News

26/5/03
Ok, here's the deal on the next-gen games as it seems to stand at the moment (note that I don't have the game yet):
TRVI has a much simplified control system. I think this is a very bad thing. It's interesting to see that many fans agree with me, to some extent, but many of the general public prefer the new controls.
TRVI has many bugs. Some people have reported repeated crashes. Some people have encountered no serious ones. I think bugs can be forgiven if the game is good besides them, because is has just moved to a new console.
TRVI has a very different story. Some people have a problem with this, some don't. I don't mind, because we were led into it with the last two games.
Besides the major problems, TRVI seems to be an alright game, it's just not like the other TRs. Did I mention the controls?

Jeremy made a comment about TRVII. Apparently it will be back in tombs and will have dinosaurs, i.e. classic Raider. The reason he gave was basically bullshit, something about being afraid to go straight back into the tombs in case people were sick of it. Most of the population of the developed world were complaining about the old games being the same old thing, so they already knew people didn't like tombs over and over again. Also, the general public seem to be happy enough with the new story, and I have to say I don't think it's bad either. They seem to draw from this however, that people liked the tombs all along, and want another game that's the same old thing? I think not.
I think they've realised that they messed up TRVI on two fronts: changing TR too much, and the fact that it's a downright bad game in some ways. They intend to fix the changing too much either by throwing out their new story, or severly modifying it. As for the next game being better, we can only hope.
Of course, all their good intentions may disappear between now and when the next game is released.

Anyway, I'm going to get my hands on the game as soon as I can, probably within the next few weeks, and I'll try to stick up a fair (if I can manage it) review for anyone who hasn't got it by then.

23/5/03
Devastation strikes! TRVI is out on PS2 in America, and apparently is total crap! Basically they've replaced the controls with a simplistic system which has no options, and the game is full of bugs. I'll have more info on this when I get the game myself, which will be an indeterminate amount of time.
In other news, you can tell from the news section that I haven't done any work on any of the sites recently. I intend to start back to work on all my sites within the next few days, though I have not made any definite plans as to what I am going to be doing. Sufficive to say there will not be any major additions in the next couple of weeks.

11/5/03
I've finally finished the TRV walkthrough! Now I have some other issues to address.
First of all, the TRV walkthrough needs more work, because it was done over a long time and the overall upgrade that is 'Revision #1' has changed since I began, so I'll have to define exactly what I'm going to do and apply that standard to the walkthrough.
Second of all, I have neglected many other parts of all seven sites, so I'll have to do some work on them, at least to correct all the errors I've spotted over the last few months. Nothing big, but it will require some work. The Game Info sections are one thing I will definitely address, I am going to decide exactly what I want to do with them, and finally get to work on them properly.
Lastly, I have some other projects that I haven't spent much time on because of doing the walkthrough, so I'll be working on them more now.
And as I have mentioned previously I'm going to be very busy anyway over the next couple of months, so I don't have much time anyway.
All of this means that I'll not be doing too much work on the sites over the next while, and the work I do will be fairly subtle in nature. Combined with my lack of time, this means my updates will be less frequent. Probably I won't make any single major updates for now, I may just post a supplement to this message letting you know how it going for when I start work on the site properly again. But work on the site is continuing 'behind the scenes', and once I have some stuff done, and some more free time, I hope to get started on another walkthrough and to get the Game Info sections up and running properly.

5/5/03
It's been a good while since my last update once again, but this time at least I bring compensation. The second last level of the TRV walkthrough is now up, and I hope to have the last level up sometime over the next week. I also have a few updates for the TRVI site, but they'll be in the next update too, as I didn't have time to get them done for this one. I have updated it with the latest ETA for TRVI though.
My updates are as sparse as ever, and may soon give out completely until sometime towards the end of June. However, before then I intend to finish the elusive TRV walkthrough and get it online, and update the TRVI site properly. After that it'll be anything I can fit in.

13/4/03
It's been nearly a month since I last updated the site. I was out of the country for a week, and have been busy since, but now I'm back. All I have at the moment is a few updates for the TRVI site, worth looking at if you haven't been keeping up with the news at other sites. The second last level of the TRV walkthrough is nearly ready for upload, and I hope to have it up in the next few days. I have the week after next off, so I hope to make up for lost time then, but for now this is it.
The site's crossed the 600 mark! It's been running for nearly ten months now, and is still going strong. Forum's been dead for a while, remember to come back here when TRVI comes out!
And one last note, if you look in the news section you'll see that my updates have been sparse recently. I am very busy at the moment, before the days of TRC I used to stop work on my websites completely while I was at school, so I am actually doing pretty well. But the lack of updates will keep up for another couple of months. Then I should have at least some more time to work on the sites.

23/3/02
It's been two weeks since I last updated the site, and I'm afraid I still have nothing new to put up. I've been very busy recently, and while I've had time to do some stuff, I have nothing ready to upload yet. What I hope to have next week (or before) is the next level of the TRV walkthrough, and an update to the TRVI site. Nothing for now though, just this message to explain my apparent absence.

9/3/03
It's been two weeks since the last update because I've been busy. I've added a level to the new TRV walkthrough, see that site for details. I have added a flashless menu and site selector to this site. Nothing much else for the moment, I haven't got much free time. Remember to visit the Forum!

16/2/03
Another day, another update, but this is the end of it for now. First of all, I have updated the TRVI site, so it is now up to date, screenshots and all.
Next is the MP3 Player. I have gotten it working perfectly, as far as I can tell at least. It also looks a little better now. I have not added any new music to it yet, but I will get around to it. I have found a way to make it play any music you have already downloaded when you re-enter the site. In this way it plays automatically, but does not use any bandwidth. I have not enabled this yet, as not only does it not work completely properly, I want to see what people think of the idea. There is more on this in the forum, under Website Discussion.
Anyway, this really is it for this weekend. Hopefully I will have yet more stuff to add next week. The next thing I am looking at is the Trophy Room, which is sadly lacking in Trophies.
Remember to check out the new Forum!

15/2/03
Look, two updates in two days! Don't expect me to keep it up. Some (relatively) significant updates this time. First of all, the Site Selector is now marginally smaller, both in terms of dimensions and file size. Still not a short download, but there is the initial menu to use.
There is now a new MP3 player, which is a lot smaller, has a loading display, suits the look of the site more, and is missing the small bug that was in the other one. For the moment it still only has the same four old pieces, but I'll add more.
I have added two completely new things to the site. The first is the Articles section, which basically contains detailed news and the editorialising this site lacks in most areas. Not particularly interesting, but go have a look anyway.
The other one is the Forum. No more silly little messages boards, this is a fully fledged php forum. Probably won't see many posts in its time, but I like it.
Anyway, that's it for today, if you're really lucky I'll have more stuff to add tomorrow, but I don't know as of yet.

14/2/03
Lara's birthday today. I'd like to be able to say I have a massive array of updates for the site to celebrate it, but I don't really, just a few changes. I have finally done some work on the site to make it look better on lower resolutions. I have changed the title to take up less vertical space, and I have downsized the menu. That's about it for now.
What you can expect in the next few days is a continuation of that work. Next on my list is the new MP3 Player, which will work better, look better, and will feature new music. After that will be further work on the Site Selector, which I really need to speed up since you need it to get to the subsites the first time through. Coming up (hopefully) in the near future will be the start of the TRC Forum, a full-on php forum for the site. It's pretty much ready to go, and will hopefully be appearing in the next couple of days along with the other stuff. There are also one or two other things that may or may not happen.
My TRVI site is falling behind, but as I say on that site, preview sites do not concern me, so it is on the bottom of the list of things to do. I do intend to get some work done on it at some stage though.
That's it for now, check out the site again after the weekend to see what makes it into the update.

9/2/03
I haven't been able to update the site until now, but the new levels are up. The new TRV walkthrough is now fully ready for use up to level ten. I have also made a change to how the cutscene sound is played (which will be applied to the other subsites when I do their walkthroughs fully). To get decent quality I have to put the bit rate higher than a 56K modem can stream it, so now it'll download fully first and then play.

2/2/03
Once again it has been a while since I have updated the site. All I have to update today is the main page, which I have completely re-written, since the old text was sitting there for months after having been updated once or twice. However I have been working on the TRV walkthrough, and I have a few levels that should be ready to upload during the week, or at worst, next weekend. I have also mentioned the second delay of TRVI's release on its subsite, but that's all for now.

19/1/03
It's been nearly a month since I updated the site so I should probably let you know that neither I nor the site are dead. I have been very busy basically since I last updated. I still haven't got what I intended to have done by the end of December done yet. I am starting to get back to work on it again now though, and I hope to have to new stuff to add either at the end of this week coming, or the week after.

25/12/02
Here I am on Christmas Day updating the site. Kind of a Christmas present to/from the site (Or Something), the first major work I have done on the new walkthrough. I have added 5 new levels to the TRV walkthrough, all written in the last four days. I don't think I'll have it finished by the 31st, but I should have it done shortly afterwards.

18/12/02
The site is now over on the new server. This means that it will now run a little faster (it was on a slow server), it will have a lot more uptime, and it doesn't have popup ads anymore, which means you don't have to have an ad killer to see it how it is meant to be. It's now finally a proper .com website.
While preparing the site for the new server, I gave it a big of an upgrade. I created a new title image, and changed the look of the site a bit. The biggest features are the new title, the new main menu and the new font being used for titles around the site. This can be gotten from the support section if you don't have it already. The site in general looks better now. I have also done some limited work on the subsites, the main change being the fact that they now have separated home pages and news pages. That does not include the TRVI site, which is still just a lowly preview site ;-).
The one addition to the actual content of the websites is the Quick Links Menu on this page. The idea of this is the handle the news in the TR world, simply by listing it off and linking to the appropriate web pages. I'm hoping to link it up to a new section in the site I may start in the next few weeks. To learn how to use it, click the little help button below and to the right of the title.
That's all for now, enjoy the (slightly) new and improved Tomb Raider Central.

15/12/02
Tomb Raider Central is now on the new server. Since I had to do some work on it anyway, I finally got around to working on a few menus and other things that I'd left alone for a while. I ended up give the look of the site a slight overhaul. There have been no real additions to the content, except that I have the subsites proper home pages, since they are meant to be sites in their own right. Didn't touch the TRVI site at all, since its just a preview site.
I did most of the work on Sunday, as I got me new ED glasses on Saturday, and spent all day fiddling with them. There was one other thing I wanted to add to this site, but it'll have to wait a few days. My Christmas holidays start this Wednesday, so I'll be able to get more work done on the site then. For now, enjoy. Goes faster, looks better, and no ads.
Oh, and buy the way, I probably won't be able to get the TRV walkthrough finished on time because of spending time doing other stuff, but I should have it finished before the end of my holidays, so it shouldn't go too far into next year.

11/12/02
It's not the weekend yet, but there is an announcement I have to make now. I have (finally) bought some web space for my sites, so there will be no ads and better performance. Moving over to the new server involves a period of transition.
When the site is on the new server, all the addresses except www.tombraidercentral.com will change. Due to this, I will have to change all the menus related to moving around between the sites, so that you still won't have to know the various addresses to get to them. The change in the domain name will also take a few days to come into full effect, so I have decided to move it over now, so that it will start taking you to the new server while I am making the modifications to the site. I should have the new site ready by the 15th, and the domain name should be working by then too (hopefully).
If it takes you to the new server before the new version of the site is online there, which it should, you will get a page telling you have reached the new server. Simply click on the link to get back here.
Once I have uploaded the site to the new server, all will be as before, except no more ads, and virtually no downtime.

8/12/02
Another weekend, another update. In the 'useless but inevitable' category, I have replaced the mailing list with the slightly more useful poll page. Go there to vote on things.
With regard to the above plan, all I got done this weekend was the TRII Game Info section, which is a lot better than nothing. No new TRV level though.
The guestbook is still empty, even though the hit counter has been going up and up.

1/12/02
I have uploaded the second level of the TRV walkthrough. I kept to my little plan for the first week :-). Somebody sign the guestbook, its been up for nearly a week and no-one has yet. Yes, this means you!

29/11/02
I have mentioned on the TRVI site that TRVI should be out on the 14th.
In more important news however, the full TRI Game Info section is now up, so I now have a template on which to base the other four. All the updated pages are the original versions with no proofreading, but I figured I'd stick them up anyway.
On this site, I have finally gotten around to replacing the Message Board with a Guestbook, so you no longer have to be a member of some other site to leave a message.

27/11/02
Ok, have sat down and made out a plan of what I can manage to do on the site by the end of the year.
Instead of rotating through the games I'm just going to get TRV finished, there have been a number of requests for help in that floating around, and my walkthrough currently only does the first level. Don't think I'll get it finished by 31st though.
The Game Info sections have been sitting there half-finished doing nothing, so I'll try to get them finished by the end of the year. I'll definitely get some of them done, maybe not all of them.
I am still working on a new section for this site, its nothing major, but it just became long term because of the other stuff I'm trying to get done.

25/11/02
Nothing new this week, I am continuing work on the new section, its just taking longer than I excepted, and I'm very busy these days.

18/11/02
Ok, that weekend turned out to be a really busy one, so nothing to upload. But, I have started work on a new section which I hope to start up online next weekend. Watch this (web)space.

16/11/02
It's been a while since I updated any of the sites. I have changed my own TRVI wallpapers a little bit, nothing more for now, but I do hope to have a few things to upload on Monday or Tuesday. Oh, and the hit counter reached two hundred a few days back.

4/11/02
I have uploaded all new updated versions for all the levels I have written of the new walkthroughs, which now totals to two levels each of TRI-TRIV and one level of TRV. I have also added the General Help page in the support section for anyone who is completely lost on the sites.

3/11/02
Nothing new at the moment, I have a number of updates to upload, but they won't be ready until Monday or so. Just a message to let you know I'm still around, working away (as always ;-) ).
Something worth mentioning though, I intend to start offering multilingual versions of my walkthroughs. I recently got some translation software, so I will (on request only for now) run a level of the walkthrough through it and send it off to anyone in need. I'll do up a page about that over the next few days.

28/10/02
This server looks like it's running ok, so I am moving the domain back to pointing directly here again. Plans for a new server (which will result in increased reliability/uptime, faster response time from website and best of all no ads) are continuing in the background, more on that in a week or two. I have updated the TRVI site with the recent bad news and some new screenshots.
What bad news you ask? Where have you been? Tomb Raider VI is not going to be out until February next year, its been put off for three months.

24/10/02
Nothing done for the site as it has been down for over a week. The old server is back up again, but I have left my message page on some borrowed space in case it goes down again. I intend to sort out a new server over the next week or two.
By far the biggest news in the Tomb Raider world is that the release of TRVI has been delayed until February. More news on this when the site gets up and running properly again.

13/10/02
I have uploaded re-designed Enemies and Equipment pages to the Tomb Raider I subsite. Sort of a field test, I intend to try to get all the GameInfo sections on the subsites finished one by one once I have the design sorted out. I have also uploaded an early version of the new walkthrough for the Temple Ruins level in Tomb Raider III.

9/10/02
Improved the menus on the subsites a bit. Also added a bit to the trophy room. I intend to continue adding stuff over the next few days.

8/10/02
Improved the menu a bit, not much else at the moment.

4/10/02
I've been sick for a few days, so absolutely nothing new for the site, but its the weekend and I have a few days off, so I hope to get something done. Anyway, while I was sick the counter rolled over the hundred mark. Happy Joy. I haven't come across any other site with a counter as low as this one, but it's only been here for about 3 months so it's an alright start.

30/9/02
Ok, didn't get the support section up until today because the website went down for roughly 23 hours. Seems to be back now though. As I said, I have the support page up, and also a new MP3 Player, which works basically the same as the previous one, but now the GUI is on the MP3 Player page. So you can still hear the music throughout the site, but you have a full-size graphically nice player for it. The counters up by over ten again since the site came up, at 93 at the time of this message.

28/9/02
Ok, now that I'm back at school I am finding it hard to find time to do any significant work on the site, but I hope to start getting more done over the next few weeks. All I have managed in the last few is a replacement menu, which looks and works a little better.
The biggest news at the moment is that this site is now www.tombraidercentral.com. Finally a dot-com website. I have put a message on AGT promoting the site, if you have come here after reading that message, thanks for visiting.

Captain's Log, Supplemental : The hit counter has gone up by 35 in one night, it's currently at 82. People in general seem to like the site, so yay. I'm going to try to have the support section up by the end of today.

7/9/02
Ok, a big round up of updates this week, I'll start with this site itself. First of all there is new information on the Lara's Biography page, and I have also re-organised it a bit. Somewhere along the line I joined this thing up to a top sites list, so that section is now on the webring page. Not sure what the story with that is though... Anyway, a change some of you might appreciate is a low-bandwidth pre-menu for the Site Selector, like I have done on the main menu. Now you can go to a site before the nice big good-looking menu downloads. If you really really want to. Anyway, that's just about it for this site.
The TRI site now has the second level of the new walkthrough, and an updated version of the first level.
The TRII site features the same as the above, but the update for the first level includes sound for the cutscene at the end.
I have finally uploaded the first level of the new TRV walkthrough, it has been sitting there for weeks, and this includes sound for both of that levels cutscenes.
The TRVI site includes a number of new things including a new intro, new screenshots/images and new wallpapers.

24/8/02
Here's a message to let everyone know I'm still alive. I have been very busy for the past month, and I still will be for a while to come, but I am going to try to get some work done on the sites over the next few weeks. Just to let you know the the site isn't dead, just sleeping.

21/7/02
I have not been able to get much work done for the site recently. TRIV first level revised and enemies page started, and some small changes to all the other sites.

14/7/02
I have uploaded some updates for the TRII and TRIII sites. I am continuing work on the revision.