• 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.

[The Rare Canceled Game Art Thread]

Lijik said:
Mr. $atan

satan.jpg
 
Linkified said:
What big developers have MS killed outside of Ensemble?
2 big names in one generation isn't enough to be concerned? With this and Bungie wanting away from them, it's pretty clear that MS's management over their devs is utter shit. Making Ensemble (a dev that's famous only for rts games) work on a damn Halo MMO? Force RARE to work on sports games instead of more Banjo or the highly wanted Killer Instinct revival?

You don't see Sony making GG work on a Sims like title.
 

goldenpp72

Member
mysteriousmage09 said:
2 big names in one generation isn't enough to be concerned? With this and Bungie wanting away from from them, it's pretty clear the MS's management over their devs is utter shit. Making Ensemble (a dev that's famous only for rts games) work on a damn Halo MMO? Force RARE to work on sports games instead of more Banjo or the highly wanted Killer Instinct revival?

What next, Sony to make GG work on a Sims like title?

Bungie felt they got a bad deal being bought out by microsoft and MS let them go and that makes them.. bad with developers?

What the fuck? Ensemble also failed on consoles, halo wars is very boring, like it or not MS is focusing on console stuff and even using a huge ip like halo couldn't get them a big hit, and ensemble to my understanding was hugely bloated to run, so they cut them.

The rest were just circumstantial, you can't blame MS for when developers want to venture off, anymore than when insomniac decided to make some multiplatform games :/
 
I think its really unfair to dismiss Kinect Sports because of its genre. A lot of love was clearly put into the game and I'd argue that its the best example of the genre on any console. As well as the core games, the 16+ mini-games really take advantage of Kinect and I personally find them more fun. With party play (and awesome characters) and well implemented online play, it covers pretty much all multiplayer bases, and its full of little charming Rare touches. A generic cash-in sports title it is not.
 

Linkified

Member
mysteriousmage09 said:
2 big names in one generation isn't enough to be concerned? With this and Bungie wanting away from them, it's pretty clear that MS's management over their devs is utter shit. Making Ensemble (a dev that's famous only for rts games) work on a damn Halo MMO? Force RARE to work on sports games instead of more Banjo or the highly wanted Killer Instinct revival?

You don't see Sony making GG work on a Sims like title.

Which ones have MS killed outside of Ensemble? Bungie the parted ways with sure but didn't kill them off. Bungie wanted to pursue other development opportunities if their next game is indeed an mmo/mmo-lite who would you want with experience on their side Microsoft or Blizzard?

So they have only killed one studio?

[Nintex] said:
ACES Game Studio, Digital Anvil, FASA Studio spring to mind.

oh and do blame MS:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/microsoft-destroyed-development-culture-weisman

Ok. Was he even around when FASA closed the doors, because didn't he set up Smith and Tinker in 2007?
 
The Rare of old is long dead. MS selling off arms an legs is of little consequence.

InaudibleWhispa said:
I think its really unfair to dismiss Kinect Sports because of its genre. A lot of love was clearly put into the game and I'd argue that its the best example of the genre on any console. As well as the core games, the 16+ mini-games really take advantage of Kinect and I personally find them more fun. With party play (and awesome characters) and well implemented online play, it covers pretty much all multiplayer bases, and its full of little charming Rare touches. A generic cash-in sports title it is not.
Wii Sports.jpg.

Argue that it's a great title in its own right, but c'mon, not a cash in? Kinect as a whole is a cash in on the Wii craze.
 

jax (old)

Banned
Not surprising news. Btw the bizarre creation news and this.. UK game development took a big hit/left right.

farking management hell..
 

Linkified

Member
Jax said:
Not surprising news. Btw the bizarre creation news and this.. UK game development took a big hit/left right.

farking management hell..

But once the jungle is clear some new trees can start to grow and all that, at least I hope so...
 
DeaconKnowledge said:
The Rare of old is long dead. MS selling off arms an legs is of little consequence.


Wii Sports.jpg.

Argue that it's a great title in its own right, but c'mon, not a cash in? Kinect as a whole is a cash in on the Wii craze.
I simply mean that they didn't just create a basic Wii Sports rip with no real identity of its own which would have probably sold just as well. They actually took the time to create a solid, content-filled game.
 
Cerebral Assassin said:
Does Wil Overton still work there/in the industry?
I wish I knew the answer to this as well. In any case Wil still seems to be doing art related stuff but I have a feeling his website is more for the hobby side of things rather than the day job. Though he does show some examples of his work (I did not know about the anime UK stuff...that probably explains why there was even an anime section in Super Play). Also the portfolio does have concept art for a female avatar. I'm just trying to imagine Kinect Sports concept art now...
 
Starwolf_UK said:
I wish I knew the answer to this as well. In any case Wil still seems to be doing art related stuff but I have a feeling his website is more for the hobby side of things rather than the day job. Though he does show some examples of his work (I did not know about the anime UK stuff...that probably explains why there was even an anime section in Super Play). Also the portfolio does have concept art for a female avatar. I'm just trying to imagine Kinect Sports concept art now...
the mascots are awesome :(

i'll be sad if this gets fully confirmed partly BECAUSE of Kinect Sports. that game is so polished, and more to the point full of personality and you can tell that the people who worked on it actually cared about it.
 
apana said:
Some ex-Rare designers are working at Eurocom and one is even at Armature right?

I went through Goldeneye Wii's credits at MobyGames, and found quite a number of Free Radical folks (un-noted below), plus one Rare guy... and even a Retro person!

Jon Tollman
Brad Warren (actually also did the renders in Diddy Kong Racing according to his LinkedIn profile)
Lewis Boadle
Simon Edgar
Stephen Davison
Chad Ellis
Keith Turner (Rare)
Jake Gumbleton
Martin Keywood

Kai Martin (Retro Studios)

Danny Wong (worked on Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again)

I'm baffled at IGN saying something about a "number" of ex-Rare folks being at Eurocom, they were right about there being ex-Free Radical folks though (oddly, none of the above sans Brad Warren also worked at Rare...).
 
When I read the thread title, I thought it just meant some artists were getting the axe, like last March. Then I clicked the link. I did not prepare myself for this.

God.
Fucking.
Dammit.

I still love Rare. Not just because of their Super Nintendo and N64 work, but also for Viva Pinata and Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts, both being some of my favorite games (of this generation). I also liked the Avatars and Kinect Sports, but to watch them go down that path when their designers, artists, programmers, musicians can do so much more is painful to watch. I had hoped Perfect Dark's XBLA reception and rumors of Rare working on XBLA games meant that, in addition to doing stuff like Kinect Sports, we'd also get the quirky, funny, creative Rare we all love. But this news convinces me that I was far too optimistic.

I hope that their next few games prove me wrong.
 

derFeef

Member
Man that´s heartbreaking. Now I think Sports is a good game but sucking all creativity out of the studio is just bad.
 

Vinci

Danish
InaudibleWhispa said:
I simply mean that they didn't just create a basic Wii Sports rip with no real identity of its own which would have probably sold just as well. They actually took the time to create a solid, content-filled game.

That just means they're doing what they always did when it came to Nintendo. ;)

Yes, I'm kidding.
 

[Nintex]

Member
The Awkward Wizard said:
I had hoped Perfect Dark's XBLA reception and rumors of Rare working on XBLA games meant that, in addition to doing stuff like Kinect Sports, we'd also get the quirky, funny, creative Rare we all love. But this news convinces me that I was far too optimistic.
That was the plan of some of the design staff, needless to say the higher ups shot it down.

I hope that their next few games prove me wrong.
We'd be lucky if they manage to develop just one game in their current state.
 
Starwolf_UK said:
I wish I knew the answer to this as well. In any case Wil still seems to be doing art related stuff but I have a feeling his website is more for the hobby side of things rather than the day job. Though he does show some examples of his work (I did not know about the anime UK stuff...that probably explains why there was even an anime section in Super Play). Also the portfolio does have concept art for a female avatar. I'm just trying to imagine Kinect Sports concept art now...

Man that art takes me back. I used to love those mags, reading them as a kid (and the art of course!)

Retro Gamer is the best mag out there by far right now!
 
goldenpp72 said:
PDZ is a better game then PD, if you can play both today this very moment and say otherwise you have a nostalgia problem, PD has such disjointed and lost level designs and the multiplayer is unbalanced as fuck. Does that mean PDZ is great? No, it just means PD isn't as great as some imply.

I replayed PD on its HD rerelease on XBLA, and sorry, even with its obviously dated design it is a far superior single player game to PD0
right up until you go off to Skedar and chuck all the espionage action out of the window for a shitty poor mans version of Unreal, but that was weak sauce at the time too
.

PD0 is an outright shitty singleplayer FPS game; the fact that it needed glowing trails to show you where you were supposed to be going and what you were supposed to be doing because the objectives and level design were so bad that you couldn't intuit it any other way, the incredibly generic weapon design when - even though timewise it was a prequel and do justified in the storyline - it was ostensibly a sequel to a game with a host of hugely memorable weapons and gadgets, and the outright shitty plotline and setting (that managed to outdo the mostly shitty storyline but good setting of the orginal) all contributed to it's near universal and well deserved contempt for it as a game.

Seriously, I had more fun playing GRAW and that was a shitty shooter too.

Launch title-ness only gets you so far.
 

JaxJag

Banned
With Microsoft closing so many of it's own game development studios, it makes me wonder what they are planning for the next Xbox. I can only assume they will launch the system with just multiplatform titles, and hope people buy the system because of XBL?

Because if that's the case, it doesnt' seem like a very sound plan.
 

[Nintex]

Member
JaxJag said:
With Microsoft closing so many of it's own game development studios, it makes me wonder what they are planning for the next Xbox. I can only assume they will launch the system with just multiplatform titles, and hope people buy the system because of XBL?

Because if that's the case, it doesnt' seem like a very sound plan.
It seems that with a future director of hardcore gaming(that they're currently looking for) MS is going to develop more games in-house. I'm not sure where that would be but they've been hiring a lot of game designers for their Redmond office and I doubt that they're all working on Halo stuff.
 

Linkified

Member
JaxJag said:
With Microsoft closing so many of it's own game development studios, it makes me wonder what they are planning for the next Xbox. I can only assume they will launch the system with just multiplatform titles, and hope people buy the system because of XBL?

Because if that's the case, it doesnt' seem like a very sound plan.

And they created 3 343industries, GoodScienceGames a third as a support studio plus bought BigPark(something like that).
 
mysteriousmage09 said:
2 big names in one generation isn't enough to be concerned? With this and Bungie wanting away from them, it's pretty clear that MS's management over their devs is utter shit. Making Ensemble (a dev that's famous only for rts games) work on a damn Halo MMO? Force RARE to work on sports games instead of more Banjo or the highly wanted Killer Instinct revival?

If I remember correctly, Ensemble approached Microsoft with the concept of the Halo MMO and Microsoft turned it down. And I'm pretty sure that I read some interviews in which ex-Ensemble guys claimed it was their inability to adapt that brought them down.

There's no doubt that some developers couldn't work with Microsoft, but Bungie never seemed to have a huge problem. They wanted to move away from Halo and become independent again, kind of like David Jaffe wanted to move away from God of War and become independent again, or like Insomniac wanted to go multiplatform and work with other publishers. It's just how this generation panned out, a lot of once exclusive franchises and developers decided to spread out.

And while we're talking about the good ole evil M, why don't we also mention all those studios they helped get up on their feet? Companies such as Mistwalker, Ruffian, Robot and others that Microsoft has successfully cooperated with. Hell, would Remedy even manage to remain afloat if it wasn't for Microsoft's support? And what about all those positions they opened within new studios under the MGS umbrella, including places for some of ex-ACES guys and so on?

It's not so black and white.


You don't see Sony making GG work on a Sims like title.

No, they just make their once major PS1 and PS2 studios work on PSP and PSN games.
 

Balb

Member
The worst part is that MS is sitting on a lot of great Rare IPs that'll probably never be used (properly) again.
 
Hoping there will be a Rare fire sale where their IP get sold off for cheap.

It would be so awesome for Nintendo to buy back some of the IP at a pittance compared to what they sold it for.

Obviously I'm curious to see what Retro could do with a new IP, but I'd imagine Retro could make a pretty good Banjo game.
 

Vinci

Danish
timetokill said:
Hoping there will be a Rare fire sale where their IP get sold off for cheap.

It would be so awesome for Nintendo to buy back some of the IP at a pittance compared to what they sold it for.

Obviously I'm curious to see what Retro could do with a new IP, but I'd imagine Retro could make a pretty good Banjo game.

Retro seems capable of doing pretty much anything. Why Banjo when you can get a new Battletoads?
 
Nintendo buying Banjo would be a godsend.

Problem is, MS owns him, not Rare, so Nintendo would have to pay top dollar for the IP.

Rare themselves DO won the DKR gang, Taj, Timber, Wizpig, etc. Those could end up back with the DK Crew if were lucky, it still pisses me to this day that they're not DK characters...
 

WrikaWrek

Banned
Hero of Legend said:
Nintendo buying Banjo would be a godsend.

Problem is, MS owns him, not Rare, so Nintendo would have to pay top dollar for the IP.

Rare themselves DO won the DKR gang, Taj, Timber, Wizpig, etc. Those could end up back with the DK Crew if were lucky, it still pisses me to this day that they're not DK characters...

MS isn't gonna sell the IPs man, get real.
 

[Nintex]

Member
timetokill said:
Hoping there will be a Rare fire sale where their IP get sold off for cheap.

It would be so awesome for Nintendo to buy back some of the IP at a pittance compared to what they sold it for.

Obviously I'm curious to see what Retro could do with a new IP, but I'd imagine Retro could make a pretty good Banjo game.
Nah it'll likely go down something like this:
A) No creative/lead staff, nothing exciting coming up, too expensive to keep Rare floating when all the staff consists of interns and contracters
B) Main HQ in Twycross shut down, fire sale on Ebay, server upgrade Unseen64 suddenly makes sense
C) If anyone is left they'll lose their job or are transfered to Lionhead
D) New studio in Birmingham renamed and continues to operate for Avatar/Kinect-testing purposes
 
WrikaWrek said:
MS isn't gonna sell the IPs man, get real.

I agree, but if today's Rare couldn't make excellent games in those franchises (not saying that's the case, by the way), why not let someone else work on them? Give Banjo to Twisted Pixel, Perfect Dark to Monolith, Jet Force Gemini to Treasure...
 

Nemo

Will Eat Your Children
Stumpokapow said:
the worst part about that cartoon is the text labels

i'm sorry but if you can't figure out that the boot is kinect and the candy represents the creative values rare was known for, you're an idiot and i don't care if you understand the cartoon or not.

it's the same problem with 99% of all political cartoons. you don't need to hold my hand through the joke. i get it. it's not funny anymore since you've explained every little detail to me. let me figure it out myself.
Pretty sure these labels are pretty much all needed to get the point(s) across to the masses. Whether you were the one to immediately get that the boot means both Kinect and inept management that only cares about cash (because it's more than just one thing) doesn't mean the rest would.

Saying that Kinect is obviously the boot or else you're an idiot is really ignorant.
 
While I have certainly been disheartened by Rare's lack of productivity and sometimes creativity over the past two generations, the worst move was Rare being the developer of Kinect sports. Anyone could have developed that game. What I want from Rare is Banjo-Threei. The real Banjo-Threeie. A new Conker. Grabbed by the Ghoulies 2. YES! GRABBED BY THE GHOULIES 2 I SAID IT! And it might actually make sense on Kinect. Rare is just too talented a studio to have been pissing everything away. And I don't completely blame Microsoft. It started during the GameCube era. I think Rare themselves are as much to blame.
 

apana

Member
Microsoft wont give the Banjo IP to Nintendo because they would just be helping the competition out. They know that Nintendo could make Banjo into a hit again. They should however work with a third party to produce a new Banjo game for 360 or future platforms.
 

[Nintex]

Member
ToyMachine228 said:
While I have certainly been disheartened by Rare's lack of productivity and sometimes creativity over the past two generations, the worst move was Rare being the developer of Kinect sports. Anyone could have developed that game. What I want from Rare is Banjo-Threei. The real Banjo-Threeie. A new Conker. Grabbed by the Ghoulies 2. YES! GRABBED BY THE GHOULIES 2 I SAID IT! And it might actually make sense on Kinect. Rare is just too talented a studio to have been pissing everything away. And I don't completely blame Microsoft. It started during the GameCube era. I think Rare themselves are as much to blame.
Rare is certainly to blame as well but all the above you're asking for was at some point 'pitched' and shot down by Microsoft or management. Some of those were in development for years, others for a month. Take Banjo Threeie for example, they wanted to start out with a Banjo remake, much like Conker's Live & Reloaded but Conker bombed so the plan to develop an altered version of Banjo Kazooie was shelved.
 

ymmv

Banned
Shiggy said:
Last month, this post appeared on 4Chan.

rareep92.jpg


Initially, I did not intend to create a topic based on this post. After all, it was 4Chan, therefore nobody believed it, not even I.

But then some things have happened earlier this month. Animators and artists who had been there for five years or more started to depart, including art director Steven Crow, concept artist Ryan Firchau (the guy who made the famous butcher ;D) and apparently even Chris Seavor who hadn't directed anything since the Kinect change (his last known project was PD Core in early 2008).

Seavor's most recent tweets:

So ends my first day in my new job. Went quite well.... designed some stuff.had a beer...designed some more....went for walkies.... Meh !! 10:42 AM Feb 14th via web

Righty, off to play Kinect..Like fuck! Ironically, i picked up Beyond Good and Evil for a quid and it's fucking ace in spite of the buttons. 1:45 PM Nov 13th, 2010 via web
 

ElRenoRaven

Member
And his bio on twitter is very telling too.

Anyone fancy letting me design a game for them ? Rare don't seem that bothered......... I got pads and pads of stuff. Golfzilla ?? House of the Dads Army ? gems
 
Stumpokapow said:
but the viva pinata pinatas are used as the symbol of creativity, so it's clearly not some n64-throwback "rare sux when ms bought them" screed, it's pretty clearly implying some new management or direction. whether that's kinect or avatars or just casualization in general, i think the meaning is conveyed better without the labels.

He should've left the boot black and textless but put three little unevenly spaced circles on it.

Massa said:
Well, as far as I can tell the whole "M$" was created around the time they were known for shady and downright illegal anti-competitive measures.

"M$" was already an old and tired cliche in 1993 when I saw it on the internet for the first time, long before anything like that was happening.
 

element

Member
Linkified said:
Ok. Was he even around when FASA closed the doors, because didn't he set up Smith and Tinker in 2007?
Jordan left MS in 2002. He then started WizKids and 42 Entertainment. He started Smith & Tinker in 2007.
 

Linkified

Member
element said:
Jordan left MS in 2002. He then started WizKids and 42 Entertainment. He started Smith & Tinker in 2007.

So he really didn't have a clue about the current management and was making sweeping assumptions? :|
 

KAL2006

Banned
RARE are overrated

The only RARE games I have enjoyed were Killer Instinct, DKC games, Battletoads and Goldeneye.

They haven't made a game I liked in years
 
REMEMBER CITADEL said:
...Perfect Dark to Monolith...
speaking of, and OT i know, but what ARE monolith up to these days? does anyone have any ideas? they're hiring, also looking for play testers.

have any rumours leaked out what they might be up to?
 
Top Bottom