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RARE Rebranded for 25th Anniversary
- Thread starter Katana_Strikes
- Start date
SimpleDesign
Member
It's really there too, shit. Did they fire everyone who used to work there and hire all new people?BrokenSymmetry said:This image on Rare's new website says it all:
Wow, wtf ?!The Awkward Wizard said:
Go to hell Mattrick.The Awkward Wizard said:
Edit :
What the hell ?BrokenSymmetry said:This image on Rare's new website says it all:
I just visited the new site, did they remove the downloadable music and other cool stuff ?
Rare is more than dead... I have no words.
SimpleDesign
Member
He's pissing down all of our backs and telling us it's raining.Zezboob said:
ZombieSupaStar
Member
BrokenSymmetry said:
yeah Rare, you certainly have...
SimpleDesign
Member
ZombieSupaStar said:
Shotgun Kiss
Member
dyergram said:
Logically speaking, they wouldn't let a year and a half pass without announcing anything to keep fans interested. I'd love it if I'm one day proven wrong, but I fail to see any logical reason why we should give them the benefit of the doubt when they've given us nothing to go on. I'm not going to hold out hope indefinitely, and this site/logo redesign and E3 are where I draw the line.
...And now, the Kübler-Ross grief cycle is finally complete.
Shock stage: "Microsoft just bought Rare!? Holy shit!"
Denial stage: "Maybe they'll be just as good working under Microsoft...?"
Anger stage: "Where are the fucking games!?"
Bargaining stage: "At least we have DKC games on Virtual Console, and the Banjo games and Perfect Dark on Live Arcade."
Depression stage: "OH GOD KINECT SPORTS WHY."
Acceptance stage: "Rare are dead to me."
Wu-Gambino
Banned
Bleepey said:
I know, but they don't see it. look at the return of platformers too, we should be getting a new Banjo.
timetokill
Banned
It would be funny to see Nintendo make Microsoft an offer of say, $50 million for Rare (a fraction of what Microsoft paid Nintendo for it), and since Microsoft has devalued the company so much they decide to go ahead and do it.
Then Nintendo immediately puts them on Banjo Threeie :lol
Then Nintendo immediately puts them on Banjo Threeie :lol
Shotgun Kiss
Member
I'm not sure they're even worth $50 million anymore. Certainly not to Nintendo, anyway. Nintendo's E3 clearly showed that they're working on a ton of hardcore games themselves, and that third-parties are also lining up to create hardcore games for them. Even if Rare were still putting out quality games as frequently as they did in the N64 days, their absence still wouldn't make too much of a difference.
One thing I'm pretty certain of though; I'm willing to bet nobody regrets the Rare buyout more than Microsoft. Because not only have Rare sure as hell not justified that $375 million price tag, but I'm willing to bet that Microsoft helped in no small part to fund the development of the Wii and DS, and revise Nintendo's strategy/image/target audience.
Selling Rare was probably the best business decision Nintendo have ever made.
One thing I'm pretty certain of though; I'm willing to bet nobody regrets the Rare buyout more than Microsoft. Because not only have Rare sure as hell not justified that $375 million price tag, but I'm willing to bet that Microsoft helped in no small part to fund the development of the Wii and DS, and revise Nintendo's strategy/image/target audience.
Selling Rare was probably the best business decision Nintendo have ever made.
Tim the Wiz
Banned
timetokill said:
Rare is significantly different from the company they sold in terms of personnel, though. Radically different, even.
_Alkaline_
Member
The thing is that, despite earlier hiccups, Rare's output for Microsoft hasn't been that bad at all. Kameo was great, Viva Pinata and its sequal both excellent, and Nuts&Bolts was a really fresh and engaging experience.
Any hope of that being maintained seems to be snuffed out by the day though.
Any hope of that being maintained seems to be snuffed out by the day though.
Ben2749 said:
Although I doubt that Nintendo was beggin for money it's pretty spot on.
I mean let's be real the best Rare did for MSFT was probably PD2, Kameo and the remakes for xbla (that are not even theirs), the rest was a blimp that did nothing for MSFT or the x360.
I mean let's be real and compare that with the making of IW for Activision for example.
Even with the way it turned out, I doubt MSFT think they've made a better investment than ATVI did at the time.
I mean if not for the work on the Avatars and the banjo team picking up the slack I have a suspicion they'd have ended like the flying simulator team :-/
Tim the Wiz
Banned
Ysiadmihi said:
I see what you mean and share some of your desire for that outcome, but are Perfect Dark, BK, Viva Pinata, Kameo, etc. franchises which are really worth $50-$100 million of cost from the outset?
Tim the Wiz said:
Perfect Dark and the other untarnished brand from the n64 and before certainly have value,
BK, Kameo & VP.....
I mean we did get a VP on DS and that did .....jack shit
we also got a BK on gba that did....jack shit again...
At this point they could take every franchise they have and treat it like a revival DKC style, otherwise I don't see anything exciting for them to buy at this price.
we all know Rare's franchises aren't worth shit anymore, Banjo and Kazooie are now part of Sonic's crew.
MS could've let Rare make a kart racing game with MS characters. It would've been glorious, but no said the man in Redmond it belongs to BigPark.
MS could've let Rare make a Nuts & Bolts sequel, but no said the man in Redmond make shitty Sports games instead.
MS could've let Rare make a kart racing game with MS characters. It would've been glorious, but no said the man in Redmond it belongs to BigPark.
MS could've let Rare make a Nuts & Bolts sequel, but no said the man in Redmond make shitty Sports games instead.
Black Rainbow
Member
Even? That would have been the best case scenario.Cruzader said:
m.i.s.
Banned
It's just such a sad turn of events really.
From what I understand (which is admittedly very limited), Howard Lincoln, former NoA Chairman, was Rare's "main man" and used to fight Rare's corner at NCL. His loss was a bitter blow to the Stamper Bros.
Does anyone know what the Stamper Bros are upto? Well, besides spending their bazillions?
From what I understand (which is admittedly very limited), Howard Lincoln, former NoA Chairman, was Rare's "main man" and used to fight Rare's corner at NCL. His loss was a bitter blow to the Stamper Bros.
Does anyone know what the Stamper Bros are upto? Well, besides spending their bazillions?
It's funny now looking back. Little did they know that they were picking the two worst companies to sell to imaginable. :lolwatkinzez said:
This E3 really highlighted how they should have stayed with Nintendo. Microsoft forces them to make casual shovelware crap to the extent that the company has a mass exodus while Nintendo puts a whole bunch of teams on 2D platformers.
Then again, Rare were definitely beginning their quality slide when they were let go. SFA was visually astonishing, but dull gameplay wise. Some of their teams still had some inspiration in them, but they simply couldn't put out AAA titles at the rate that they used to.
At the time I thought Nintendo were insane to be selling Rare. I just could not believe it. In retrospect, it's hard to tell who lost out more: Microsoft or Rare.
Shotgun Kiss
Member
NIGHT- said:
Not "is". Was. Past tense. Like I said before, I used to think Micrisoft held them back, but I don't think that's the case anymore. Hell, considering Microsoft paid $375 million for them, I think they've been INCREDIBLY lenient, considering they hardly put out anything of interest.
Somebody said earlier that apparently Rare cancelled 15 games in 10 years. That's a ridiculous number, and just proves that Rare have no discipline. I now think Microsoft put them to work on Kinect because they weren't pulling their weight, not the other way around.
As for Rare becoming a third-party, it would certainly have forced them to pull their finger out, as they wouldn't last long at the current rate they release games.
I sometimes wonder what things would have been like if Rare and Sega had partnered up.
Shotgun Kiss
Member
Meh. They can say they're working on secret projects all they like; I'm not the least bit interested until it's not only announced, but also released. They'ye always saying they're working on something, but it pretty much never comes to fruition, and even announced games can be cancelled.
Ben2749 said:
I don't have any problem with them doing Kinect stuff. It was expected and they are really the only team at MS that has a history of making games for the demographic. The problem is that they only showed a Wii sports clone that was completely devoid of any creativity.
captmcblack
Member
So where are the people who made Rare's best stuff - the FPSes, action games, platformers and such that were awesome from NES through N64 - now? If many of them are scattered to the winds, could someone like a Nintendo give them a place with them to make new games?
They can't be that interested in being just the XBL avatar and Wii clone depot, right?
They can't be that interested in being just the XBL avatar and Wii clone depot, right?
GitarooMan
Member
Yea, in hindsight, this seems like it would have been the correct way to gocurls said:
m.i.s.
Banned
Ben2749 said:
Whatever their output, that's incredibly disingenuous.
The only explanation I can find is that Rare games and their ethos was very Nintendo, games for all demographics (reading up on some of the interviews that the Stamper Bros gave, they just didn't like the dark, gritty games that were appearing to dominate the gaming scene).
The Rare kind of games (Banjo Kazooie, Diddy Kong etc) just didn't fit the "hardcore" nature of the console. And MS did very little to diversify the 360 catalogue and nurture the kind of audience such that those Rare games could succeed.
Shotgun Kiss
Member
Until the Microsoft conference this year, the last game from Rare that we knew about was Nuts & Bolts a year and a half earlier. In that gap, *nothing* was even announced.
I really don't see how saying they hardly put out any games of interest is at all objectionable when they hardly put out any games at all.
I don't dispute the quality of Rare's games (until Kinect Sports, that is). But they should be making more of them. Much, much more of them.
I really don't see how saying they hardly put out any games of interest is at all objectionable when they hardly put out any games at all.
I don't dispute the quality of Rare's games (until Kinect Sports, that is). But they should be making more of them. Much, much more of them.
REMEMBER CITADEL
Banned
Ben2749 said:
True, we're talking about a sizable company that used to release two or three high-profile games a year. Now it's been two years with only Avatars and a mini-game collection on the horizon. WHAT. THE. FUCK.
You're so misinformed.Ben2749 said:
Initially, Rare started porting their in-development software to the Xbox platform (Ghoulies started out as a GameCube game, for instance), and continued working on the Game Boy, since Microsoft did not see it as competition; just easy money. Games based on Nintendo franchises were being adapted to franchises that Microsoft/Rare owned.
However, Microsoft started to do what they became famous for amongst Rare's staff; shifting things up.
Basically, Microsoft would show up, look at projects, and say they weren't taking a direction the company was happy with. So they'd send them back to the drawing board. Rare would propose a project, Microsoft would OK it, and they'd start development. A year (or sometimes more) into development, Microsoft would come back and do the same thing.
Microsoft enjoyed giving Rare "freedom," and would let the company run itself until they showed up out of the blue and sent them all back to square one. Perhaps this was because of the distance between the two companies, or perhaps Microsoft was being a little short-sighted, but it certainly wasn't anything to do with Rare's incompetence. This resulted in a lot of frustration.
Microsoft bought Rare because it was the closest they could get to buying Nintendo. Originally, they wanted Rare to make "Nintendo" games. As Microsoft's audience became more and more defined, Microsoft's idea of what they wanted Rare to do kept changing.
I'm glad Microsoft finally knows what they want to do with the company, and that they're finally giving it direction. But it's too late; most big names have left the company, and the studio itself no longer has the atmosphere of freedom and creativity that existed merely years ago. There's still enthusiasm and talent, but it has to be confined to projects conducted by Microsoft. Rare can't do their own thing anymore. Microsoft really sucked everything out of the company.
StevePharma
Member
I man-cried a little inside when I saw this. So much good memories from the SNES/N64 days. This pretty much leave Banjo Threeie and a Blast Corps sequel/remake in limbo, so sad.
Although let us remember the Rare of old. People like David Doak, David Wise, Martin Hollis and of course the Stamper brothers. You guys made me happy. Thanks for all the great entertainment you provided me with in all these years.
Although let us remember the Rare of old. People like David Doak, David Wise, Martin Hollis and of course the Stamper brothers. You guys made me happy. Thanks for all the great entertainment you provided me with in all these years.
Shotgun Kiss
Member
Michan said:
If true, fair enough, but I don't really care much anymore whose fault it is. It doesn't change anything. Especially since so many Rare employees have left, they're barely even the same developer anymore.
On an unrelated note, I actually hope that Leigh Loveday, the guy who has run the Rare website for years, decides to move on at some point, and we see him working elsewhere. For years, he was pretty much the "face" of Rare; the Rareware website (pre-Microsoft buyout) was the only game developer's website I ever followed, and it wasn't even for the news; it was because he gave so much life to the site, and it was incredibly funny. After the Microsoft buyout and the following redesign, he seemed to have less freedom in what he could do/say, and with this new redesign, his presence isn't felt at all.
DangerStepp
Member
OMG! Now I can't unsee it! Brilliant!wrowa said:
Tim the Wiz
Banned
Michan said:
The thought of an alternate reality where MS was able to purchase Nintendo back then is all the more petrifying.
Shotgun Kiss
Member
StevieP said:
Plus, how many game developer webmasters can say that a mascot they created just to add a bit of charm to the site was given their own game? That alone speaks volumes about just how much of a presence Loveday and his brand of humour had.
I happen to have a copy of this, signed by Loveday himself. The man is a legend.