be in the works. At the same time Hollywood plans on redoing the Judge Dredd movie.
In the case of video games the first reboot that comes to mind the one involving Lara Croft, the dual pistol wielding, short wearing female protagonist of the Tomb Raider series. The latest game, simply titled Tomb Raider, is more of an origins story of the iconic character. Some may call it a prequel and not be wrong either by even the developers concede that ‘origin’ would more accurately describe the direction the game is taking.
Apart from blowing audiences away and bearing a slight resemblance to Uncharted in some scenes, albeit without the wit and humour, the darker toned latest instalment in the series has come under heavy fire from certain sections of the press over a scene in the one of the game’s many trailers.
The scene in question pertains to the attempted rape on Lara Croft. The media is all up in arms claiming that it portrays violence against women and shows them as weak in a day and age where gender equality is everything.
Eidos has come out on many occasions and attempted to do everything, ranging from adding context to the scene to explaining that it was the first time Lara was forced to kill someone and was a life changing moment for her, but the media seems insatiable.
Eidos boss, Ian Livingstone, is the latest person from the studio to come out and add his voice to the debate. He describes the incident as a ”live interview that went slightly wrong.”
The interview in question had “quotes were misinterpreted and blown out of proportion,” according to the developer before moving on to the controversy of the trailer itself.
He explained that “There was a momentary threat to Lara which she overcame in two seconds. The reaction has been quite extreme.”
Livingstone also admitted that the fact the scene was in a video game made it more controversial than it would have been if it was in a movie trailer. He said, “I think about my responsibility as a developer – films can deal with these themes, but it’s different in games when the user controls the action.”
The controversy does not seem to be going any but what does the reader think? Is there any reason for controversy in the first place or should Eidos rethink the scene in question? Let us know in the comments section below.
Battlefield Premium is not a “reaction” to Call of Duty Elite – EA 
Dota 2 updated, two new characters added along with few fixes and enhancements 
Sony executives take massive pay cuts after record losses
Sleeping Dogs to feature voices of Emma Stone and Lucy Liu
Dishonored developer voices concern over lack of variety in industry
PlayStation Vita getting Gran Turismo?
Zynga’s Bubble Safari runs at 60-fps on Facebook