Will MS regret the buyout of Rare?

[Daniel]

Even if rare don't produce the goods (though i think they will in time), the buyout gave ms a huge amount of credibility, making the whole industry thinking twice about the rich, cocky upstart. Like hoisting a big flag saying, "we're here to stay, we're not intimidated by our competitors glorified pedigree, and we make chelsea fc look like accrington stanley."

[Strider]

Admittedly it's been very quiet at rare, but we've just had a chance to play both Kameo and Conker and both are looking like being a considerable step up from Ghoulies.

Conker in particular is looking really nice (especially the multiplayer game) and just wait until you see what they've done with the great mighty poo. Nah, I reckon Microsoft made a good move with the aquisition of rare, especially when the next generation is ready to roll...

[Alf-Life]

Yeah, I saw a glimpse of the Great Mighty Poo's arm in the singleplayer movie on the official Rare site, and while it's not bump-mapped, like Chris Seavor said on R-E, the specular maps make it look teh s3x.

Still, I'd like to see Rare try new things, new genres. :/

Also, while it's pretty certain PDZ will be a Xenon launch title, does anyone know what's become of Sabrewulf Stampede? I was expecting DKR mixed with ... ooh, I dunno, Metroid Prime. And are the Ghoulies team working on Banjo 3?


Edited:

Take a look at this: http://www.raretopia.com/features/th...s/timeline.jpg

It's now clear BT -> went to GbtG.
MSU has gone to Stampede.
And CBFD has gone to CLR.
So... has the PD split team all gone back to PDZ as was rumoured now that 'Gnomeman'(?) and/or Quest has been canned?

[Ginza]

All rare need to actually do is make Perfect Dark Zero as near to perfect as possible and they wont have to do another game for Xbox again..

[SharkAttack]

MS bought Rare to aim for Nintendo's "Younger Demographic" or so we heard.

Grabbed by the ghoulies was originally planned for GC and turned out on XBox and didn't get much in critical acclaim or sales. I doubt it would have done much better critically on the Cube but it would have sold a lot more.

Kameo I honestly beleive doesn't look as good as the initial "We bought Rare!" footage showed us. I don't like the direction it has taken. Seems to be you just have the 4 forms to play around with. Could be a good solid hit though.

Conker should be absolutely fantastic. It cannot fail surely? Many that missed the N64 game will get to play an upgraded version, and the multiplayer mode will rock. Sure fire hit.

Perfect Dark Zero would be a great Xenon launch title, but unless things change due to the backlash, it will be a whole lot different. We all saw the cel shaded Miss Dark pics.

Sabrewulf Stampede got cancelled from what I read. That would have been a fun mario kart rival for MS but there you go.

Gnomeman - Haven't got a clue. Quest - No clue. Was it an MMOPRG? Wasn't it only rumoured? New Banjo title - No news - But Banjo Pilot is still due out.

Really MS should be getting Rare to make PD0 and a new Killer Instinct for Xenon launch to gain sales potential. Conker will do a good job on XBox but Ghoulies and Kameo seem like a waste of resources.

THE MOLE - What is this about 2 Kuju games for GC? Advance Wars is the only one I know of. I know they have a game in dev for Konami but that platform isn't announced yet is it?

[Max M]

MS bought Rare to aim for Nintendo's "Younger Demographic" or so we heard.

Which is a shame. Because, to me, Rare was always at it's best when it was doing the more edgy/serious games because their cute titles always came off as third rate Nintendo clones. Imagine an Xbox Live! sequel to Blast Corps. Or a new Killer Instinct - the only AAA Western beat-em-up franchise.

[jezzace]

Is no one else annoyed that Conker isn't all new? Only, I've played the n64 one to death and have broken so many things (mugs, controllers etc) during the War escape sequence that I can't face it again!

[jassi singh]

I wouldnt mind playing the N64 levels all over again...as long as their is equal or more levels added to what was available before in story mode.

Multiplayer should be really good, i hope they still keep the mode where you have to run across a field dodging gun fire from teddies to try and get into the back of a truck I loved playing that, but imagine on xbox live where you can have like 10 people running across!

Hopefully there will be a LOTR parody levels :P

[Mr Spew]

Don't know why this has cropped up again, but anyway...

Didn't they say they were going to excluse the original Conker game? If it's on Live, and it's half-good, advertised well, it'll sell ****loads. Seeing as the age of the Live owner (and general Xbox owner) is averaging around the 16 - 25 area. Tapping into the more 'mature' humour.

Kameo - I agree, it won't do exceptionally well at all, but as always, I'll hope it will.

Perfect Dark Zero is going to be the main launch title for Xenon, maybe on Live? Unless they plan on extending the Xbox life more and put it out late next year or something.

Hmm!

[df0notfound]

jokes on them if you dont deliver with microsoft they're **** them over totally and they'll have tough trouble finding a job after that tat on xbox.

"Imagine an Xbox Live! sequel to Blast Corps."
god how the **** would that work at all(other than cheap co-op or both doing the same level for speed play), making something online doesn't instantly make it better *ROLLL EYES!*
FOOL!

[Brodie]

Surely someone getting excited about games which are meant to be fun is what it's all about? Dissing them straight away because you don't agree with what they said is pure trolling.

And before you slate someone else's post, perhaps you should make sure yours makes some ****ing sense.

"jokes on them if you dont deliver with microsoft they're **** them over totally and they'll have tough trouble finding a job after that tat on xbox."

What?

Now I remember why i stopped reading most forums. Christ.

[gizmo1990]

We all know that, but read the Microsoft press releases about the matter and the number of hate mails that Rare got and it's clear how the public perceive what happened. To the man on the street, Microsoft scored one over Nintendo. To anyone with a bit of knowledge, this is not the case, but we are in a minority.

I think that is a very intelligent point.

Just to wander off-topic slightly, its for reasons like this that people seem to think Nintendo are on their last legs.

In truth, nothing could be further from the truth, they have STACKS of cash in the bank and more constantly rolling in. If they desired they could literally go toe to toe with either Sony or Microsoft in throwing their weight around.

[MartyG]

I think you need to go read their balance sheets:

http://www.microsoft.com/msft/ar03/alt/balance.htm

and

http://www.nintendo.com/corp/report/q1_2004.pdf

and

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/ar/2003/

Regards
Marty

[gizmo1990]

I think you need to go read their balance sheets:

http://www.microsoft.com/msft/ar03/alt/balance.htm

and

http://www.nintendo.com/corp/report/q1_2004.pdf

and

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/ar/2003/

Regards
Marty

Hehe, I knew someone wouldn't think it through properly!
Yes of course Microsoft and Sony have mucho money BUT their business model is not just based on games. They could not afford to spend their entire budgets on their games divisions, they have other commitments too.

Nintendo however are more or less solely based around the production of video games and games related hardware.

[MartyG]

Erm, I thought it through completely properly - if Nintendo are basing their business purely on a sole product then they are going to fail if people stop buying said product.

MS and Sony can afford to feed money into stuff that might lose money because they have other sources - indeed MS wouldn't have even ventured into the market if they couldn't back it up financially.

So your premise of them being able to go "toe to toe" is completely wrong.