How Was Tomb Raider Trilogy Remastered For PlayStation 3?

Ever since Crystal Dynamics announced the Tomb Raider Trilogy pack for PlayStation 3, people have wondered how exactly the games were being remastered in high-definition .

In addition to Tomb Raider: Underworld, the Trilogy collection for PS3 contains Tomb Raider: Legend and Tomb Raider: Anniversary, neither of which were previously on the PlayStation 3, but were on the PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, PC and Wii.

Naturally, the question as to whether Crystal Dynamics would remaster the PS2 versions of the game or port either the Xbox 360 or PC versions over came up. The real answer is that it’s a little of both. Karl Stewart, Global Brand Director at Crystal Dynamics clarified the process on the PlayStation Blog:

“All three Tomb Raider games included within the Trilogy pack have been built using the Crystal proprietary engine. In order to remaster the two PS2 titles previously released, we’ve gone back and reworked the highest available assets from both Legend and Anniversary and this has included reusing some of the HD textures from both the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the games.”

Stewart believes that, due to improvements in technology, the PlayStation 3 ports of the game will look even better than the Xbox 360 versions once they are remastered. Unfortunately, Crystal Dynamics will not be including the previously-released Xbox 360 downloadable content for Tomb Raider: Underworld as part of the package.