Oh Nathan, is it cold there in Lara's shadow? Not according to Naughty Dog's Bruce Straley, who told CVG that it's Lara Croft who should be shivering beneath the Uncharted hero's cover, not the other way around.
Asked if Nathan could ever be as popular as Eidos' British spelunker, the Uncharted director responded with a question of his own, asking "Why, do you think he's not already there, if not beyond that point already, in terms of popularity?" He added that Drake adds a "much needed breath of fresh air in an industry that's been a bit stale for a while, in terms of characters." So cheeky, Mr. Straley, though Lara Croft was fresh once too, and time has a way of making even the most standout luminaries passé.
Reader Comments (101)
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:03AM MarkHawk said
It's simple, Drake is all about his half tucked in shirt while Laura is more popular for her chest. There needs to be a cross over for both series. Something that has them explore together but by the end want nothing to do with each other forever.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:19AM (Unverified) said
How about nothing to do but each other?
Hot Coffee: Mayan Edition coming later today to a fanfic site near you.
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Hot Coffee: Mayan Edition coming later today to a fanfic site near you.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:53AM Temple said
Typical CVG trolling:
FTA:
"director Bruce Straley believes Drake is already up there in terms of popularity with the PlayStation audience."
...Playstation audience is the key word.
Also, the actual quote is much more down to earth: "I feel that Nathan Drake can stand on his own in any line up of the video game pantheon" Never does he say he's popular "beyond" Lara Croft.
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FTA:
"director Bruce Straley believes Drake is already up there in terms of popularity with the PlayStation audience."
...Playstation audience is the key word.
Also, the actual quote is much more down to earth: "I feel that Nathan Drake can stand on his own in any line up of the video game pantheon" Never does he say he's popular "beyond" Lara Croft.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 1:11AM (Unverified) said
"Something that has them explore together but by the end want nothing to do with each other forever."
Sounds like Uncharted Tomb Raiding: One Night Stand.
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Sounds like Uncharted Tomb Raiding: One Night Stand.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 1:21AM (Unverified) said
Not for nothing Temple but how would Nathan be popular with anything other than the Playstation Audience? Considering it's a ps3 exclusive game and all I don't see how he could be popular with 360/Wii owners.
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 1:26AM MarkHawk said
Im a 360 gamer and the only game until This Christmas that I played more then once let alone 3 times was Drakes Uncharted fortune. He had character and I loved it. He was a fun guy I'd like to go on an epic adventure with...
Laura had what? Millions of Dollars? Perfect Body? Angelina Personality? I'd like to chill with that person but at the same time I think I'd hate them.
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Laura had what? Millions of Dollars? Perfect Body? Angelina Personality? I'd like to chill with that person but at the same time I think I'd hate them.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 5:40AM (Unverified) said
Hehehe ... I knew someone would make a Hot Coffee reference. Nicely done.
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:05AM (Unverified) said
Nolan North FTW!
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:08AM apokalipze2 said
Drake will never reach the popularity of Lara Croft. Last time I checked Drake didn't have a movie named after his game. Not to mention that Uncharted didn't sell all too well compared to Tomb Raider
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:45AM johnpaul12 said
Talk to me when Angelina Jolie plays nathan drake, then well talk...
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 6:19AM (Unverified) said
you DO Realize That there is talks of an Uncharted Movie in the works right???
not to mention Croft has been around since the mid 90's and got a movie in 2001....so if Drake gets his movie BEFORE 2011 then it may mean he hit main stream a little faster than she did
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not to mention Croft has been around since the mid 90's and got a movie in 2001....so if Drake gets his movie BEFORE 2011 then it may mean he hit main stream a little faster than she did
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 9:48AM (Unverified) said
No really, Video games movies are a lot more popular this time.
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:08AM (Unverified) said
Nate is not more popular then Lara.
IMO he is the better character, Lara is past her prime. They're shitting on her games.
Uncharted owns these new Tomb Raider games and Nathan Drake is one of the best new characters this gen.
IMO he is the better character, Lara is past her prime. They're shitting on her games.
Uncharted owns these new Tomb Raider games and Nathan Drake is one of the best new characters this gen.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:11AM TheGameDeveloper said
Personally, I thought Nathan Drake was a douche bag. He abandoned the girl funding his stupid treasure hunting on some island filled with pirates who probably would have raped and murdered her if this weren't a teen rated game. On top of that, as Yahtzee pointed out, he only kills minorities, so he's probably racist.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 8:51AM (Unverified) said
Yes; sadly, pirates (not the stealing intellectual property kind, but rather the rowdy, violent, illegal kind) are a minority...
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:12AM Sinister Rouge said
How I see it is that Nathan is popular for being interesting albeit at times an annoying character, while Lara was popular for nothing but a big pair of pixilated tits. C'mon, how fun was it really to shoot wolves and navigate jumping puzzles with a bad camera? Although I will give Tomb Raider points for the T-Rex fight. Friggin' awesome. But I agree, Tomb raider has gotten stale while Uncharted is a much wanted breath of life in to the genre.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:22AM apokalipze2 said
Popular for having big tits? WTF are you smoking? In its prime Tomb Raider was an excellent series. I enjoyed the game very much for it's exploration and puzzles. It was something that was petty new when the game debuted. Tomb Raider legend came close to teh old game's glory unfortunately underworld falls flat :I
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:54AM aughscreennames said
How old are you? When Tomb Raider first came out it was praised as being one of the only games to have a strong female lead character. She represented way more than her character design, in the games her looks never even came into play with the story. If her character wasnt so strong then she would have died off a long time ago like all the other games with "hot" female characters.
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:57AM Sinister Rouge said
Yeah, I played that game all the way through twice. I thought it was the bees knees. But upon reflection I remember getting sooooo pissed at the camera controls and her seemingly random ability to grab on to ledges. I swear she was grabbier than a prostitute during a fight, but wouldn't grab worth a damn when you needed it. Anyway, my point was that the game wasn't why she was popular. If I remember correctly, Lara was popular and got a lot of publicity (mostly negative) because she was a sex symbol. That is just a fact.
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 1:12AM WiredKnight said
I can, and will, deny that.
She was originally intended to be more of a role model. At the time of her design, the games industry was much more male-centric, and Lara Croft was meant to be more of a symbol of female strength, intelligence and independence, not just a piece of eye-candy.
What's become of her now, is a different story.
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She was originally intended to be more of a role model. At the time of her design, the games industry was much more male-centric, and Lara Croft was meant to be more of a symbol of female strength, intelligence and independence, not just a piece of eye-candy.
What's become of her now, is a different story.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:16AM jonjon72 said
Drake is a great game and has a pretty interesting lead character. However, with Drake only on the PS3 it really limits people becoming aware of him. Lara started on one system and eventually went multiple. With the movie and other publicity, Lara is more a more well known and popular character worldwide. Her recent game is another issue though.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:19AM (Unverified) said
Game play will win out over sexual titillation every time. Drakes selling point is game play, Laura's is her rack, ass, and waist.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 2:51PM Levi said
The first 3 games were popular because they were great games. Well, at least the first two. Afterwards, the gameplay grew stale. What kept her alive was the strong franchise name, not the tits. She is a well known character because of the knockers, but she sold games and still does because the originals were so good.
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:20AM Vegeta has a ps3 said
I don't think so. I mean back in the 90s, Lara Croft was pretty much a Sony mascot back then. Everyone knew who she was, even those who don't play video games at all.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:22AM (Unverified) said
LMAO! Please this has to be a fucking joke...
Nathan Drake would be NOTHING without Lady Croft. He's nothing but the male version of Lyra.
Nathan Drake would be NOTHING without Lady Croft. He's nothing but the male version of Lyra.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:40AM (Unverified) said
And that's why you obviously are not me. Since you can't be two people dumbass.
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 1:01AM (Unverified) said
Nathan Drake is what would happen if you pumped Lara Croft with testosterone and personality.
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 1:18AM Spunky Monkey 190906 said
Excuse gundam, he doesn't own a console, he just wants to be part of the cool crowd :)
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 8:59AM (Unverified) said
Hey, Gundam buddy, what do you care? I mean, the articles CLEARLY states that Nathan's preference surpasses Lara's amongst PS fans...
"But director Bruce Straley believes Drake is already up there in terms of popularity with the PlayStation audience."
Seriously Joystiq, why did you guys omit that part?
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"But director Bruce Straley believes Drake is already up there in terms of popularity with the PlayStation audience."
Seriously Joystiq, why did you guys omit that part?
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 3:31PM Duke said
He cares because it gives a chance to talk smack about the PS3 (or its games) Noshino. Hell, he even bullshits by saying that Lara has been called Lyra before. I've never heard or seen such a thing.
I have to agree with the others that Gundam continues to show no credibility when acting like a gamer.
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I have to agree with the others that Gundam continues to show no credibility when acting like a gamer.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:26AM Gregorius said
Screw Lara Croft and Nathan Drake. Lucasarts should pass the Indiana Jones IP to Naughty Dog. Let the original adventurer get a decent game.
Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:59AM Sinister Rouge said
I could not agree more. Both pale in comparison to Dr. Jones. And that game would be better than the three breasted woman in Total Recall (that's right, I just said that).
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 2:56AM aristokrat said
That wouldn't be the triple-breasted whore of Erociticon Six that you speak of?
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 11:27AM spin cycle said
The original adventurer? That would be Alan Quatermain, who started his adventuring on the silver screen in 1937.
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Posted: Jan 20th 2009 12:40PM spin cycle said
edgore:
You may note Indy was never in a book. If I had used the book as an example, some chump would have mentioned that books aren't what he meant.
Besides, it's not clear that the Alan Quatermain book was the first explorer/adventurer book (making Alan Quatermain the first explorer/adventurer), whereas the movie was first, introducing the explorer/adventurer movie genre close behind the swashbuckling movie genre of the 1920s.
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You may note Indy was never in a book. If I had used the book as an example, some chump would have mentioned that books aren't what he meant.
Besides, it's not clear that the Alan Quatermain book was the first explorer/adventurer book (making Alan Quatermain the first explorer/adventurer), whereas the movie was first, introducing the explorer/adventurer movie genre close behind the swashbuckling movie genre of the 1920s.








