Being a European Community Manager, I will always have that soft spot in my heart for the European games industry. Ben, the new Community Manager for Rare, had been one of the first friends I had ever made in the UK games industry, and when I saw him at PAX I couldn't resist the chance to snag an interview.
Not only do we talk about what new games Rare is bringing out for Kinect, but that difficult transition Rare is making from old Rare to new.
Hollie Bennett is Destructoid's UK Community Manager and video producer/personality. She also the host of
our British podcast, models, and will totally drink you under the table boys.
Likes
Final Fantasy VIII, The Final Fantasy VIII soundtrack, Xbox 360, Alistair from Dragon Age: Origins, N64 based Zelda experiences
Meet the rest of the team
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Contest:
1:00 AM on 09.13.2010 | 
They are pretty much a shell of their old selves. I'm not even a huge fan of their older games (except the snes era) but I can't imagine the transition from making quality games, to wii sports rip off was difficult. Also no the kinect doesn't appeal to everyone, and no, a running carrot does not remind us of Banjo Kazooie.
Microsoft: How about a complication sports event game with avatars and motion control ?
Rare: But that sounds just like Wii Sports from Nintendo.
Microsoft : ... What did I tell you before?
Rare: To never mention "Nintendo" in your presence.
Microsoft: That's right. We are your new master now. So get back to work on what you do best!
Rare: continuing to disappoint our fans and pretend to be happy about being forced to work on projects we don't really like ?
Microsoft: Yes.
I'm not saying Kinect Sports is bad, it's just don't try and church it up more than what it is.
Probably one of the best in their entire catalogue (and that's including PD1 and B&K) - and now that I mention in BKN&B was pretty damn good too. If I had to play BK 1 or 2 or BK NB , in some kind of hypothetical gun to the head scenario- I'd pick BK NB every time
It bleeds for the bear with a backpack. While I did love Viva Pinata (never did get TIP), and Nuts & Bolts is...finally growing on me after a second attempt at playing it, it makes me rather sad that we will never see a true Banjo-Threeie. :(
I remember being 7 years old and going to a neighbors house to play some Donkey Kong Country. It was pure fucking joy playing that game for the first time, watching that rare logo come up when you tun on the game.
Even back then knowing nothing of Developers, Publishers and all the
Gaming B.S that comes with growing up, I knew rare was something
special.
I remember looking at a friends SNES collection and coming across
another RARE game, KILLER INSTINCT. Fucing played that game religiously, up until it go lost in a move.
Jump a few years to middle school a friend of mine tells me he just got a game called goldeneye, seeing that rare symbol in the corner, I knew was gonna be good. Put soooo many hours into that game.
Good times....Good times
interesting theory. I wonder if Rare is actually thinking that instead "easy money for little work" This is just going to make the employees at Rare lazy because they aren't making real games anymore.
I have a feeling that Rare could have been great. Sure they miss stepped on PDZ (especially with the directors choices to the story) but that was their learning curve with the new system. but then I think about grabbed by the ghoulies...I just don't know anymore. I really think the new Rare teams are noobies and need a lot of practice at making solid games.
Seriously for the amount of money microsoft spent im amazed they havnt freaked after seeing the low quality of their recent output, they need to either pull the plug or implement some massive changes
Most the games you bang on about with your nostalgia monocle firmly in place were casual games anyway. Could it be possible that rare hasn't changed that much and your tastes have matured?
No. It's because rare suxxs now and it's not fair. Bawwwwwwwww.
I've played the original PD to death since it came out on XBLA, but PDZ if awful.
God damn it. Well, I sat through Rare's current gen offerings, and I had a blast with Nuts and Bolts, Kameo, and Viva Pinata. Sure, they're not as good, but they're still damn good, and more original than most other devs. This though, this makes me sad.
also, it's a shame that they're on the kinect fad but I would expect no less to be honest. They're microsoft's now and ms is pumping as much effort and money it can into the casual motion control market.
Whatever. I gave up hope on seeing sequels to the old games I loved. At least by rare.
What Herdleburdle said.
You know the definition of the words "casual gaming" have become totally twisted when anyone could consider a game like Diddy Kong racing, one of the greatest cart racers ever, a "casual game."
Im getting this.... (Not really)
I STILL believe even now that they have that Rare charm, Nuts & Bolts was a pretty damn funny and self-aware game at times truth be told. They tried to be innovative with that game regardless of how people think it turned out (and Rare were an innovative bunch), but now I don't know what's going on.
You guys might think you have it bad, but I actually wanted (and live close enough) to ACTUALLY WORK with these guys. That dream kinda died long ago... now it's just a maybe.
Also, new logo burns my soul.