jeffdsmith

Stamper borthers or not, Rare programmers as awhole have the mentality of creating great games, not average. The employees there are willing to delay a product to make it awesome.

That's Rare most valuable asset in my opinion. It's something that will def. aid MS.

Josh H

Here's another rumor going around the net. More Rare employees are contemplating leaving as a result of the sale, and Nintendo is considering starting a new second party company for them.

That's probably a bunch of crap, made up by Nintendo fanboys, as I've seen it no where but a couple of message boards, but it is a slight possibility I guess, given the number of people that have left Rare in the past.

gcribbs

it would be funny in a way. a company without the assets(those game designers are the real assets).


it might change how people/companies value software companies

mr.snowmizer

It's interesting to see some write as if MS going after Rare and Vivendi are mutually exclusive.

I don't think the fact that MS will just add $500 million to their bank account this month instead of their usual $1 billion will hamper any other move.

lordzeppelin

So does this mean we will actually get the arcade perfect version of the original Killer Instinct on a home platform? I've been waiting for that since 1994...

Cyberock

None of this is fact yet. Still rumor guys. We posted an article source at http://www.game2extreme.com/news/art...?articleid=630

FonMan

Well, I think you are right about the fanboy wishing here. Why would the employees want to leave? You know they will be paid well by MSOFT and kept very happy. They exist to create GAMES, not to be Nintedo loyalists.....if they were, they'd work for Nintendo now!

I'm sure the atmosphere at RARE will be nothing but luxory and smiles. They will have all the space they need to create games on the platform that is the most technically advanced of the 3. They will probably be in HOG HEAVEN with this deal

AgtFox

Unfortunately people are treating it as fact. In fact, IGN Cube is staking their reputation on it. I would get a big laugh if everything turns out to not be true. IGN Cube will feel immense backlash.

mmconhea

Thsi just demonstrates how people don't even know the facts at all. This source at nintendo says 38%. Could IGN just be making it up?

Aghama

If Microsoft is buying them, and then gives them "all the space they need," Rare will never release a thing.

mmconhea

Nah, they'll probably force rare to rush their games to get more quantity, and Rare will end up contributing to the massive flow of crap that's been turning up on the system lately.

Outlaw

Rare? Release a game on time with no delays? I refuse to believe it!!

Gallant Pig

I bet they'll release one really mature game that comes out 2 weeks before the Xbox 2 is released.

darkside

Well I was shooting for a best case, but you are right it probably won't happen.

Get Me Coffee

With the loss of Rare....just think how much LONGER it will be for new games tobe be released. Mario and a month later Starfox. It was great having Nintendo and Rare push out trademark games. It would spread out HR more having two developers.

Yikes! Here it comes 1-2( 2 if lucky) first party games per year. Rare will be missed.

Get Me Coffee

Nintendo release a game on time? Nope. They just keep pushing games back 1 month, 2 month, 5 months, 1 year!

jeffdsmith

Wrong...

Are you aware of all the titles released already?

Yes Rare will be missed.

spainlinx0

Why do people say MS will rush them to release shovelware? I don't remember Halo being all that rushed. Wasn't it in development for like three years?

Shawn

I think(and this is pretty much what I heard from one place, so it's likely to be wrong) that the Halo engine was in development for 3 years, but the game itself took about 9 months. Anyone hear differently?

CreatureX

Halo was rushed, (having to repeat the same levels and rooms over and over and over, no bots), but it was understandable since Halo needed to be ready for the launch.

I don't think MS will force Rare to rush their games. The last thing MS needs is for their first Rare game to turn out crappy.

Get Me Coffee

I'm wrong!?!??!? In 2002 ONLY ONE!!! (so far) RELEASE!!!!!!!

Josh H

Official statement from Nintendo, as reported on www.planetgamecube.com:

"Although Nintendo doesn't comment on rumors or speculation by the media, we can tell you that Nintendo has made the decision not to request Rare to make any further exclusive games for the Nintendo GameCube. Although we're proud of our joint efforts with Rare over the years and have enjoyed our relationship with them, in fiscal year 2001, Rare accounted for only 9.5% of total Nintendo software revenue worldwide. In fiscal year 2002, that number declined to 1.5%. Therefore, in evaluating our investments in developers, as well as the financial benefits to Nintendo over the years, we've decided it's in Nintendo's best interests to focus on diversifying our portfolio of developers and projects.

Star Fox Adventures, which was jointly developed by Rare and Nintendo, will launch as scheduled on September 23rd and will remain exclusive to the Nintendo GameCube. Nintendo's other great franchise characters such as Donkey Kong also will remain exclusive to Nintendo.

We have no additional details to share on this issue at this time. Be sure to check out our official website (www.nintendo.com) for the latest information as it becomes available."

Trigger

How much did Nintendo make off of software for 2002 so far? What's 1.5% of that? Then that's about what Rare would be worth to buy. I still think Half a billion dollars is far too much and especially since it seems that everyone over at Rare is leaving the company anyway. I don't think there's a huge majority of people who care what developer makes a game - and I'd also think that most people don't even know who Rare is... unless they owned a Nintendo system. I never knew what games Rare published until reading these threads about them.

I think Microsoft should've plugged a bunch of dough into buying 3D-Realms... then they could pump money into the company so they could finish Duke Nukem Forever and Prey and Rise of the Triad 2 or some other badass game. Apogee/3Drealms made awesome games. It seems to me (and my perspective on the subject could be off) that Duke Nukem is a better known character than anything Rare has developed (I mean there's Donkey Kong, but that was Coleco).

I guess I'm just disappointed that they wasted all this money on a company that doesn't produce games - and the ones it has produced weren't all that great (IMO).

Josh H

Donkey Kong isn't a Rare character, so even that does't apply. Donkey Kong is a Nintendo character than they allowed Rare to use.

Trigger

Do you read or do you just post?