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[The Rare Canceled Game Art Thread]

Shiggy

Member
Sorry guys, the handheld team was disbanded and is not coming back anytime soon. And an M-rated title from Rare? I really don't see a reason why there should be one, they have much more success with the casual crowd.
 
Damn you're kidding!! That sucks....

I don't believe the M rated one though either. Forgot to mention that the game is supposed to be for the new xbox, if true.
 
So what if they have a lot of success with the casual crowd? Nintendo does, too, but that doesn't stop them from catering to other types of gamer and developing games like Skyward Sword and Mario Galaxy.

It's ridiculous that a developer of Rare's calibre has seemingly not worked on an ambitious/standout game for longtime fans of the medium in years.

Rare proved themselves in the 90's. They should be reaping the rewards from a creative standpoint today, not working exclusively on generic sports stuff and Avatar shirts.

A joke.
 

Michan

Member
So what if they have a lot of success with the casual crowd? Nintendo does, too, but that doesn't stop them from catering to other types of gamer and developing games like Skyward Sword and Mario Galaxy.

It's ridiculous that a developer of Rare's calibre has seemingly not worked on an ambitious/standout game for longtime fans of the medium in years.

Rare proved themselves in the 90's. They should be reaping the rewards from a creative standpoint today, not working exclusively on generic sports stuff and Avatar shirts.

A joke.

Any "proving" Rare did in the 90s was completely undone in the last decade. Sure, Viva Piñata was pure perfection and Nuts & Bolts was just charming, but they basically spent almost two console lifecycles producing just about nothing. They're absolutely not completely to blame for this, with the comparatively disastrous sales mostly due to a combination of Rare's mismanagement and Microsoft's shoddy marketing, but at least they now have some worthwhile projects they can release under Microsoft's name.

It would be amazing if we could rewind time and have Nintendo buy the remaining 51%, but it was always the Stampers' decision. They took a massive gamble and, whereas their prior gambles paid off tremendously, this cost the company's creativity dearly.
 
It would be amazing if we could rewind time and have Nintendo buy the remaining 51%, but it was always the Stampers' decision. They took a massive gamble and, whereas their prior gambles paid off tremendously, this cost the company's creativity dearly.

What? That wasn't a gamble. Just the opposite, it was the Stampers cashing in their chips.
 

Michan

Member
What? That wasn't a gamble. Just the opposite, it was the Stampers cashing in their chips.

I was talking about it from the company's perspective. At the time, they were also in negotiations with several other companies iirc, including Activision (and obviously Nintendo, who also were keen to cash out).

Either way, the Stampers came out on top.
 

Shiggy

Member
Hmm, what's so surprising about that? He was at Free Radical, then Zinkyzonk and now he's at a pub together with Martin Hollis. Hollis and Doak kept contact even after they've left Rare, Doak even wrote a letter on Zoonami.com when the company was still active.

Just I thought that he went under a bit before FR was having problems, and just that he would be involved with a simple game like Bonsai Barer is shocking, AND that makes 3 ex-Rare folks involved (Hollis, Doak, and one guy who was a background artist on Conker).

What is Doak doing now anyway gaming-wise? You say he's in a pub with Hollis, just hanging with each other?
 
Today`s Rare. A photo of the whole of the studio.

383525_10150749034265042_693445041_11823475_155166736_n.jpg



Who can find the devil?!
 

Shiggy

Member
A quick guesstimate says ~100 people there. Is that not significantly smaller than Rare were just a year or two back?

In 2010 they still had the Pinata team. Also bear in mind that they once had more than 200 full-time employees. Now they love contractors.
 

Shiggy

Member
I think he's with the others from the management. Btw, that guy is the only wearing a shirt with the new logo, right?

rarephoto64a83.png
 

zroid

Banned
For the longest time I was internally debating whether this thread was about Rare game art or just rare game art. Was too lazy to actually find out until now.

Sorry for not contributing.
 

Conor 419

Banned
Surely Kinect Sports isn't all they've been working on. It's a fairly large team for a small game, one which they collaborated with another team on...
 

TheOddOne

Member
So Nintex and I did a little diggin:
An artist at Rare put these on his blog:

GK_Race_scene_F.jpg


Under this picture he put: Here's a little thing I've put together quickly for a undisclosed project. I tried to push the FX and colors to a level that should give it an almost in-game look.

China_Dawn_roadrage_GK_01.jpg


Under this picture he put: Done in a limited amount of time last week. It's a scene in China at Dawn. I had a little struggle with the composition, wrestled it out in the yard and won. Got back in and went back into Bob Ross mode.

His linkedin:

Naamloos.jpg
Take in account that his other clients, besides Rare, are not actually big studios or game related.

Like I have said before, with the recent hirings of race devs, I think they are working on a reboot of PGR.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
odd, is it possible thats forza horizon? i just cant see MS working on so many racers
 

Shiggy

Member
So Nintex and I did a little diggin:

Take in account that his other clients, besides Rare, are not actually big studios or game related.

Like I have said before, with the recent hirings of race devs, I think they are working on a reboot of PGR.

I've seen those before. He posted them in January/February 2012, but only started his job at Rare in March. Still, it's obvious that they've hired lot of devs with experience in the racing genre.
 

TheOddOne

Member
odd, is it possible thats forza horizon? i just cant see MS working on so many racers
My first thought too, but then these factors made me think else:

a) the first picture has a rally car, a truck and a motorcycle. Doesn't seem to really fit into what we have heard of Forza Horizon, based on what we have seen they will focus on high end cars and will be open-world like (if the intial leaked info is to believe);
b) since 2007 MS has said that they will continue the PGR franchise;
c) the recent hires of Rare have all had a backround in racing games, no low level guys either;
d) rumours have persisted that PGR5 will be a launch title for the next Xbox. Them prepping now would not be suprising;
e) While the concept art stem from January/February, before he worked directly for Rare. He did work for Rare on freelance bases before (see linkedin). He now is a fully employed artist at Rare.
 

Shiggy

Member
My first thought too, but then these factors made me think else:

a) the first picture has a rally car, a truck and a motorcycle. Doesn't seem to really fit into what we have heard of Forza Horizon, based on what we have seen they will focus on high end cars and will be open-world like (if the intial leaked info is to believe);
b) since 2007 MS has said that they will continue the PGR franchise;
c) the recent hires of Rare have all had a backround in racing games, no low level guys either;
d) rumours have persisted that PGR5 will be a launch title for the next Xbox. Them prepping now would not be suprising;
e) While the concept art stem from January/February, before he worked directly for Rare. He did work for Rare on freelance bases before (see linkedin). He now is a fully employed artist at Rare.

Oh sorry, did not see that he started freelancing before his Rare contract job. So well, then it is the case. As you say, they hired just way too many racing devs.
What I wondered about is that they have Beanland and another studio audio director, which points towards two teams, right?
 

TheOddOne

Member
Oh sorry, did not see that he started freelancing before his Rare contract job. So well, then it is the case. As you say, they hired just way too many racing devs.
What I wondered about is that they have Beanland and another studio audio director, which points towards two teams, right?
Would be my guess yes, one dedicated Kinect Sports team and the "new" team is doing this racer/PGR. There is bound to be some overlapping.
 
So Nintex and I did a little diggin:

Take in account that his other clients, besides Rare, are not actually big studios or game related.

Like I have said before, with the recent hirings of race devs, I think they are working on a reboot of PGR.


Cool, I know this guy. He was telling me two months ago he had to go to the UK for a job at Rare (he has worked for Ubisoft before, he's a freelancer). A few weeks ago he came back, the project was cancelled.

We talked about Rare's demise and the whole Kinect direction they're heading and he said he was actually surprised to be asked by Rare, since his style is very realistic and serious. He does some great stuff btw.
 
The concept arts look nothing like a Forza title. Forza is meant to be a very realistic game to compete with the GT series, while this looks like an arcade racer in the vein of Outrun. Looks like a brand new franchise and not something that would fit anywhere in the Forza universe.
 
Cool, I know this guy. He was telling me two months ago he had to go to the UK for a job at Rare (he has worked for Ubisoft before, he's a freelancer). A few weeks ago he came back, the project was cancelled.

That's a shame, even though the first piece of art is older than three months.

It's also an interesting coincidence he mentions Lucid Pixel in his resume. Another company called Lucid Games is founded by ex-Bizarre guys. So close.
 
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