Remembering Lara Croft (Nude)

June 1, 2007
DASHIELL

We may not be as big gaming geeks as some people we know, but we have spent our fair share of time on digital foolishness over the years ... and it probably won't come as much of a surprise to know that our favorite title of all time is Tomb Raider. We'll give you two guesses as to why that is (hint: it has something to do with Lara Croft), though we've also been captivated by the game's marketing strategy over the years —especially when it involved real-life, flesh and blood babes who were hired to strut around in Lara's trademarked hot pants and skintight tank tops. (The whole "hot chick with guns" vibe didn't hurt either.) Believe it or not, it's been over a decade since the first volume in the long-running series was released and everyone has 10th anniversary fever these days (even though it's actually been 11 years); from the developer who is releasing an updated edition of the original game next week to the kind folks who brought many of those babes together for a new latex-y photo shoot, you can cut the nostalgia with a knife. We prefer to remember Lara in a different context , though: the naked state that nearly all of her real world avatars like Rhona Mitra, Nell McAndrew and Lucy Clarkson usually ended up in at some point. We guess we're just sentimental fools that way.