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Rare might not be forced to make Kinect games but anything else gets canned

So the other day Phil Spencer had this to say about Rare's focus on Kinect:

Phil Spencer said:
In terms of force, I know people probably don't believe it when I say this: I don't force Rare to do anything. Like, forcing a studio to do something is a very short-term ambition as the head of studios because, in the end, people will vote with their feet, and they'll just go work somewhere else. And Rare has enjoyed the creative, and, frankly, the hit success of [the] Kinect Sports series; it's been an incredibly successful series for them, and it's been great for the studio.

While they might not be forcing Rare to work on Kinect games it definitely looks as though they will not green light any of their other projects. Below is a list of cancelled and non green lit games for the Xbox and Xbox 360:

Ordinary Joe

Ordinary Joe is a cancelled prototype for a new survival horror game, that was in early development for Xbox 360 at Rare LTD, designed by Chris Seavor.

Arc Angel

Arc Angel is a cancelled futuristic racing game prototype that was in development in 2003 for the Xbox, by a team lead by Chris Seavor at Rare LTD.


Perfect Dark Core


Rare’s management decided to hand the PD franchise to the developers of Conker, a team led by Chris Seavor. Perfect Dark Core featured a more realistic atmosphere than its precedessors, with Joanna having a different and less feminine behaviour (smoking, flirting).

handgun.jpg
mech.jpg

Kameo 2

“Kameo 2″, successor of Kameo: Elements of Power, is a cancelled Xbox 360 title which was in development at British studio Rare Ltd.. Although it was never officially announced, some Kameo 2 animations appeared in a reel of a former Rare employee, as noticed by some Kameo-fans at the neoGaf Forum.


Cascade

Cascade was an unreleased fantasy Massive Multiplater Online game in production at British software house Rare Ltd. The project started after Perfect Dark Zero by Mark Edmonds and Chris Tilston, it built upon early work from a post-Perfect Dark 64 prototype titled Quest.


Banjo-Karting

Banjo-Karting was a game prototype for Xbox 360, started by Rare Ltd. just before Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts was finished in late 2008. The prototype took advantage of classic Banjo-Kazooie characters and built upon the racing parts of Nuts and Bolts.


Urchin

Urchin was an adventure fantasy / horror game that was in development at Rare Ltd. for Xbox 360. A few pieces of concept art were revealed by Rare artist Ryan Firchau at the “Nordic Game Conference”, held in Malmö in Sweden in May 2008. While details are scarce, it is known that Urchin was in development by the team that was responsible for Conker: Live and Reloaded.


Sabreman Stampede

Developed by a team of which many worked on Starfox Adventures or Jet Force Gemini, Sabreman Stampede had evolved from a racer into a full adventure.


SoulCatcher

SoulCatcher is a cancelled game that was in development by Rare LTD for the Xbox 360. The project was meant to be a prototype for a fantasy action adventure game in first person view, that used the Xbox Vision Camera and a customized proto-wand for motion-controls to attack and do magics.

Banjo-Kazoomie

Banjo-Kazoomie was a prototype for the original Xbox which was started at Rare Ltd. in 2004. Players were able to construct their karts out of different parts, therefore after it was cancelled the concept may have evolved into Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, which was released on Xbox 360 four years later.


Savannah

Savannah was one of various prototypes in development at Rare Ltd. during 2006/2007. As the project remained in prototype stage and was not greenlit, only few elements were set in stone, but it could have been some sort of nature simulator, more than a realistic Viva Pinata.


The Fast and the Furriest

The Fast & the Furriest is a cancelled party game that was in development in 2006 by Rare for the Xbox 360 Xbox Live Arcade digital service. Other than the normal joypad, the game could have been played with the Xbox Live Vision camera, to track players’ movements in a similar way to the PS2 EYE Toy or Microsoft’s own Kinect. The Fast & the Furriest would have included many different mini-games, as 100 meter dash, bungee run, hurdles and tip-tup curling.


Quest

Quest was a cancelled Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) game that was in development at Rare Ltd.

Above are the most document cancelled games. Through former employees twitter accounts and interviews we also now about a few games that are just known by their initials:

BR
BW - was realistic (at least futuristic realistic)
K2
CD2 - most likely Crackdown 2
SD
SU

So that is almost 20 canned games that we publically know about. Who knows how many other games one of the Rare teams worked on that never saw the light of day. All this to say it is a shame that a lot of these games are not being explored by Microsoft.
 

maxcriden

Member
Is Rare even really "Rare" as we used to think off, these days? I was under the impression that the original founders and main persons here now no longer work there.
 

v1oz

Member
Well all the good talent from Rare's hey days has already left. And without the Stamper Bros giving them some sort of overall direction it really isn't Rare anymore.
 
Is Rare even really "Rare" as we used to think off, these days? I was under the impression that the original founders and main persons here now no longer work there.

Yeah, the founders sold out Rare to MS and jumped ship right away.

I believe they make Facebook and phone games now IIRC.
 

F0rneus

Tears in the rain
A grittier Perfect Dark is fine with me. But not playing as Joanna, but some dude? Hell nah. No big loss I see! But Kameo and Banjo-Karting is painful stuff, to lose. T_T
 
Is Rare even really "Rare" as we used to think off, these days? I was under the impression that the original founders and main persons here now no longer work there.
If you read the names of the project leaders you will see Chris Seavor who has worked at Rare since Killer Instinct and make Conker's Bad Fur Day what it is today. You will also see Chris Tilston who was the game designer for Killer Instinct and Mark Edmonds who programmed for GoldenEye, PD and PDZ.
 

Black-Box

Member
Perfect Dark Core seems like it would be bad. I don't remember her flirting and smoking in the Original Perfect Dark. If anything it should be a new fps with a female lead under a different name. was PD Zero really that different from the original?

Savannah probably was canned because of Zoo Tycoon.


Urchin and Kameo 2 should be made. We need to push them to make those two games.
 

model13

Member
If the point of your thread was to show that only Kinect games get greenlit, then why are you including OG xbox and early xbox 360 games?
 

Some Nobody

Junior Member
Should have stuck with Nintendo. Did the major talent leave? Maybe. Does that necessarily mean they would've been garbage? Not really. And Nintendo could've used (and did use) the variety they offered.
 

kevin1025

Banned
I would have gladly played all of these. From reading about the teams and the company as a whole over the years, their malleable way of creating things takes time to develop into something great. But with Microsoft handling them, it appears that time isn't being allowed and the ideas are just thrown aside for sure-fire winners. Pretty tragic.
 

Archaix

Drunky McMurder
If you read the names of the project leaders you will see Chris Seavor who has worked at Rare since Killer Instinct and make Conker's Bad Fur Day what it is today. You will also see Chris Tilston who was the game designer for Killer Instinct and Mark Edmonds who programmed for GoldenEye, PD and PDZ.



You may also want to note that none of them are with Rare any more.


Phil Spencer said:
"In terms of force, I know people probably don't believe it when I say this: I don't force Rare to do anything. Like, forcing a studio to do something is a very short-term ambition as the head of studios because, in the end, people will vote with their feet, and they'll just go work somewhere else.


Not related or anything. Just thought my post needed another quote.
 

LTWheels

Member
Reading the brief descriptions a lot of them were prototypes.

Studios make tons of prototypes of different games that never get made. A lot of prototypes may only have had a few months work done.
 

Ebomb

Banned
So I guess the assumption is that MS canceled these rather than Rare itself. Because Rare could judge on its own the cost to produce some of these projects and projected sales and decide against them without input from MS I would imagine.
 
You may also want to note that none of them are with Rare any more.
Yeah true true. Can't blame them since none of their hard work would have ever seen the light of day. I know Mark Edmonds was very interested in a MMO game. His first game at Starfire Studios was MMOish so glad he finally got to pursue that.
 

BigDug13

Member
Is Rare even really "Rare" as we used to think off, these days? I was under the impression that the original founders and main persons here now no longer work there.

Do you blame them? Based on this list, it seems like their creativity was squashed so they of course went to look for greener pastures.

Honestly, I think over-bearing publishers refusing to greenlight creative projects are going to continue to push more developers into making their own indie games and crowd-funded games.
 

border

Member
Wow, Kameo looks really really bad. That character design does not translate to a "realistic" style. Looks like a very serious woman in a very ridiculous Halloween costume.
 

Obscured

Member
Some of those look interesting I wouldn't mind seeing another PD. Before I would damn anybody though I would be curious to know how this compares to other development studios and for those that were cancelled where was the decision actually made?
 
If only Nintendo had bought Rare and not MS. :(

Then, people would be complaining that Nintendo was making Rare make Wii Sports Carnival or whatever. All these games sound good, but would any of them sell as much as all of the Kinect games they've made?
 
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