Mr. Pinup

Videos games and sex have a storied history, as anyone who’s spent time in a dorm room full of freshman boys playing “Tomb Raider” could tell you. But despite the genre’s reputation for exploitative babes in hotpants and the notorious “jiggle physics,” an article in the Guardian argues that sex does not, in fact, sell video games.

Here’s the case, made by Alexander Gambotto-Burke: In 2004, Playboy began publishing a yearly “Gaming grows up” feature showing video game heroines in the buff. But many of the games included in the issue have either reported huge losses or ceased production entirely.

Far from the porn-crazed sex ghouls they’re frequently portrayed as, male videogame players appear to be developing quite a potent resistance to exploitative, sex-based marketing practices. Indeed, even Lara Croft has given into this progressive zeitgeist: her breasts and lips have shrunk in recent years, and the rest of her body has been reduced to more anatomically feasible proportions. On cue, her critical stock has risen, and while the first two games in the post-2006 Tomb Raider revamp (Legend and Anniversary) sold unfavourably compared with past instalments, the latest, Underworld, is selling healthily after a lacklustre launch.

via Does video game sex still sell? – Broadsheet – Salon.com.

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Is there anybody out there, really, who can replace Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft?

Eight years after she brought the daredevil archaeologist to cinematic life in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Warner Bros. announced plans last week to reboot the franchise.

The new Lara Croft will have a tough act to follow. An exception to the videogames-make-lousy-movies rule, the original Tomb Raider grossed a whopping $275 million worldwide. But when fans weren’t so thrilled with 2003′s sequel, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, Jolie moved on.

5 Actresses Who Could Replace Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft | The Underwire from Wired.com.

By Mike Smith

Move over, Angelina Jolie. There’s a new Lara Croft in town, and she’s a 23-year-old gymnast from South London, Tomb Raider publisher Eidos announced this week.

Ever since actress Rhonda Mitra first took on the role of Tomb Raider heroine Lara Croft in 1997, Eidos has sought real-life counterparts for its acrobatic archaeologist heroine, and they’ve helped propel the video game series to worldwide sales topping 32 million. Up until now the British publisher’s picks have tended to be models or, like Jolie, movie stars, but Alison Carroll might just be the first Croft to have the physical abilities to do her famously acrobatic opposite number justice.

Carroll boasts 12 years of gymnastics training and numerous honors representing Great Britain in sporting displays. Although her Lara role won’t involve any movie work, she’ll still be kept sufficiently busy traveling the world promoting the latest Tomb Raider game, Underworld, to allow her to quit her day job — as a receptionist.

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