Tamrok

Probably because he knows he's going to have to go and repurchase an Xbox.

Get Me Coffee

Smart move XBOX! Blast Corp will be amazing!!! I'm glad to see Nintendo lose Rare. Now the XBOX can have some kick ass Rare games that did so much for the Big N in the late '90's.

jeffdsmith

Tamrok is mostly correct. A guy in my house has an xbox so I can play it on there. My difficultly lies in my anti-microsoft practices beliefs. I try and not support MS by using alternitives. (Which in most cases are better then MS's offerings... ) The fact that MS now owns Rare, and they are bringing one of my favorite games out means I will have to choose between my "morals" and my "pleasure".



I can live without Banjo. I can live without PD0. There will always be games similar to them, which will hopefully surpass them in gameplay. BUT no one makes a comparable game to blastcorps. I guess I'll just have to hope it sucks.

Get Me Coffee

or just buy an XBOX!

I can't wait for Banjo! Love those cartooy/kid games! Got to love them!

mmconhea

An update on this:
http://ncroal.talk.newsweek.com/default.asp?item=414002
Rare Co-Founders Leave Company
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=14843

Chris and Tim Stamper have quit Rare after more than 20 years. Microsoft confirmed that they left the company to "pursue other opportunities." Rare most recently shipped the Xbox 360 title Viva Pinata (pictured), which MS has called the "cornerstone" of its strategy to broaden its portfolio.


Microsoft has confirmed that the co-founders of the U.K. studio Rare have decided to move on "to pursue other opportunities." After more than 20 years, Chris and Tim Stamper are no longer with the team that brought the gaming world Donkey Kong Country, Banjo Kazooie, Viva Pinata and more.


"We thank them for the many years they have contributed to the Rare brand and wish them luck in their future endeavors. From the early beginnings as a company known as Ultimate - Play the Game and the creation of the first title Jetpac in 1983, to the recent release of Viva Pinata as the cornerstone of Microsoft Game Studios' broadening strategy, the creative minds at Rare have contributed immensely to the success of the videogame industry as a whole," Microsoft said in a statement sent to GameDaily BIZ.


Of course, Rare wasn't always a Microsoft owned entity. It wasn't until 2002 that Microsoft picked up the U.K. studio in order to diversify its gaming library on the original Xbox with games like Grabbed by the Ghoulies. And on the Xbox 360, Rare played a big role at launch by providing both Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo.


Aside from the Donkey Kong Country games, perhaps Rare's greatest moment came with the release of GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64, which has been hailed as a classic for its fantastic split-screen multiplayer.


With the Stampers no longer at the helm, Microsoft said that Rare 19-year veteran Mark Betteridge will lead the company as Studio Director going forward. As the software director at Rare, Betteridge has helped lead the software development teams to create a number of hit franchises.


Microsoft also noted that Gregg Mayles, the "creative force" behind games like Donkey Kong Country, Viva Pinata and the upcoming iteration in the Banjo Kazooie franchise, will serve as Creative Director. In this role Mayles will be responsible for overseeing all titles in development and the origination of new IP.

taffer

Holy thread bump Batman!

Demontooth

At least he searched!

Save Ferris

For designing "Goldeneye" on the N64 -- A+

For designing "Perfect Dark" on the N64 -- A

For the dialog, voice acting and NAME of the alien in Perfect Dark for N64 -- YOU PEOPLE SUCK

Ill never forgive you for that.

The Bus

I still can't believe Rare turned out this awful and Bungie turned out this great, for what? Less than a quarter of the price?

mmconhea

Thanks for the credit. It took forever!
But it was worth it for the "I told you so's" that will come out of it.

RichC2

Rare has been a huge disappointment

edstein

Perfect Dark Zero yes and Kameo somewhat but, Viva Pinata is a great game.

RichC2

I suppose thats true, but the non-Viva games have, imo, just not had that seal of quality the older games had. They were on a roll for a while.

Michael Corvin

Pinata is brilliant. Kameo equally so. I look forward to a sequel for both.

Gallant Pig

Yep, Kameo was much better and way more original than anything that launched on the PS3. It's a really underrated game.

Demontooth

I thought the Kameo demo sucked ass. I guess I could have thought that because I didn't know what the heck I was supposed to be doing.

SonOfAStu

There's a special place in Video Game heaven reserved for these guys for Goldeneye alone.

kakihara1

The Demo for Kameo was a horrible representation of the actual game. If you've never seen the full game then you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64 was an obsession of mine. I just had to find all the cheese wedges. And challenge 30 was oh so sweet

mr.snowmizer

Kameo's demo is just another in a long list of demos that succeed only in turning people off a game.

One would think the number that fall into this category would be minute... there's no reason to accurately reveal a bad game (e.g., Sonic), nor inaccurately introduce a good one... but they still come out fast and furious.

Noonan

Was that by chance the one with the Elivs Sim martians where you had to defend an area for a certain time? I don't remember the number...but I do remember a friend and I playing through a full night on that challenge alone.

kakihara1

I believe Challenge 30 was the very last challenge and it was impossible to beat by yourself. Basically it was King of the hill with a moving hill and I believe 4 or 6 bots that were super hardcore. It was a total bitch but a buddy and I got it down to a science naming all the areas of the map so we always knew where to go etc.

msdmoney

I don't think Rare thus far has been worth the money. From what I have played of Perfect Dark Zero, it got very inflated scores. But I think Kameo is very underappreciated, it's a great game. Still haven't played Viva Pinata.

Michael Corvin

Well if you factor in Conker(remake) and Grabbed by the Ghoulies, I doubt they have been worth it, BUT they did provide MS with two launch exclusives on the 360 when Halo couldn't fill that void. I think it is hard to gauge based on that alone. How many consoles were sold because of one or both of those games?

Say what you will about Kameo, but it looked great on the LCD demo units. And PD0 had all kinds of buzz before release, so you never know.

Personally, I hope Viva Pinata ends up on a lot of these "best of 06" lists the magazines and online sites will be doing. It may have had sluggish sales out of the gates but maybe this game is destined to be a marathon runner instead of a sprinter.

mmconhea

I've read their development costs are astonimical (the reason Nintendo dropped them).
So if they are spending big cash to make shitty selling games then thy are probably not worth it.

Gallant Pig

anyone know what is next up their plate for the 360?