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I had this long discussion with some guy in the games industry yesterday. He use to work for Rare and knows what he's talking about.
Right. Here's what I've got to say on the recent rumours regarding this Activision milarky.
Well for starters I'll state that I'm not sure whether or not Activision have bought out Rare or not. May have some more news next week regarding this, if it hasn't already been officially announced or “denied”! But I'm going to tell you why I'm no longer saying "Of course they haven't! Rare are in bed with Nintendo! Best palls! etc"
Well I found out it is actually TRUE that Rare have been looking into going multi platform for some time! A while back some changes went on at NOA (Nintendo of America), and ever since Rare have not been getting along as well as they once were with NOA! Rare work kind of like Nintendo use to. The games finished when it's finished approach to releasing their games. But Nintendo has now changed over to this shorter game, but more frequent policy. Where a game should not take longer than say two years to complete. But Rare still prefer the approach of a game being finished when it's finished. Not creating smaller games just so you can get more of them out. This is just one of the things that is wrong at the moment.
Another point I'd like to make is that Rare would quite like to go multi because just think how much more money they'd make. Take Acclaim for example. They're releasing Turok Evolution on every possible platform. The games looking pretty sweet, so most people who own each platform are going to buy it. This equals MASSIVE sales, thus MASSIVE amounts of money. But if they were to just release it on one console then they're not going to make half as much money. And so, if Rare who have a VERY credible reputation were to release, say Perfect Dark 2 on EVERY platform, then they're going to make LOADS of money because everyone would want it! I believe that Rare maybe starting to think this way!
Many people have said that Rare needs Nintendo because they use Nintendo's characters! Well the only characters Rare use are the Star Fox team, and "Donkey Kong". Starfox Adventures would have been just as popular without the Star Fox characters. Remember the game was originally developed as Dinosaur Planet without those characters, and people were really excited about it back then. The game could EASILY sell well without the Nintendo characters.
You may be wondering why I put Donkey Kong in inverted commas. Well when Rare took on Donkey Kong from Nintendo to create Donkey Kong Country all those years ago, a deal was signed which said that any additional characters created were then owned by "Rare"! What does this mean? Well if Rare were to go multi platform, then their legally allowed to go and create Diddy Kong Racing 2 and release it on X-Box if they so wished!
The reason most people want to deny these rumours is because like me their die-hard Nintendo fans and don’t want to see Nintendo loose their greatest second party developer to other consoles. I have the utmost respect for Rare and I really want to work for them in the future. And I use to really want to work solely on Nintendo games. That’s why I was also one who thought I DON’T want this to happen. But I’ve thought about this a lot. Would it really be that bad for Rare to go multi? The games industry at the moment isn’t really in the most pleasant of states. Companies are being forced to close down or be bought out because they can’t keep up with the big players and their generic @#&% games they keep coming out with! The time of small companies producing successful games is getting less and less. So am I being selfish in wanting Rare to be solely committed to Nintendo? It’s a tuff choice. I personally still believe that Nintendo create the best consoles and controllers etc and so I REALLY want to see them do well, and not go under like Sega has. But I believe Rare maybe getting pulled back. If they went multi and released a VERY popular games (how could they not?) across ALL platforms, then that would make them a LOT of money. More money leads to more funds. More funds lead to expansion. Expansion means that Rare will be able to create even more of their CLASSIC games more often. Is that a bad thing? Of course not! It’d be great! So why should we hold Rare back? Would it be so bad to let them go multi?
I’ll leave it there because I’ve got some work to get done now. Post your thoughts, comments, and I’ll make some more comments.
:)
Right. Here's what I've got to say on the recent rumours regarding this Activision milarky.
Well for starters I'll state that I'm not sure whether or not Activision have bought out Rare or not. May have some more news next week regarding this, if it hasn't already been officially announced or “denied”! But I'm going to tell you why I'm no longer saying "Of course they haven't! Rare are in bed with Nintendo! Best palls! etc"
Well I found out it is actually TRUE that Rare have been looking into going multi platform for some time! A while back some changes went on at NOA (Nintendo of America), and ever since Rare have not been getting along as well as they once were with NOA! Rare work kind of like Nintendo use to. The games finished when it's finished approach to releasing their games. But Nintendo has now changed over to this shorter game, but more frequent policy. Where a game should not take longer than say two years to complete. But Rare still prefer the approach of a game being finished when it's finished. Not creating smaller games just so you can get more of them out. This is just one of the things that is wrong at the moment.
Another point I'd like to make is that Rare would quite like to go multi because just think how much more money they'd make. Take Acclaim for example. They're releasing Turok Evolution on every possible platform. The games looking pretty sweet, so most people who own each platform are going to buy it. This equals MASSIVE sales, thus MASSIVE amounts of money. But if they were to just release it on one console then they're not going to make half as much money. And so, if Rare who have a VERY credible reputation were to release, say Perfect Dark 2 on EVERY platform, then they're going to make LOADS of money because everyone would want it! I believe that Rare maybe starting to think this way!
Many people have said that Rare needs Nintendo because they use Nintendo's characters! Well the only characters Rare use are the Star Fox team, and "Donkey Kong". Starfox Adventures would have been just as popular without the Star Fox characters. Remember the game was originally developed as Dinosaur Planet without those characters, and people were really excited about it back then. The game could EASILY sell well without the Nintendo characters.
You may be wondering why I put Donkey Kong in inverted commas. Well when Rare took on Donkey Kong from Nintendo to create Donkey Kong Country all those years ago, a deal was signed which said that any additional characters created were then owned by "Rare"! What does this mean? Well if Rare were to go multi platform, then their legally allowed to go and create Diddy Kong Racing 2 and release it on X-Box if they so wished!
The reason most people want to deny these rumours is because like me their die-hard Nintendo fans and don’t want to see Nintendo loose their greatest second party developer to other consoles. I have the utmost respect for Rare and I really want to work for them in the future. And I use to really want to work solely on Nintendo games. That’s why I was also one who thought I DON’T want this to happen. But I’ve thought about this a lot. Would it really be that bad for Rare to go multi? The games industry at the moment isn’t really in the most pleasant of states. Companies are being forced to close down or be bought out because they can’t keep up with the big players and their generic @#&% games they keep coming out with! The time of small companies producing successful games is getting less and less. So am I being selfish in wanting Rare to be solely committed to Nintendo? It’s a tuff choice. I personally still believe that Nintendo create the best consoles and controllers etc and so I REALLY want to see them do well, and not go under like Sega has. But I believe Rare maybe getting pulled back. If they went multi and released a VERY popular games (how could they not?) across ALL platforms, then that would make them a LOT of money. More money leads to more funds. More funds lead to expansion. Expansion means that Rare will be able to create even more of their CLASSIC games more often. Is that a bad thing? Of course not! It’d be great! So why should we hold Rare back? Would it be so bad to let them go multi?
I’ll leave it there because I’ve got some work to get done now. Post your thoughts, comments, and I’ll make some more comments.
:)
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Oh....
Why the hell did I think Lylat Wars was a Rare game!????
And after realising it's a Nintendo shooter, I have suddenly realised that they should be making many more games like this!
Why the hell did I think Lylat Wars was a Rare game!????
And after realising it's a Nintendo shooter, I have suddenly realised that they should be making many more games like this!
Nintendo made all games StarFox related. The only one they ain't is StarFox Adventure!
:)
:)
Dringo wrote:
*Hands Solskjær money*
Hmmmmmmmm.....this amount seems short of what we agreed on!
Nice briefcase though.
And was Lylat Wars actually developed by Rare???
I ask this becasue I was looking at the box and cartridge earlier, but did not see Rare's name anywhere! Only Nintendo's.
I'm sure they did it, as they did Starfox on the SNES, didn't they. And they're also doing Dinosaur Planet too.
Are the characters owned by Nintendo or something??
*Hands Solskjær money*
Hmmmmmmmm.....this amount seems short of what we agreed on!
Nice briefcase though.
And was Lylat Wars actually developed by Rare???
I ask this becasue I was looking at the box and cartridge earlier, but did not see Rare's name anywhere! Only Nintendo's.
I'm sure they did it, as they did Starfox on the SNES, didn't they. And they're also doing Dinosaur Planet too.
Are the characters owned by Nintendo or something??
===SONICRAV---> wrote:
> Ok, here's my controversial view...
>
> Rare would be STUPID not to go multiplatform now. The reasons...
I wouldn't go that far. There are plenty of reasons why Rare should stay with Nintendo, not only are they given full technical support straight from the creators of the hardware (they know the Cube almost as well as Nintendo do and these sort of privellages would be lost if they went multiformat), they're also financed by Nintendo to spend as long as they like on a game to finish it properly.
There's also loads of reasons why Rare would benefit from going multiformat but that wouldn't make them stupid not to...
> Ok, here's my controversial view...
>
> Rare would be STUPID not to go multiplatform now. The reasons...
I wouldn't go that far. There are plenty of reasons why Rare should stay with Nintendo, not only are they given full technical support straight from the creators of the hardware (they know the Cube almost as well as Nintendo do and these sort of privellages would be lost if they went multiformat), they're also financed by Nintendo to spend as long as they like on a game to finish it properly.
There's also loads of reasons why Rare would benefit from going multiformat but that wouldn't make them stupid not to...
Cooky wrote:
> Dringo wrote:
> Erm well no Conker didn't take long to make
>
> It took ages!
>
> It started development back when Banjo Kazooie did!
>
> :)
Don't teach me about Conker i know tooooo much :D www.conkula.com
But i know when 12 tales Conker 64 (Conker's quest) began and it had been in development for 4 and a bit years BUT the game was shelved for a long time and radically changed, i wouldn't say twelve tales a childrens game like Banjo is anything like Bad Fur Day... give and take i'd say the game probably took 2 years to make its just that the game suffered shelving in favour of other titles and complete remodeling... Nintendo basically told them to shelf it anyway in favour of Donkey Kong...
> Dringo wrote:
> Erm well no Conker didn't take long to make
>
> It took ages!
>
> It started development back when Banjo Kazooie did!
>
> :)
Don't teach me about Conker i know tooooo much :D www.conkula.com
But i know when 12 tales Conker 64 (Conker's quest) began and it had been in development for 4 and a bit years BUT the game was shelved for a long time and radically changed, i wouldn't say twelve tales a childrens game like Banjo is anything like Bad Fur Day... give and take i'd say the game probably took 2 years to make its just that the game suffered shelving in favour of other titles and complete remodeling... Nintendo basically told them to shelf it anyway in favour of Donkey Kong...
1: Timesplitters is nothing like Perfect Dark and i believe you mean Free Radical Design.
2: RARE wont have released a game for a year and a half by the time Starfox Adventures comes out, such a big development house need to release games faster if they want to survive.
3: RARE haven't always been Nintendo owned but they needed some more support...
4: RARE love EAD.
2: RARE wont have released a game for a year and a half by the time Starfox Adventures comes out, such a big development house need to release games faster if they want to survive.
3: RARE haven't always been Nintendo owned but they needed some more support...
4: RARE love EAD.
Ok, here's my controversial view...
Rare would be STUPID not to go multiplatform now. The reasons...
First off, take a look at Rare's position. Like most developers, they are owned by a big publisher- in this case Nintendo. In the past this has been of massive benefit to Rare. They get cheap publishing on Ninty consoles, Ninty gives them trademark characters to make guaranteed best-selling games, and they always have financial support.
However, things have changed massively. Rare have become so big and well-known that they could easily survive without Ninty licences (instead going for their own Perfect Darks, Banjo Kazookies et al), and without the cheap publishing. Nintendo is now holding the company back by making sure that, for all the money they put into games, they will only ever be released on a Ninty format. This denies them the ability to sell games across to the whole market, making them far more money.
But is the buy out going to happen.
Probably not.
Even though Rare would love to be bought out, Nintendo are the people who own the company. They aren't simply going to sell out on a massive money maker (exclusive Rare games=big consoles sales= big Ninty game sales), because Rare ask them nicely.
I think Rare will be looking very closely at two developers: Sega and those blokes who made Time Splitters. Sega's development departments, like Rare were tied to a console to develop for. Despite being one of the biggest inhouse developers in the world (hundreds of times bigger than a classic developer) they were forced to sell games only on a format that had a tiny share of the market. Now, having gone multiplatform, they are hoping to become the 2nd biggest publishers in the world soon and start making money for the first time in years.
Concerning the people who made time splitters, this was set-up by a group of people who quit working for Rare to start their own company. Now despite the game being no better than Perfect Dark, it sold extremely well on the PS2, showing the PS2 owners would buy tonnes of Rare game if they could.
Sonic
Rare would be STUPID not to go multiplatform now. The reasons...
First off, take a look at Rare's position. Like most developers, they are owned by a big publisher- in this case Nintendo. In the past this has been of massive benefit to Rare. They get cheap publishing on Ninty consoles, Ninty gives them trademark characters to make guaranteed best-selling games, and they always have financial support.
However, things have changed massively. Rare have become so big and well-known that they could easily survive without Ninty licences (instead going for their own Perfect Darks, Banjo Kazookies et al), and without the cheap publishing. Nintendo is now holding the company back by making sure that, for all the money they put into games, they will only ever be released on a Ninty format. This denies them the ability to sell games across to the whole market, making them far more money.
But is the buy out going to happen.
Probably not.
Even though Rare would love to be bought out, Nintendo are the people who own the company. They aren't simply going to sell out on a massive money maker (exclusive Rare games=big consoles sales= big Ninty game sales), because Rare ask them nicely.
I think Rare will be looking very closely at two developers: Sega and those blokes who made Time Splitters. Sega's development departments, like Rare were tied to a console to develop for. Despite being one of the biggest inhouse developers in the world (hundreds of times bigger than a classic developer) they were forced to sell games only on a format that had a tiny share of the market. Now, having gone multiplatform, they are hoping to become the 2nd biggest publishers in the world soon and start making money for the first time in years.
Concerning the people who made time splitters, this was set-up by a group of people who quit working for Rare to start their own company. Now despite the game being no better than Perfect Dark, it sold extremely well on the PS2, showing the PS2 owners would buy tonnes of Rare game if they could.
Sonic
I wouldn't be suprised if Nintendo were paying Rare an AWFUL lot of money to keep them as a 2nd party developer. But Ninetendo did let left field slip, maybe Rare will go the same way, but I do doubt that. Plus Left Field games weren't all that good anyway.
Dringo wrote:
> Erm well no Conker didn't take long to make
It took ages!
It started development back when Banjo Kazooie did!
:)
> Erm well no Conker didn't take long to make
It took ages!
It started development back when Banjo Kazooie did!
:)
Erm well no Conker didn't take long to make they shelved it for a year as they worked on other titls such as Perfect Dark, RARE and Nintendo discussed Conker after another Donkey Kong and Banjo style game isn;t what they needed. Both Nintendo and Rare suggested and adult change and Nitnendo pumped laods of money into advertisement. It didn't sell to wel though... now for the rumour, RARE began work on Conker's other bad day only for the conker sales not doing so hot they shelved that aswell, Nintendo then stepped in and said they are looking at making their games appeal to a larger audience please continue making it...
I do suppose we'll learn more about Rare's future plans including Conkker at E3.
I do suppose we'll learn more about Rare's future plans including Conkker at E3.
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