the insert credit cold fifty: videogame icons: compiled by tim rogers -- with a foreword by chris kohler, fulbright scholar

2. Crash Bandicoot

In the election of linear versus open-ended, you know where Sony's uber-mascot Crash Bandicoot is voting. The 3D platformer wasn't even a year old when Naughty Dog stepped into the fray and delivered something simple, focused, and clean. Crash Bandicoot is, in many ways, a culmination of all furry videogame mascots throughout time. He has Bubsy's attitude and smirk; like Rare's banjo, he actually wears pants; like Rayman, he can jump, and bust crates, and collect items. His rival, the evil genius Cortex, at once calls to mind the grimacing cartoon villains we grew up with, and the dark bad guys of all the movies our mommies wouldn't let us see. There's little I can add to this matter: Crash deserves his place. It's been reported ad nauseum all over the place, and for a long time. Crash, you rock.

1. Lara Croft

Love her or hate her, Lara Croft is gaming's most important icon, and one we're all going to remember for a long, long time. And not just because she's the only videogame character to be played by an Oscar-Winning actress (in this case the lovely Angelina Jolie) in the only videogame-based movie that, scientifically and critically, doesn't suck.

When Core and Eidos brainstormed the idea for Tomb Raiders, later renamed Tomb Raider, back in 1994, it was said that the producers knew, then and there, that the hero of their planned 3D take on the Prince of Persia style of platforming puzzle adventure could only be a woman. Confident that their game was as smooth in execution as it was in concept, they felt careful taking what would otherwise be a risk: putting a female in the lead role of a videogame. While some may argue that Metroid's Samus Aran is the "First Lady of Videogames," I beg to differ: Samus is hidden under that robot suit; the revelation of her gender is a secret, a trick, a little reward for super-players with a thing for bikinis. Lara Croft is upfront and top-heavy about her sexuality: from beginning to end, she's a woman endowed with womanhood -- and two high-caliber revolvers!

Metaphors aside, Lara evolved and grew up alongside the videogames of this generation; like real-life female icons such as Pamela Anderson, Lara Croft received a breast reduction over the years. What were once pyramidal monuments became rounded, smooth, and eventually realistic. Additions of costume changes covered up more skin -- imagine that! A female videogame icon who becomes more clothed as you play. (We're looking at you, Samus)

Lara is not only women in videogames -- she is the videogames themselves, and she is the videogame industry itself. Japan announced that Lara Croft's birthday is Valentine's Day -- making that a perfect release date for the game. Recently, the developers of Tomb Raider had their franchise yanked out from under them due to less-than-stellar sales. The reason? The latest movie -- The Cradle of Life -- didn't do so well. That Lara's image is important enough to warrant putting several tens of blokes out of work is one thing; that the world is concerned with how this fine lady is represented graphically and historically goes a long way toward showing how irreplaceably important Lara Croft is to the videogame industry.

--tim rogers just missed the list, at #51