As far as Epic Games Store freebies are concerned, this is definitely up there. With the past decade's Tomb Raider trilogy up for point-and-click grabs on PC. You'd be hard pressed to find a better gaming gift for the holidays as this is the trilogy in complete edition form.

With Tomb Raider: Game of the Year Edition, Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition all available for the next week via the Epic Games Store for the low price of zilch.

So yeah, head on over to grab them now.

Alongside modern era custodians, Crystal Dynamics, the pair want to remind many of us just how old we are, by highlighting that we've been raiding tombs with the never say die, Lara Croft for a quarter of a century now, which is some serious staying power, all things considered.

How do they plan to celebrate this milestone for a year you ask? Here's the ancient scroll we uncovered:

Tomb Raider’s star, famous archeologist-adventurer Lara Croft, has become a powerful force in the gaming industry and beyond, and has made an indelible mark on virtually every facet of entertainment. From being named an ambassador for scientific excellence to appearing live on tour with U2, Lara Croft has touched the lives of tens of millions of people around the world. With over 30 video game titles released and hundreds of awards, the heroine has been a cultural icon for 25 years on gaming screens and Hollywood silver screens alike, battling T-Rexes, unearthing ancient artifacts, and saving the world from an apocalypse or two. Lara has had adventures in dozens of countries, explored the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Andaman Seas, ventured to Antarctica and the Arctic Circle, and rediscovered Atlantis and the lost island of Yamatai.

“Over the last 25 years Tomb Raider has become more than a game and Lara Croft has risen to become a cultural icon,” said Scot Amos, Head of Studio at Crystal Dynamics. “We’re so proud to be a part of this rich tapestry of adventure, but we recognize the true credit belongs to the fans! The amazing Tomb Raider community has made all of this possible and we look forward to celebrating with them his historic milestone and for many decades to come.”

Tomb Raider’s year-long celebration of its 25th anniversary will feature in-depth explorations of the major games released in the franchise, including nostalgic media deep from the archives, developer interviews, community activities, live playthroughs, and more. Over the coming months, developer Crystal Dynamics will re-visit the lineup of major Tomb Raider games, focusing on one game each month. Fans of Tomb Raider and Lara Croft can look forward to additional franchise announcements over the course of the year.

To learn more about the celebration click here for the official page.

And what's your fondest memory with the series in its lifetime?

Crystal Dynamics, the studio behind the most recent Tomb Raider reboot and its upcoming sequel, has revealed to Kotaku that a small handful of staff have been let go from work. According to the statement the team were not working on Tomb Raider, but instead a brand new IP for the studio.

We’ve made some decisions at Crystal Dynamics last week around the second project we’re working on, which has resulted in a small number of roles (roughly 12) becoming redundant as we re-scope the project. This doesn’t affect the Tomb Raider development team, who as confirmed last week are well into production on a next-generation sequel. We’re a close-knit team at Crystal and wouldn’t be making these changes if we didn’t feel it was absolutely necessary. We’ll help those affected as best we can and we want to thank them for their hard work and commitment. If anyone is looking for development talent, please contact:mtrout@crystald.com and we’ll put you in touch direct.

AusGamers wishes those affected by the closures are able to get back on their feet as quickly as possible.

Square Enix CEO Phil Rogers has recently confirmed that a next-gen Tomb Raider is currenly in development, alongside a lengthy report that boiled down to Square Enix ensuring gamers that they are committing heavily to this next generation of gaming.

According to the note from Rogers, Square Enix is working on a number of next generation projects, "including Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III, which were announced at this year’s E3, and Thief coming in 2014." The note also very briefly touched on the fact that a next-generation Tomb Raider sequel is well into development, and something that we presume will be revealed sooner rather than later.

Square Enix launched the newest Tomb Raider title in the franchise earlier this year to great success, with AusGamers rewarding it a 9 out of 10 in our review. Obviously with such a resounding success in a rebooted franchise, it is somewhat of a no brainer that Square Enix would be looking at continuing that success through to next-gen consoles like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

First and foremost, we are a games company and today we devote most of our time and effort into developing new and rich gameplay experiences, worlds and characters. At the same time new business models have risen up, which we periodically will try to explore. I know this can be frustrating for some long-time fans of our games, particularly if it seems that we’re heading in unfamiliar directions without much in the way of explanation. Explaining our approach to these opportunities is something we’re working to improve on. That said, we need to experiment and adapt or it’s likely we won’t always be in a position to keep investing in the ways we need, to build-out our games and offer excellence to you, our gamers.

I can categorically say that we’re not abandoning core, triple-A console and PC games. We’re working hard at improving how we develop our games and how we release them, and I want to explain that in a little more detail.

As well as the very stern push that Square Enix aren't abandoning the next-generation market, Rogers also revealed that their senior teams in Americas and Europe are working on various platforms, including "cutting-edge tablet and mobile games (such as the recently released Deus Ex: The Fall), to live and online PC games (our now in beta Heroes & Generals)."

For those who may want to raise their concerns or questions, Rogers has welcomed feedback through his email address, though he can't promise he'll respond to every question. For the full letter you can find it over here which is a great read for those wanting to know how Square Enix plans on bringing its developers into the next generation of gaming.

Square Enix has today released a new DLC map pack for the multiplayer side of Tomb Raider, titled Caves and Cliffs. The new DLC is currently available on Xbox 360 and features three all-new multiplayer maps for players to battle across.

Scavenger Caverns: An extensive subterranean network of caves used by the island’s scavengers as an underground prison.

Cliff Shantytown: This scavenger settlement was built high up on the island cliffs. Its many layers hide some of the deadliest traps on the island.

The Burning Village: A raging fire has embraced an abandoned Japanese village, the burning buildings offer multiple ways to escape or engage your enemies.

Each of the three maps will be playable on all four multiplayer game modes and will see the island's indigenous Scavengers pitted against the crew members from the shipwrecked Endurance.

Currently the DLC is available exclusively for Xbox 360, however will be made available for PlayStation 3 and PC later on. Check out the trailer below.

Square Enix has today published a new update for those players on PC for their recent reboot title Tomb Raider, aimed at fixing various bugs and crashes but also notably the memory costs for TressFX.

The new hair setting was previously quite taxing on even the most high-end systems, causing large framerate drops when turned on. The new update has now lowered the amount of memory costing for the realistic hair but also increased simulation and graphical qualities.

We have just made public a new version of the PC version of Tomb Raider, build 1.0.722.3. This patch will be applied by Steam automatically when you next start the game. If your game does not update, please restart the Steam client.

In addition to various PC specific fixes this patch brings all the fixes available in the 1.02 console patch to the PC as well, but note that the majority of those was already included in the originally released PC game or version 718.4.

Among the new changes are also fixes to Nvidia graphics card users who found the title more taxing then AMD users. A new driver has been released that coincides with the Tomb Raider patch, hopefully increasing performance among several GeForce GPUs.

We’ve been working closely with NVIDIA to address the issues experienced by some Tomb Raider players. In conjunction with this patch, NVIDIA will be releasing updated drivers that help to improve stability and performance of Tomb Raider on NVIDIA GeForce GPUs. We are continuing to work together to resolve any remaining outstanding issues. We recommend that GeForce users update to the latest GeForce 314.21 drivers (posting today) for the best experience in Tomb Raider.

You can grab the new drivers here for 32-bit and here for 64-bit, and can also find the full patch notes available on Steam here.

Cinema production company GK Films is developing a new Tomb Raider movie, collaborating with the creators of the freshly released, and critically acclaimed rebooted Tomb Raider game (AusGamers 9/10).

News of a new movie comes by way of film blog Variety, who waffle on about the game franchise's history, before mentioning the intended departure from the Angelina Jolie films, back toward the new game's fresh portrayal.

Crystal Dynamics have their own film version of “Tomb Raider” in mind now that the game is out.

Reboot serves as the basis for a potential new film franchise. Previous attempts died after the wordy sequel “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life,” earned just $67 million domestically in 2003, and $157 million worldwide.

In a rare situation, Crystal Dynamics is working closely with GK Films to develop the actioner. Gamemakers typically just license off the film rights to a title and hope for something good at the megaplex.

“They are working from this new take that we’ve given them,” Gallagher said of GK Films. “It’s a good partnership. We’re seeing the challenges through the same lens.”

Collaboration was key for Crystal Dynamics when agreeing to partner with filmmakers.

“It was important for both of us to have a cohesive version of the franchise,” Gallagher said. “We didn’t want to see a film version that was a continuation of the old ‘Tomb Raider’ films.”

The new Tomb Raider game is now available on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Check out the new "Day One" launch trailer below.

For those of you eagerly awaiting the chance to step into the shoes of the newly rebooted Tomb Raider will be glad to know that Square Enix has today announced that the freshly-rebooted title is now available for all platforms.

Tomb Raider explores the intense and gritty origin story of Lara Croft and her ascent from a young woman to a hardened survivor. Armed only with raw instincts and the ability to push beyond the limits of human endurance, Lara must fight to unravel the dark history of a forgotten island to escape its relentless hold.

If you haven't yet, you can check out AusGamers review over here for what we thought of the latest Lara Croft title, but also check out our game page as well for more screenshots, trailers and news.

Tomb Raider is available now for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Hair is big business in the world of gaming (unless you are playing Hitman) and hardware giant AMD has unveiled an entirely new hair technology to help combat those bad hair days. Titled TressFX, the new DirectCompute programming language is able to unlock "the massively-parallel processing capabilities of the Graphics Core Next architecture, enabling image quality previously restricted to pre-rendered images." In more simpler terms, the new system allows for prettier hair.

Currently AMD is trialling the new technology in upcoming action title Tomb Raider, where iconic character Lara Croft will be giving a mane full of realistic hair that will surely combat any enemies along her way.

Lara Croft is an iconic character with an equally iconic ponytail. Re-imagining Lara and her haircut for the 2013 release of Tomb Raider wasn’t just an opportunity to modernize the character, it was an opportunity to substantially advance in-game realism by tackling the long-standing challenge of unrealistic hair. Through painstaking collaboration between software developers at AMD and Crystal Dynamics, Tomb Raider proudly features the world’s first real-time hair rendering technology in a playable game: TressFX Hair.

Building on AMD’s previous work on Order Independent Transparency, this method makes use of Per-Pixel Linked-List data structures to manage rendering complexity and memory usage.

DirectCompute is additionally utilized to perform the real-time physics simulations for TressFX Hair. This physics system treats each strand of hair as a chain with dozens of links, permitting for forces like gravity, wind and movement of the head to move and curl Lara’s hair in a realistic fashion. Further, collision detection is performed to ensure that strands do not pass through one another, or other solid surfaces such as Lara’s head, clothing and body. Finally, hair styles are simulated by gradually pulling the strands back towards their original shape after they have moved in response to an external force.

For those interested in the new AMD feature you'll require a graphics card featuring the Graphics Core Next architecture, like the AMD Radeon HD 7000 series. You can check out a glimpse of the old and new hair compared below (more at our game page), but also swing by AMD's new blog for a more detailed outlook of the new technology. For those who haven't yet, you can also check out AusGamers fresh review on Tomb Raider over here.

It's not as though Lara Croft, fictional or not, is unaccustomed to the spotlight, and her new venture to rediscover herself is certainly one that has made headlines, but there's a good chance the buxom adventurer and her handlers, Crystal Dynamics, have only scratched the surface.

At least that's the sense James "Jickle" O'Connor gave us with his review of the game, and dammit if the guys isn't more often right, we've no choice but to trust that this new Lara Croft opus has touched him in a positive way.

Click here for his full review to see what we're on about.

Perhaps the most controversial element of Crystal Dynamics upcoming Tomb Raider reboot, is the apparent increase in the quantity of human adversaries in the game, presumably necessitated by the new game's extra focus on Lara's new combat abilities. Whereas the earlier games were much more driven by exploration and puzzle solving, punctuated mostly by battles with endangered animal species, and only a handful of distinct human opponents.

Today's trailer offers a bit more of an idea as to the extent of both of those factors, demonstrating a wide array of Lara's new attack moves and strategies, and leaving a pile of dead people in her wake. Check it out below.

Tomb Raider is due on March 5th 2013, for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

With three weeks to go until the freshly-rebooted Tomb Raider arrives in stores, Square Enix has released a new gameplay trailer offering an extended 11 minute look at gameplay from Lara Croft's new adventure.

The clip is narrated by Crystal Dynamics' Creative Direction Noah Hughes, who walks viewers through the Monastery Escape scenario from early in the game, demonstrating a variety of Lara's abilities and strategies in order to navigate the hostile environment on route to a scavenger shanty town.

Tomb Raider is due on March 5th 2013 for PC, XBox 360 and PlayStation 3. Watch the video below.

Following the recent surprise reveal of a multiplayer component in the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot, Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have released a new developer diary style trailer, featuring some of the team at Eidos Montreal discussing the intentions and implementation of the franchises first foray into competitive play.

Zac Levi, the actor better known as Chuck checks in with the multiplayer team in Quebec that has been working independently from the Californian singleplayer developers to discuss and play the game, but more importantly, the video features healthy smatterings of multiplayer gameplay. Check it out below.

Tomb Raider is due on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on March 5th 2012.

Following recent confirmation that the February print issue of Official Xbox Magazine would feature a reveal of a multiplayer mode in the upcoming Tomb Raider, a fan over at Tomb Raider Forums has reportedly gotten a hold of the article itself and summarised the details within (thanks Eurogamer).

The multiplayer component has been developed by a separate team at Deus Ex: Human Revolution developer Edios Montreal, leaving the US-based Crystal Dynamics to focus on the singleplayer. The reports notes Lara's absence from multiplayer, describing a Survivors versus Scavengers scenario built around a group of Lara's allies banding together against the island's hostile inhabitants.

Three game-types were confirmed, with the familiar Team Deathmatch, an asymmetrical Rescue mode where survivors must collect and stock med packs while scavengers bleed them out, and Cry for Help which the article suggests might be more exploration, and less combat-orientated.

There is also reportedly different player stats and loadouts, with an XP system and maps filled with traps, climbable surfaces, and destructible environments.

In the lead up to Tomb Raider's March 2013 launch, Square Enix has launched a new trailer series to promote the game's many features and gameplay mechanics.

Titled Guide to Survival, the first instalment features a mix of both old and fresh gameplay footage and introduces us to some of Lara's new tools such as the climbing axe, and bow, demonstrates the eagle vis... er, I mean survival instinct ability, shows off environment effects and how they they affect puzzles, and walks though the basecamp functionality that serves as the player progression hub.

Watch the trailer embedded below. Tomb Raider is due on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on March 5th 2013.

We recently had a chance to catch up with Crystal Dynamics' Brian Horton who serves as senior art director on the Tomb Raider reboot.

Among topics discussed, Brian told us that high-end PC owners will be "very, very happy" with how they've treated the game on the desktop platform and that they definitely went back to Lara's roots to hit the right notes with Tomb Raider.

"The essence of [the original] game actually had a mature flavour to it, and I think we brought it a little bit back to that Tomb Raider One flavour, versus the more storybook flavour that it achieved as it progressed as a game," Horton told us.

But it was in the need for this reboot to resonate, successfully, with gamers he was most candid, explaining that they've essentially gone all in.

"We’re one hundred percent focused right now on Tomb Raider," he said. "There is obviously potential for the future -- we’re always thinking about the future in some capacity -- but we know if we don’t get this right, if we don’t re-launch Tomb Raider in a really strong way, none of our future plans are going to manifest."

Click here for the full video interview and transcript feature.

A new trailer for Tomb Raider also debuted during the weekend's Spike VGAs event showing off a bit more of Crystal Dynamic's reimaginging of the iconic Lara Croft.

The video predominantly features footage we've seen in past gameplay previews, but there are a few bits and pieces of new stuff amongst the sizzle, set to a moody industrial backing track. If Lara doesn't survive, none of them will.

Tomb Raider is due on march 5th 2013 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

AusGamers was recently given a chance to get hands-on with Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider reboot, and walked away with mixed feelings about the potential for the title.

On the one hand, Lara Croft does feel ripe for a new shot at stardom, however, certain gameplay design and decisions still aren't sitting too well with us despite so much going for the game in its fantastical island setting, strong support characters, lite RPG components and exploratory/puzzle-solving areas.

Click here for our in-depth hands-on preview.

Square Enix has revealed more screenshots for upcoming prequel Tomb Raider, this time showcasing the young Lara Croft fighting her way through a dangerous jungle after being shipwrecked. Included in the new batch of screenshots is a glimpse at the upgrade system for weapons, with players having to find parts hidden across the map.

After a brutal storm destroys the boat she was travelling on, a frightened young woman is left washed ashore on an unknown beach. On her own but not alone she has only one goal, to survive.

Here begins the first adventure for a young and inexperienced Lara Croft in a story which charts the journey of an ordinary woman who finds out just how far she must go in order to stay alive.

You can check out a glimpse of what to expect in the newest Tomb Raider below, or check out our game page for the full library.

For those eagerly awaiting Square Enix's Tomb Raider, Steam has no opened up pre-orders for PC, which feature the new pre-purchase reward system that a few previous titles have used. The premise is basically the more people that pre-order the title, the more rewards are unlocked for players who have pre-ordered.

Currently the PC version of Tomb Raider is offering a standard edition for $44.99 (-10% pre-order discount) which includes the game and any of the tiered prizes, and a Survival Edition which includes some digital swag.

Survival Edition includes:

Digital 32-page mini art book compiled by TOMB RAIDER’S Art Director Brian Horton

Digital copy of Tomb Raider’s atmospheric soundtrack

Digital double-sided map of the Tomb Raider’s mysterious island setting

DLC Pack

Currently the tiered prizes are a copy of Lara Croft and the Guardian of the Light for tier 1, The Challenge Tomb DLC for tier 2 and The Endurance DLC Pack for tier 3. At the time of writing this article, the progress was at 9% of the first tier.

Square Enix has also announced collector's edition retail packs for the US and EU, however no Australian edition has been revealed yet.

Tomb Raider will be available on March 5th 2013 for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.