BabyFaceKillah
Member
Rare is making Microsoft's Uncharted.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Looking back at Rare's production with Microsoft
- Thread starter Doug Heffernan
- Start date
Nightengale
Member
I honestly think Rare should just forget its entire IP legacy and start afresh with who they are right now as a team, and what they want to do.
Give them 3-4 years if need be, but let them discover themselves.
Give them 3-4 years if need be, but let them discover themselves.
Alaskanbullworm
Member
Conker - Single player being more censored was just aggravating. Multiplayer was so fun......that was until exploits were found and were never patched or even acknowledged. Ruined the whole experience within a few weeks after release
Kameo - I remember it being quite good looking back then, but I honestly can't remember a single thing about the game. Would love a sequel
PDZ - It was all about the multiplayer. It was definitely the most fun experience playing until Gears of War came out
Viva Pinatas - My favorite games last gen. GIVE MORE
Nuts and Bolts - Great game, bad Banjo game. Fun to play, but they butchered the Banjoness of the series.
Kameo - I remember it being quite good looking back then, but I honestly can't remember a single thing about the game. Would love a sequel
PDZ - It was all about the multiplayer. It was definitely the most fun experience playing until Gears of War came out
Viva Pinatas - My favorite games last gen. GIVE MORE
Nuts and Bolts - Great game, bad Banjo game. Fun to play, but they butchered the Banjoness of the series.
Kameo, Viva Pinata, Nuts & Bolts - they've done some decent games over the past decade that people easily forget in the sea of disappointment and crushed dreams. At the same time it's truly shocking that this is their complete output over the last decade and yet they never even came remotely close to the quality of their groundbreaking titles of the 90's. Calling Rare a shadow of its former self would be an understatement.
Everyone just ignores Rare's handheld team - for good reason.
Everyone just ignores Rare's handheld team - for good reason.
SuperSonic1305
Member
Dat steady Metacritic decline after Viva Pinata.
Seen it. I've been so upset at that list for ages now. So many possibly great games, cancelled or never created.
I'm still upset we never got Sabreman Stampede.
Katana_Strikes
Member
The last great Rare game for me was Kameo. How it rated worse than the godawful PDZ is beyond me. I thought I'd like Viva, it was unique, colourful and seemed like it had potential but I wasn't feeling it.
Nothing else on that list I either played or enjoyed. Not a great resume over 2 decades.
Nothing else on that list I either played or enjoyed. Not a great resume over 2 decades.
They actually made TWO DS games after being bought by microsoft. Viva piñata: pocket paradise and diddy kong racing DS. It is still crazy to me that a microsoft owned studio was allowed to make games on a nintendo platform.
While most of the handheld Rare games were indeed shit, pocket paradise was actually quite good.
I say it is a damn shame what happened to them 
.
Between trying to live up to there Nintendo Legacy and Microsoft pushing away there prototypes left and right, working under Microsoft had to be horrendous for them X(.
Shame to as Kemo, Viva Pinata and Nuts and Bolts all look to be really fun and creative games (don't own a 360, so I never played them). At the very least, they put out those tittles on the 360, proving that they still got talent left :'(.....
The thing that bothers me the most is that they WERE making great games for Microsoft X( and yet every. single. time they came up with great ideas and prototypes, either they were canned or were forgotten about over time. I mean, we almost got a horror game from the guy behind Conker, a Banjo-themed Kart racer using the building mechanics from Nuts and Bolts, and a real Perfect Dark sequel! Not to mention Kemo getting a darker sequel and older IP's like Sabur Wolf getting revived into a old-school Rare platformer......
Ugh, just thinking about all the cool stuff they could have made really makes me hate Microsoft X(. What they did to Rare is the REASON why I have strong doubts of the first party line up for the X1; sure, NOW we got lots of cool stuff like Sunset and Ori....but what will happen in the next three/four years? Sequel after sequel after sequel alongside the periodic 'exclusive' they just happened to buy X(.
.....Sorry for being so bitter, it's just that Rare deserved so much better then to end up like they are now :'(. I really, really hope Spencer isn't just bull shiting us and really is letting Rare go wild with the X1....would love to see Banjo or a new IP from them.
. Between trying to live up to there Nintendo Legacy and Microsoft pushing away there prototypes left and right, working under Microsoft had to be horrendous for them X(.
Shame to as Kemo, Viva Pinata and Nuts and Bolts all look to be really fun and creative games (don't own a 360, so I never played them). At the very least, they put out those tittles on the 360, proving that they still got talent left :'(.....
The thing that bothers me the most is that they WERE making great games for Microsoft X( and yet every. single. time they came up with great ideas and prototypes, either they were canned or were forgotten about over time. I mean, we almost got a horror game from the guy behind Conker, a Banjo-themed Kart racer using the building mechanics from Nuts and Bolts, and a real Perfect Dark sequel! Not to mention Kemo getting a darker sequel and older IP's like Sabur Wolf getting revived into a old-school Rare platformer......
Ugh, just thinking about all the cool stuff they could have made really makes me hate Microsoft X(. What they did to Rare is the REASON why I have strong doubts of the first party line up for the X1; sure, NOW we got lots of cool stuff like Sunset and Ori....but what will happen in the next three/four years? Sequel after sequel after sequel alongside the periodic 'exclusive' they just happened to buy X(.
.....Sorry for being so bitter, it's just that Rare deserved so much better then to end up like they are now :'(. I really, really hope Spencer isn't just bull shiting us and really is letting Rare go wild with the X1....would love to see Banjo or a new IP from them
.Banjo-Kazooie
Member
Well damn, these Rare topics always have a way of bringing my mood down...
Kinect is the worst thing to happen to them. I weep to look at that topic with all of the cancelled projects. A Rare Cart Racer makes all too much sense, and things like Banjo & Conker have been wildly ignored.
I get that Rare isn't the same anymore, but give them a chance to make something new or old that goes back to their roots. Heck, just have them work on download-only sized games to get back on track and be like Press Play.
Curious to see what they come up with, but let's just say I'm not holding my breathe.
Kinect is the worst thing to happen to them. I weep to look at that topic with all of the cancelled projects. A Rare Cart Racer makes all too much sense, and things like Banjo & Conker have been wildly ignored.
I get that Rare isn't the same anymore, but give them a chance to make something new or old that goes back to their roots. Heck, just have them work on download-only sized games to get back on track and be like Press Play.
Curious to see what they come up with, but let's just say I'm not holding my breathe.
outunderthestars
Banned
I would love a Viva Pinata game for ios/Android/Windows
AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAAAAAAaAAAA
Yes let's get a developer who doesn't know how to make a fucking fighting game work on a sequel lmao
--
You know what? Fuck the bullshit, man. Rare's 360 output up to Kinect Sports is damn good. From PDZ to KS. Quality games
Banjo-Kazooie
Member
Interest in Rare IPs, but interested in Rare? Probably not, as there is hardly any original people left there.
What they need to do is farm out old Rare IPs to 3rd party partners, heck, give Banjo to some lesser known indie studio and see what they can do.
Rare, as it exists mostly only in name, should just focus on making a new IP, and let others focus on their old IP. Their next game will be the determining factor if they stay open or not, imo though...so that would be a bit risky.
People do give Rare too much flak for their 2002-2008 output, yes. I don't think PDZ was that great though. Nuts & Bolts would have been fucking amazing as a new IP though. That shit was basically vehicle Minecraft.
Then again, Microsoft had Minecraft on lock for the longest time so they didn't need their own version.
sixteen-bit
Member
The VP games have good soundtracks. Never played the games though.
bitesnintendog
Member
The first two Kinect Sports games are really fun. I know that it's not what people want from the studio but I get the impression people shit on it without having played it.
I am perhaps in a fairly odd position as the Rare game I'm by far the most familiar with, and as a result most fond of, is Grabbed By The Ghoulies. I would definitely buy a rerelease/remaster/remake/sequel to that, but going by this thread I'm guessing that's never happening, unfortunately.
Gruntys Revenge, Viva Piñata DS and DKR DS are rad tho
Don't forget Banjo Pilot. For games that started out as Nintendo published GBA titles, Grunty's Revenge and Banjo Pilot came out alright. I still think Banjo Pilot would have been better as Diddy Kong Pilot though.
#TeamCranky
Just a heads up, Rare does Christmas cards every year and they used to tease things for future titles. The Mr. Pants one with the Gamecube and Xbox and the Banjo-Kazooie one come to mind.
This was their card from last year. I'm willing to bet their next game is prooobbably Viva Pinata. Not that I'm complaining, I could use another.
This was their card from last year. I'm willing to bet their next game is prooobbably Viva Pinata. Not that I'm complaining, I could use another.
I played a bunch of Sabreman and still feel like that fur trapper subplot was in poor taste, but I know I'm probably in the minority in that. It's too bad, it could have been a decent game otherwise. Nothing amazing though. (I realize this is a bit of a tangent.)
0ptimusPayne
Member
Its so funny looking at that 2010 time stamp for releases. Thats when MS really started loosing their touch with 1st party games and it became that shitty Gears/halo/Kinect game cycle terrible times
PS- I did love gears 3 though...
PS- I did love gears 3 though...
synce
Member
Isn't Rare just a name now? I doubt the current Rare is made up of the same people that made the classics from the 90's. So, sure they own all these properties but what good is that if they don't have talented devs making the sequels? Look at what a mess KI turned out to be, they had to hire a new team for season 2
Doug Heffernan
Member
I'd be down for a Viva Pinata 3.
But I have a sneaking suspicion that their next game will be a spiritual successor to Diddy Kong Racing. They hired a bunch of former Codemasters employees a few years ago and Craig Duncan (formerly of Sumo Digital, Sonic Racing) is their Studio Director.
Triggerhappytel
Member
Agreed, I thought the same when reading his TR comments about not having their own pulpy action adventure. You've got the perfect studio for the job underneath your nose!
Rare's fall from grace is really sad; going from being one of the best developers in the world in the N64 era to being a company that predominantly specialises in disappointment. The stewardship of Nintendo and the Stampers is, it would seem, very much missed.
Rare didn't develop Killer Instinct Xbox One, they only provided feedback. And the only reason it switched developers for season 2 was because Amazon acquired Double Helix.
Kyleripman
Member
I love Viva Pinata. Personally I'd put it above Banjo on my wishlist for the next Rare game.
Triggerhappytel
Member
Also: Perfect Dark Zero has a better metascore than Kameo?! What the fuck?
FonkyByNature
Member
I don't think a Banjo game will do anything other than serve the very small audience that speaks loud but is not enough to make Rare and Microsoft profit. Nuts and Bolts is a great example of this, the game just didn't sell enough copies.
A Conker game could work, it depends if they bring the adult humour and don't censor it. Add to that a great marketing campaign and i see it selling very well and could be established as a great franchise for Microsoft.
Perfect Dark also doesn't make sense since there's way too much competition in the shooter genre. A 3rd person action game could work if they execute it right.
Otherwise ? a kart racer with Rare characters ala Diddy Kong Racing or a brand new ip with platforming elements that Rare used to be so good at making.
Personally, i want to see a brand new ip that is a platformer full of colors, fun with challenges like Mario Bros and one that has that Rare touch of magic. I would be very happy if that happens or anything other than Kinect Sports. Not hating on Kinect Sports as i loved the previous games but Rare should not make Kinect games. They are way way better than that.
A Conker game could work, it depends if they bring the adult humour and don't censor it. Add to that a great marketing campaign and i see it selling very well and could be established as a great franchise for Microsoft.
Perfect Dark also doesn't make sense since there's way too much competition in the shooter genre. A 3rd person action game could work if they execute it right.
Otherwise ? a kart racer with Rare characters ala Diddy Kong Racing or a brand new ip with platforming elements that Rare used to be so good at making.
Personally, i want to see a brand new ip that is a platformer full of colors, fun with challenges like Mario Bros and one that has that Rare touch of magic. I would be very happy if that happens or anything other than Kinect Sports. Not hating on Kinect Sports as i loved the previous games but Rare should not make Kinect games. They are way way better than that.
There were a few Rare employees on the Microsoft side of KI development. Ken Lobb being the most important.
We almost got this in the form of Banjo-Karting. Looks like it was gonna include all kinds of Rare characters.
neogaffer1
Banned
Grabbed by the Ghoulies is an incredibly underrated game, I enjoyed it a lot as a kid.
DoubleTake
Member
"Rare"
Just some food for thought, I realize there's a lot of people gone from Rare and there's still quite a few veterens as well (Mayles, Lobb, Beanland come to mind) but what is stopping Rare from making a good game with new employees? Bad management? Hopefully Spencer can fix that.
An example- Lots of employees from Retro Studios left after Prime 3 and Retro still managed to make two amazing Donkey Kong games.
We'll never get old Rare again, but that doesn't mean we can't get good games from their ever again either.
Kadin
Member
Well it all boils down to talent and if the most talented people left, that's gonna be the biggest issue. There's no guarantee that you can get that back no matter how many people you hire. Sometimes the mix of people is just perfect and breaking it up is the one and only cause to future failed or poor titles.
Exactly. We're going to have to wait and see. To say we're never getting another good game from Rare is downright wrong, but I believe saying old Rare never coming back is a fair argument.
Similar threads
- Locked