Rare produce technology which is shared throughout MS internal studios. They harbour some of the brightest engineers in the industry, theyre extremely important for MS, for thier games and thier tools.
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It Has Now Been 15 Years Since Microsoft Purchased Rare
- Thread starter daTRUballin
- Start date
Rare produce technology which is shared throughout MS internal studios. They harbour some of the brightest engineers in the industry, theyre extremely important for MS, for thier games and thier tools.
Both Nuts & Bolts and Viva Pinata are amazing, inventive, unique and charming games I love. The Conker remake is still one of the best looking games on Xbox and Rare Replay is one of the best packages one could buy for any console. I loved Kameo not only for it's impressive graphics but also because of its really varied gameplay.
The only real stinker in this list is Grabbed by the Ghoulies imo. I don't care for Kinect Sports but they were good compilations that achieved exactly what they tried to.
That's a pretty fine list of video games if you ask me.
The only real stinker in this list is Grabbed by the Ghoulies imo. I don't care for Kinect Sports but they were good compilations that achieved exactly what they tried to.
That's a pretty fine list of video games if you ask me.
Lol, Rare's poor output had more to do with staff changes and departures that occured before Microsoft bought them out.
VanCityGamer
Member
Wow, really? I tried that game and thought it was awful, boring shit.
WickedLaharl
Member
Hope sea of thieves is good.
Night.Ninja
Banned
We got killer instinct
All that matters
All that matters
It is jarring to compare their pre-MS output to their post-MS output, such a shame.
Rare could have been MS Naughty Dog, consistently delivering good to great first party exclusives that made Xbox a system you had to own, I would assume that is why MS went and bought them in the first place, weird how it ended up.
daTRUballin
Member
Tried doing exactly that about a year ago. And well........let's just say the thread didn't turn out well and I'm still bitter about it to this day. :/
Not at all. That's just a myth.
CalamityPixel
Member
They did that under their own free will. They've had more creative free will with MS then Nintendo.
Green Yoshi
Member
15 years of misery. Nintendo should buy them back.
nekkid
It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is our plan.
Hope sea of thieves is good.
That artist went to a whole lot of effort to perpetuate commonly-known bullshit.
opticalmace
Member
Oh you made a list, awesome (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=221355072&postcount=1). I'm going to post it here...
Donkey Kong Country
Killer Instinct (SNES)
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Ken Griffey Jr.'s Winning Run
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!
Killer Instinct Gold
Blast Corps
Goldeneye 007
Diddy Kong Racing
Banjo Kazooie
Jet Force Gemini
Donkey Kong 64
Perfect Dark
Mickey's Speedway USA
Banjo Tooie
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Star Fox Adventures
It's been so long I forgot how many great games Rare had back in the day.
So it's just a myth that David Doak and a good chunk of the Goldeneye and PD team left Rare to form Free Radical Design? Lol
Renna Hazel
Member
Nah, Rare had great output on 360 prior to Kinect. They released 5 games in 3 years (also Conker on Xbox and Jetpac on XBLA in the same time frame) and all of them were quality games. Kinect came along and suddenly Rare could only manage a few sports games in 9 years.
If the pre-Kinect 360 era Rare ever returns, I'll be more than happy.
Nocturnowl
Member
Viva Pinata is great, and that's about all the truly good I have to say about this whopping decline, from being the guys stepping up to match Nintendo's own titles on the N64 to this.
I'll add that conceptually I find Nuts and Bolts rather bold (just not really much fun to actually play), that Kinect Sports did exactly what it needed to and that the Conker remake was fine with a multiplayer that while not nearly as novel as some of the N64 modes, made a lot more sense for XBOX live.
It's not that they turned to rubbish or anything but I'll always believe they were grossly misused and that this sticks out as a waste of a perfectly good thing on the end of MS.
I'll add that conceptually I find Nuts and Bolts rather bold (just not really much fun to actually play), that Kinect Sports did exactly what it needed to and that the Conker remake was fine with a multiplayer that while not nearly as novel as some of the N64 modes, made a lot more sense for XBOX live.
It's not that they turned to rubbish or anything but I'll always believe they were grossly misused and that this sticks out as a waste of a perfectly good thing on the end of MS.
daTRUballin
Member
A couple people leaving from one team out of several different teams at Rare means the whole company was dead before the buyout? Lol
More people left post-buyout than pre-buyout. Rare having some sort of "mass exodus" before Microsoft came into the picture is just a myth, yes.
I honestly think this was just a myth created by Nintendo fans at the time to justify Nintendo losing Rare to MS.
It's night and day as in not even close. Shit went downhill after that acquisition, especially with all that Kinect garbage.
TheUnsunghero26
Member
I've said it before, but the fact they released 8 deverse games on the 360 is really impressive. I can't think of a other studio with anything close to that during that gen.
Kameo, the Viva Piñatas, Banjo, and Jet PAC were great. I liked Perfect Dark Zero at the time but it doesn't really hold up. The Kinect games were... Well, Kinect games.
Kameo, the Viva Piñatas, Banjo, and Jet PAC were great. I liked Perfect Dark Zero at the time but it doesn't really hold up. The Kinect games were... Well, Kinect games.
That wasn't the only group of people to leave before the buy out. But the massive fundlemental changes between PD and PDZ is enoigh to show the kind of effect it has on the quality output.
Darkstorne
Member
Looks like a lot of people in this thread haven't played Viva Pinata =P Easily one of the best games Rare have ever created.
It was fine. It wasnt very memorable and I certainly wouldnt consider buying an Xbox for a new VP, so I cant consider it one of their best games.
sotojuan
Member
One of the biggest examples of mismanagement of talent in this industry.
I doubt most of the talent stayed long after the acquisition. Usually in tech companies the best engineers leave startups shortly after they get bought by a bigger company. Perhaps it's the same with gaming.
Diprosalic
Banned
Possibly the biggest fleecing in gaming history.
daTRUballin
Member
Who else left? I'm curious. Besides a few members from the Goldeneye/Perfect Dark team and a couple other members here and there, who else left that was so significant that Rare never recovered afterwards? Most of the significant people left AFTER the buyout.
Best post-acquisition game they made, I give them that.
Ultimadrago
Member
I swear...
Dee Dah Dave
Member
Not a great deal to show for their investment. Fuckin sad too because Rare should be Xbox's Nintendo division.
Duxxy3
Member
IMO it finally died when they released the Xbox One S. For better and worse, it was the start of a new xbox division.
HellofaMouse
Member
how can 1 studio release 3 games in 1 year?
then they took 3 years to make kinect sport rivals...
then they took 3 years to make kinect sport rivals...
MegaManTrigger
Banned
No, it got shit because of actual issues such as poor world design, little to no variety in missions, and gameplay feeling inconsequential. People who say that people bashed it because of the Banjo name are being very disingenuous. And I say this as someone who has no emotional connection to the series (tried NB for a while before losing interest and going to Kazooie and Tooie, and I thought those two were way better).
Traumnovelle
Member
It's kind of crazy that between Nuts & Bolts and Sea of Thieves there was a ten year gap where all they released were Kinect Sports titles.
Renna Hazel
Member
Rare was a studio that had several teams. They always had many games in development at one time. Then with Kinect they worked on interfaces and Avatar clothing and such.
I loved the Viva Pinata games, and Nuts & Bolts and Kameo were solid despite their flaws. So the narrative that they became shit after Microsoft bought them is wrong, but at the same time it's true that they were slowly losing their past identity.
Post 2008 Rare might as well be a completely different developer. A damn shame, and probably one of the worst developer acquisitions in gaming history. I think every affected party came out worse from this.
Post 2008 Rare might as well be a completely different developer. A damn shame, and probably one of the worst developer acquisitions in gaming history. I think every affected party came out worse from this.
GoingToDelete
Member
IMO their only good games since being purchased was the viva pinata's.
daTRUballin
Member
Rare used to be a lot faster with making games back in the day. Their output dramatically slowed down after the buyout. 2005 was a very productive year for them though. I assume that's the year you're referring to, of course.
Not to mention game development in general has gotten slower and slower over the last several years.
Rodney McKay
Member
Bummer that Sea of Thieves is the only thing they have coming in the foreseeable future.
I'm not a big multiplayer fan, so that game does absolutely nothing for me.
Last time I was excited about something from Rare was Nuts and Bolts (and the Banjo Kazooir+Tooie XBLA releases). Really loves Nuts and Bolts, haven't played a game quite like it before or since.
I'm not a big multiplayer fan, so that game does absolutely nothing for me.
Last time I was excited about something from Rare was Nuts and Bolts (and the Banjo Kazooir+Tooie XBLA releases). Really loves Nuts and Bolts, haven't played a game quite like it before or since.
Poor rare. 10 of those 15 years being relegated to Kinect sports hell.
I don't think you could qualify rare as compatibly fast. It's one of the reasons nintendos do let them go. They were always behind schedule and over budget.
MrTroubleMaker
Member
I miss old rare, but I will gladly take another BKNB
Madrugador
Member
Such a shame we never got Conker L&R as part of Rare Replay. Not even as DLC.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
I'd say Viva Piñata made the purchase worth it. Those games have no right to be good.