The Laras: a look back in danger

Katie Price (far right) makes her one and only appearance as Lara Croft The latest instalment in Lara Croft's adventures - Tomb Raider: Underworld - has gone on sale. Developed by US firm Crystal Dynamics, the game picks up from where the previous edition - Tomb Raider: Legend - left off. From the outset, the series has had a human face promoting the game. The concept of a real life Lara started in 1996, when Tomb Raider made its debut at the now defunct European Computer Trade Show (ECTS). Back then, the concept of a female lead character in a video game was groundbreaking. Gamers had been fed a diet of macho gun-toting heroes, such as Duke Nukem or "lone space marine" and there many who felt the idea of Lara Croft would fall flat. Four girls were picked (including one Katie Price, better known today as Jordan) to promote the game at the show, in the hope that an attractive girl with a gun would appeal to gamers and game journalists alike. It did. NATHALIE COOK 1996 It was UK games magazine PC Zone - rather than the games publisher Eidos - who married Lara Croft with her real life counterpart. Nathalie Cook - one of the Laras first seen at ECTS - was splashed all over the magazine's 1996 Christmas issue and she, or rather Lara, opened a department store in Birmingham. After Lara, Ms Cook faded from the public eye and little is known about her today. RHONA MITRA 1997 - 1998 The next Lara Croft, chosen this time by Eidos, is considered as being the first "true" Lara. Rhona Mitra was a British-born actress who had a few small film parts prior to becoming the face of Lara Croft. But to play the role of Lara, she took method acting to a whole new level. Ms Mitra had cosmetic surgery to make her figure look more like Lara's and she also took media training courses to help her deal with publicity and press interviews. During her time as Lara, Ms Mitra did numerous publicity shoots, media interviews and even made a single - produced by former Eurythmic Dave Stewart- called Getting Naked. However, it failed to make the Top 40 and was Lara's first and last foray into the music industry. But for Rhona Mitra, her time as Lara Croft was the springboard to bigger things. Her modelling career continued and she has since appeared in more than 25 movies, including Get Carter and Ali G Indahouse. NELL McANDREW 1998 - 1999 The next - and arguably the most famous - Lara was Nell McAndrew. Like her predecessor, Ms McAndrew also had surgery to make her look more like Lara. But while she was promoting Tomb Raider 3, Eidos sacked Ms McAndrew for appearing on the front cover of Playboy magazine. She went on to have a successful career as a glamour model and now helps raise money for charity. LARA WELLER 1999 - 2000 The next Lara was - coincidentally- also a Lara. Lara Weller started her modelling career in the Netherlands after being spotted by a photographer. The 24-year-old donned trademark shorts, top and pistols for what Eidos claimed was Lara's last outing in The Last Revelation. In an interview with BBC News, she said that she didn't quite know what to expect playing Lara, but looking back it was a fantastic year of her life. "It was very sad when it all finished. You got to know all the team you work with and when it stopped, it was a little bit of a shock, even though we all knew it had to end. "Since playing Lara, I've done some more modelling, but now I run and manage events and I'm also training to be a yoga teacher," she said. "And as for the future? I'm going to go travelling and maybe I'll start a family." LUCY CLARKSON 2000 - 2002 Next up was Lucy Clarkson, the youngest Lara to date. Discovered by Vivenne Westwood when she was 15, she was promoting Tomb Raider just two years later. Talking to BBC News, she said that although at the time she was already a successful model, being Lara gave her career a real boost. "The first few years were amazing, because all the doors open for you as you become a celeb overnight," she said. "Everything was happening for me and it became much easier to do stuff in the public eye, because it's a big stepping stone. "Life after Lara was, and still is, very interesting. I'm writing my autobiography about life as a model, launching an underwear range next year, and have just published a calendar in aid of Help the Heroes." JILL DE JONG 2002 - 2006 Like previous Laras, Jill de Jong had already worked as a model, although at more than six feet tall she holds the record as the tallest to date. Ms de Jong was the second Dutch woman to play Lara Croft and she went on to model for Ralph Lauren and Escada. She now lives in the United States pursuing a career in acting. KARIMA ADEBIBE 2006 - 2008 For the next Lara, Eidos did things a bit differently. Rather than picking an established model, the firm took on a complete novice. Karima Adebibe worked as a sales assistant in Topshop before she was discovered by Eidos. Adebibe retired as Lara in early 2008 and has continued modelling. ALISON CARROLL 2008 - Stepping into Ms Croft's boots is the current Lara, Alison Carroll. Like Adebibe she was a newcomer to the modelling world but she was no stranger to the limelight, having represented Great Britain as a professional display gymnast and helped coach the winning junior team at the British National Gymnastics Championships. The 23-year-old will appear at press and promotion events in character, and the developers also plan to have her playing the lead in a forthcoming TV commercial. ANGELINA JOLIE Of course, there is one Lara who is probably the most famous of them all, despite never actually promoting the video game. Angelina Jolie's role in the Tomb Raider film put the game firmly in the media spotlight and to date is the most successful movie adaptation of a video game, grossing in excess of $300m (£200m).

How to put the 'e' in D&D

By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News Will gaming traditionalists accept Dungeons and Dragons leaving the table top for the desktop? Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is the mother of all role-playing games. Before World of Warcraft, Everquest, Meridian 59, Zork and pretty much every other multi-user dungeon or text adventure was D&D. Since its publication in 1974 by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, D&D has been relentlessly old-school and most of those that play it do so with paper, pencil and polyhedral dice. But this year Wizards of the Coast, D&D's current owner, is adding electronic elements to the game to prepare it for an age in which most fantasy gamers play via computer if they play at all. "If we want to recruit the next generation of gamers we have to be online, that's clearly the platform where people have chosen to play," said Randy Buehler, vice-president of digital gaming at Wizards of the Coast. Game on While many computer games such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights have appeared before that use a D&D setting and revolve around its rules none, said Mr Buehler, have captured what is special about the game. As in many fantasy-based computer games, D&D is all about picking a role for a character to play, be that warrior, wizard or thief, and then sending that character on an adventure. The crucial difference is that in D&D you do not thrust that character into a dungeon overseen by a computer - instead the overseer is another person. In D&D parlance they are known as a Dungeon Master (DM). The electronic elements aim to help players master the game The DM is the kind or cruel god who controls the monsters found in the dungeon, plays every character you meet on the way to the lost tombs and makes the whole experience a frustration and a delight. "Without that human element you are limited to what's been programmed in by the designer," said Mr Buehler. "What's missing is the imagination and improvisation. If we can capture that we win." The electronic extras for D&D are collectively known as D&D Insider and give players a variety of digital tools to aid and abet that formerly paper-based play. "The idea is that you can play it as 100% table-top experience, or 100% electronic or somewhere in between," said Mr Buehler. The most ambitious part of D&D Insider is the game table - a virtual space where players can join and in which they can play out an adventure overseen by a human DM. Other elements include online character generators that take novices and veterans through the bewildering array of choices that confront anyone creating a D&D character and taking it on several different adventures. Also available is a character visualiser, access to all the D&D rulebooks ever printed and a few online tools to help get characters going. Player power But, said Charles Ryan, a veteran D&D player and spokesman for games firm Esdevium, there's no guarantee that E-D&D will catch on. While putting lots of reference works in one place and producing tools to help people generate characters would undoubtedly be welcome, will that drive people to play D&D online? For some players playing online strips out the atmosphere "It's an open question," said Mr Ryan. "With the older-style guys, it's going to vary." Despite this, said Mr Ryan, there was real appeal in having a virtual space around which D&D players who would not otherwise meet could gather. "The older you get, it gets harder to get that group together," he said. "You are looking at your diaries to see if you can play, if you can get babysitters and so on." "I can go back and play D&D now and play just an hour a night," he said. For some regular D&D players the chance to go online and play is not so tempting. "It's like watching a concert on TV; you just do not get the atmosphere," said Alexander Simkin, organiser of the D&D group on the Meetup website. "I've been to the Last Night of the Proms and seen it on telly and it's a completely different experience," he said. "I think you can simulate some aspects by playing it online but I don't think you can capture all of it," he added. His comments were echoed by Mark Brown, a player who only took up D&D in October 2007 and is keen convert to playing it face-to-face. "I think it's much better to get together with a group of friends and use your imagination," Mr Brown said. "When you do it on a computer you don't have that." But, he said, he could understand Wizards of the Coast's strategy of launching it to tempt youngsters who were more familiar with World of Warcraft. Also, he added, it could prove useful for those who cannot find a D&D group nearby. "If you cannot play it any other way, if there's an online version that could really help," he said.

Obama takes lead in virtual world

Super Obama World takes a satirical swipe at US politics A new online video game has been developed in honour of US President-elect, Barack Obama. Super Obama World has Obama running round a world modelled on Nintendo's Super Mario World. The game takes a satirical look at US politics, with Obama collecting flags and dodging lipstick-wearing pit bulls, lobbyists and Sarah Palin. The game is free to play online, and the developers plan to add further episodes throughout Obama's presidency. As well as satirical characters, the game's environment also features luxury stores Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, in reference to the fact that the Republican campaign reportedly spent more than $150,000 on vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's wardrobe. As much as the Obama campaign embraced technology, it can be said that technology embraced him. Obama supporters spawned viral videos such as "I've got a crush on Obama" and numerous fan sites. Though Republican nominee John McCain's camp established an online presence making use of new media, McCain was more often the subject of online parody; millions viewed the animated "Time for Some Campaignin'" by digital entertainment studio JibJab although, to be fair, both candidates were parodied in equal measure. This might go some way to explain why young voters, who themselves embrace the web and new media, favoured the Democrats by more than two to one. Time for change? However, there are moves within the Republican Party to broaden the way it campaigns.  Whoever is the next chairman of the party needs to fix this problem straight away  Patrick Ruffini former eCampaign director, RNC A group of young Republicans has launched a website called Rebuild the Party to make better use of the internet, improve grassroots support and, according to the site, "start building the future of our party". Erick Erickson, who is spearheading the project, said that once the Republican party leadership contest was out of the way, the party needs to get behind the proposal and make the internet a top priority. "The right really has a hard time embracing the internet like it should," he said. "The internet is a natural stick for people on the right - there are probably more right wingers than left online, but the trick is harnessing those people. "On 15 January we'll have a new leader. Once he - or she - is in place, we want to see a technology director appointed within the Republican National Committee [RNC] and we want them set loose. And that means developing it outside the party, and the bunker mentality that can set in after a political defeat." Patrick Ruffini, the former director of the RNC's eCampaign, echoed Erickson's views. "This is a galvanising moment for the party. Whoever is the next chairman of the party - and the new party leaders - need to fix this problem straight away," he said. "For us, now, it's a tool of opposition. You only have to look at what the Conservatives did in the UK, with WebCameron, to see what is possible," he added. A spokesperson for the Conservative party told BBC News that a future video game featuring David Cameron was unlikely, but couldn't be ruled out.

The Game Girl

By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

Nancy Smith said she never expected to stay at EA as long as she has

Nancy Smith, who got her career break as the "token woman," is now riding high in a world dominated by men.

For Ms Smith it has mostly always been so as she worked her way up the ladder from selling spreadsheets and word processing packages to becoming one of the most influential women in video gaming.

She has a track record going back nearly a quarter of a century with Electronic Arts (EA), one of the most dominant players in the gaming space.

Her time with the company has included executive roles in publishing, sales, and distribution as well as that of vice president and president of the The Sims Label, the best selling PC franchise of all time with over 100 million sales.

Just last month she embarked on a new, as yet undefined, path within the company. While that is being fleshed out she will look after special projects for The Sims, which lets users create and control the lives of simulated people.

"I was in the business application area when Electronic Arts launched. It was then I became interested in the idea of entertainment and games and frankly it wasn't a hard decision to make: games or spreadsheets?"

Lunchtime play

The decision was made even easier by her upbringing. "I grew up in a family that played a lot of games, but it was board games and card games," she said.

But in those early days selling spreadsheets, she found herself involved in very different games - a community that was almost illicit in its nature.

The Sims is the biggest selling franchise in the world

"In the 70's in San Francisco I had several good friends who were in the tech business and they were selling mainframe computers. At lunch we would go over when the mainframes where shut down from all the accounting processes and we'd bring our lunch and play games.

"It was the same programmers and analysts who were running payroll for Wells Fargo bank that were creating these games we would play."

Today she can hardly believe how far the industry has progressed since 1984, when she started at EA as Western Regional sales manager.

"It was all independent dealers. The first year we started shipping games, there were 5,000 independent mom and pop dealers. No one even owned two stores at that time.

"Then retailers like Babbages started to grow with multiple store locations. In that retail climate, our customers were those store managers and store owners who played our games and sold to the converted."

Hard sell

Slowly the industry evolved and bigger retailers started to spring up. That then presented other hurdles.

"When it got really challenging was six or seven years into it. It was when the industry started moving into mass merchants and different types of retail record stores where you were dealing with traditional retail buyers who were looking for specific business metrics.

Electronic Arts is one of the world's largest third-party publishers of games

"The problem was they really didn't have a sense of who the customer was. They had to believe that we as an industry would drive consumers to their stores."

Of course, Ms Smith noted that today the business of selling games is a lot easier, with third quarter sales up 60% on last year.

"For many years now it has been one of the fastest growing aisles in Wal-Mart, in Target, in Best Buy. So those retailers understand how valuable game entertainment is to driving footsteps and driving growth and profit for them."

'Token woman'

While the sales figures have changed much, the demographics haven't. The face of the industry today remains largely male with just 20% of females making up the workforce and only 3% employed as game programmers according to Game Developer Magazine.

When Ms Smith first started out, that figure was a lot less.

"I spent the first 15 years of my career being the only woman in every meeting I ever attended whether it was with external partners, art, retail, licensing groups, design meetings outside of EA. There were just not a lot of women in the business."

That turned out to be a boon for getting her first job, in the American Express card division.

"They were given a mandate that they had to hire one woman and one minority," she said. "I was the woman they hired and I joined with a black man who was the minority candidate for them."

Far from being insulted, Ms Smith used the situation as an ice-breaker.

The Sims "broke the code that brought women into gaming" said Ms Smith

"It was a wonderful jumpstart for my career. I would embrace the opportunity and I would introduce myself as 'I'm Nancy Smith, the token woman in the Western Region of American Express card division.'"

Community spirit

So what of the future?

For Ms Smith it's a new executive position within Electronic Arts as it downplays talk of a takeover following a dismal share price amid a gloomy economy.

For The Sims label, it is a new version of the game which is expected next year along with a Hollywood movie. For the industry as a whole, Ms Smith sees a major shift that was started by The Sims.

"It's about connecting consumers. It's not just creativity, but its the community element that has always been there with The Sims.

"Now people want that in all their entertainment. They want to be connected. They want to play with other people. They want to share. And I think that is really transforming the gaming business and the entertainment business."