BitSnark

As appears to be all the rage these days, Ms. Lara Croft is next up to embrace the great (if almost ceaselessly uninspiring) craze of origin stories.

Yep, the newest Tomb Raider title in development at Crystal Dynamics, the folks responsible for rebooting the series once already, is being tipped to arrive late next year and platforms to be determined.

Those platforms of course being PS3, 360 & PC; possibly with spin off versions likely to show up on the 3DS, DS, Wii and PSP(2).

Very little is known about the game outside of the origin story motif but US gaming mag Game Informer, intends to blow everything open with a world exclusive preview in their next issue.

In the meantime, here is a little quoatable snippet from the magazine from Crystal Dynamics head honcho Darrell Gallagher:

“In our world-exclusive cover story, we uncover a brand-new Lara Croft. Rebooting the Tomb Raider franchise through an origin story wasn’t so much a choice as an act of necessity, according to Crystal Dynamics. Drastic measures were needed. To build an entirely fresh Lara – a culturally relevant hero worth of the attention that once came so effortlessly – they must break her first. In this new adventure – simply titled Tomb Raider – a younger and inexperienced Lara Croft must endure both physical and emotional trauma to survive.”

Hot off the heels of the announcement last night that one of 2011’s most eagerly anticipated title would be getting a swish limited edition in the US, comes the confirmation from Square-Enix that European gamers won’t be left out in the cold.

First off, the publisher is promising that any folks who pre-order the standard edition of the game will receive something called the ‘Explosive Mission Pack’. Contained within this free box of DLC treats is a brand new extra mission that contains a cameo appearance from one of the characters from the original Deus Ex, Additionally the mission pack also gives you the Automatic Unlocking Device, the M-28 Utility Remote-Detonated Explosive Device (UR-DED) and the impressive sounding Linebacker G-87 multiple shot grenade launcher.

The ‘Augmented Edition’ as the limited edition is known on the other hand, includes not only all of the above goodies seen in the freebie Explosive Mission Pack but also the following:

– 10,000 extra credits to spend on weapons or upgrades
– A Huntsman Silverback Double-Barrel Shotgun and the SERSR Longsword Whisperhead silenced sniper rifle.
– An exclusive bonus DVD featuring a 44 minute making of feature
– Official soundtrack
– A motion-comic that is adapted from DC’s official series
– An Animated storyboard
– 40 page art book

Folks who want to plonk down the extra cash can expect to pay around £49.99-£54.99 for the Augmented Edition depending on the retailer.

A picture of the Augmented Edition can be seen below:

Drool-worthy indeed.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution will arrive in both standard edition and Augmented edition flavours sometime during Q1 2011 on PC, 360 and PS3 platforms.