By making it possible for male and female characters to choose the same professions, the game won't be stunted like the previous "Diablo" setup where certain genders were certain character classes. Lead designer Jay Wilson said: "These [characters] are not people; they are so far above the normal civilians because that's the tone of the game."

Alison Carroll is the new Lara Croft model, taking the crown over from Karima Adebibe. Carroll is a 23-year-old trained gymnast, so she can cater to all those gymnastic moves Lara is so very capable of.

According to a recent poll run at gaming site What They Play, parents are more worried about video game exposure than they are about exposure to violence, alcohol and porn. On one of the polls — of 3,000 parents — 27 percent of them were most offended by two men kissing, in front of the 26 percent that found a graphically severed head unappealing. We're not sure who runs the site or who they polled, but doesn't it just fill your heart with love to know two guys kissing rates more offensive than a graphically severed head? … continue reading

The tech folks over at MSNBC.com recently compiled a Sexiest video game characters top 5, in a quest to find the few characters with “the complete package: looks, brains, confidence – and that mysterious element the French call 'je ne sais quois'” that do it for us gamers. Yeah, I bet that was easy. In fact, I bet that the good folks of Tecmo had those exact characteristics in mind when they developed Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball.

Right? Anyway, everybody knows sex sells, so it’s quite normal to have a few babes (male or female) appealing to the gamers. Still, this unusually short list has a couple of interesting (and odd) choices, which focus on a lot more than just a nice pair of … pixels. For example:

Lara Croft (Tomb Raider series)

What? Lara Croft is intelligent and … stuff.

OK, seriously now. It’s obvious that no sexiest video game characters list can be credible without “the queen of virtual babes”: Miss Croft. Since Tomb Raider's original release in 1996, Lara has become an Eidos Interactive goldmine, both in the video game industry and in Hollywood. Whether it’s the looks, the guns, the attitude or the accent, no one can resist Angeli — er, Lara Croft.

Jade (Beyond Good & Evil)

Now this is an interesting choice. Jade is one of the few leading ladies in video games, but she’s not your typical eye candy: she’s actually smart, talented and, all in all, a pretty nice role model. Kudos for choosing her. Also, did you notice that hair and that attitude? Quite ... ambiguous. Just ask our friends over at LesbianGamers.com.

There are also two men on the list: Agent 47 (Hitman series) and Dante (Devil May Cry series). The choice of Agent 47 is odd. Sure, Agent 47 wears nice suits, but … he's scary. But I have to agree with the choice of Dante, who is very stylish and, seriously, isn't he a bit lesbianish?

Dante (Devil May Cry series)

Look at that nice hair. Pretty lesbianish man, if you ask me. OK, maybe it’s just me. But hey, he’s very good looking and can kick some serious butt. Also, Devil May Cry is fun. … continue reading

Australians Tracy Whitelaw and Angela Simpson, avid gamers and avid lesbians, recently launched the website LesbianGamers.com (with the cheeky tagline "because sometimes we use our hands for other things"). Their mission is to give lesbians a place to chat about video games and to provide reviews and info on lesbian gaming — you just can't find this stuff anywhere else!

Since many AfterEllen.com readers (including myself) are known to pick up a controller now and then, I invited Tracy and Angela to do a regular video blog to give us the scoop on the latest games and gaming news.

In their first episode, they run down some of the must-have games of 2007 across all formats, including Heavenly Sword, Tomb Raider Anniversary, Mass Effect, My Sims and Guitar Hero III.

They also offer their take on the Mass Effect lesbian/alien sex controversy, and Tracy dishes the dirt on Angela's secret gaming embarrassment. … continue reading

It's the end. That volcano towering over your hometown is about to blow, and you only have an hour to get out of town and save assorted important people and innocent children along the way No, wait. A gang of murderous strangers — or army of the undead, take your pick — is on your tail without adequate exposition, and your assorted armory is out of bullets. Or maybe it's that the asteroid approaches on a collision course, threatening the earth with a dinosaur-like extinction.

In any case, one question remains: Who do you call in an apocalypse? Which hero do you want to help you save the world, then take home afterward to celebrate your survival? Those were questions actually asked by a recent study. (OK, not the one about taking her home. That was me. But really, what's the good of saving the world if you can't snuggle with your honey when it's over?) Here's the only woman to make the top ten:

… continue reading

I have fond memories of playing the first Tomb Raider video game on a dorky Acer PC that would now seem like a relic. That game was so pixelly — Lara Croft had those pointy torpedo boobs — but it had the perfect effort-reward ratio. For me, every TR game since then has paled. And the films don't really compare either, though I do enjoy watching Croft kick butt. Still, Tomb Raider should be about the adventure, not the Angelina.

This latest bit of Tomb Raider news is more along the lines of what I like. Minnie Driver will be the voice of Lara Croft in an online animated series called Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider. I take issue with the backslash (what the hell is that trying to do?) but I approve of the concept. And I definitely approve of anything that involves Driver's voice or Driver in general. (I only wish I could tolerate the rest of The Riches, because she's great in it. But I can't get past the virilization and bad-acting-ization of Eddie Izzard.) … continue reading

by Sarah Warn

Premiere magazine has posted their list of The 25 Best Movie Posters Ever, most of which, not surprisingly, were made before the turn of the century (Breakfast at Tiffany, Rosemary's Baby, The Seven Year Itch etc.), back when movie posters were more about art than enhanced breasts (Tomb Raider and Deep Blue Sea, anyone?).

The poster for Jodie Foster's 1991's film Silence of the Lambs was one of the few modern ones that made the list, because if you "look very closely at the death's head moth covering star Jodie Foster's mouth, there appears to be an image of humans forming a skull on its back."

Yeah, that's why the poster is so mesmerizing. It's the skulls. And we're all looking at the guns in the Tomb Raider poster. … continue reading