Microsoft just wrapped their E3 2014 presentation, which means they had plenty of trailers on hand for some of their hottest upcoming games.  They had annual franchises (Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Assassins Creed: Unity), highly anticipated sequels (Rise of the Tomb Raider, Crackdown), and many more.  For me, the best game of the presentation was Sunset Overdrive, which was bright, colorful, goofy, and looks like it has a sense of humor. Hit the jump to check out the new Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare trailer and many more.

The upcoming Tomb Raider reboot is one step closer to being a reality.  Producer Graham King’s (Hugo) GK Films recently teamed up with MGM on the project, and now former Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer/producer Marti Noxon has been tapped to write the screenplay for the Tomb Raider redo.  This is good news for a couple of reasons.  Firstly: Noxon’s resume is as varied as it is impressive, as she has previously penned episodes of Mad Men, Glee, and Angel.  Additionally, it’s very refreshing to see that a woman will be crafting the script and story for a female-led adventure franchise.  Hit the jump for more.

Production is currently underway on Marvel’s Captain America sequel, and though initially it was thought that Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter—who played a major role in the first film—wouldn’t be appearing in The Winter Soldier, we subsequently learned that Atwell will indeed be popping up in the follow-up.  As The Winter Soldier takes place in the present, one assumes that Atwell will likely be relegated to flashback sequences or will be covered in old age makeup.  Either way, it doesn’t sound like Peggy Carter will be a major character in the film.

Atwell recently spoke a bit about Captain America and its sequel, revealing that Marvel has something planned for Comic-Con that will show “what Peggy’s really capable of.”  The actress also addressed the online campaign for her to star in the Tomb Raider reboot.  Hit the jump to see what she had to say.

After the recent critical and financial success of the new Tomb Raider video game, a reboot of the film franchise is now looking promising.  Game developer Crystal Dynamics was previously reported as working with GK Films on a new feature after the production company acquired the film rights from Square Enix, Ltd. back in 2011.  Now, it looks like MGM has signed on to partner with GK Films in getting the reboot off the ground.  Hit the jump for more.

With the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3 2012) set to kick off on June 5th at the Los Angeles Convention Center, we thought we’d bring you a preview of some of the major video games that are going to be on display.  This year will feature a new installment in the Halo franchise, a return to form for the groundbreaking Tomb Raider series and a few new LEGO games that will please fans of DC heroes and Lord of the Rings alike.  There’s also talk of a new game from LucasArts, titled Star Wars 1313 but unfortunately there’s no video to share as of yet.
As someone who grew up with blocky monochrome pixels bouncing around the screen, I’m continually impressed by the level of realism and beauty that comes out of these games.  Hit the jump to check out a variety of jaw-dropping trailers and previews.

Last week, director Martin Scorsese released his first 3D film, Hugo.  Based on Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret and written by John Logan, the film stars Asa Butterfield as a young boy secretly living in a train station in 1931 Paris.  As he attempts to piece together a puzzle that he’d been working on with his father, the results transform not only Hugo, but everyone he comes in contact with.  The impressive cast also includes Chloe Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sir Ben Kingsley, Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Richard Griffiths, Frances de la Tour, Emily Mortimer, and Michael Stuhlbarg. You can watch a trailer here.

Anyway, last week I got to sit down with producer Graham King for an extended interview. During our wide ranging conversation, we talked about how Hugo came together, how he determines the budget for each production, and how much 3D added to the cost.  In addition, with King involved in so many other projects, I got updates on the Freddie Mercury biopic that he has in development with Sacha Baron Cohen playing Mercury, the Tomb Raider reboot, the Jersey Boys movie adaptation, The Battle of Britain, and The Vault which he’s developing with Johnny Depp‘s production company Infinitum Nihil.  Hit the jump for more.

While a reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise has been in the works for quite some time, we hadn’t really heard much about the film until early this year when a 2013 release was targeted.  Iron Man scribes Mark Fergus and Hawk Otsby came aboard the project in May.  They stated at the time that their intention was to craft an origin story and solidify Lara Croft as a strong female character in the vein of Ellen Ripley or Sarah Connor.

Steve is currently in New York covering press for Martin Scorsese’s Hugo and he sat down with producer Graham King who gave an update on the Tomb Raider reboot.  King said that they just got the script in and they hope to start production next year.  The producer also spoke about the direction and tone of the story they’ve come up with, and even mused on the prospect of bringing Angelina Jolie back in some capacity.  Hit the jump for the full interview.

E3 doesn’t technically start until Tuesday, but all the developers are trying to get a jump on each other which is funny because that means no one gets a jump on anybody.  I assume the plan is to get people excited with a trailer and then at E3 the developer will show some of the game and explain what players can do in it.  There will be presentations, there will be demos, and the only thing you’re not likely to see at E3 is Nintendo announcing an IP that isn’t based off a pre-existing property.

Trailers have gone online for a bunch of games, but I’m not going to turn this site into GameTrailers, so here are the trailers for the reboot of Tomb Raider (no gameplay shown, but plenty of awful voiceover dialogue), Soul Calibur V (cheesy story and voice acting, but the games have always been fun), and Saints Row: The Third (no gameplay, but a previously released screenshot showed your character beating someone with a dildo bat so I’m sold).  Hit the jump to check out the trailers.

I’m not in favor of a Tomb Raider reboot.  I’ve never been particularly enamored of the Lara Croft character simply because I think she’s not an icon of ass-kicking female empowerment as much as she’s eye-candy for lonely male gamers.  I’ve said before that simply giving a woman a weapon and having her murder stuff doesn’t automatically equal a strong character.  Hopefully newly-hired screenwriters Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby can pull the character away from the awful video games (the original 1996 game is still the best one) and terrible movies and give her a worthwhile story.

Hit the jump for what Fergus and Ostby had to say about their plans for the character.

GK Films has announced the acquisition of the feature film rights to the video game Tomb Raider.  Producers Graham King and Tim Headington have plans to reboot the franchise by Angelina Jolie in 2001′s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider; the sequel The Cradle of Life followed in 2003.  The first GK Films Tomb Raider movie is scheduled for a 2013 release.  Heat Vision suggests the new film will be an origin story, so presumably Jolie is not involved with Tomb Raider 2.0.

The original game was published in 1996 and centers on the adventures of British archaeologist Lara Croft.  There are now nine titles (with a tenth on the way), plus a slew of novels, comic books, theme park rides, and of course, the films.  Hit the jump for more background on the Tomb Raider story.

Ever wonder how Lara Croft got in the tomb raiding business?  Of course not.  She’s clearly just a spoiled rich girl who steals artifacts and keeps them for herself rather than donating them to museums.  Also, she’s a bit of a psychopath because what archeologist brings guns to excavations?  Oh, that’s right: she has to kill bears and T-Rexes.  She discovers a dinosaur that’s been extinct for millions of years and her instinct is to murder it while doing backflips.

But why tomb raiding instead of an eating disorder like most spoiled rich girls?  Was she driven mad by constant field trips to the museums?  Was she pummeled by artifacts as a child?  Whatever the reason, producer Dan Lin wants us to know!  He also wants a younger Lara Croft instead of a real, adult woman but I’m sure that has nothing to do with it.  But hopefully, if we get that younger Lara, we can get a scene of her getting breast implants which make her unreasonably top-heavy.

Click here to watch About.com’s interview with Lin.