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[V_Ben]

What if this actually a sneak peek at the Xbox rebranding? It will exist in the rebranded Natal universe anyway so it must be aligned.

Indeed it is. Check out the new trailer for earthworm jim xbla. it has a new XBLA logo. complete with "arcade" written in this font.

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

Can you add me in...again? :lol I think you added me to "The Room" in a different thread, but if that's the "official updated version", I'd like to be in it

You're already in it, upper right corner.

add me into that room, if anyone can. i 'care' about rare probably more than any other developer.

If someone can be bothered throw me in there too, I actually rather enjoyed Kameo, Banjo Nuts & Bolts and Viva Pinata.

Eh, tomorrow, gotta go to bed. Or maybe someone else will do it.

 

[To Far Away Times]

While we are talking about logos, something just popped into my head.

For as much hate as Sega gets, I'm glad they've kept their logo all this time. It's nice to look at and pretty iconic. And I don't think it'll ever really age. Good design.

Sorry for the random thoughts.

I really like the Sega logo. Although it looks a bit too much like this:

 

[DSN2K]

thought I'd have a go! :lol

 

[goldenpp72]

I say we should wait until we see the actual logo final and in use before bitching too much.

 

[flyinpiranha]

i hate the fact that logos can just be normal fonts/letters now. no one actually designed that shit.

You're right. Those fonts just appeared magically in the wild.

It's a rebrand. Who really cares? Does it honestly mean that much to some of you guys?

Some of you are fucking insane if a logo is this troubling.

"fuck rare man, they're dead to me"
(Viva Pinata was good)
"wasn't Conker, fuck rare man"
(N&B was good)
"wasn't exactly what I wanted, fuck them"

These are the same people that post in every official thread of games "Hey, I absolutely HATE ____GENRE___ type of games and this is just another one, will I like it?" and then a day later ... "this game sucks"

I hate the internet.

 

[goomba]

What would Mr Pants say?

 

[thetrin]

I must be the only one that actually likes the new Rare logos. I like the different colored shapes that I assume they'll use for different series or divisions within the company.

 

[RurouniZel]

thought I'd have a go! :lol

:lol :lol

 

[brotkasten]

Indeed it is. Check out the new trailer for earthworm jim xbla. it has a new XBLA logo. complete with "arcade" written in this font.

It's not the same font. Not even close.

 

[V_Ben]

It's not the same font. Not even close.

my mistake then. But it is the same "style" if you get what I mean. all smooth and clean.

 

[Bizzyb]

Hate it. Worse than Konami rebrand.

Never Forget

 

[Coeliacus]

Reminds me of the GAME chain of game stores, which had pretty crappy visual design in the first place.

At this stage something like this is shoving a stake through a mummified corpse.

 

[Hero of Legend]

I really like the Sega logo. Although it looks a bit too much like this:

How the fuck did I not notice this before?!

 

[SilverLunar]

Never Forget

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6E2gz-qpwU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5DCrVmLvfo

 

[Concept17]

Someone put Wii in front of it to see how it matches up.

 

[DCharlie]

looks fine + who the f*ck cares?

 

[dejay]

I quite like it, but then again I quite liked Nuts and Bolts and Viva Pinata.

Never forget - hot steel roll! Man-baby memories are fucked!!

 

[BocoDragon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5DCrVmLvfo

I really wish they had kept this Policenauts tune for the rest of the MGS games... It should have gone on to become the KojiPro tune.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I'm not a fan of muted colors.

 

[Gomu Gomu]

25 Years of Rare, by John Davison
Good read. It's mind blowing how many awesome games they released for the N64. Also, new logo looks ugly.

 

[Mayyhem]

I like the orange and green ones

 

[whitehawk]

Never forget.

Took me so long to realize that was an R. Just looks lime some cool design to me.

 

[TheFLYINGManga_Ka]

Hmm...looks less threatening.

 

[Monty Mole]

my mistake then. But it is the same "style" if you get what I mean. all smooth and clean.

The only similarity is that it's grey and in bold.

 

[cornontheCoD]

You're right. Those fonts just appeared magically in the wild.

It's a rebrand. Who really cares? Does it honestly mean that much to some of you guys?

Some of you are fucking insane if a logo is this troubling.

I think you're the one who is getting too worked up. The discussion is about the logo, and how it is very boring. The fact that somebody got paid a bunch of money to type RARE in a photoshop document is troubling, yes. But no one is saying that the logo change means that Rare is dead to them. The people that liked N&B are probably excited to see what they do next, and the people that don't like rare now probably didn't like them since perfect dark zero.

 

[Double H]

The fact that somebody got paid a bunch of money to type RARE in a photoshop document is troubling

Would you be as dismissive if someone was asked to design a unique typeface for the logo? Not only did someone have to choose the typeface but they had to pick one that various people had to sign off on. If this thread is anything to go by it'd be an absolute nightmare, too many ridiculous knee jerk reactions, though I should remind myself that this is NeoGAF.

The ironic part about the rebrand is that in trying to look modern and contemporary Rare has used ITC Avant Garde, a very well known typeface from the 70s. It's a go to font that sees too much overuse. One thing I can commend them on is that they've steered well clear from redundant design clichés like gradients, bevels, highlights, drop shadows, reflections etc. Everything that says generic to me.

The only redeeming part of the logo is that they kept the distinctive R mark. It's too bad about the execution, it feels like and after thought.

My take? A forgettable refresh that will see them fall further into irrelevance.

 

[jump_button]

look shit it it really show them for what they are now

 

[Salsa]

Stop changing your logo and make fucking KI3.

 

[Freezie KO]

I can just imagine some Microsoft exec looking over Rare's shoulder, asking, "Are you Nintendo yet?"

 

[Azure Phoenix]

Whom are still using the Atari logo from the 80s.

No they aren't, the A in the middle of ATARI has been substituted for the Atari logo instead. Can't remember who said it or where I saw it, but in some retro gaming magazine years ago they had an interview with a top guy from Atari in the 80s, who said that doing that to the logo would have never been allowed and the logo and name should always be kept seperate.

Old:

New:

 

[jetsetfluken]

25 Years of Rare, by John Davison
Good read. It's mind blowing how many awesome games they released for the N64. Also, new logo looks ugly.

Decent read, but they're using screenshots from the GBA down-port versions of DKC1, 2 and 3 to stand for the SNES versions. :lol
Either that or shot through a really bad emulator/resolution, etc.

Also no mention of Snake Rattle n' Roll.

 

[Kujo]

Atari'd

 

[Shiggy]

Atari'd

That looks good!

25 Years of Rare, by John Davison

Are all Gamepro articles that bad?

 

[Vinterbird]

Are all Gamepro articles that bad?

The magazine ones are good, and John's column is very solid. This was not up to par with wht they usually put out.

 

[Azure Phoenix]

Atari'd

I'm willing to bet that the logo designer presented Rare with a large number of logo designs, including one like that, but Rare chose the horrible one in the OP.

A shame, since that one sucessfully merges old and new Rare.

 

[m.i.s.]

See the thing is with Rare is that the quality of their output this generation has actually been pretty damn good.

Their N64 ports (although 4J did most of the job) were fantastic, Kameo was an excellent launch title that could have been so much more if given more time, Viva Pinata and its sequal are simply inspired and really show off Rare's old magic, and Nuts&Bolts, whilst not up to the standard of past games, was still a refreshing and fun adventure that tried something different (though I still wanted a traditional Banjo). The only real disappointment was Perfect Dark Zero, which still had its moments in single-player and a great online system, but completely missed the mark in presentation and mission cohesion.

My worry with Rare is that the company has obviously been forced to focus on casual games. Whilst I think the company will do a good job with this, there's still great talent there and they shouldn't be restricted to these types of games. Add in the fact that three of their best composers - Kirkhope, Wise and Burke - have all moved on, and sadly the Rare we knew is fading away. I can only hope that we see something from them at E3 that isn't casual - I'm definitely not expecting Banjo, and I think Kameo 2 is as good as gone, but hopefully Joanna Dark gets to put the boots on again. They've got time on their hands to actual polish the game this time around, and they've still got Beanland and Clynick, both of whom are very talented composers, so there's still hope for a great entry in that franchise. The sales of PD XBLA show that people still like the franchise.

Sadly, MS execs are like Sony circa-1983 when the latter bought out Psygnosis.

Instead of competing head-on with Nintendo for the lucrative family / "Disney" demographic and widening the 360's market and appeal, we have the ill targeted Nuts & Bolts. MS negotiators also signed away all rights to what could have been Banjo Racing - an ip that could've competed head-on with Mario Kart.

 

[[Nintex]]

Sadly, MS execs are like Sony circa-1983 when the latter bought out Psygnosis.

Instead of competing head-on with Nintendo for the lucrative family / "Disney" demographic and widening the 360's market and appeal, we have the ill targeted Nuts & Bolts. MS negotiators also signed away all rights to what could have been Banjo Racing - an ip that could've competed head-on with Mario Kart.

Banjo Racing was in development at some point or is this just speculation?

 

[CrunchinJelly]

Banjo Racing was in development at some point or is this just speculation?

Probably thinking of Sabreman Stampede...

 

[[Nintex]]

Probably thinking of Sabreman Stampede...

Well 'The Fast and Furriest' seems to have been in development at some point.

 

[m.i.s.]

Banjo Racing was in development at some point or is this just speculation?

If Banjo Racing was / is in development its something that will have been started and designed completely from scratch.

I was contending that Diddy Kong Racing was Rare's own work and that MS should have negotiated to retain that IP as Rare property minus the kong characters (as far as I'm aware this is the only IP that belonged to Nintendo).

The release of Diddy Kong Racing DS confirms that the entire game including the stages, the overworld and characters were negotiated to Nintendo.

It's not as if Nintendo actually needed the IP either as the lukewarm DKR DS reviews and silly minigames attest. Mario Kart DS is the superior title for Nintendo anyway.

 

[Shiggy]

Banjo Racing was in development at some point or is this just speculation?

Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts was made out of the 2002-2004 concepts of Banjo-Kazoomie, if I remember correctly.

 

[flamesofchaos]

No they aren't, the A in the middle of ATARI has been substituted for the Atari logo instead. Can't remember who said it or where I saw it, but in some retro gaming magazine years ago they had an interview with a top guy from Atari in the 80s, who said that doing that to the logo would have never been allowed and the logo and name should always be kept seperate.

Old:

New:

Actually Atari changed their logo back to the classic version recently.

 

[Nicktendo86]

Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts was made out of the 2002-2004 concepts of Banjo-Kazoomie, if I remember correctly.

Umm makes sense. I really hope we see the actual vehicle construction mechanincs back, I thought Nuts & Bolts was a great idea and with some tweaks could be amazing.

 

[Michan]

Banjo Racing was in development at some point or is this just speculation?

Which became...

2005

Though this evolved from Diddy Kong Pilot; there was also another racing game in development that started out as Donkey Kong Racing and eventually became Sabreman Stampede, which, in the end, was canned anyway.

 

[LegendofJoe]

I don't see any scenario under which Rare could have kept the rights to DKR. Nintendo would never give up the publishing rights to anything developed under the DK brand.

 

[Shiggy]

Which became...

2005

Though this evolved from Diddy Kong Pilot; there was also another racing game in development that started out as Donkey Kong Racing and eventually became Sabreman Stampede, which, in the end, was canned anyway.

Funnily, they also used the Banjo-Kazoomie title for the console game...never noticed before :lol

So here are 2004 concepts:

 

[watkinzez]

^Weren't they concepts for Sabreman Stampede when the title in question was supposed to be a Rare character crossover?

 

[Shiggy]

^Weren't they concepts for Sabreman Stampede when the title in question was supposed to be a Rare character crossover?

It was no crossover as far as I know. There've been Banjo-Kazoomie (later Nuts&Bolts) concepts starting from 2002.
In Sabreman Stampede for Xbox (1) you were racing animals. Later on, it became an adventure title.

 

[Hero of Legend]

If Banjo Racing was / is in development its something that will have been started and designed completely from scratch.

I was contending that Diddy Kong Racing was Rare's own work and that MS should have negotiated to retain that IP as Rare property minus the kong characters (as far as I'm aware this is the only IP that belonged to Nintendo).

The release of Diddy Kong Racing DS confirms that the entire game including the stages, the overworld and characters were negotiated to Nintendo.

It's not as if Nintendo actually needed the IP either as the lukewarm DKR DS reviews and silly minigames attest. Mario Kart DS is the superior title for Nintendo anyway.

Sad as it might be, Nintendo only owns Krunch out of the original cast from the game, being a Kremling. Rare said so in their scribes years ago. Nintendo DOES own the music though. I'm uncertain of the overworld and courses. The reason it says "Certain characters licensed by Rare", is due to THEM borrowing the Kongs and Krunch IIRC.

Let's see...

Fake edit: Here:

http://www.rareware.com/extras/scribes/25jun07/index.html

Anyway, I have a question that isn't only puzzling me, but is puzzling "countless" others. In the beginning of DKR DS, the line "Certain characters licensed by Rare" can be read. Most Rare fans know that you own the rights to Tiptup, which is a given. However, who else from DKR DS do you guys own?

As far as I'm aware - after asking around - all the major DKR characters who aren't Kongs or Kremlings still belong to Rare. Which would make Diddy, Dixie, Tiny and Krunch the 'licensed' ones in this case. And that means we can still do the M-rated Bumper prequel story! Thank you Jesus!

I wish they at least kept Taj, I mean the guy was in the Donkey Kong Racing trailer, plus he's been in a few DKR renders alongside Diddy. He really seemed to be a legit DK character.

Would've made a neat character to have in the sport and Kart series anyway.