Guest Editorial:
Breast Reduction

By Tricia "sxegrrl" Gray

eing the PR Manager for a huge publishing house you get some really strange questions, but working for the company that brought the first female game character celeb, well, the questions you receive from people are just plain nuts. I know all about lusting after people you can never have, I am sooo in love with Jet Li, all I dream about is ice cream, Jet Li, and...umm..nevermind, but at least for me Jet Li is a real LIVE human being. I get phone calls on a daily basis for the past two years from fans, editors, and gamers on Lara Croft's life, what's going on with her, what new stuff is she into, what kind of underwear she wears, what's her favorite flower. On Valentine's Day, which is her "birthday" we get tons of gifts for her. Talk about obsession! Come on guys, she is just made up of polygons!!!! Lately I have been getting an ass of inquiries on her breasts.

Rring rrrrinng

"Good Morning, this is Tricia"

"Trish, just saw Tomb Raider III, what's up with Lara's Breasts? They shrunk," some editor that will remain nameless.

"Will this effect the gameplay? Does it REALLY matter??" I would say back.

But I guess for some people it will matter. The technical aspect of the breast reduction is easy to answer. When Tomb Raider came out, Lara sported very pointy triangular breasts. Not because the bullet bra was "in" or the guys at Core didn't understand the concept of breasts, but they just didn't use as many polygons for Lara's model at that time. In Tomb Raider II, they smoothed out the polygons (and added a lot more) for a more realistic look of a woman's body. In Tomb Raider III, her model is essentially the same as TR2. The only time her chest may look different is when she's wearing a different outfit. Her model needs to be adjusted for each outfit to make it look right on her.

We can go into depth about the psychological aspect, as some people have been pondering. Some gamers are mad because of the breast reduction, emails keep coming in asking to get her breasts back to original size. Maybe for them Tomb Raider is like a girl you first meet that you are interested in. Picture this, you are at a bar, or school dance, choose where you would be to meet someone. This could also go both ways, so ladies, you can substitute man for woman, unless you are a lesbian, then continue with the "lady" theme or for the gay men out there go with the "man" theme. (Just wanted to cater to all.) Anyway, you come across an attractive beautiful woman, you talk, ask her out, begin dating her, and you find all these wonderful things about her. Then years go by and the luster has worn, she isn't as fun as you thought she was, she never dresses up anymore, you come to find out that push up bra she wore to that bar was thrown out along with her coyness and love for life. You have come to the realization that you have a bitter saggy breasted girlfriend that just doesn't give a shit that Grim Fandago is out.

I don't think Lara did that though. I think what happened was you met that girl at the bar with the full perky breasts and once you started seeing her, she was just a plain Jane, but she was soo cool, that it didn't matter that she stuffed her bra. She needed an angle to snag you so she could show you how wonderful she was. Maybe Lara enticed you to play her in Tomb Raider with those large breasts of hers and now that she got you addicted to the great innovative gameplay, you have to wonder to yourself, do her breasts really matter? Besides, it's called technical advancement, they look a lot better smoother than they did pointy.

The Lara Croft image that was supposed to come across to people, was here you have a woman with a nice body, but she likes getting dirty, climbing mountains, killing predators, finding treasure. It was like guys were infatuated with Indiana Jones, so they made a female version of him to suffice their manly needs. This was supposed to be the all around perfect woman for the creators. A beautiful, wealthy, tomboyish woman you can control, make her move, jump, run, kill.

We can go in the deep part of the psyche about the whole Lara Croft phenomenon. What made this game successful some people wonder. Was it the innovative gameplay that the PC and PSX market needed? Or was it simply the fact you had in your control a girl with big breasts? Is that why some guys loved playing as Chun Li in Street Fighter? Was this character as beloved and lusted over as Lara Croft? What about Ms. Pac Man? What was the purpose to that? Was the game targeted towards females or for males that wanted to play female characters? Now this becomes a bit more than just breasts. Who are these video game characters for? I'll tell you when I worked at Sony, all the games were targeted towards males. It was never females and males, and Buddha forbid just for females. Yet women are more likely to be attracted to play female characters in fighting games, from all of my observation at the arcades. We also get a lot of female gamers from all ages telling us how much they love our game. Some either hate the Lara Croft character condemning her as "unfit to give birth" and "against what a real woman would look like" then there are those who appreciate the fact that she is a strong woman, independent and adventurous. None however complained when she appeared in Tomb Raider II with "smaller" tits. So is the breast issue just addressed to the concerning men out there? Who knows, I can only tell you the facts and to get over it.

People around the world are in love with her, how do I know? Cause these loons [editor's note: hey! I resemble that remark.] call me and write me everyday wanting to meet her. But as a hardcore gamer, Tomb Raider was groundbreaking in the action/adventure genre, the gameplay was there, the worlds were huge and it took some smarts to beat the game. I think maybe it's just that the world is screaming for more women to take control or at least join the ranks of men and subconsciencely they buy games with woman characters to meet that need. Or at least I would like to think so. Perhaps it just really boils down to the perversive needs that a man likes to control a woman. Maybe when I get into grad school I'll do my final thesis on this whole thing. But don't worry guys, her breasts aren't shrinking, and Tomb Raider III is coming soon so you'll get to be with her again along with a movie you'll have a real person that will portray her. But for now, the game is good so play it or to play her, which ever way you would like to see it.

- Tricia Gray is a PR manager for Eidos Interactive.