"Tomb Raider" - the reboot of the long-running franchise, previewed at E3 2011 - has been delayed until the first quarter of 2013, the developer Crystal Dynamics announced. The studio said it wants more development time, as "new things" are being brought to the game.

Darrell Gallagher, head of Crystal Dynamics, announced the delay on the Eidos community forums. The game was originally scheduled to release in Fall 2012.

"When Crystal Dynamics first set out to reboot the Tomb Raider franchise, there were two goals that we were extremely passionate about. The first was to create a modern Tomb Raider game that would surprise and excite gamers. The second was to make the best game of our careers, something we would be really proud to be a part of. We truly believe that we have something very special on our hands and we can't wait to share it with you.

"Our priority now is to make sure we fully deliver the very highest quality game. In order to do this, we have decided to move the game's release date by a few months, from Fall 2012 to the First Quarter of 2013.

"We're doing things that are completely new to Tomb Raider in this game and the additional development time will allow us to put the finishing touches into the game and polish it to a level that you deserve. We believe this is the right choice and I guarantee it will be worth the wait. The game is looking amazing and we can't wait to show it to everyone at E3 in a few weeks," he said on the Tomb Raider forums.

Meagan Marie, CrystalD Community Manager, also said the studio "firmly" believes the delay is the right decision. Fans can post in the dedicated thread, where commonly-asked questions will be gathered and put to Gallagher in the company's next Crystal Habit Podcast.

A new screenshot - called The Reach - has also been unveiled, hinting at the content that will be shown at E3. It shows Croft on top of a tree rescuing or scavenging from a man that looks dead.

Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012 runs from June 5-7.

(reported by Jonathan Charles, edited by Surojit Chatterjee)