'Tomb Raider' was released 5th of March 2013 on Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows after being developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix. Tomb Raider is an action-adventure platform game, and is based as prequel to the iconic entries of the franchise which began back in the nineties.
The new reboot of the classic franchise was written by Rhianna Pratchett, daughter of world-famous author Terry Pratchett. Rhianna not only wanted to create an interesting storyline, but she wanted to sculpt fictional world famous adventurer Lara Croft into something more than 'a pair of boobs, a pair of pistols and a hair plait'. Saying how Lara 'was bigger than the game and had become over-sexualised', realising she had a chance to somewhat alter the way Lara and the game is perceived with the newest instalment of Tomb Raider, Pratchett aimed to do just that, she wanted to move away from essentially just targeting male gamers, as we recognise 40% of the worlds gamers today to be female.
Pratchett believed that every iconic character deserves a proper origin story. However this time around, Lara will not be presented as only for the male audience and 'ultimately she looks like a young female that has dressed herself'. By toning down aspects of the character's appearance, it allows the gamer to concentrate more on the story...the origin of one of the worlds most famous fictional adventurers. An enhanced experienced is what Rhianna wanted and aimed for 'you are not on a journey with Lara Croft, you are Lara'.
In reality, this is the path that a lot of game developers, including the writers etc are taking. They tend to move away from the pre-existing expectations and mould new versions or opinions on already supposedly established characters.
Article 1: http://metro.co.uk/2013/03/04/rhianna-pratchett-on-reclaiming-lara-croft-and-having-discworld-creator-terry-as-a-dad-3522630/
Article 2:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/9908168/Tomb-Raider-writer-My-Lara-Croft-is-a-real-young-woman.html
Article 3:
http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2013/03/play/lara-croft-the-prequel
