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[FonkyByNature]

We almost got this in the form of Banjo-Karting. Looks like it was gonna include all kinds of Rare characters.

Holly shit, when was that announced or talked about ??? They need to make a kart racer, i would love some Rare magic in my kart racer !!!!!! Please Microsoft, do something !

 

[Cdammen]

I loved Nuts & Bolts, lovely inventive game. I dislike the original games.

 

[Sponge]

Holly shit, when was that announced or talked about ??? They need to make a kart racer, i would love some Rare magic in my kart racer !!!!!! Please Microsoft, do something !

Never announced. It's one of the many cancelled Rare titles that never went into full production.

 

[Synth]

I thought Rare did pretty well last gen, even including the Kinect Sports games (they were fun, shut up). I'd also place Viva Pinata above pretty much all of their N64 output.

No way. Double Helix did Killer Instinct better than new Rare ever could have.

Ken Lobb was still involved.

DH didn't just do Killer Instinct better than new Rare ever could have. They did it better than old Rare ever could have too. It's nice to look back on all our fond memories of the classic KI's, but they really don't have shit on the current version. DH turned the series into a legit fighter. Will be interesting to see how Iron Galaxy follows it up.

Look at what a mess KI turned out to be

You quite obviously have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[Ape]

I want Battle Toads. Now.


N&B was one of the best games last gen. To me that game was a classic. It oozed with a certain magic that 99% of studios try to replicate and just can't. I played that game until I unlocked every achievement in the main game and the DLC. I sometimes wonder what they would do with a new Banjo game, but then I don't want to get my hopes up.

The Viva Pinata games are *again* some of the best games of last gen. I played each of them for probably 100 hours.

I'm getting sort of depressed right now OP, all of that Kinect sports bullshit is fucked up. It's like this cruel joke that shouldn't have happened. A tragedy of the worse kind.

I didn't like PD0.. at all. I played it recently and I don't feel it aged well. complete trash.

Never touched Kameo. I'm worried it will suffer the same fate as PD0 did.

Conker was awesome, love love LOVED the multiplayer. I lost so many nights with that game, seems that Conker's mulit is underrated here.


I love Rare and their IPs. Let them make games for fuck's sake.

 

[bidguy]

kinect is dead
they WILL make another core game

 

[Leyasu]

Some related reading y'all might find fascinating:

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

ETA: that's an amazingly high MC score for PDZ. I thought the game was panned. Is it just reviled now? Maybe I'm imagining things.

Fuck!! Some of them games sounded promising.. What an absolute fucking waste

 

[Doug Heffernan]

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.

From July...

The fact that Chris Seavor re-tweeted that makes it interesting.

Possible Conker appearance in Banjo Team Racing?

 

[shacklesmcgee]

My reaction seeing the title/reading the OP :

I think it's nostalgia taking over mostly, but Rare just isn't the same anymore...

 

[Dreams-Visions]

with the more or less premature death of Kinect, maybe it will force MS to allow Rare to make real games again. Hopefully the Kinect era hasn't broken the spirits of the good developers still in their employ.

 

[npa189]

10 games in 12 years just seems low to me, and 3 of them were kinect sports. I think the message has been received about kinect finally, time to move on and green light something people would actually want.

 

[Ape]

:/ I was even #1 on the online leader boards for one of the N&B challenges. Fuck the Kinect. I'm starting to become upset.

 

[Sword Of Doom]

Aren't they only "Rare" by name at this point?

 

[TRI Mike]

If they suddenly started developing games for their Nintendo-era IPs + Viva Piñata, we'd have a really cool line-up. Guys remember that Jet Force Gemini also belongs to Rare. That could be a solid shooter for people who, like me, prefer more over-the-top things rather than military fps

 

[Dizzy]

I was one of the few defending Rare here when everyone else had declared them dead, but at this point I have to admit they are dead.

It was all downhill after the N64 days. Starfox sucked, GBTG sucked (minus the very banjo-like soundtrack)

As for banjo kart.....literally one of the worst games I've ever played. Not just a bad Banjo game, a bad Banjo game period. Now they make avatar and kinect junk which I have no interest in.


Still we will always have 2005. Sure Conker, kameo and PDZ had flaws but they were still good games with that unique Rare charm and personality. These games are the only reason I kept my 360 (after DOA and EDF got sequels on PS3). I still dig my 360 out at least once a year for a little go on PDZ and PD xbla or even conker.

 

[Nicktendo86]

I thought someone else developed kinect sports season 2?

Rare are only rare in name now, they died for me with viva pinata. Nuts and bolts had the core of a great game, there just wasn't enough variety in the challenges. Mostly point a to b races, and there was little incentive to experiment with parts.

 

[Doug Heffernan]

I thought someone else developed kinect sports season 2?

Big Park co-developed the game.

 

[Ol No Bones]

The only thing good from RARE's acquisition were the HD ports of N64. I lost all faith in them after the catastrophe that was Nuts & Bolts.

Yep except, kameo, viva pinata, oh and nuts and bolts is criminally underrated.

 

[op_ivy]

there is so much i'd love to see rare do and have faith they could pull off.

banjo platformer, the hub world platforming in nuts and bolts was such a tease.

perfect dark 3rd person uncharted, or deus ex like

kameo with a bigger emphasis on exploring and platform puzzles. in other words, more zelda in my zelda clone please

rc pro am and blast corps

and even though it will never ever happen, GbtG was fantastic and i'd love to see a new one, particularly if it was more of an adventure style game. dj scratching zombie undead parties for all.

 

[WoolyNinja]

I'm not sure why Microsoft even bought Rare if they were just going to change them. Is anyone from the old Rare even there anymore? If not then they'll probably never go back to their old glory days form.

 

[Ricky_R]

 

[Mohonky]

Eh, I dunno why so many people are so down on Rare since they went to Microsoft. I have never used Kinect and as such cant comment on their Kinect titles, but Perfect Dark Zero is the only Rare title In the Microsoft catalogue I didnt think much of. I even really enjoyed Grabbed by the Ghoulies.

All their titles have looked great, played well and been rather innovative or different. They have a studio there that does really good titles and they cop flack for being a shooter box. But I also blame gamers for those titles just not selling well enough.

 

[Silky]

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.

Ken Lobb (Original Team.), Chris Sunderland (KI's voice announcer.) Robin Beanland (original composer), and now Kevin Bayliss(KI's original lead artist) are now helping/advising KI season 2 in some way or form. That's more than enough help from Rare.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

that's an amazingly high MC score for PDZ. I thought the game was panned. Is it just reviled now? Maybe I'm imagining things.

The 360 was absolutely reviled and hated up until Sony confirmed the US price for the PS3 at E3 2006. Perfect Dark was absolutely trampled on certain forums because of "WallGuy" and it not being as good as Halo. It was a decent game.

It sold surprisingly well too. I remember the PDZ 2 Million thread.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Aren't they only "Rare" by name at this point?

Time for the Ship of Theseus conversation, I suppose.

They're Rare. They have some of the same staff, some new staff. Like just about all development houses, they've seen lots of change-over over the years. No developer is comprised of the same development teams 15 years later.

Have they lost their core identity as a company in the change-overs (the Theseus philosophical discussion)? We won't know that until we see more of their products. Kinect games fucking sucked. Yet before those Kinect games, you'd be hard-pressed to convince people that we didn't see the Rare we know and love shining through projects like Kameo and Viva Pinata. Those were Rare games through and through, though missing a few things here and there that would have made them perfect.

To this day, I believe a Kameo 2 with some of the quirks worked out could have been Microsoft's Zelda (action RPG) franchise. It had the look, the personality, the universal visual appeal. Just need some tweaks to the control and more diversity that better rewarded rotating between elements to accomplish goals.

The 360 was absolutely reviled and hated up until Sony confirmed the US price for the PS3 at E3 2006. Perfect Dark was absolutely trampled on certain forums because of "WallGuy" and it not being as good as Halo. It was a decent game.

It sold surprisingly well too. I remember the PDZ 2 Million thread.

PDZ got shit on because Microsoft only gave reviewers 24 hours to spend with the game and write reviews. In the rush to be first, most reviews gave a much higher review to the game than they would have if they had more time. Big-name reviewers like Gamespot and IGN infamously gave PDZ artificially high scores. The game was very mediocre and the controls were awful. In retrospect, a lot about that game was poor. It was a 65/100 - 75/100 launch title that got 90+ scoring that it should not have received.

And yea PlayStation fanboys enjoyed calling it the Xbox 1.5 for several months. Until their own PS3 games came out and sucked hot asshole juice. Heavenly Sword, Lair, and UT3 were terribad. Motorstorm heavily lacked features. Resistance lacked a lot of basic things like in-game chat at launch and had terrible audio fx design. It also wasn't half the game Halo was.

 

[Borman]

The 360 was absolutely reviled and hated up until Sony confirmed the US price for the PS3 at E3 2006. Perfect Dark was absolutely trampled on certain forums because of "WallGuy" and it not being as good as Halo. It was a decent game.

It sold surprisingly well too. I remember the PDZ 2 Million thread.

I seem to recall it being the "Xbox 1.5" around most places.

 

[Silky]

Time for the Ship of Theseus conversation, I suppose.

They're Rare. They have some of the same staff, some new staff. Like just about all development houses, they've seen lots of change-over over the years. No developer is comprised of the same development teams 15 years later.

Have they lost their core identity as a company in the change-overs (the Theseus philosophical discussion)? We won't know that until we see more of their products. Kinect games fucking sucked. Yet before those Kinect games, you'd be hard-pressed to convince people that we didn't see the Rare we know and love shining through projects like Kameo and Viva Pinata. Those were Rare games through and through, though missing a few things here and there that would have made them perfect.

To this day, I believe a Kameo 2 with some of the quirks worked out could have been Microsoft's Zelda (action RPG) franchise. It had the look, the personality, the universal visual appeal. Just need some tweaks to the control and more diversity that better rewarded rotating between elements to accomplish goals.



PDZ got shit on because Microsoft only gave reviewers 24 hours to spend with the game and write reviews. In the rush to be first, most reviews gave a much higher review to the game than they would have if they had more time. Big-name reviewers like Gamespot and IGN infamously gave PDZ artificially high scores. The game was very mediocre and the controls were awful. In retrospect, a lot about that game was poor. It was a 65/100 - 75/100 launch title that got 90+ scoring that it should not have received.

I think PDZ's level design is what makes it poor, but ptherwise this is the most logical post I've seen so far in Rare related threads.

--

Yo is that Sabrewulf in that Banjo Karting image? Niiiice. BigPark should totally do Banjo Karting alongside Rare

 

[Mikey Jr.]

There is no way they have any talent left at that place.

After the second Kinect game, I would have said "fuck this place" and got out.

 

[GSG Flash]

Rare, much like SquareEnix, is just a shell of its former self.

 

[Spirit of Jazz]

N&B along with Viva were by far my favourite Rare games, it's such a shame they didn't achieve the success they deserved and it's terrible what MS did to the studio.

 

[Silky]

There is no way they have any talent left at that place.

After the second Kinect game, I would have said "fuck this place" and got out.

A good half of Banjo Team is still there iirc

 

[Kadin]

Eh, I dunno why so many people are so down on Rare since they went to Microsoft. I have never used Kinect and as such cant comment on their Kinect titles, but Perfect Dark Zero is the only Rare title In the Microsoft catalogue I didnt think much of. I even really enjoyed Grabbed by the Ghoulies.

All their titles have looked great, played well and been rather innovative or different. They have a studio there that does really good titles and they cop flack for being a shooter box. But I also blame gamers for those titles just not selling well enough.

I think because prior to them being acquired by Microsoft, they really could do no wrong. I can't think of a single stinker that happened pre-acquisition. After the fact though, the quality definitely dropped and in my mind, they're completely irrelevant now.

 

[Bluemercury]

There were a few Rare employees on the Microsoft side of KI development. Ken Lobb being the most important.

Ken Lobb can go where The sun doesnt shine...

 

[IOnEI Falcon]

Ken Lobb can go where The sun doesnt shine...

Whoa, why is that? Lobb seems to be the most likable and down to earth MS employee. When I met him at EVO he was super cool!

 

[10k]

Came in expecting a "What production?" First post. I'm disappointed lol. The real rare died with the departure of the stammer bros.

I really hope for a return to Banjo or Conker or something new.

 

[dyergram]

Nuts and bolts was great. That goldeneye remaster could of been huge.

 

[Everdred]

I feel like Plants vs. Zombies is an evolution of Conker's Bad Fur Day multi-player. Every time I play I'm reminded of it.

 

[rouken]

some great games in there too bad they didn't really sell

 

[Riky]

What people don't seem to understand is that most of the people that made RARE what it was, are not there anymore.

Classic innovative RARE is dead. And unless Microsoft gives them the time and freedom Nintendo gave them, then that will not change anytime soon.

Not many people work at the same place for decades, this would be the case anywhere that has been around so long. Also Nintendo actually famously canned Goldeneye, Rare just ignored them and finished the game anyway.

 

[EBE]

ive enjoyed all of their work at microsoft
kinect sports included

 

[TheUnsunghero26]

Rare hasn't made a single game that caught my interest since Microsoft bought them. Such a shame, they used to be one of my favorites. Hopefully they can recapture the magic in the future, but I doubt it.

Did you try the Viva Pinata games?

 

[-MD-]

PDZ at launch was incredible and offered one of the best online experiences I've ever had. I'll be the first to admit that it hasn't aged very well though.

We definitely need a new Perfect Dark.

 

[Sponge]

Ken Lobb can go where The sun doesnt shine...

And what's wrong with Ken Lobb might I ask?

A good half of Banjo Team is still there iirc

You're correct. People are so quick to say all of Rare is gone without actually knowing who is really there.

 

[IOnEI Falcon]

PDZ at launch was incredible and offered one of the best online experiences I've ever had. I'll be the first to admit that it hasn't aged very well though.

We definitely needs a new Perfect Dark.

Same here! PDZ online was the best online experience I have had.

 

[Rezae]

The Rare acquisition by MS ranks up there with Sega/Dreamcast as one of the most gut-wrenching falls ever in the gaming industry.

It really doesn't matter what they do at this point with them. It's not the same company. The IPs may still hold some value to nostalgic gamers, but MS would possibly be just as well off outsourcing them to a quality studio.

 

[SpokkX]

Loved the latest banjo

Didnt realize they have not released a real game since 2008?!? (Not counting kinect sports)

Thats 6 going on 7 years (!)

Avatars are dead also now? Surely they
must have something pretty soon then..?

 

[-MD-]

Same here! PDZ online was the best online experience I have had.

I remember seeing you online frequently back at launch, your posts on Rare sites and back and forth chat with Rare employees over the years in addition to "falcon" in your name made me remember it pretty well

My handle at that time was Murderdolls but I don't expect anyone to actually remember me, was so long ago.

 

[Chittagong]

given that the last decent/good Rare game came out six years ago, I would say that the chances of another good game after these years are as slim as for any new studio. the great talent must have had an exodus during the dark years. they are totally reliant on their IP and new hires now.

 

[nubbe]

I like Kameo. It should really be their primary family game

Viva Pinata was good, the only bad thing was the user interface. atrocious

 

[Rafaelcsa]

With the retro gaming wave of recent years I don't get why a new Battletoads hasn't happened.