Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Buys Rare
Phwoar writes "Microsoft have announced their buyout of the games developer Rare. After a $375 million payoff Rare will now produce games solely for the Xbox. After Rare's recent releases for the Nintendo systems bombed, Nintendo decided to sell their 49% stake in the company last week rather than buy the company themselves.
Google News has a nice collection of links to articles regarding the announcement." You might be reminded of Microsoft's purchase of Bungie a few years ago.
Will we get Donkey Kong office assistants now?
That game was a classic... perhaps the best console FPS ever, especially in multiplayer. Redoing it for the X-Box, with improved graphics and more detailed level designs would kick some serious ass!
if you read any gaming publication, this is old news, i guess its relevant to slashdot though, since it is microsoft.
"Martha Stewart can lick my Scrotum......do i have a scrotum?" -- Sharon Osbourne
When Microsoft bought Bungie, it was to buy a "killer app" for the X-Box and nerf it's simultaneous PC development for fear it would show up the X-Box.
Rare on the other hand has a whole one game announced and a legacy of Nintendo titles. Ultimately, it's just another shot fired in the console wars, rather than a loss to PC gaming, this time.
I would buy an X-Box, knowing Bill loses as much money as I spend on each one sold - but he has more money than me and so is going to win that war.
.
<MONTYBURNS>
Ehhxxxcelent...
</MONTYBURNS>
.
"A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
GeneralEmergency
It's about time Microsoft started playing by the same tactics Sony and Nintendo have used for years:
:-)
Buy the companies that make the best games, and be sure they only make them for you.
I can't wait for Donkey Kong Country X.
Yippie. Now Steve Balmer won't be the only large, hairy monkey to hold an Xbox controller.
--
#nohup cat
Considering the fact that Nintendo is quickly picking up great 3rd part support, such as Squaresoft and Capcom's Resident Evil series, this actually makes a lot more sense then it did at first glance. the register, at http://www.theregus.com/content/54/26394.html, makes a great point about the logics of selling Rare, which is what many argued was Nintendo's greatest asset. Apparently, the founders of Rare, the Stamper Brothers, are soon to leave the company, so most of the innovation that came in Rare games was to leave them. I am a proud owner of a Gamecube, and all I can say is, we still get Starfox, and we can always just make another great 1st person shooter using the 007 liscense :)
375 million? i think they paid that much just for the prestige of owning a previously successful game company. Now after they pay the cost to switching to the xbox development environment, they got to produce something worthwhile. I dunno about you, but 375 million is difficult to live up to. I think the idea it total garbage on microsoft's part.
"rare" is a French word that means "scarce".
Am I the only person who read that as "Microsoft Bugs Rare"?
More proof that speed-reading CAN cause heart attacks. Or (insert soft drink of choice) to be spit all over the monitor, at any gate.
It will be "rare" to have games from them that are "well done"!
It's an old story. Developers aren't exactly flocking to the XBox platform and most that do develop for the Xbox, also develop for the superior PS2 and GameCube platforms.
It's a last-ditch effort by Microsoft to take control of more game developers in an attempt to slow their continued decline in 3rd place.
Google News: "Microsoft Buys Rare - Slashdot - 11 minutes ago"
Slashdot: "Google News has a nice collection of links to articles regarding the announcement."
Google News: "Microsoft Buys Rare - Slashdot - 11 minutes ago"
Slashdot: "Google News has a nice collection of links to articles regarding the announcement."
Google News: "Microsoft Buys Rare - Slashdot - 11 minutes ago"
Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
Those who have been around the gaming scene for a while may be interested in the fact that the folks behind Rare were also the same people behind Ultimate (Play the Game), a popular game development house in the early to mid 1980's.
I mean, does Micro$oft is now a software compagny ? or a computer hardware compagny ? or a gaming console compagny ? Something else ? A lawyer bureau mabye ? Or a we-sell-all-things-possible-to-make-a-big-monopoly compagny ? So, anyone ? Please, because I'm lost right now...
I weep for the loss of all future Rare products to the XBox.
http://thechubbyferret.net - Ferret pictures and informative links.
then I might sleep at night :)
--- Why are you wearing that stupid bunny suit? | Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?
375 megabucks is a lot of cash. MS has had significant problems marketing XBox. It seems to me that they must be really worried about losing a source of games.
Does anyone know how many employees work at Rare? I know it's not distributed evenly but they must be pretty happy about it on the average.
Especially so for those whose stock is already vested.
-scsg
Anyway, Rare doesn't have as much of a pedigree as Microsoft probably thinks it does. I'm betting most people associate Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong, etc more with Nintendo than Rare. They are going to have to shout from the makers of perfect dark on any future commercial advertising Xbox titles by Rare if they expect anyone to care, or even notice...
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
Not to sound like an MS hater here, but this is an incredibly poor purchase. Rare as a development studio was cut loose by Nintendo because (in addition to making up very little of Nintendo's revenue for 2001 and 2002 prior to Starfox) they missed deadlines and put out subpar games (DK64, Jet Force Gemini, Perfect Dark (if you can't stand the horrid framerate)) for the last several years. To make matters worse, most of the decent devs (including the founders) have left to form their own companies and Rare itself only has two or three marketable licenses (Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, and Conker (maaaaybe)). So MS is paying hundreds of millions for a game developer recently known for its overbudget, late games that aren't very good and doesn't even get any big licenses in the bargain. Why didn't they just sink $10 mil into 20 or 30 dev houses to fund a bunch of big exclusive games? They'd get more results faster and almost assuredly higher quality.
With the delay of Panzer Dragoon Orta to 2003 the Xbox's Christmas lineup is also fairly lackluster and sales this Xmas could be very poor. Of course, if MS keeps pumping marketing dollars into it maybe they can convince America that the console is doing great.
I'm not trying to start a console flamewar (I go where the games are in most cases, and I will probably pick up an Xbox at the next price drop), but with Xbox's sales figures for Japan (the-magicbox.com) showing that in some weeks even the PSOne is outselling it, I wonder if the Japanese game studios will be abandoning what little development they already do on Xbox and concentrating on the two surviving consoles instead.
If you have to buy a company to secure share, it's not a good business model, especially in the game software market. MS is struggling and this is just another red flag.
I think the obvious next move is for Microsoft to buy Sega. Their own developers have some ok sports games, but Sega would buy them some real sports clout along with some younger generation appeal that they could use to balance their library of titles.
Just think, if they could claim exclusive rights to Sega's line of sports games, including NFL, NBA, NHL, baseball, tennis, and college football lines. They could be the premiere sports games for the Xbox Live online service, for example. And a Virtua Fighter would put Xbox squarely in the sights of many fighting game fans, since then DoA, VF, and Soul Calibur would all be available on one system. Add online opponents and tourneys, and they could potentially hand out more hats of money. Then with Sonic and those cute little Super Monkey Balls, they'd have a possible in with children and youngsters that aren't necessarily into the older games. Make all of these exclusives, and the Xbox looks a whole lot better of an investment.
You know they've thought about it, and now we know the stakes: $3.75e8 dollars for someone like Rare that doesn't have the rep or the library of Sega. Sega's gotta be worth what...twice that...in franchises and development talent alone.
While we're talking numbers, how many units of games does Rare have to sell to be worth it to MicroSoft? Or, perhaps more importantly, how many monthly online subscriptions? And how long is it going to take them to pay it off, given that they're going to incur more costs, in terms of development and promotion, just to get a game out the door?
The usual disclaimer: I'm not an Xbox or MS fan. Read my blog and you'll see where my interests lie. I'm just commenting on the situation as I see it...
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
...looks like game companies aren't all that Microsoft has been able to buy.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
and one they should update for the XBOX.....
:)
R/C Pro-AM!!!!
sorry, had to. i looove that game.
siri
If Rare's output has tanked since its days with Nintendo, why in the hell would Microsoft want to buy it? I smell a lemon, and it most certainly isn't lemony fresh, either.
Anyone got a hammer? It's time to slam another nail (albeit an early one) in the XBox's coffin. If noone bought Rare games when they were with the Mario bunch, what makes MS think that anyone's going to rush out and buy an XBox just to get their hands on more of the same? Apparently, according to the numbers, noone rushed out to get an XBox when MS bought up Bungie and made Halo an XBox-only title. They're more interested in shining MS off and getting Linux to load on it. That's the only positive reason I can see to buy one.
My prediction: The Rare name will all but disappear, save for the logos when games boot. Otherwise, it'll be nothing but Microsoft's latest lame attempt at the console market share they think they deserve. Smoothe move, Billy.
/. is becoming more of an entertainment venue, as I'm starting to read just for the "What bonehead move will MS pull next" factor. Somebody get the DOJ on the line and have them charge MS with "Lack of common sense..."
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
Does anyone remember how cool the Playstation was in it's first 2 years? How I miss those days. These days consoles aren't as fun as they used to be- they feel like Big Business. Every time I buy a game, I get the same creepy feeling I get when I buy a music CD and help out the RIAA a little. Ah well...
Now you will have to pay annual multi-user licenses for the next round of Rare multi-player games.
Nintendo sells their shares in Rare and top-off their coffers. They win.
Rare makes off with MS money, the finest money that money can buy. They win too.
MS gets a development house that used to turn out hits, but has floundered in recent years. Tim and Chris Stamper are leaving. That leaves Conker, Perfect Dark, and that's about it. No Donkey Kong or anything else owned by Nintendo.
About the only _real_ downside to Nintendo consumers (IMO) is that any sort of RC Pro-Am sequel will be an xbox exclusive. Boohoo. On a lot of the gamer website forums, this has been a huge non-issue for the past few days, since Rare hasn't been playing with the big boys in terms of game quality/quantity for quite a while.
< tofuhead >
It is still the dark of night.
If they buy Rockstar, THAT would be impressive. I'd consider an X-Box if they did that. Instead, they're buying Rare, who's hot new game sounds like some really, really horrible, drug-induced nightmare belonging to a 5 year old, combined with every other generic Japanimation-type game ever made.
Now Microsoft will be able to say what we already knew: "If it's good and it's Microsoft, it's gotta be Rare!"
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
One more company falls to the malicious evil conniving misuse of money we see so often from such an evil company.
Would "The Hottest Certification Since Sliced Bread" be a diploma in making toast?
Actually I think this has a lot to do with MS. They really shouldn't have been allowed to do such a thing. Sure, they haven't been able to make a single decent game themselves, but who cares when you've got $$$ like MS!
Please! Everyone buy an X-Box for the holidays, just don't buy any games. Hack it into a nice little Linux box.
With MS losing between $100 - $200 per machine, they are counting on people buying lots of games to make their money back.
Take the opportunity to get a nice $199 DNS, e-mail or web server.
Microsoft has money to burn -- give them the opportunity.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Here goes microsoft with their dirty tactics again... sigh.
not saying that SONY would not, if they had the money to do it -- oh wait, they DO have the money to buy a couple outside developers just for shits and giggles, but didn't.
Same story has happened before, guys... I remember back in the days when M$ literally parked a "hiring booth" in front of Borland and basically said "if you sign up right now, we give you 150% of what you are making and then a huge bonus (6 figures, maybe more)." look what happened to Borland.
As much as the Xbox is a better system (technology-wise) I would not buy it on principle. doing so is to encourage more of the bloodshed in the world caused by M$ that's already way-too-much. to paraphrase it -- Microsoft is the sickle that harvest the souls of computing.
Anyone who don't think you are suffering because of this game developer buy-out thing: remember: Halo was supposed to be released for PC first. and now Halo 2 is about to come out... where is the PC version?
My life in the land of the rising sun.
Have you ever seen Star Wars: Rogue Leader? And who says Nintendo is a ruthless/heartless company? For all I know they're 20 times more honest than Sony or Microsoft put together. Remember the original Playstation? That was going to be Nintendo AND Sony's venture until Sony STOLE the entire thing behind Nintendo's back. Good thing Nintendo knows how to make kickbutt games. Neither Sony nor Microsoft deserve to be in the industry. Good thing they have tons of $$$....
According to all of the corporate releases from Sony, Nintendo, and Xbox, the run down is as follows:
Sony has sold a bajillion PlayStations, PS ONEs (the little mini playstation), and PlayStation 2's. This is due to their early market domination and early release of the new generation console, the PlayStation 2. They are number one with total systems sold.
Nintendo did poor with the GameCube in some parts of Europe and Austraila, but sold very well in Japan and North America. Nintendo also sold a whopping 17 million+ GameBoy Advance systems before the close of 2001. The integration between upcoming 'Cube games and the 'Advance is again bolstering sells for both systems. Not to mention a boom in sells with 400,000 copies of Mario Sunshine being sold in the North American market. This places Nintendo at second with the most systems (counting both the GameCube and the GameBoy Advance) sold.
· Microsoft has just entered the market, and really only did well in the United States and certain parts of Europe. Sells are increasing with the last wave of title releases, however. Compared to Nintendo and SOny however, Microsoft is hardly on the map.
look for Banjo Kazooie and that squirrel Conker, and perhaps even the fairy on Rare's front page
1) Microsoft buys Rare
2) Makes Games
3) Profits.
4) Slashdotters get pissed because the question mark is missing.
1. Rare is notorious for long delays. How will MS(who expects 5 games in 2 yrs...ha ha) deal with a company that releases games when it wants to. Only Blizzard is more tardy in the # of delays.
.8 million (fall 2003) .4 million (summer 2003)
2. Since Goldeneye, the games haven't been major sellers(not even Perfect Dark blew the competition out of the water, maybe b/c N64 was dying at the time). Banjo 2, Conker, Donkey Kong64, and Jet Force Gemini got good reviews but weren't huge hits. Does Kameo look and sound like a 2 million seller? Perfect Dark 2 definitely but Kong Racing? Banjo 3?
Here's my prediction:
Perfect Dark 2 - 2.5 million (2004)
Banjo 3 - 1.5 million (Christmas 2003)
Kong Racing -
Kameo -
I doubt if Rare will be able to singlehandedly revive the Xbox the way it did with SNES. Rare just wasn't producing enough bang for each Nintendo buck. Yes, they have produced world famous games but the past 5 years have been lackluster. Also, much of the talent has left Rare, Nintendo weighed all of this and chose to sell off its stake.
"Nintendo decided to sell their 49% stake in the company last week rather than buy the company themselves."
It's not like they FORCED Nintendo to sell its stock. This is just seeing an oportunity to grab them cheap and increase revenue on MS's part. If you really want to yell at someone, yell at Nintendo, since they're the ones who SOLD it.
I'm trying to figure out if this affects any games I'd be interested in. What exactly is "Rare" - or, I mean, what games do they make. What games did they make?
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Man... you people just don't know your console gaming history. The playstation sold by sony and the joint "add-on" for the SNES that Sony and Nintendo developed was rejected by Nintendo. The only thing that the add-on had in common with the playstation was the fact that it had the same name. Woohoo Mario.. yeah... kick but game alright, NOT ANYMORE :).
The only company with excellent first party titles were Sega. Virtua Fighter, Shenmue, etc. They had some kick ass games :)
Hmmm... Pie...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Surely I wasn't the only person who feared that Microsoft had finally acquired the Holy Grail?
Is your browser retarded?
It amuses me when stupefyinly large purchases are made of software dev houses.
You can't Buy the TALENT!!! The talent flees! Even with golden handcuffs and stock options most flee like hell and create other startups or go contractor.
The companies languish. Halo took eternity to ship. Still is 3 years late for mac system! It was demoed in 1999.
Its hilarious.
The "visionaries" "art directors" "designers" all have locks of stock as do the vps, but the core grunt talent-gods do not... and they flee.
then the companies churn through "Directors of Technology" one per year like clockwork as they flounder.
ALL GOOD GAMES are made by high IQ people with a knack for talent at game coding and these quirky guys are rarely compensxated correctly or despise golden handcuffs and shackles... many of which do not AUTO-VEST if the companies are sold!
The idiotic firms think lack of auto-vesting options will keep their talented prima-donnas.... WRONG!!!!!! They do not do everyting in life for money.
They get the hell out and fast.
Then the companies imploded.
Companies REFUSE to give proper respect and rewards to the most vital talent, primarily from IQ envy, or agism against youth.
Its the "peter principle" incarnate.
I have kissed off millions of dollars a few times in my life. And i dont give a rip. I laugh at the dead companies I once worked for. All dead dead dead!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (and their stock worthless to the very end).
When taking the GBA out of the picture the Gamecube(from the last sales chart I saw) was slightly ahead of Xbox.
I have been submitting stories on this for the past week but they have been based on rumors. Only NOW did MS release the press statement. Slashdot was right not to post stories based on rumors of MS buying Rare.
Ahh...the mention of 'Rare' reminds me of playing good ol' Killer Instinct back in high school...anyone else remember those 47 hit killer kombos worth the 50 cents back then???
maybe its just me...
sigh...
X-Box Live. TechTV had it.
No. Nintendo is not a lesser evil.
http://www.gamersgraveyard.com/repository/oddit
Yes, there are some stupid lawsuits listed there, but I don't see anything comparable to enforced DRM, abuse of monopoly power against software companies, abuse of monopoly power against hardware manufacturers, undocumented routines built into the OS to cripple applications from competitors, etc.
I thought it read "Microsoft Buys Rare Sofa". Just the thought of Lazy-Boy XP makes me shudder.
Heck yeah I remember the Bungie buyout, Halo became one of the hottest console games I've ever played! Bring on MS-backed Rare products!
Did anyone else come across this same /. article saying "Microsoft Buys Rare Sorta", and now it says "Microsoft Buys Rare". Did the editors actually edit? That's it, I'm breaking open my dooms-day beer stash -- hell, it can't hurt.
i can just see it now...they're going to buy id its going to be halo all over again with doom III
Life sucks, but death doesn't put out at all....
--Thomas J. Kopp
Sega makes, and did make, some killer games, but you have to give it to Nintendo, they do crank out great stuff. Mario Sunshine was cool man, it's sitting on my desk now. If you don't beleed dat, just give it a try.
Play some Super Monkey Ball 1/2, Virtua Fighter 4, Sega Soccer Slam, or Sega Sports Tennis, then come back and post that comment again. I dare ya.
There's not much that's more fun (at least when it comes to video games) than getting three friends together and playing Monkey Fight 2 for a couple of hours.
I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep Dracula and Superman away.
Please, people, stop saying "they're abusing their power of monopoly!" Nintendo and Sony have been kicking the crap out of MS in the console arena. They can play the same marketing games that everyone else does as long as their console isn't most of the console market.
-- Bill "Houdini" Weiss
Come on now, there ain't nothing anti-competitive about a company dumping 375 million (thats 375,000,000) dollars on a has-been developer. If they had bought Sega and then released all of the Sega titles, ported, for "classic" prices (you know how a company repackages a bunch of old titles for 20 bucks), then that might be vaguely anti-competitive.
Oh, and since Slashcode is tossing in a space, you need to remove it.
Because MS is a monopoly, Apple is not. Also, MS has a habit of not playing nice w/ anyone so you can kiss all new Rare titles on other platforms goodbye going forward. GJC
Gregory Casamento
## Chief Maintainer for GNUstep
nintendo executives have given themselves a $375 million dollar bonus, and nintendo has filed for bankruptcy.
Runnin' On Empty
I read this over at GameSpot. Seems that SoFII is Xbox bound as well. The game will support Xbox Live and have multiple online modes.
I'm no huge fan of the Beast, but I have to concede that they are positioning themselves really well with the Xbox.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
How does M$ using 'monopolistic' tactics preclude or excuse Apple from doing the same ? The enemy of my enemy is NOT my friend by default.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
not saying that SONY would not, if they had the money to do it -- oh wait, they DO have the money to buy a couple outside developers just for shits and giggles, but didn't.
What kind of crack are you smoking, exactly?
Nintendo bought Rare, as well as a few other houses.
Sony bought Psygnosis (Wipeout), Square (Final Fantasy; major shareholder), Polyphony Digital (the guys who did Gran Turismo), Incog (Twisted Metal), Verant (Everquest), Red Zone (989 Sports), Naughty Dog (Crash Bandicoot), The Station (Online game center), RTIME Inc. (online game infrastructure company), Millennium (Medievil), Arc Entertainment Inc., Sugar and Rockets Inc. (Kurushi), and Contrail Inc.
(Wild Arms).
So, I guess Sony's customers are suffering because of this game buy out thing?
Or do you still claim that sony DIDN'T do this?
Coming soon - pyrogyra
There's a trucking company up here in Canada called Fluke, and their slogan is, and I'm not making this up, "If it's on time, it's a Fluke."
It's absolutely brilliant.
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
I agree with you for the most part, but I must say that Perfect Dark is a great game. Frame rate could have been quicker, but that was just because they pushed the N64 hard.
I keep an N64 around just for that one to be played in multi-player mode once in a while.
Blogging because I can...
Whoa, slashdot is SOOOOOOOOO slow on this story. I read about this last week and also posted it a couple hours ago (I almost didn't bother) to my website, which is located here. My post links to a story which links to inside Rare employee comments on the transfer.
Hacking the Network
And still Microsoft tries to enter and take over markets by expending large sums of money. Hopefully Microsoft's stock holders realize that if they have to spend these obscene amounts of money to get exclusive talent for their platform (like when they acquired Bungie), that they will have extrodinary issues being able to make any type of profit. While Microsoft management may be willing to lose excessive amounts of money - it simply defies logic as to why the stock holders haven't started asking questions.
I always find it funny when someone thinks they are so insightful and important, then they get to have their own ignorance thrown back in their face. Naughty Dog, Incog, Red Zone, Psygnosis, etc. How many game developers would you like me to list that Sony has purchased?
Let me guess - it's not "dirty tactics" when they do it, right?
Anyone else find the user ids of the parent and grandparent pretty ironic?
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
When Microsoft bought Bungie, it was to buy a "killer app" for the X-Box and nerf it's simultaneous PC development for fear it would show up the X-Box.
Throwing away money to assure exclusivity, same as with their acquisition of rights to FASA's BattleTech video game development (IP value, if nothing else... too bad they don't roll out Ralph Reed's BattleMech!)
Rare on the other hand has a whole one game announced and a legacy of Nintendo titles. Ultimately, it's just another shot fired in the console wars, rather than a loss to PC gaming, this time.
More good money after bad. Seems apparent, to me, that without their monopoly they couldn't shoot fish in a berrel. I can't recall where I've seen this strategy of spending money like crazy on to prop up a dying horse, but I do recall it's unusual in the extreme to see it succeed. They're hemmoraging cash and the estimates (from CNN) are they'll get 1.5 million units into the Europe-Middle East-Africa market, and Sony/Nintendo will cover the remaining sales of 12.7 million units.
IMHO Sony and Nintendo are smarter to leave much game development out of house, in the hands of garage developers everywhere, which fosters more creativity than:
It's practically a guarranteed failure.
What next? Steve Balmer running around on a stage, getting all sweaty and telling us how great the new X-Box Solitaire is? Actually, that might sell...
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I'd second his comment specifically *because* of those games. Super Monkey Ball was an interesting concept, but was nearly unplayable due to camera control and the sensitivity of movement. They might have improved it with SMB2 though, I haven't played it. The Virtua Fighter series was just another fighter, with no ingenuity. As for the rest of them, I hate sports games.
When did consoles become computers? Consoles are for playing!!
First and foremost, we will NEVER see a DK game on the Xbox. DK is owned wholey by Nintendo. The same goes for Star Fox. Nintendo owns these franchises and will never let them go. As for anyother game by Rare, all their recent games have been floops. There games since Goldeneye have been: DK64, Jet Force Gemini, Conker's Bad Fur Day and Perfect Dark. While some will say each of these games where great none of them sold well. Goldeneye eye was Rare's last great title. The fact that their newest game (Star Fox Adventure) took them this long (even starting as an n64 projected called Dinosaur Planet) should only tell people how bad they have gotten. They have had Cube dev kits longer than most any second party that Nintendo has and it took them this long to make a 20 hour game. Have fun with Microsoft Rare, you surely aren't needed by Nintendo and soon the Xbox crowd will get used to your massive delays and lack of strong selling titles.
Unstable Apps: Our Android Apps Don't Suck
donkey-kong is trademarked by nintendo
But even though Nintendo owns the trademark on the name and likeness of Donkey Kong, Rare owns the copyright to the 3D model of Donkey Kong used in Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Melee, and possibly other recent games. (Check the credits.) Now Nintendo will have to license something from Microsoft in order to make Super Smash Bros. 3.
Will I retire or break 10K?
and even more disturbing to me is the certain death of Conker:( I liked perfect dark's dual controller scheme, but when I had to duck to beat a training mission and couldn't find a way to do it with that control setup, I kind of lost interest.
conker's bad fur day, however, was one of the most entertaining games I've played.
I agree, that might well be the case.
I bought a GC because I was sick of the same 3 games (Quake, Command and Conquer, and Diablo) under different names with tiny differences on the PC, and the GC was recommended to me by another long-time gamer as having *real* new games. You know, games that are *different*, as distinct as chess is from poker. I remember when *every* game was actually a different game, not the same damned thing with different/more detailed/faster graphics.
I didn't expect to be so impressed with the graphical output, but I was. It's great. Nintendo should be hyping this up a bit more!
Well, no one's ever associated them with "well done"
1. Now all of a sudden a lot of really good games that may have been produced and released on different platforms are only going to be for the X-Box. I was hoping to see the PS2 doing a sequel to Perfect Dark or Conker's but I guess that won't happen.
2. This is EXACTLY what Microsoft needs for the floundering X-Box. So far the machine has had only a handful of decent games that are exclusive to the machine, and a whole lot being developed for all platforms. If I own a PS2, why should I bother getting an X-Box for a game that is available on my machine? The more imaginative developers jump on to the X-Box bandwagon (or in this case are lassoed and pulled onto the bandwagon) the better it is for the platform.
Whether any of this is a good thing I guess remains to be seen. Considering that nothing spectacular has been heard to be coming from Rare (at least any time soon), maybe this won't make a difference worth mentioning. Anywho, just my 2c. Agree or disagree?
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
Anyone who don't think you are suffering because of this game developer buy-out thing: remember: Halo was supposed to be released for PC first. and now Halo 2 is about to come out... where is the PC version? I could have sworn that Halo was originally supposed to come out for the Mac first not PC.
Hahahahahaha, what?
it's a representation of a Nintendo trademarked franchise
But Rare still owns the copyright on the 3D mesh that represents a character under a Nintendo trademark. If Nintendo wanted to make another DK game, Nintendo would have to make new 3D models from scratch.
Will I retire or break 10K?
And a Virtua Fighter would put Xbox squarely in the sights of many fighting game fans, since then DoA, VF, and Soul Calibur would all be available on one system. Add online opponents and tourneys, and they could potentially hand out more hats of money.
Wasn't all of the above allready avaliable on the Dreamcast some time ago? (And I don't need to remind anyone what happened to that system!)
"There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer
Donkey Kong is owned by Nintendo, not Rare. Nintendo will not allow a game to be released on the X-box starring one of its oldest characters. Rare will be making games like Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, etc.
Evil will always triumph over Good, because Good is DUMB.
You can't kill the boogey man.
What, as opposed to Sony paying MILLIONS to ensure that GTA3 would be exclusive to the PS2 (in the console market) until 2004?
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
Do you really think Rare came up with donkey kong?
He's been with us since the begining, and is a product of the same mind that came up with mario, zelda, and many of the orgional nintendo characters.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Rare lately has been making total crap games. It was a waste of $$ for MS to even buy them.
Jet. Set. Radio. Future. For. Xbox.
:P
I paid $300 for a console I hate just to play that game
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Stores cant keep them in stock since the release of Mario .. And this is just the first of many games.. Next up is StarFox, and then Metroid, and finally ..oO ZELDA Oo.. - Their sales were never lacking in Europe, and in fact, were always ahead of the XBox there. All around the world the machine that is known as Nintendo is starting to dominate. Sonys weak online push is backfiring with shoddy games like SOCOM (terrible reviews), and the only thing keeping that boat afloat is a few key games such as Kingdom Hearts and GTA3. MS and Sony will be dumping so much money into online services that will just flop. If anyones been watching all these new online games for both systems, they're getting slammed left and right because of realtime chatting with voice its nothing but swearing, the parents dont want it, and the games you cant coordinate without keyboards and typing - The sales for the PS2 keyboard have been dull simply because people have just decided for online games, nothing beats the PC. Nintendo played it smart and saw this a mile away. thumbs up, big thumbs up.
Whenever I'm talking with some gamers, and I bring up Rare, the general consensus is that Rare is some kind of development god. I disagree.
Rare's greatest achievement (in my opinion) was GoldenEye. GoldenEye is basically the best N64 game of all time. (The only thing keeping GoldenEye from perfection was the lack of multiplayer bots.) People will try to tell me that Perfect Dark is better than GoldenEye, but the graphics were worse, and the gameplay was like GoldenEye's, but just different enough to annoy me and make me want to go play GoldenEye again.
I liked Blast Corps and Star Fox 64, but GoldenEye is the crown jewel. Why is MS off its rocker, you ask? Because the team at Rare that was responsible for GoldenEye broke off and became Free Radical, who made TimeSplitters (and now TimeSplitters 2). TimeSplitters is, gameplay-wise, GoldenEye with bots and a level editor. Sadly for MS, TimeSplitters was released on PS2 as well, and TimeSplitters 2 is coming out for GameCube.
All the millions Microsoft paid are basically buying Perfect Dark 2, which is more or less the code for Perfect Dark with a few additions. Rare also has its undeserved reputation as a great development house.
Too bad MS wanted Rare's "legacy" all to itself, and paid $375,000,000 for it - and the true heir of GoldenEye is coming out for all three big consoles.
The point? Microsoft just doesn't care about the XBox. Its controller sucks, its games are subpar, and now MS is shelling out monstrous amounts of cash - that could have been paid to put another bug in Windows, mind you! - to acquire a paperweight of a development house.
Yippee.
The world can be wrong today for once.
1. is to wait and see the competitors flounder and stumble while getting their networks off the ground 2. learn from the mistakes 3. release Mario Kart Online(can't wait!)
Yes, there are some stupid lawsuits listed there, but I don't see anything comparable to enforced DRM,
Nintendo has always called emmulation illegal, and all nintendo systems have had DRM like technology to prevent people from making games without a license
abuse of monopoly power against software companies,
Remember when nintendo had a monopoly. You didn't make games unless you got permission from nintendo
abuse of monopoly power against hardware manufacturers,
Well, no one made the hardware but nintendo.
undocumented routines built into the OS to cripple applications from competitors, etc.
You were either with Nintendo, or your software wouldn't even run.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Speaking of Microsoft throwing cash around...
- 10 -23
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000
(Kameo didn't show the ability to fly in the NGC E3 demos....darn! We(GC owners who don't have the extra $200 to fork over for a 2nd console) missed out) Indy Heat NA NES Silversword NA NES Slalom 1986 NES Jeopardy! 1987 NES Wheel of Fortune 1987 NES Wizards & Warriors 1987 NES Anticipation 1988 NES California Games 1988 NES Cobra Triangle 1988 NES Double Dare 1988 NES Hollywood Squares 1988 NES John Elway's Quarterback 1988 NES Jordan Vs. Bird 1988 NES Marble Madness 1988 NES R.C. Pro-Am 1988 NES Sesame Street 123 1988 NES World Games 1988 NES WWF Wrestlemania 1988 NES Cabal 1989 NES Captain Skyhawk 1989 NES Iron Sword 1989 NES A Nightmare on Elm St. 1989 NES Pin Bot 1989 NES Sesame Street ABC 1989 NES Silent Service 1989 NES Super Off-Road 1989 NES Taboo 1989 NES Wheel of Fortune Junior 1989 NES Who Framed Roger Rabit 1989 NES Amazing Spiderman 1990 GameBoy Arch Rivals 1990 NES Beetlejuice 1990 NES Digger T. Rock 1990 NES Jeopardy! Junior 1990 NES Jeopardy! 25th Anniversary 1990 NES NARC 1990 NES Snake Rattle 'n Roll 1990 NES Snake Rattle 'n Roll 1990 Genesis Solar Jetman 1990 NES Super Glove Ball 1990 NES Time Lord 1990 NES Wheel of Fortune Family 1990 NES WWF Wrestlemania Challenge 1990 NES Battletoads 1991 NES Beetlejuice 1991 GameBoy Battletoads 1991 GameBoy High Speed 1991 NES Pirates 1991 NES Sesame Street ABC & 123 1991 NES Sneaky Snakes 1991 GameBoy Super R.C. Pro-Am 1991 GameBoy WWF Superstars 1991 GameBoy Championship R.C. Pro-Am 1992 Genesis R.C. Pro-Am II 1992 NES X The Ball 1992 Arcade Battletoads Double Dragon 1993 NES Battletoads Double Dragon 1993 SNES Battletoads Double Dragon 1993 GameBoy Battletoads in Ragnarok's World 1993 Gameboy Battletoads in Battlemaniacs 1993 SNES Super Battletoads 1994 Arcade Donkey Kong Country 1994 SNES Killer Instinct 1994 Arcade Donkey Kong Land 1995 GameBoy Donkey Kong Country 2 1995 SNES Killer Instinct 1995 SNES Killer Instinct 1995 GameBoy Donkey Kong Land 2 1996 GameBoy Ken Griffey JR's Winning Run 1996 SNES Killer Instinct 2 1996 Arcade Donkey Kong Country 3 1996 SNES Killer Instinct Gold 1996 N64 Donkey Kong Land 3 1997 GameBoy Blast Corps 1997 N64 Goldeneye 1997 N64 Diddy Kong Racing 1997 N64 Banjo-Kazooie 1998 N64 Jet Force Gemini 1999 N64 Mickey Racing Adventure 1999 GameBoy Donkey Kong 64 1999 N64 Perfect Dark 2000 N64 Perfect Dark 2000 GameBoy Mickey Speedway USA 2000 N64 Donkey Kong Country 2000 GameBoy Banjo-Tooie 2000 N64 Conker's Bad Fur Day 2001 N64 With the exception of Perfect Dark and DKC none of these post-Goldeneye games sold well. Even DK64 and PD didn't sell nearly as well as GE but that could be due to the dying console. However, I do hope for the best for Rare and MS.
That was going to be Nintendo AND Sony's venture until Sony STOLE the entire thing behind Nintendo's back.
Don't you mean, until Nintendo told them to fuck off?
The orgional PS was a pretty shitty deal for nintendo anyway, and they did the right thing in rebuffing sony. (Sony would get all the rights to CD game licenses, etc.)
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
a specialy modified version
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Example: Why would people want to buy a Xbox when they have PS2 as an option?" or "Xbox licensing fees are far less than PS2's" This is a common occurrence. A visitor from space would think there were two consoles and wouldn't realize that the #2 console seller was the Nintendo Gamecube and not Xbox. Furthermore, the biggest moneymaker for most of the past 5 years or so is *gasp* Nintendo. Folks, let's not ignore Nintendo's Gamecube.
It would be quite a feat to buy a compan with a $4 billion dollar bank account for 2.5 billion.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Interesting.
I remember Nintendo thanking Rare for supplying the 3D model in the credits, never specifially saying it was copyright Rare.
Either way, I'm sure the 3D model would have been one of the things Nintendo kept. Hell, they probably have the source to every Rare games since DKC1; they did own virtually half the company after all...
Yeah, damn straight. And who works for who now? ;o)
Never fight naked, unless you're in prison...
The PSX had an internal MPEG decoder (allowing higher-quality, fullscreen playback of MPEG files than the SH2-bound softdecoding the Sega Saturn used), a 3D acceleration engine based around triangles instead of quads. Its SH2 CPUs were slower (even if there were two of them, not all games took advantage of SMP), and its overall MIPS level was lover than than of the PSX. It was also very hard to program for, as the SMP locking was beyond most game programmers, or wasn't really as beneficial as Sega had hoped. A shame, because the SMP parts were more expensive to build -- which led to Sega losing money on each unit.
;)).
The PSX won because of its games, possible because 3rd party people had an easy-to-use developer kit which provided easy MPEG playback for cut scenes, an easier to write for 3D engine (triangles vs. quads againt, remember the NV1? It failed because it was quad-based), and because it was easier to write UMP games than SMP ones (although Yu had Virtua Fighter running with each processor computing one of the players' characters, this was the exception).
Sometimes, superior systems do win even if people seem to think something else was superior (although the PS2 is another discussion
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
You can always stop reading this site, or setup your own site which has to pay for its own bandwidth costs.
I mean, really, if they're wanting to give money away, who are you to question it? That's right, no one, because it's not your site, and you don't have to pay to run it. Thanks, YHL, HAND.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
This news is very interesting...
seeing as the fate of the xbox is determined on this christmas sales...
...and getting told by your boss, with a smile, that you now work for Microsoft instead. *twitch*
Hate me!
Microsoft always buy; and they always ruin (what they buy). What's amazing here is the nearly $400 million in cash. Looks like Gates will have to do without pizza next weekend.
I don't think MS are that stupid. This is a serious price tag, but a small %age of the cash already sunk into the Xbox, and a tiny %age of the MS fortune.
Remember that it only takes one game around Christmas to make or break a console. Sonic on the Sega was probably the biggest example of this - how many machines are out there in cupboards with JUST Sonic attached??
Rare have produced some amazing games in the past. If they have a pipeline full of concepts, part worked ideas, and part complete games that haven't made it into public knowledge yet maybe MS see another Sonic or two lurking in there...
Sure, a bunch of talent has moved on, and the last couple of years haven't been exactly rock and roll, but these things come in cycles.
Developers can and have left Rare. Anybody ever hear of Free Radical? It's a developement company composed of key members that made Goldeneye and Perefect Dark. The only good games I thought Rare ever had were those two. The Donkey Kong Country games just seemed like games where the goal is to collect stuff. The Banjo games seemed like Mario 64, with more collecting. Diddy Kong Racing was the worst of them all, Super Mario Kart 64... with more collecting... and I actually collected all the stupid coins with first place in all the races and I was awarded with... all the tracks mirrored so I could collect more wonderful coins... Does anybody see a pattern here? I don't think Rare has got much left.
We now might say that the probability of having those games ported to linux will be .. rare
______
One day your head will be your box, your brain will be your client, and all energetic problems will be solved...
The original team that worked on it left Rare to set up their own company - Free Radical. If anyone were still in doubt about TS2's heritage, it kicks off with you launching an assault on a Russian dam. I might also add that the game is quite fantastic (TS1 didn't really impress me) with an absolutely massive number of multiplayer options and characters. Even better than Goldeneye I promise.
Bad pun I know, but... :)
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Rare on MS leaves bad taste in my mouth. If i were stamper bros. i would feel so ashame.
.
Rare has 3 games left for cube. star fox adventures, and two gameboy games and then they done.
I never get xbox. I always own nintendo product for exclusive games. any thing else that is good i can get on pc so no need for xbox or ps2.
Egg Out,
not redhat, just..
SLACKWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't look at this in such a negative light, there are rumours that the two top folks at Rare are on about leaving anyway. Combine this with how long it will take Rare to get productive with the XBox and you can see that Nintendo have come out of this quite well. Programming Nintendo consoles can be a lot different to other consoles, getting used to using DirectX and all the other APIs will be a lot different to what they are used to.
When you have money to burn as M$ does, might as well use it, even if it fails, at least you get to stare at the flames.
Thereby drawing them ever closer to their goal -- wherever crappy software is sold, microsoft is close at hand! What a great idea. Nintendo dumps their stake because, big surprise, Nintendo cares about quality! Good for them, and I hope Microsoft has a great time figuring out that all the money in the world isn't what makes Mario cool.
sir_haxalot
stuff |
Would "The Hottest Certification Since Sliced Bread" be a diploma in making toast?
Looks that way. The decision to make Rare games proprietary demonstrated to me (once and for all) that BillCo still doesn't get it. It pushed me over the edge, so to speak, of a decision I have been considering for the past six months.
Back in the early-mid nineties or thereabouts, Gates turned his corporate behemoth on a dime to accept and embrace the internet, after years of denying that it was relevant. But now, they can't seem to figure out a way to embrace open source. Since even a dullard like me can see that proprietary systems will continue to lose market share, I am switching to open source.
I'm not really a web designer, I just play one on the Internet.
Also this adds up. MS will need over 1 billion PER YEAR just to keep XBox alive.
At least in this case, they were buying into the company to help them out of the sticky situation they got themselves into by making a poor and very expensive film, which put Square into dire financial difficulties. Can't blame Sony for that, IMHO
...Rare's development process can be summarized by a simple phrase:
"Stop N Swap"!
"I'm an old-fashioned type of guy. I worship the Sun and Moon as gods. And fear them."
Rare sucked anyway.
Capitalism: unequal distribution of wealth
Socialism: equal distribution of poverty
AFAIK, Halo for the PC has not been canceled yet. Information from Bungie employees indicates it's still on track.
If they decide to actually cancel Halo for the PC, then yes, I will agree that Bungie sucks. Until then, however, I will remember Marathon fondly and still hold out hope for a PC (or PC/Mac) Halo.
An AC wrote:
;)
> Isn't this what Apple did with Shake, Rayz,
> Cubase, Spruce Tech, etc...?
When Steve Jobs was asked what he was going to do with the results of his shopping spree, he said "Democratize them". Just what part of making media creation tools cheaper and easier to use do you have a problem with?
> Howcome when Apple does it it's a good thing and
> when MS does it it's a bad thing...?
MS has a monopoly, Apple doesn't. Legally, that is like comparing Apples to rotten oranges. There are different rules.
Also, Apple is fighting for the consumer against the DRM insanity that Microsoft champions.
And finally, many of the companies that Apple has bought get a nice home, the ability to maintain their own identities, and to continue to serve their customers.
On the other hand, when Microsoft bought Bungie and I went to their site to get help on the OS X version of Oni, I was literally told to get my help from a brick wall, which they helpfully provided a picture of! Grrrr!
Windows: "Go talk to my friend, an 800 pound monopoly-abusing gorilla!"
Mac: "And here's my good buddy, the 66,000 ton Godzilla!"
Godzilla: Stomp!
An AC wrote:
> that MS also had an itching to get Nintendo
> itself...
They already tried. Back in 1999, Microsoft tried to buy Sega. Then they tried to buy Nintendo. Nintendo politely told them they'd think about it.
In December 1999, an old friend returned to Japan and put his very large foot down on the deal. Seeing his most excellent wisdom, Nintendo sent Microsoft their refusal the very next month.
Who is the old friend that saved Nintendo from the jaws of Microsoft? Well, here is a poster for the game he did (with a certain large bug goddess) for Nintendo's SuperFamicon:
http://www.godzillatoy.com/posters/mothfam.jpg
Shinoda: "The age of Millenium."
Io: "What does that mean?"
Shinoda: "A thousand year kingdom. It wants to create a home for itself. There is one flaw in its plan: Godzilla."
"Godzilla 2000 Millennium", December 1999, (Japanese version)
1) Rare lack of titles and delays is directly related to the sub par hardware of the N64, realize this as SquareSoft did when they left 2) Perfect Dark is better then Goldeneye in every conceivable way other then framerate which again is directly related to the n64's hardware (Carts and RAMBUS memory did /. forget about the rambus?)
3) The Xbox is the most dominate peice of console hardware it uses a HD it has DVD it is not the N64)
4) Rare has 150+ employees the founders leaving doesnt matter they haven't coded anything in decades, wonder why there leaving? maybe because they'd like to retire with there millions morons.
5) Screw anyone that thinks Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Conkers Bad Fur Day, Jet Force Gemini are not some of the best games ever produced on the N64.
6) without the hinderance of carts and with the addition of the best hardware in the industery they will make 5 games in two years believe it or not I could give a shit what moronic linux anti ms nerds think. =)
7) Perfect Dark will sell as much if not more copys then Halo 2 and going by Halo 1's sales that over 2 million copies easy
8) The N64 was marketed at kids no wonder Conkers didnt do well or Perfect Dark since these are both mature titles, hmm MS markets the Xbox towards ADULTS where M rated games will sell more then on the cutesy tincy wincy lil GameCube.
In closing I find you nerds disturbing, the Goldeneye lisense is owned by the people that own bond there will never be another Bond game by Rare, also make note that the vast majority of you are idiots that know nothing about video gaming because your too busy running your pretty lil linux boxes... so screw your score of 4-5 you don't know jack shit about this topic unfortunately for you, you come off like morons. Keep your mouth closed nerd boys if you don't know what the hell your talking about =)
Ummm... they got plenty of trademarks. And that's what Microsoft has been missing. The XBox has no mascot (neither does PS2 admittedly, but they've tried soooo hard to change that). That's what they want. Recognizable names. The programmers and game designers aren't important to them.
"If the good lord had intended us to walk, he wouldn't have invented roller skates." -Willy Wonka
And the most probable failure point on the other consoles is also present in the X-Box. So, there's two parts that are going to break in the X-Box compared to the one in the competitors' boxes.
It's telling when they pretty much have buy companies (Bungie, now Rare...) to put "exclusive" games on their console.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Not hard to figure out. They help produce the movie and Square (who's game were exclusive to Sony's system) is grateful if it's successful and Square gets advertising.
If it fails, Square goes into financial straights and it's easier for Sony to buy up a big piece of it.
Either way, they win.
"If the good lord had intended us to walk, he wouldn't have invented roller skates." -Willy Wonka
How about Crazy Taxi? I think that's a great game.
And your comment about VF is harsh, since it WAS the first 3D fighter... If it seems to lack ingenuity, it's because it was there first.
no it doesn't. According to the article...
"Nintendo said last week that even though it has sold its Rare stake, it retains all intellectual property rights to the titles developed for its platforms by Rare, including well-known franchises like "Donkey Kong" and "Star Fox." "
So it looks like we can expect DK-cubed, Perfect Dark-cubed, etc...
J/K what's IE's percentage nowadays? 94% I'm praying that they'll support all W3C standards soon though. And not for cross-browser design issues. But there are zero books on Developing Webpages for IE.
Everything I read teaches the W3C ways. Like they should damnit.
-- taking over the world, we are.
$50 billion? I think that was it.. so let's see, they can buy 149 more Rare-like game development companies. Wait a minute, there aren't that many! Why don't Sony and Nintendo throw in the towel now, while they can still walk away with cash?
The XBOX IS a Windows PC in the living room!
Havn't you read anything about their plans for future versions of the XBOX? Maybe you should ask yourself what OS is running on the XBOX...
-- 2 Powerful Words: Extra Gravy
Any references to back this up?
Video game programmers from Europe RULE.
They are second to none in fun, intuitive games.
A close runner-up are the boys in Austin.
Back on topic:
Rare really extended the SNES's life, and pushed the limits of the system.
Donkey Kong Country (okay, so the sequels were just new art)
Killer Instinct
They also made great games for the N64, like Goldeneye. Being from PC land with Quake and all, I wasn't real impressed by the multiplay/graphics/play control but the rest of the world was!
Its been a long time since MS and Apple were enemies. I think that stopped about the time MS bought a large, but not controlling chunk of Apple
trying one last post before mailing in a bug report... ignore pls
You know, I honestly don't care what MS does in the game market. MS dominating the console wars won't force DRM down my throat, or force me to boot in to Windows to read those damn .doc files people keep sending me, or make me curse people for using those proprietary extensions to HTML that IE seems to love.
So MS is buying up game studios. I'll get over it. I've got better things to worry about, like the EULA on XP's SP1.
Thomas Galvin
"I'm rich!"
"I quit"
"I quit"
"I quit"
"I quit"
"I quit"
"I quit"
"I quit"
anti-lameness-filterness goes here...
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
I guess if they can't build a better mouse trap, at least they can buy up all the other mousetrap manufacturers out there and make them stamp an MS logo on them.
All during an Anti-Trust trial where they've been found guilty of abusing Monopoly power. Sigh.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Except...Naughty Dog is making Xbox games?...So...they WOULDN'T be Sony Exclusive?
Naughty Dog was only acquired last month by Sony.
Simon
Coming soon - pyrogyra
Microsoft already has Ken Lobb working in the upper part of the XBox development hierarchy... If anyone remembers Nintendo's "Killer Instinct" series of fighting games (originally developed to showcase the "Ultra 64" technology (which became the N64))... I believe Rare worked on this series with Nintendo, Mr. Lobb was also pretty involved with these as well (in addition to Donkey Kong Country, which Rare developed most of the technology for). (If anyone remembers the old promo video that Nintendo sent Nintendo Power subscribers when the series was first coming out) I don't know who owns the rights to the series, but I would put bets on Rare since Nintendo hasn't shown any interest in the series since KI2. Let's see, figthing games have been fairly popular on PS2 and SSB:M is still popular on GC. Would it be far fetched to say that MS would be looking to add a second fighting franchise alongside DoA? It could be possible on the grounds of Ken's experience in the past with Rare.
Insert Sig Here
Damnit. Perfect Dark is for shit without Rareware. In much the same way that the bond sequel was crap once EA bought the rights. POOPIE!
ancedote told by computer professor long (ha!) ago. he, IIRC, worked in borland and did not make the switch.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
Niklaus Wirth has lamented that, whereas Europeans pronounce his name correctly
(Ni-klows Virt), Americans invariably mangle it into (Nick-les Worth). Which
is to say that Europeans call him by name, but Americans call him by value.
- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...