Tired of seeing ordinary looking, dirt-smudged heroes steal the limelight in your favorite video games? This short list of fashionable video game characters shows that it's possible to look snazzy while saving the day, and the girl too. Check out the full article!

We know that there a lot of games out there who sport excellent storylines. But for now, whenever we talk of such, PSP title Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure and MMO Vanguard: Saga of Heroes readily comes to mind. Sigil Games and Mastiff LLC have spoken recently about the scripts and voice acting for their respective titles.

But the point of the matter is that, every game for every genre on every platform should be concerned about scripts and voice acting. Andy Emery of audio specialist company, Side, pointed out the relationship between the two: "There are many factors that contribute to poor quality dialogue in games, but by far and away a poor script is the biggest single culprit."

While it is true that the graphics and the physics aspects of games nowadays have been superb, the above mentioned are lagging behind. "A professional script writer is an essential part of modern game development and the importance of good casting should not be underestimated," explained Emery.

The generally held practice across the industry today is you get one person, two at the most, then ask them to perform "the lead role in a gritty WWII game and then ask them to also play a couple of German soldiers, a French ally and a bartender, whilst keeping all performances naturalistic." This, according to Emery, should be changed.

Given this, don't get the idea that videogame producers aren't aspiring for higher standards. Actually, they are gunning to be at par with their movie-making equivalents. Emery pointed out that it's just they haven't fully recognized the power of audio in game making.

Andy Emery and his company are responsible for the audio of successful titles Tomb Raider, Dragon Quest, Total War and James Bond among many others.

In a lengthy interview over at Gamespot, Eidos' product acquisition director, Ian Livingstone gave several details on Tomb Raider: Anniversary, the future of Lara Croft, and his opinion regarding the next-generation console wars.

What? Who's Ian Livingstone and why should you guys care? Well, if in case you're too lazy to wiki him up, his game cred starts with Games Workshop and Steve Jackson, moves on to D&D, gets big during the 90s with Eidos, and reaches a high point when he got awarded an Order of the British Empire last year for "Services to the Computer Games Industry." So snotty fellow, can you top that?

Here be the pertinent details from the interview:

So how's Lara?
Livingstone says that the brand and franchise will continue. According to him she's now much like James Bond now. Hence, there are no plans to kill of the character any time soon. She's recognized everywhere and according to Livingstone there was a Time Magazine survey a few years back that ranks her as more recognizable than the pope.

In Livingstone's words:

There are other great characters, but they're all aimed at a younger audience--Zelda, Sonic, Mario--there have been none that have been aimed at the more mature consumer. If you think of other successful games, you don't always remember the characters.

Women don't object to Lara because she's strong, independent, intelligent, athletic, sexy, and essentially she doesn't need men. And of course, men wouldn't object to [her] for the same reasons... And, as she's virtual, she can be anything to anyone.

He adds that he isn't really allowed to say much about Tomb Raider: Anniversary, but he does hint that we should all be thinking about that first time Lara met the T. Rex.

Get the rest of the article after the Jump!