Well, this is a shocker. In the newest issue of XBM (Xbox Magazine) it confirms the release of Rare's finest FPS Perfect Dark for the Xbox. I haven't read it myself, but here is a scan of the front of the magazine. Has anybody read the magazine yet?

http://www.jaggedteam.com/bin/shownews.cgi?id=1259

Looks shady to me.

I've seen the pic of the magazine cover. It's for real.

No clue on what the article actually says. Proably just speculation.

It wouldn't surprise me at all. It seems Rare and Nintendo haven't been getting along well lately. Perhaps Nintendo gave them **** over being the slowest developer in the world and not having anything ready for the Gamecube yet.

Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of rare games (though I do think many are overrated), but they take entirely too long to develop games to make a difference in the console war. They'll likely chuck out around 5 games this generation, regardless of whether they stay with Nintendo or go multiplatform. Hardly enough to turn the tide one way or the other.

Hmm, I would think this would be all over the net confirmed already. Especially since magazines are usually outdated by the time they hit stores.

All I've heard lately is the Rare may go multiplatform. And titles not licensed by Nintendo (Perfect Dark, Killer Instinct) could hit other consoles. Nothing confirmed yet though.

Doesn't Nintendo still own a 25% share of Rare? Seems kinda weird that Nintendo would let them develop a game on a competing platform.

The founding members of Rare own %51 of Rare, that's controlling interest and they can do as they see fit.

I don't think that's the case at all. Sony owns 20% of Square, but Square is still a third party. Rare is second party to Nintendo, and, as I understand it, Nintendo pretty much owns Rare, and Rare is very much Nintendo-exclusive.

Considering that there's been no announcement whatsoever of a Perfect Dark game for any platform, I would have to suspect that XBM, a magazine from Britain, where accuracy is not a priority, has no credible information.

If Sonic and Tails aren't in SSB:M, than why should Rare go to X-box?? Could just be an Aprils Fools joke that's REALLY late, like Sonic and Tails being REALLY early.

Actually, it is the case. Here's a direct quote from the IGN Cube editor:

Peer Schneider, IGN Cube: "Well, Nintendo's development contract with Rare was never a permanent one. Despite rumors to the contrary, Nintendo does not own a majority stake in Rare and Rare is essentially free to develop games as they please."

It's also been reported on several financial websites that Nintendo does not own a majority stake in Rare.

What Nintendo had was an exclusivity contract with Rare that is about to expire. Once it does, Rare is free to do as they please.

looks fake to me be, but who knows at this point. Saying "Nintendo" on the cover of a magazine, without aknowledging the Trademark is something only an amature publisher would miss.

Nintendo owns a quarter of Rare, which is significant. What's more, Rare has been Nintendo exclusive since the NES.

Nintendo does not own a majority of Rare, but Nintendo is the single biggest shareholder. Nintendo has a bigger piece of Rare than Sony does of Square, plus, Nintendo has published all of Rare's games and owns several of Rare's most profitable franchises.

So if Sony has been able to keep Square off of Xbox, even though it makes sense that FFXI should be multiplatform, then I'm sure Nintendo can keep Rare exclusive. It could be that XBM magazine is lying.

Since the SNES, not NES. They developed a few Sega Master System, Genesis, and Game Gear games in the late '80s/early '90s.

Yes, Nintendo owns a share of Rare but they do not have controlling interest. The two brothers who founded Rare own 51% of the company which means that they make the decisions, not Nintendo. As I mentioned earlier, Nintendo had an exclusivity contract with Rare (which recently expired) which is why Rare games used to be exclusive to Nintendo. Also, Nintendo has not published all of Rare's games. In recent years, Rare has self-published. Check one of the more recent game boxes if you don't believe me. As for what properties Nintendo owns, they obviously own Donkey Kong and Starfox but Rare owns the rights to Banjo Kazooie, Perfect Dark, Kameo and others. So, yes, Rare is capable of becoming a third party developer in the future. If you had been reading any of the online gaming websites you would know that it is a generally accepted fact that Rare is currently developing games for all three consoles. They just haven't made an official announcement yet. If you choose not to believe it, that's your perogative. Just don't be upset if someone says 'I told ya so!' when it does finally become 'official'.

Sony wasn't able to keep Square from developing for Nintendo, though, were they? It's been well documented that Sony wasn't too happy about that but it didn't stop Square from doing it.

I don't think that's generally accepted at all. I'd like to see where the founders of Rare maintain a controlling interest. I understand Nintendo bought them their swank new headquarters at Twycross.

What's more, Nintendo has published and promoted all of Rare's games, and Rare has made a lot of money that way. This wasn't an exclusivity contract; all of Rare's games were Nintendo published titles. I'm not sure whether Nintendo or Rare owns Perfect Dark and Banjo, but Donkey Kong has certainly been a money-maker for Rare.

Rumors are often baseless in the gaming press, but I can't imagine a company that's 25% owned by Nintendo, and which has enjoyed enormous success by producing Nintendo published titles will go third party.

As for Square, they seem to have backed off of their original announcement, and they're actual output looks to be a lot less than full Nintendo support. They apparently have interest in releasing some of their SNES games on GBA, and we'll see what they put out for Nintendo. They're pretty well in Sony's pocket, since Sony kept them out of bankruptcy when their $150 million movie made $30 million at the box office.

The real question is are they developing a new version of Solar Jetman???

Like I said before, if you don't believe it, that's your choice. Obviously, there's nothing anyone can say that will convince you until the games actually hit the store shelves. As for Nintendo publishing all of Rare's games. As I mentioned earlier, that is completely false. Rare has been self-publishing their games for the last few years. Just check the game boxes and you'll see for yourself.

The only game Rare has self-published in North America is Conker, which Nintendo understandably didn't want to have to explain.

Perfect Dark was published by Rare in Japan and Europe, but by Nintendo in the US. Nintendo is apparently heavily involved in the development of the sequel.

It does not follow that Rare is going third-party because there has been friction between Rare and Nintendo. Apparently, the only credibility to the rumors about Rare going multiplatform is a Christmas card they put on their website last year, which had pictures of an XBox and a PS2 under a Christmas tree.

Also, I've seen nothing to corroborate the assertation that the founders of Rare (or of Square) maintain a 51% interest in the company.

The idea of Rare going multiplatform and taking licenses like Perfect Dark with it is highly unlikely, though some important Rare talent, possibly including the Stampers, are rumored be on the verge of leaving Rare. This scenario sounds a lot more credible to me, but whatever.

When numerous game journalists that work for respectable online and print publications say that they have talked to several of their own personal contacts within Rare and have been told that development is already under way on both PS2 and Xbox games, I tend to believe them. They have no reason to lie because there is no benefit to them. Even Shane Satterfield (of Gamespot) who was initially insistent that Rare would not go third-party has now stated that the rumors are true. If that's not enough evidence for you then I don't know what else to tell you.

well, post the links, then, cause I sure haven't seen any of this.

Saying "Nintendo" on the cover of a magazine, without aknowledging the Trademark is something only an amature publisher would miss.

Have you read XBM? Amateur is the perfect way to describe that hack rag. I'm just glad I have the option to get it for free at work instead of paying for it, as it is not worth the money (the last two issue were so bad, they weren't even worth the time it took me to read them). For Xbox only info, I prefer XBN (Xbox Nation), or surfing the net.

Here's a link to the IGN editors discussing Rare going third party:

insider.ign.com/articles/358/358730p1.html

Here's an excerpt from the Gamecube editor:

Fran Mirabella, IGN Cube: "As Chris noted, this whole rumor all started once upon a time when Rare began to tease European press with a suggestive Christmas card. Gifts wrapped under the evergreen shaped like the various consoles.

But, that little stunt faded away. Most had all but forgotten when new rumors of Rare's future began to pop up. Yes, it seemed something was definitely going on behind the scenes and even Nintendo couldn't give us a straight answer.

The simple fact is that Rare is definitely moving into a third-party position. Perhaps driven by Nintendo's constant squeeze on Rare's creativity, or maybe just something that Rare thinks makes more business sense -- maybe both.

Personally, I think it's going to be a very good thing for Rare. The company is filled to the brim with talent and with enough freedom we could see some pretty cool stuff. Of course, it is also notorious for constant delays. I guess we'll find out if that was a part of Nintendo production or just Rare's perfectionist style.

For Nintendo, I think it's obviously a bad thing. It means that Rare is not devoting all of its resources to GameCube or GBA. I think GameCube will inevitably get the bulk of Rare software still, after all publishers that Rare developers for would be stupid not to have the company create software for the platform it knows so well.

So, it's going to be an interesting change. Quite honestly, I can't wait to see what Rare does with Xbox. The hardware is so powerful and Rare is incredible at tapping into resources like no one else. Same for PS2, really, though they may be behind the times a bit.

Of course, I can't help but blame this all on Ken Lobb."



Here's a link to Shane Satterfield of Gamespot (formerly convinced that it was a rumor) now admitting that inside sources say it is true:

gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/letters/letters.020502.html

Here's an excerpt from Gamespot:

"Dear guy who does The Spot,

Other sites keep reporting that Rare is leaving second-party status [at Nintendo] to make games for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Is this true? If it is, it would be a huge blow to Nintendo and one that might really hurt them in the long run."

-Ian

Here's Shane's answer:

"I answered this question a while back, and at the time I had every reason to believe that the rumors were just speculation. After all, Nintendo owns a significant portion of Rare, it built the company's brand-new headquarters, and it has arguably been a big part of making Rare what it is today. After asking around, I had found no evidence that would lead me to believe the rumors were true and they just didn't make much sense.

Well, since then, I've talked to extremely reliable sources who have told me that the rumors are more than just a hoax propagated on message boards. Apparently, Rare has been shopping its games around to other publishers. I suppose that we'll find out for sure at E3, but I think it might be a done deal. Making it all the more likely is a pamphlet produced by Nintendo that outlines its upcoming GameCube games. Interestingly enough, two of Rare's previously announced GameCube games (Donkey Kong Racing and Kameo: Elements of Power) were not included in the pamphlet. While we do not report on rumors here at GameSpot, I just thought I'd let our readers know about what I found out so they can make up their own minds."


As for the print publications, you'll have to dig those up yourself.

Well, the IGN editor appears to have just been spouting off his opinion. If there was any real evidence, or even a reliable anonymous source, then they would have written a big news article about this right now. The same, of course, with Gamespot.

Apparently, the Gamespot writer's reliable sources did not come from Rare; he said they've been shopping their games around to other publishers, which means his sources were probably at the publishers, rather than at Rare.

There are other explanations for most of the evidence, and assuming that Rare is going third party when Nintendo owns a quarter of it is a heck of a leap.

I think it's possible that the Stampers will jump ship and if they start a new company, they'll take a big chunk of Rare with them. In fact, if Gamespot's source heard secondhand, the folks from Rare may have been shopping THEMSELVES around, not the games.

The disappearance of Kameo and DKR from E3 and Nintendo's publications may very well be Nintendo's response to whatever their feud is, but assuming Rare could or will go third party is still not in evidence.

But I don't believe Rare can freely publish for other consoles with Nintendo still owning a quarter of the company. Further, all Rare's games currently in development, including Perfect Dark Zero include significant investments of money and talent from Nintendo. There are people at NCL working full time on Kameo, and Perfect Dark is being overseen by Miyamoto.

Ok, you've got me convinced that there is no convincing you of anything. Believe what you want. You wanted links and I gave them. Apparently, that's not enough.