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Just when you thought I’d given up scouring the web and various magazines to bring you in depth and detailed information, I go and do this. Are RARE going multi-format? I am not about to bring this story to rest; no in fact I have delved into areas that I’m not even sure I should go. If Rare are about to leave Nintendo™ it will be announced at E3. I am not sure if this is wise, publicising the loss of Rare may not be a highly good idea but it is widely thought if it does happen then that is when it will.
But something is going on around RARE HQ and you have to remember Nintendo’s contract with the company has expired. 5 years ago Nintendo™ made a contract with RARE that has finally come to an end and have the Stamper Brothers finally got fed up with Nintendo™? Christ no! Nintendo™ and RARE are still the greatest of friends - only a year ago did Nintendo™ give RARE the rights to a second major home franchise (Starfox™) to boost sales much like Donkey Kong™ does. But one of RARE’s major franchise that they own is Perfect Dark™. Now Perfect Dark™ is a massive game on the N64™ that sold well, but it was an 18 and this is on a console with a majority of children owning it. Soon enough RARE are going to realize that if it was on the Playstation ™ it will sell ten times more and although it couldn’t be done on the PS1™ – N64™ ratio it can be done on the Gamecube™ – Playstation 2™ one. Conker’s Bad Fur Day™ may of hit the nail on the head for it all with incredibly bad sales despite the huge amount of advertisement. It became apparent that Nintendo ™ doesn’t have a wide adult demographic and Rare’s games are made up of both adult and children’s titles. To sell better they would need to go multi-format and it is looking as though they might just.
As much as you say the Activision™ rumors are rubbish it is well known that Activision™ employees are staying in hotels near RARE offices and some people are so adamant that these aren’t rumors but fact. Rare’s attempt to squash these rumors as well has been half hearted. NGC™ magazine has a special friendship with RARE, one of their older writers now works for the second party development house and they said: “All these rumors are cobblers.” Not really an official statement and similar responses have been given to other websites and magazines. Mr. Snuggly will tell you that they might as well go multi-format they’ll make more money, true but then they do have a lot to lose. RARE’s own franchises are not as big as the ones Nintendo lend to them, Starfox is a tiny Nintendo franchise in comparison to Pokémon™, Mario™ and Zelda but it is still bigger than Banjo and Perfect Dark™. Donkey Kong™ is RARE’s biggest source of income even if the game is awful it will sell loads. So could RARE lose these franchises and do they care? Well maybe when it comes to Donkey Kong™, the fact is RARE do not make Starfox ™ games; they are making one and that’s just because their game Dinosaur Planet would suit Starfox ™ characters. It isn’t the only reason, if RARE do plan to go multi-format Nintendo probably knew this for a long time, and by sticking Nintendo characters into Dinosaur Planet makes that title exclusive (clever)! Another fact involving the Starfox™ license is that Namco™ is making more Starfox™ games than RARE are (an Arcade and Gamecube game). Also Namco™ are a third party developer making Starfox™ games, why can’t RARE be a third party developing Starfox™ games?
So it’s all Donkey Kong™ that might keep RARE with Nintendo™… well despite Starfox™ not being extended further than one game RARE know that Nintendo™ can lend them any one of their multi million dollar franchises at any time (HAL™ make games every Nintendo character and Camelot’s™ biggest selling games are the Mario™ Tennis and Golf.). Also Nintendo™ have something else to offer RARE and any of the second party developers, EAD. Led by head designer Shiguru Miyamoto, EAD are Nintendo’s™ in house coders. These people are the best in the industry, they know more about Gamecube™ than anyone (after all they did make it). Without them Retro Studio’s Metroid™ Prime would be a bad game, they offer so much help to everyone and without them RARE have no safety net, if something goes wrong EAD won’t be around to help! It is all about money and RARE do have a reputation, even if their games won’t be as good as they were they will still be better than anything Microsoft™ and Sony™ have to offer. And their franchises despite not being as huge as Nintendo’s™ they are bigger than other third party franchises.
But then they are in talks; they are discussing what to do next and maybe Activision™ is amongst those talking. Yet Nintendo™ just bought Retro Studio’s for one million dollars (well they already owned a half of the company) so are Nintendo™ going to buy RARE? That’s another rumor doing the rounds but one thing is for certain, if its money RARE want then Nintendo™ will give it to them. But then if RARE are adamant about going multi-format then there is little Nintendo™ can do.
Vote Nintendo Vote Dringo.
But something is going on around RARE HQ and you have to remember Nintendo’s contract with the company has expired. 5 years ago Nintendo™ made a contract with RARE that has finally come to an end and have the Stamper Brothers finally got fed up with Nintendo™? Christ no! Nintendo™ and RARE are still the greatest of friends - only a year ago did Nintendo™ give RARE the rights to a second major home franchise (Starfox™) to boost sales much like Donkey Kong™ does. But one of RARE’s major franchise that they own is Perfect Dark™. Now Perfect Dark™ is a massive game on the N64™ that sold well, but it was an 18 and this is on a console with a majority of children owning it. Soon enough RARE are going to realize that if it was on the Playstation ™ it will sell ten times more and although it couldn’t be done on the PS1™ – N64™ ratio it can be done on the Gamecube™ – Playstation 2™ one. Conker’s Bad Fur Day™ may of hit the nail on the head for it all with incredibly bad sales despite the huge amount of advertisement. It became apparent that Nintendo ™ doesn’t have a wide adult demographic and Rare’s games are made up of both adult and children’s titles. To sell better they would need to go multi-format and it is looking as though they might just.
As much as you say the Activision™ rumors are rubbish it is well known that Activision™ employees are staying in hotels near RARE offices and some people are so adamant that these aren’t rumors but fact. Rare’s attempt to squash these rumors as well has been half hearted. NGC™ magazine has a special friendship with RARE, one of their older writers now works for the second party development house and they said: “All these rumors are cobblers.” Not really an official statement and similar responses have been given to other websites and magazines. Mr. Snuggly will tell you that they might as well go multi-format they’ll make more money, true but then they do have a lot to lose. RARE’s own franchises are not as big as the ones Nintendo lend to them, Starfox is a tiny Nintendo franchise in comparison to Pokémon™, Mario™ and Zelda but it is still bigger than Banjo and Perfect Dark™. Donkey Kong™ is RARE’s biggest source of income even if the game is awful it will sell loads. So could RARE lose these franchises and do they care? Well maybe when it comes to Donkey Kong™, the fact is RARE do not make Starfox ™ games; they are making one and that’s just because their game Dinosaur Planet would suit Starfox ™ characters. It isn’t the only reason, if RARE do plan to go multi-format Nintendo probably knew this for a long time, and by sticking Nintendo characters into Dinosaur Planet makes that title exclusive (clever)! Another fact involving the Starfox™ license is that Namco™ is making more Starfox™ games than RARE are (an Arcade and Gamecube game). Also Namco™ are a third party developer making Starfox™ games, why can’t RARE be a third party developing Starfox™ games?
So it’s all Donkey Kong™ that might keep RARE with Nintendo™… well despite Starfox™ not being extended further than one game RARE know that Nintendo™ can lend them any one of their multi million dollar franchises at any time (HAL™ make games every Nintendo character and Camelot’s™ biggest selling games are the Mario™ Tennis and Golf.). Also Nintendo™ have something else to offer RARE and any of the second party developers, EAD. Led by head designer Shiguru Miyamoto, EAD are Nintendo’s™ in house coders. These people are the best in the industry, they know more about Gamecube™ than anyone (after all they did make it). Without them Retro Studio’s Metroid™ Prime would be a bad game, they offer so much help to everyone and without them RARE have no safety net, if something goes wrong EAD won’t be around to help! It is all about money and RARE do have a reputation, even if their games won’t be as good as they were they will still be better than anything Microsoft™ and Sony™ have to offer. And their franchises despite not being as huge as Nintendo’s™ they are bigger than other third party franchises.
But then they are in talks; they are discussing what to do next and maybe Activision™ is amongst those talking. Yet Nintendo™ just bought Retro Studio’s for one million dollars (well they already owned a half of the company) so are Nintendo™ going to buy RARE? That’s another rumor doing the rounds but one thing is for certain, if its money RARE want then Nintendo™ will give it to them. But then if RARE are adamant about going multi-format then there is little Nintendo™ can do.
Vote Nintendo Vote Dringo.
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Dringo wrote:
> Heh yeah ;)
Didn't I TM that quote 2 days ago?
> Heh yeah ;)
Didn't I TM that quote 2 days ago?
Heh yeah ;)
Lol @ Dringo's excessive use of "TM" 's... :-D
As for Rare. No matter whether they go multiformat or not, they're the greatest company in the west and I will work for them no matter what they do*...
*(apart from telling me to sod off and get a life in the interview! :-D)
As for Rare. No matter whether they go multiformat or not, they're the greatest company in the west and I will work for them no matter what they do*...
*(apart from telling me to sod off and get a life in the interview! :-D)
Nice one Dringo, Vintage Stuff™.
(the only authentic ™ on here, and that includes the original post)
:D
(the only authentic ™ on here, and that includes the original post)
:D
I like RARE, as do most other people, and I know if Nintendo kept them as an exclusive company it would be a good thing for the big N, but to me it doesn't matter too much either way as RARE would probably keep their Nintendo style games exclusive while giving games more suited to all formats the multi-format treatment.
SonicRav™ strongly disagrees with Dringo™ 's topic™. It is impossible to say at this time™ whether or not it would be profitable for RARE™ to go multiplatform or not.
If™ RARE are able to follow the success™ of games like TimeSplitters™ on the PS2 then it would be extremely profitable™ for them to continue to produce games for the GC™ AS WELL as making games like PD for the PS2™. Not only is the market of the PS2™ bigger than that of the GC™, but people would flock to their games™.
Hope the ™ didn't distract you.
SonicRav™
POWER™ TO THE HEDGEHOG™
If™ RARE are able to follow the success™ of games like TimeSplitters™ on the PS2 then it would be extremely profitable™ for them to continue to produce games for the GC™ AS WELL as making games like PD for the PS2™. Not only is the market of the PS2™ bigger than that of the GC™, but people would flock to their games™.
Hope the ™ didn't distract you.
SonicRav™
POWER™ TO THE HEDGEHOG™
Tiltawhirl wrote:
> I've just read that there's rumours that Microsoft have made a late
> bid to buy Rare, this better not be true.
There were a few meetings between Microsoft and Rare. And someone I know, who knows Howard Lincoln, (former Nintendo bod who now works for Microsoft), said that he's gone quite on the subject!
:)
> I've just read that there's rumours that Microsoft have made a late
> bid to buy Rare, this better not be true.
There were a few meetings between Microsoft and Rare. And someone I know, who knows Howard Lincoln, (former Nintendo bod who now works for Microsoft), said that he's gone quite on the subject!
:)
Damn Dirty Microsoft! :D
Anyone see 2DTV last night with the Bill Gates' house bit? It was rather funny I thought!
Anyone see 2DTV last night with the Bill Gates' house bit? It was rather funny I thought!
Well recently Microsoft seemewd to have tried to buy everyone except Sony, so I wouldn't worry to much about that.
Sibs wrote:
> Good topic, the 'Vote Nintendo Vote Dringo' spoiled it though...
I put that???? Dang! Notable campaigns normally stay away from Prime for me... please ignore that... Dringo cowers in embaressment.
> Good topic, the 'Vote Nintendo Vote Dringo' spoiled it though...
I put that???? Dang! Notable campaigns normally stay away from Prime for me... please ignore that... Dringo cowers in embaressment.
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