Did Nintendo dump RARE because of Starfox?

[n8littlefield]

I don't think Rare is capable of greatness anymore at least not their former, Conker/Banjo/DKC greatness. I do think they will be solid developers, especially if Microsoft continues Nintendo's tradition of giving them as much time and money as they want for each game. However, I don't think we've seen any true innovation from them for a very long time, and I think a big part of it was the "brain drain" that the splintering off of Free Radical caused.

 

With that said - the buying of Rare was still a decent move for Microsoft, it gives them a team that is capable of putting out good, solid platformers with mass appeal, something they sorely need if they want to bring the 360 to a wide audience. Sony has that great combo of Sucker Punch, Insomniac and Naughty Dog (Sly, Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter) that really helped get the PS2 into more family homes.

[ninjarabbit]

I don't think Rare is capable of greatness anymore at least not their former, Conker/Banjo/DKC greatness. I do think they will be solid developers, especially if Microsoft continues Nintendo's tradition of giving them as much time and money as they want for each game. However, I don't think we've seen any true innovation from them for a very long time, and I think a big part of it was the "brain drain" that the splintering off of Free Radical caused.

 

With that said - the buying of Rare was still a decent move for Microsoft, it gives them a team that is capable of putting out good, solid platformers with mass appeal, something they sorely need if they want to bring the 360 to a wide audience. Sony has that great combo of Sucker Punch, Insomniac and Naughty Dog (Sly, Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter) that really helped get the PS2 into more family homes.

 

I think sooner or later Microsoft is going to run out of patience with Rare and I think it'll be sooner. Rare hasn't delivered for Microsoft like they did for Nintendo and you can't live off your brand naem forever.

 

As far as Sucker Punch, Insomniac, and Naughty Dog go they've become one trick ponies. The first Sly, Ratchtet, and Jax games were good but the franchises got stale pretty quicksince they crapped out sequels the same way EA craps out Madden games.

[shadow460]

I believe games like Crash Bandicoot, Final Fantasy, and Gran Turismo helped get PS2 into homes. Gran Turismo for sure, as GT 2000 was hyped relatively well, and we knew it would be out soon after PS3.

 

I also think GameDay had a lot to do with it. People knew these series, and they sold tons of copies for PSX. Without a solid PSX user base, PS2 would have faltered.

 

The PS2's titles, though, accomplished much of their own accord. PSX "inertia" only jump started the PS2, it is the actual PS2 software that has carried it this far.

[AtariJr]

I remember when Rare was announced to be sold, and I got really scared at first. But them I started to think about it and every game I had played recently that they made was pretty bad. I didnt like Perfect Dark, Starfox Adventures, or Jet Force. I liked Donkey Kong 64 to a point.. but after you got done droolling over the graphics and the first 7 or so levels, it got really repetetive and old. Diddy Kong racing was great I must say though. Overall when i thought about it , there wasnt much to really regret loosing. And considering we are getting a new Diddy Kong Racing for DS i DEFINATELY dont care about them anymore as that was the only game besides Goldeneye that I had true fun with from them. And btw, my roomate has a 360 and Kameo and Perfect Dark are quite the let downs from the hype they recieved before launch.... Project Gothem is good though (but not made by RARE).

 

Its very much like Factor 5 if you think about it. I LOVED factor 5 to death as I thought Rogue Squardron for the 64, and rogue sqaudron 2 for the cube were just plain perfect. But after rogue squadron 3's apparent lack of effort, and Factor 5 stating that they were done with the series, I simply dont care about them anymore. Its funny how companies that were so close to nintendo that I liked so much are now useless in my mind and have been replaced by new companies that are producing better results. Even with other console makers like Vicarious Visions and sega for instace... or AM2 with Daytona USA on Dreamcast... kinda funny how giants fall.

Edited September 3, 2006 by AtariJr

[Flojomojo]

You think Vicarious Visions is done? I always liked them. They did the Jedi Knight games and Doom 3 on XBOX, the Spider-Man games on DS, and a neat Windows/Linux/Mac game called Terminus that looked like it would be a massively multiplayer space shooting/trading game like Elite. I have it (got it for under five bucks) but never really played it.

 

Spider-Man, Doom, Star Wars, and a modern remake of Elite. That's almost an exact match of what I'd want to work on as a developer.

 

I guess EA has the Marvel franchise now, and UBIsoft and Pandemic are all about Star Wars.

[AtariJr]

You think Vicarious Visions is done? I always liked them. They did the Jedi Knight games and Doom 3 on XBOX, the Spider-Man games on DS, and a neat Windows/Linux/Mac game called Terminus that looked like it would be a massively multiplayer space shooting/trading game like Elite. I have it (got it for under five bucks) but never really played it.

 

Spider-Man, Doom, Star Wars, and a modern remake of Elite. That's almost an exact match of what I'd want to work on as a developer.

 

I guess EA has the Marvel franchise now, and UBIsoft and Pandemic are all about Star Wars.

 

I never thought of those... but i guess since i dont play the spidy games on ds or doom on xbox that would explain why i havent seen the good old vicarious visions logo in a while. I guess i just liked the type of games they used to make. Im actually loving the direction that Pandemic is going right now besides the fact that its without nintendo. Ubisoft is Wii's holy grail so bravo to them. And EA ... well, i wont say anything

[Phineasfool]

Rare needs torevive some of their old franchises like RC Pro Am or Battletoads.

[Atarinvader]

Word had it that there was massive migration of talent away from Rare, starting with Free Radicals. Nintendo knew that the company was in trouble and Microsoft made an offer to secure the team and what IPs it had that weren't owned by Ninty (Kameo, Perfect Dark, Killer Instinct and Conker) rather foolishly. Grabbed By The Ghoulies, Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero nor It's Mr Pants have really set the world on fire.

 

I really don't understand how it took them so long to get a simple puzzle game like It's Mr Pants out and still make it a complete lemon.