Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: When was the first Tomb Raider published?
"Tomb Raider" is the first game in the titular franchise, and introduced the series' gameplay standards and its protagonist Lara Croft. Developed by British studio Core Design, "Tomb Raider" was a commercial and critical success, and was followed by five successive games between 1996 and 2000. Their sixth "Tomb Raider" game "" was beset by developmental problems and rushed to release, resulting in low sales and mixed critical reception. The game's failure and Core Design's fatigue with the series prompted franchise publisher Eidos Interactive to move development of "Tomb Raider" to the American studio Crystal Dynamics, who rebooted the franchise with "". "Legend" released in 2006 to critical and commercial success.
The story was first published as a five-part serial in "Weird Tales" between the months of December 1935 to April 1936 (with chapter 20 being misprinted as chapter 21). It was first published in book form in hardcover by Gnome Press in 1950 under the title "Conan the Conqueror", a title retained by all later editions until 1977. The first paperback edition was published by Ace Books in 1954. The novel has been reissued a number of times since by various publishers, notably Lancer Books in 1967 and Berkley/Putnam in 1977; the latter, reedited by Karl Edward Wagner, was the first edition to restore the original magazine text and title, under which most subsequent editions have been issued. Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. published an edition in 1989, with illustrations by Ezra Tucker, as volume XI of their deluxe Conan set. More recently the novel appeared in the collections "The Essential Conan" (1998), "Conan Chronicles Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon" (2001) and "" (Del Rey, 2005). It has also been translated into Japanese, Italian, Finnish, French, German, Swedish, Czech, Russian, Sinhalese and Spanish.
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media, literature and film, encompassing a wide variety of literary genres. Many adventure games (text and graphic) are designed for a single player, since this emphasis on story and character makes multi-player design difficult. "Colossal Cave Adventure" is identified as the first such adventure game, first released in 1976, while other notable adventure game series include "Zork", "King's Quest", "The Secret of Monkey Island", and "Myst".
The original "Dragon Slayer", released for the PC-88 in 1984, is considered to be the first action-RPG. In contrast to earlier turn-based roguelikes, "Dragon Slayer" was a dungeon crawl RPG that was entirely real-time with action-oriented combat. "Dragon Slayer" also featured an in-game map to help with the dungeon-crawling, required item management due to the inventory being limited to one item at a time, and introduced the use of item-based puzzles which later influenced "The Legend of Zelda". "Dragon Slayer" was a major success in Japan, where its overhead action-RPG formula was used in many later games. The game's MSX port was also one of the first titles to be published by Square.
LucasArts' first adventure game was the 1986 title "". The game's development was led by David Fox, with contributions from Douglas Adams, Christopher Cerf, Noah Falstein and Brenda Laurel. Based on the film of the same name, it is LucasArts' first video game adaptation of a film. It is the only adventure game not published by LucasArts, as "Labyrinth" was published and distributed by Activision. "Labyrinth" differs significantly from later LucasArts adventure games as it uses text parser gameplay as the main means of play.
"Labyrinth" was followed in 1987 by "Maniac Mansion". "Maniac Mansion" was the creation of Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick, and marked the debut of SCUMM, the game engine that powered all but two of LucasArts later adventure games. The game was also the first LucasArts adventure game to be released for DOS. "Maniac Mansion" was LucasArts' first full graphic adventure game, using a point-and-click interface rather than the text-based gameplay seen in "Labyrinth". A menu of verbs allows the player to choose how to interact with the game's environment. "Maniac Mansion" aims to parody the horror genre. The game was subject to several enhancements and re-releases, and was included as a game within a game in its sequel, "Day of the Tentacle".
The trilogy was optioned early on by the entertainment company Nelvana, which is known for its children's animation. The first volume, The Mob, was published in 2004 with The Plague following in 2005 and The Judgment in 2006. The trilogy's themes contain similarities to a lesser known novel, "The Crow Chronicles", by Indian author and birdwatcher Ranjit Lal, which was published in paperback format by Penguin Publications in 1996.
Solitaire adventures were a parallel development. This type of book is intended to allow a single person to use the rules of a role-playing game to experience an adventure without need of a referee. The first role-playing game solitaire adventures to be published were those using the "Tunnels and Trolls" system, beginning with the book "Buffalo Castle" in 1976, making "Tunnels and Trolls" the first role-playing game to support solitaire play. Flying Buffalo released 24 solo adventure books (plus several pocket size adventures) in the period 1976–1993. A number of the adventures are still in print today. They were very successful among players of role-playing games and inspired many imitators.
"Traitors Gate" was first released in early September 1999, after roughly three years of development. It was shipped on four CD-ROMs. By the end of its debut month, the game had launched in seven countries: Sweden, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, England and the Netherlands. Daydream Software told investors on September 30 that "Traitors Gate" would appear in another 14 countries by March 2000. Further launches occurred in New Zealand and Australia on October 31, through Hilad Corporation; in France on November 29, through Éditions Profil; and in Spain on December 16, through FX Interactive. "Traitors Gate" had received translations into 10 languages by December 10, at which time Daydream reported its lifetime "guaranteed sales volume" as above 100,000 units.
Written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa, "Monster" was published in "Big Comic Original" from December 1994 to December 2001. The 162 chapters were periodically collected into 18 tankōbon volumes published by Shogakukan, the first on 30 June 1995 and the last on 28 February 2002. While writing "Monster", Urasawa began the series "20th Century Boys" in 1999, which would continue after "Monster" had finished.
The first game in the series is based on the video game "Age of Empires III", and was originally titled Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery before being renamed to Glenn Drover's Empires: The Age of Discovery in 2011 following the loss of the naming rights to the "Age of Empires" series. It was originally published in 2007 by Tropical Games, and is currently distributed by Drover's own publishing company, Eagle Games. The game may be played by up to five players, though pieces for a sixth player were available in limited supply, and are included in the "Builders Expansion", released in 2011 along with the renaming of the series.
In 1977, "The Sword of Shannara" was simultaneously released as a trade paperback by Ballantine Books and hardback by Random House. The Brothers Hildebrandt, who had previously done illustration work for the work of Tolkien, was asked to make the cover. Greg Hildebrandt remembers the Del Reys as being "obsessed with the project. It was their baby." The novel was a commercial success, becoming the first fantasy fiction novel to appear on "The New York Times" trade paperback bestseller list.
There is no consensus on what the earliest open world game is, due to differing definitions of how large or open a world needs to be. Ars Technica traces the concept back to the free-roaming exploration of 1976 text adventure game "Colossal Cave Adventure", which inspired the free-roaming exploration of "Adventure" (1980), but notes that it wasn't until 1984 that what "we now know as open-world gaming" took on a "definite shape" with 1984 space simulator "Elite", considered a pioneer of the open world; Gamasutra argues that its open-ended sandbox style is rooted in flight simulators, such as SubLOGIC's "Flight Simulator" (1979/1980), noting most flight sims "offer a 'free flight' mode that allows players to simply pilot the aircraft and explore the virtual world". Others trace the concept back to 1981 CRPG "", which had a free-roaming overworld map inspired by tabletop RPG "Dungeons & Dragons". The overworld maps of the first five "Ultima" games, released up to 1988, lacked a single, unified scale, with towns and other places represented as icons; this style was adopted by the first three "Dragon Quest" games, released from 1986 to 1988 in Japan.
Several RPGs called "Cyberpunk" exist: "Cyberpunk", "Cyberpunk 2020" and "Cyberpunk v3", by R. Talsorian Games, and "GURPS Cyberpunk", published by Steve Jackson Games as a module of the GURPS family of RPGs. "Cyberpunk 2020" was designed with the settings of William Gibson's writings in mind, and to some extent with his approval, unlike the approach taken by FASA in producing the transgenre "Shadowrun" game. Both are set in the near future, in a world where cybernetics are prominent. In addition, Iron Crown Enterprises released an RPG named "Cyberspace", which was out of print for several years until recently being re-released in online PDF form. CD Projekt Red is currently developing "Cyberpunk 2077," a cyberpunk first-person open world RPG video-game based on the tabletop RPG "Cyberpunk 2020".
In 1990, in a convergence of cyberpunk art and reality, the United States Secret Service raided Steve Jackson Games's headquarters and confiscated all their computers. Officials denied that the target had been the "GURPS Cyberpunk" sourcebook, but Jackson would later write that he and his colleagues "were never able to secure the return of the complete manuscript; [...] The Secret Service at first flatly refused to return anything – then agreed to let us copy files, but when we got to their office, restricted us to one set of out-of-date files – then agreed to make copies for us, but said "tomorrow" every day from March 4 to March 26. On March 26 we received a set of disks which purported to be our files, but the material was late, incomplete and well-nigh useless." Steve Jackson Games won a lawsuit against the Secret Service, aided by the new Electronic Frontier Foundation. This event has achieved a sort of notoriety, which has extended to the book itself as well. All published editions of "GURPS Cyberpunk" have a tagline on the front cover, which reads "The book that was seized by the U.S. Secret Service!" Inside, the book provides a summary of the raid and its aftermath.
"Resonance of Fate" was first hinted at prior to April 2009, then announced as an untitled "mystery" RPG at the beginning of the month. According to Shimano, its codename "Project Cobra" had been bandied about prior to the reveal, but no-one had suspected anything about its true nature. Its official Japanese title, along with details such as tri-Ace's partnership with Sega, were unveiled on April 8, 2009. "Resonance of Fate" marked the first collaboration between tri-Ace and Sega—most of tri-Ace's previous games had been published by Square Enix. The reason for the choice was two-fold: tri-Ace wanted a different publisher due to the radical nature of their new game, and Sega wanted a title to break into the RPG market. As "Resonance of Fate" seemed unique enough to stand out in the market, Sega agreed to take up publishing duties. According to staff, the Japanese title was originally going to be either "Resonance of Fate" or "Resonance of Time", but Sega asked it to be changed to "End of Eternity". This fell in line with a trend among many Japanese games of referencing endings in their titles. It was officially announced for a Western release in May 2009. The game debuted in Japan on January 28, 2010 with a March release in North America and PAL regions. The European version came with text localization in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian.
Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the "Dungeons & Dragons" ("D&D") fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories. Several years later, Greenwood brought the setting to the "D&D" game as a series of magazine articles, and the first Realms game products were released in 1987. Role-playing game products have been produced for the setting ever since, as have various licensed products including novels, role-playing video game adaptations (including the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game to use graphics), and comic books. The Forgotten Realms is one of the most popular "D&D" settings, largely due to the success of novels by authors such as R. A. Salvatore and numerous role-playing video games, including "Pool of Radiance" (1988), "Eye of the Beholder" (1991), "Baldur's Gate" (1998), "Icewind Dale" (2000) and "Neverwinter Nights" (2002).
The first-person shooter may be considered a distinct genre itself, or a type of shooter game, in turn a subgenre of the wider action game genre. Following the release of "Doom" in 1993, games in this style were commonly termed "Doom clones"; over time this term has largely been replaced by "first-person shooter". "Wolfenstein 3D," released in 1992, the year before "Doom", has been credited with introducing the genre, but critics have since identified similar though less advanced games developed as far back as 1973. There are occasional disagreements regarding the specific design elements which constitute a first-person shooter. For example, "Deus Ex" or "BioShock" may be considered as first-person shooters, but may also be considered role-playing video games as they borrow from this genre extensively. Certain puzzle games like "Portal" are also called first-person shooters, but lack any direct combat or shooting element, instead using the first-person perspective to help immerse players within the game to help solve puzzles. Some commentators extend the definition to include combat flight simulators where the cockpit or vehicle takes place of the hands and weapons.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Patriots is a cancelled first-person shooter video game, part of the "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six" series, announced on the cover of the December 2011 issue of "Game Informer". It was to be published by Ubisoft, and was developed by the company's Montreal studio, with additional development by Ubisoft Toronto and Red Storm Entertainment. Due to the death of Tom Clancy in October 2013, concern was raised that this game would become the last to bear his name. Ubisoft has since stated that they will continue putting Tom Clancy's name on future Tom Clancy titles out of respect for the late author.
Grand Theft Auto is an action-adventure video game developed by DMA Design and published by BMG Interactive. It was first released in Europe and North America in October 1997 for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. It was later re-released on 12 December 1997 in Europe and 30 June 1998 in North America for the PlayStation. It is the first instalment of the "Grand Theft Auto" series, to be followed by 1999's "Grand Theft Auto 2". The series, which has led to five main entries and several special edition games over 16 years, has sold more than 150 million units as of September 2013. The story follows a group of criminals in three fictionalised versions of US cities as they perform bank robberies, assassinations, and other illegal activities for their respective crime syndicates.
After "" was released in 1996, Blizzard originally began development of a point-and-click adventure game called "" which was supposed to tell the story after "Warcraft II". "Lord of the Clans" was canceled in favor of "Warcraft III" in 1998 which was presented to the public at the European Computer Trade Show in September 1999. The game's design and gameplay was significantly altered during development, with the final game sharing little similarities with the originally presented version. "Warcraft III" is set several years after the events of "Warcraft II" and its expansion and tells the story of the Burning Legion's attempt to conquer the fictional world of Azeroth with the help of an army of the Undead, led by fallen paladin Arthas Menethil. It also chronicles the combined efforts of the Human Alliance, Orcish Horde and Night Elves to stop them before they can corrupt the World Tree.
Brett Weiss cites "Superman" (1979) as an action-adventure game, with "Retro Gamer" crediting it as the "first to utilize multiple screens as playing area". Mark J.P. Wolf credits "Adventure" (1980) as the earliest-known action-adventure game, was an adaptation of text-based adventure game "Colossal Cave Adventure" for the Atari 2600, with the player having the ability to fight in combat like in an action game. "Castle Wolfenstein" (1981) was another early action-adventure game. Allgame also claimed the following titles released prior to 1982 were action-adventure games: "Rescue at Rigel" (1980), "Quest for the Rings" (1981), and "Venture" (1981).
Written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa, "Monster" was published in "Big Comic Original" from December 1994 to December 2001. The 162 chapters were periodically collected into 18 "tankōbon" volumes published by Shogakukan, the first on 30 June 1995 and the last on 28 February 2002. While writing "Monster", Urasawa began the series "20th Century Boys" in 1999, which would continue after "Monster" had finished. "Monster" received a nine-volume "kanzenban" re-release between 30 January and 29 August 2008.
The "Tomb Raider" comic book series are based on the video game franchise "Tomb Raider", currently produced by Crystal Dynamics (formerly by Core Design), which features the character of Lara Croft. The original series of comics, which were released between 1999 and 2005, were published by Top Cow and were primarily based on the games released by Core Design. In 2014, following the reboot of the "Tomb Raider" franchise, the series was revived and is currently being published by Dark Horse Comics. The new timeline of events is based upon the rebooted iteration of Lara Croft and her adventures.
As one of the top-selling games of the PlayStation console, it was one of the first to be released on PlayStation's "Platinum" series, and its success made "Tomb Raider II" the most anticipated game of 1997. It also won a multitude of Game of the Year awards from leading industry publications. In 1998, "Tomb Raider" won the Origins Award for "Best Action Computer Game of 1997". The Lara Croft character was prominently featured in the popular media outside the realm of video gaming, for instance on the cover of pop culture magazine "The Face" in June 1997. In the final issue of the "Official UK PlayStation Magazine", the game was chosen as the fourth-best game of all time. "Tomb Raider", along with its successor, "Tomb Raider II", are the two best-selling games in the franchise.
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is an action-adventure game, the sixth instalment in the "Tomb Raider" series, acting as a direct sequel to "Tomb Raider Chronicles" and "". It was developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. The game was released in 2003 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Mac OS X and was the first "Tomb Raider" title to be released for the PlayStation 2 console. The storyline follows Lara Croft as she attempts to clear herself of being the suspect of her former mentor Werner Von Croy's murder while investigating the activities of a black magic cult.
The company is widely known for the "Tomb Raider" series. The first game was created by Toby Gard and Paul Howard Douglas, which was released in 1996 and followed by several sequels. The success of "Tomb Raider" and its subsequent sequels played a huge part in keeping Eidos Interactive financially solvent. After the successful Saturn debut of the original "Tomb Raider" a full month and a half ahead of the PlayStation version, Sony decided to use the brand to boost sales of its own console. In September 1997, Sony's U.S. arm, SCEA, signed an exclusivity deal with Eidos to keep the franchise on their consoles. The agreement was extended to include "Tomb Raider III". The fourth and fifth games in the franchise, "" and "Tomb Raider Chronicles" respectively, were released for Sega Dreamcast.