REMEMBER CITADEL said:
This "majority" has been like this since the switch to Kinect and Avatars, the real majority is out there enjoying Kinect Sports.
Bullshit, this "majority" you speak of wouldn't give a fuck who Rare is, or was, or ever has been.
Rare fans have been losing faith since September 2002. It's been a slow, drawn out process.
Sure, it's understandable, but I can't relate to that personally. I've only started paying more attention to consoles near the end of the last generation. Rare was already a part of MGS then and I've missed their golden age altogether. The titles you mention mean nothing to me, I can only look at their current output and decide whether I like what I see or not. So far I'm good.
Still, with so many important people leaving, there's a definite danger ahead. But I'm not the one to write something or someone off prematurely.
I've been a Rare fan for nearly 20 years. I've played 90 percent of their games, written for countless Rare fansites, interviewed many of their employees, was responsible for writing the 'Tour Of Rare HQ' many years ago, and have over my time acquired a deep knowledge and even deeper appreciation of Rare.
Rare, as we knew it in the Nintendo era, is truly deceased now. It is a new era, and I cannot fault true Rare fans for being disappointed in the direction of the company. We loved Rare for their culture and their quirky, deep and content-rich offerings, and both aspects are gone. The majority of the talent that defined Rare has slowly left. Their boundary-pushing, tongue-in-cheek style has been neutered, and replaced by a sterile, inoffensive schtick.
Perhaps a major part of the problem is that "new" Rare offers the core fans
nothing to grab hold off. Games like Kinect Sports are entirely devoid of personality. They are soulless, derivative and uninspiring, adjectives that never, in a million years, would have ever been leveled at the company in years gone by.
Make no mistake, Rare was a truly unique, mysterious and fascinating company in the late 90's and early 2000's. Besides maybe Nintendo, no other company in the entire industry garnered as much interest and invited such curiosity in the way Rare did. They were one of the first (and only) companies to recognise the benefits of an engaging webpage. Writer and Rare's 'media guy' Leigh Loveday created a website full of entertaining content and humour. He gave us Scribes, and Uncle Task, and who can forget Mr Pants. The website encouraged its readers to write in, then cheekily mocked them. It offered tantalising insight into the company, and gave Rare employees a voice to speak up and respond to the fans. Many of the websites in-jokes and fan-designed cultural aspects made it into Rare's games. All in all, Rare gave back to the fans, and rewarded them for their dedication.
I've never seen Shed_a_ninja unfairly criticise or be overtly critical of the company. If anything, he represents the forgotten, rabid culture of Rare fanatics which peaked around 2000. The Banjoman's, the Rarenet Dan's, the Jeton's, the Wozza's and the Happybob's, etc. The Rare saga in the last decade has been a depressing, frustrating and ultimately sad journey for these true fans. These people invested countless hours of their wide-eyed childhood's to Rare's games, so seeing the falter, and to see the beloved culture stripped away is honestly painful. It's upsetting. It leaves you wondering how on earth it was royally fucked up.
For someone who has admitted to being entirely ignorant of the culture that Rare spawned, I find it incredibly ironic you have the gall to call out someone as a troll. I don't find Shed's attitude to be trolling, and I can't disagree with the morbid atmosphere in this thread. The whole saga is depressing, and as silly as it sounds, we're grieving.