Rare/Nintendo: "...something big going down" (1 Viewer)

[CameronS]

LOL Shayne.

 

[CameronS]

Wow. It keeps coming...
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...y.php?id=27795

RARE BUYOUT RUMOURS TAKE SHAPE
Has Activision already purchased Nintendo's strongest software ally? The mud is beginning to stick...
18:44 Over the last couple of weeks, rumours about a possible Rare buyout have swept across the Web faster than the bubonic plague. First, whispers spread that Microsoft had bought out the Nintendo second-party, with Ken Lobb's move from Nintendo to Bill Gates's empire adding fuel to this speculative fire.
In recent days, however, Activision's name has been the surprising entry into the fray, with the rumours initially dismissed as baseless, especially with the tail-end of various high-profile April Fool's Day pranks in our midst. But the link between Activision and Rare has not gone away and sources are in fact pointing to its verity.
One source, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed to have seen actual evidence of the deal, and others also attest to having heard solid information that the transaction has been made.
If indeed true, the import of this should not be underestimated. UK-based Rare has been a stalwart of Nintendo hardware for many years, producing some of the greatest titles to appear on the various platforms. With hits including GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64, the developer gave N64's oeuvre much-needed back-bone. Indeed, many consider the N64's very survival relied heavily on Rare's output, since third-party support was narrow and first-party releases infrequent.
More pertinently, Nintendo has also been relying heavily on Rare's forthcoming projects, which include Star Fox Adventure, Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero on GameCube, and Diddy Kong Pilot and Sabre Wulf on GBA. If the rumours prove true, it now seems increasingly likely that these titles will now go multiformat. In fact, a PS2 version of Star Fox Adventures has been rumoured for some time. And let's not forget the Christmas card Rare issued at the end of last year, which featured Xbox, PS2 and GameCube shaped presents under the true. Just a harmless joke?
But how could this happen? One school of thought suggests that, in the event of any buyout, Rare's motivating factor might be that GameCube is Nintendo's last piece of under-the-TV hardware, with the developer wishing to establish itself across all formats. Hot air? Maybe; maybe not.
The main stumbling block, of course, is Nintendo's stake in Rare and it does seem almost unbelievable that the Japanese giant would let such a valuable commodity slip through its fingers. But, as we've said, the mud is beginning to stick. This could all be empty speculation, of course, but stranger things have happened. You're playing Sonic on a GameCube after all.
Spokespersons for Activision, Rare, and Nintendo remained unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.
Johnny Minkley

Star Fox on PS2? Does he even know what he's talking about? RARE also explained the Christmas card was not a hint to going multi-platform.

 

[John Berggren]

Starfox on PS2?
Does anyone who write these things up know which licenses Nintendo owns? That last article had 2 or 3 of Nintendo's in house characters appearing on PS2 based on RARE leaving Nintendo. I think not.

 

[Eric Nees]

Great. The whole Rare being bought out thing is BS, it was started as a joke over at the Gaming-Age forums. A poster by the name of Lord Federman wanted to see if people would actually run with the rumor and it looks like people really did. I don't know what Computer and Videogames is smoking, Star Fox on a non-Nintendo system?
Here's a link to the Gaming-Age forums laughing about this whole thing: Link Removed
I should point out though that Rare going 3rd party could happen, that wasn't made up, but they're not about to be bought out by anyone.

 

[BrianB]

Lol. I know exactly what CVG are smoking, and it's nothing to do with GamingAge.
All that article mentions is 'starfox running on a PS2', doesn't it? All it could be is a techdemo...
StarFox running on a PS2 doesn't mean it'd ever actually get released. GTA was at one point running on the N64, even though there were no plans to release it for example. If Rare are planning to go multiplatform, it makes excellent sense to develop multiplatform tools/engine beforehand & to develop using it.

 

[Peter Manojlovich]

Well, I'm all for rare going mult-platform and not being handcuffed by nintendo and their 8 year old customer base. It should be obvious from Conker's BFD that this game was in fact a clever satire on nintendo style games, that nintendo, being your typical japanese company with no sense of humor, obviously didn't get. You can only go so long making "cute" games, before you start to wretch. Shoehorning the obnoxious starfox characters into dinosaur planet was most assuredly a nintendo directive.

Hopefully, this will free Rare's personel to create the type of games that they truly wish to create, rather than to cater to the dictates of some eccentric japanese chairman who's desparately out of touch with current gaming and has been in the process of retiring for ages.

 

[Sean Oneil]

...

 

[John Berggren]

Good edit.

I don't think Nintendo "didn't get" Conker. Nintendo has enough control over what is released that they could have scrapped the project altogether if they wanted to.

Also, I am quite sick of this "8 year old customer base" thing. Nintendo is kid-friendly. I don't think I've ever seen anyone dispute that. However, their games are quite fun to anyone of any age IMHO, and there are several games from the past, and several coming forward that are not for 8 year olds.

 

[Eric Nees]

Did you actually see what Dinosaur Planet was before it changed into Star Fox? It was a bunch of "cute" cats running around in a Zelda-like enviornment. Star Fox hardly changed that "mature" game into something for kids.

 

[Gary King]

RARE also explained the Christmas card was not a hint to going multi-platform.

Denial is just a river in Egypt, these days.
According to Microsoft's public comments, the Xbox didn't exist until CES last year .
Edit: D'oh. Xbox was originally announced at GDC 2K, not CES 2K1.

 

[Mark Evans]

their 8 year old customer base.

Gosh, I guess when I go to buy my GameCube tomorrow I'll completely demolish the normal distribution curve of their average customer age.
Sorry, these demographic arguments are getting rather tepid. Some of us actually don't mind games that use colors outside of a palette of black, gray, and gritty. I honestly don't need Mario's water cannon to shoot Toad's head off and spray mushroom brain matter over the Mushroom Kingdom in order to enjoy the game.
I'm fine with adult content when it's justified (ie, GTA3), but if it's not going to add to the game, who cares?
I think it would be nice if Rare stayed exclusive to the Cube, but I'm certain that we'll still see plenty of releases for it either way they go, so no big concern to me. As developers go, Rare has never impressed the hell out of me like they have a lot of people, so I suppose I find it less of an issue too.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Rare has a lot of games being made for Nintendo already beyond StarFox Adventures, so even if they did become a third party developer, some games would NOT be on other consoles.

And StarFox is still a Nintendo property. It will not end up on the PS2.

I don't want Rare to leave Nintendo because you can do so much more for just one platform than you can if you spread your work across several (unless you are some ultra HUGE company). Rare made the N64 amazing because of what they were able to accomplish. I don't mind them making games for other consoles, but if it means a diminished quality in their games overall compared to what I have come to expect from them, then I'm against it.

 

[Dan B]

Nintendo = teh dOOmEd!!! whoops, wrong board
My opinion is that there's no way in hell Nintendo would let Rare get away unless they are getting out of the hardware business altogether. Nintendo needs Rare.
If it were true, it'd be really interesting to see what Rare would do outside of the Nintendo universe. Those guys kick ass.
-Dan

 

[Sean Oneil]

I'll bet they already have enough money, and they probably want to have total creative control over their product. I mean, these guys fancy themselves artists, not assembly line workers. Getting out from under Nintendo's thumb might be good for them, and they might make some very good games as a result.

 

[Greg Black]

FEDERMAN IS TEH GAWD!!1!

I love being the wildcard.

 

[Greg O' Connel]

Nintendo needs Rare.

I don't really think so. Should Rare go third party, they would most likely continue to make their standard one game a year for Nintendo.

IMO, Rare is way over-rated. When they rose from relative obscurity to the status of top-of-the-line developer, it was on the back of Donkey Kong Country, a very graphiclly impressive platformer that was developed under the supervision of Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto with Nintendo's characters. Three years later, Goldeneye was released, which I think was their best game. After Goldeneye, it was just a string of mediocrity until the present day. Perfect Dark, the Banjo games, Conker...not bad games by any stretch of the word (I actually bought Perfect Dark and Conker), but they just didn't do much for me.

 

[Peter Manojlovich]

I'll say one word with respect to my assertion that Nintendo caters to an 8 year old fan base. Pokemon. While waiting for the next installment of super mario, nintendo managed to find time to release three pokemon games for the gameboy, two pokemon stadium games, pokeman snap, and the thoroughly revolting Hey, you pikachu. They also offered cosmetically redesigned gameboys and n64 pokemon systems. But, did they find time to release a sequel to super mario 64? NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

So, please tell me again, how the big n is a company catering to gamers and not your typical 8 year old pokemon addict.

 

[Mark Evans]

Peter, no offense, but from the tone of your posts and the extreme nature of your viewpoints, I gather that it would be nigh on impossible to change your mind regarding Nintendo. Therefore, also no offense, I'm not going to bother getting into a loud debate or presentation of points that I feel will not accomplish anything. I'm just going to agree to disagree. With a parting thought, naturally
Now, as you yourself pointed out, a number of the Pokemon games Nintendo released were sub-par at best. Yet practically every Super Mario game has been a near perfect piece of console excellence.
So which do you figure takes the longest amount of time to create?

 

[Camp]

That's some short sighted logic. As if Nintendo hasn't released any games other than Pokemon since Mario 64.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

So, please tell me again, how the big n is a company catering to gamers and not your typical 8 year old pokemon addict.

Just because kids play the games doesn't mean they're not good. I've played the first two Pokemon games (extensively) and they were pretty good for handheld games. I assume the games have only gotten better.

And besides Pokemon, they release games that are fun, regardless of bright colors and cartoonish characters. Adults still go see Disney movies, which are obviously aimed at kids, don't they?