Rare Producer On Conker, Kameo, Ghoulies

Thanks to C+VG for their interview with Rare's producer at Microsoft, Ken Lobb, getting in-depth about the developer's Xbox-exclusive titles following its acquisition by Microsoft last year. As for Conker: Live And Uncut, it's suggested that: "To all intents and purposes, when we showed Conker at E3 that was a prototype", and that much more work is being done on the game. Kameo:Elements Of Power's perceived delays are also discussed, eliciting the comment: "We thought there was some chance that either Kameo or Conker might make it this year, but we knew it was pretty low", and the near-Gold Grabbed By The Ghoulies is pegged as misunderstood after its E3 showing, with Lobb suggesting "...you really need to play the game for a while" to appreciate it. Finally, Perfect Dark Zero is "just too early" to discuss.

Comments

Might not be a classic but....

[nsideops]

I'm actually interested in Grabbed By The Ghoulies. It reminds me of two of my favorite games from way back in the day. Zombies ate my Neighbors and The Haunting: Staring Polterguy. The new game Ghost Master actually resembles The Haunting quite a bit, but I havn't played it yet.

Re:Might not be a classic but....

[SpookWarfare]

I spent some time with Grabbed By The Goulies at E3 and found the gameplay to be very satisfying -- if I recall correctly it had a two-joystick control scheme that reminded me a bit of Robotron 2084 and Smash TV. Also, the design and overall dark, yet kidfriendly (read Edward Gorey) visual style seemed very promising.

Are the games ever going to come out?

[hibiki_r]

Rare is known to use Duke Nukem Forever-like development schedules. It's the main reason it got them in trouble with Nintendo in the first place. It's been a year since they've been working on the XBox, and they've already pushed Kameo back to 2004. Are they ever going to release anything worthwhile?

I don't know about you guys, but I'm not sure MS made a good deal buying Rare. With their best developers gone, are we going to see anything good from them? I sure hope so, but I'm less and less confident every month.

Re:Are the games ever going to come out?

[_Sexy_Pants_]

A lot about Rare games are hype in my book. It started at about Banjo Kazooie. Maybe it was just way too annoying atmosphere-wise but I wasn't entertained at all. But then Donkey Kong 64 came around, and it sucked. Perfect Dark was good fun when it had a playable framerate, and from there we've had Star Fox adventures. That leaves us with the Donkey Kong Country series (which made the Gamespy overrated list) and Goldeneye, which I will never badmouth. They're beautiful games, especially on the horrible looking N64, and they were marketed extremely well, but Goldeneye is the only masterpiece in there in my book (I've exluded Blast Corps. I actually kinda liked that one)

Re:Are the games ever going to come out?

[metamatic]

Yeah, and Goldeneye's developers left long ago.

Re:Are the games ever going to come out?

[Anonymous Coward]

Goldeneye was the last GREAT game to come out from Rare. And considering that most of those guys that made it are gone from Rare, I don't think MS made a wise decision, but making something great will come out of it. I don't really care because I don't even own an Xbox.

Re:Are the games ever going to come out?

[Anonymous Coward]

"They're beutiful games, especially on the horrible looking N64."

You're crazy. The N64 was a way better poly-pusher than the Playstation and Saturn. Eh. Maybe you're one of those texture guys.

Re:Are the games ever going to come out?

[Anonymous Coward]

You have that backwards. The PS could pump out a higher number of raw polygons, while the N64's polygons looked better because it could actually do something with the textures on them.

Don't misunderstand; I prefer the N64. But don't delude yourself into thinking that it completely outclassed the PS.

Re:Are the games ever going to come out?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, of course I wasn't talking about raw 1x1 untextured polygons, the way Sony and Microsoft reps always do when they talk about their systems. We're not talking about Jumping Flash-era graphics, we're talking about modern games like Goldeneye, that obviously use plenty of effects.

With almost all effects enabled save maybe one or two, the N64 was capable of pushing something like more than 250,000 polygons per second. With comparably inferior effects enabled, the Playstation was still stuck at 150,000 polygons per second, tops. And the list of effects that the Playstation couldn't handle that the N64 could do in hardware is quite long.

And when I talk about textures, I'm talking about the higher-quality textures (not texture effects) that were sometimes possible on the Playstation, because of the CD format. N64 textures were often compressed to accomodate the cartridge format. Had the N64 used a CD format, it would have had no weak points against the Playstation, graphically, when dealing with non-primitive games.

Rare Taking Too Long?

[Babbster]

To those detractors who keep harping on Rare's record on extended development time, I would suggest that berating them in the case of their Xbox titles is out of line.

We should try to be a little fair with Rare (apologies for the rhyme). They've been developing for the Xbox for a little over 12 months, and when you're trying to make good games that will hopefully at least approach ridiculously high expectations (some folks seem to think that every game Rare does should be another Goldeneye) it's going to take some time.

The truth is that if they manage to release a game this year and at least two (Conker remake and Kameo - MAYBE Perfect Dark Zero) next year, then they will be doing well as long as all three are at least good (3/4 stars, 80/100, whatever scale you like).

It should also be noted that Microsoft and, by extension, Rare are more than likely looking down the road a piece toward the Xbox 2 in addition to their already announced Xbox titles. It wouldn't surprise me at all if at E3 2005 Microsoft showed off a demo of a Rare launch title for their next console.

Re:Rare Taking Too Long?

[ziggles]

Um.. they basically said they're not releasing any games this year. Perfect Dark Zero will most likely be an XBox 2 game since I doubt they'd want to repeat their n64 mistakes (releasing big games too late in the console cycle to really make it worthwhile). So we've got a suped up n64 port(conker), Kameo, and GbtG this generation. Woo. I'm sure Nintendo is real upset they don't have Rare anymore.

Re:Rare Taking Too Long?

[Anonymous Coward]

I know you're ending remark was meant as sarcasm, but I think it's important that people don't forget something. Nintendo refused to buy Rare off when they were given the first offer, because they had been unable to produce any good games, their production cycle was too long, and their talent had come into question. They basically divested themselves of a rotten limb.

Microsoft (over)paid for Rare because of the brand recognition and the guaranteed software releases. Considering the amount of money they have, it was a drop in the bucket. Even if it turns out that the decision was wrong/stupid (and for the record, yes it was), nobody cares. Everybody loves Microsoft, right? Rare "chosing" to develop for the Xbox proves it!

Re:Rare Taking Too Long?

[Babbster]

Um, no, they basically said they're releasing ONE game this year. Grabbed by the Ghoulies is nearly done and will be released before Christmas. Nowhere in the article is any indication that Ghoulies has been pushed back into 2004.

Whatever you think about the Conker remix, you should keep in mind that a large (LARGE) number of people have never played it because the N64 never managed to get traction while competing with the Playstation. Also, he stated in the article (if you indeed RTF thing) that Conker was NOT just a port and in fact would be an essentially new game (the multiplayer, including online) combined with a remake of the single-player game:

"It's not like Rare's taking the N64 game and just porting it over either - this is a whole new engine, all new art, new control - and it's called Uncut for a reason..."

I don't disagree that it's possible that PD Zero could be pushed back to the Xbox 2, but I don't see that as a bad thing. Next year is loaded to the gills with highly anticipated releases, so anything Rare releases will be icing on what is shaping up to be a tasty 2004 cake.

Going for the Best

[Omega037]

Rare has made some of the best games ever in the past(Goldeneye, DKC). We know they are capable of great things, so I'd rather that they take the time to use the maximum of their abilities to make another truly great game. Too many games that could have been great have flopped because the hype and pressure to release early forced the game to be completed too soon. However, I would warn them not to pull a Duke Nukem Forever and wait so long to get it out that all hype has passed.

However, if DNF comes out and is groundbreaking and one of the best games ever, then I think the wait will have been worht it.

categorized

[Anonymous Coward]

A complete guess on where these games are coming from given the description of the games and their transition from Nintendo to Microsoft:

Grabbed By The Ghoulies - As a first Xbox outing, it's a new IP that's largely a sacrificial lamb, a learning experience to get them up to speed with the Xbox. This way they get to test out the full Xbox development process and make sure they know what they're doing so that nothing unexpected happens with the other games.

Conker: Live And Uncut - The game that they want to make and have fun playing. This game screams fun if you're old enough to appreciate a drunk and surly squirrel. If you'd seen the N64 version - wow. Had me wondering how the hell they crammed it into a cartridge. They had *so much* content. They also took many risks, and it all worked wonderfully for some people (like me), but unfortunately seemed to fall flat for most.

Kameo:Elements Of Power - The game they feel that they should be making / have been told to make now that they're owned by Microsoft. Cutesy crap, etc.

Perfect Dark Zero - The long-term masterpiece, following in the footsteps of their smash-hit Goldeneye. If it's a *very* long way off, could this possibly have a debut on Xbox 2 in 2006-ish?

5 Games in Two Years, remember?

[unclethursday]

Anyone remember this press release?

"With today's announcement, Rare becomes the latest member of a star-studded lineup at Microsoft Game Studios, joining such prestigious worldwide developers as Bungie Studios, the masterminds behind the smash hit "Halo(TM)," named Game of the Year by Electronic Gaming Monthly. Rare's first creation for Xbox, "Kameo," is expected to reach store shelves next spring. Also under development is the highly anticipated sequel to "Perfect Dark." The company is expecting to develop at least five games over the next two years in a variety of genres, including racing, shooters and platformers."

Well, let's see, been just over a year, and no games yet. If Rare is to keep its promise, that means we need to see 5 games come out from them for the Xbox before September 2004.

Somehow, methinks this ain't happening.

Thursdae

Re:5 Games in Two Years, remember?

[Anonymous Coward]

The bit you quote mentions one release. The rest of the games they only promise to "develop"...

Someone needs to step up.

[August_zero]

And so Rare is right back up to their old tricks.

I was one of "those guys" that actually liked aspects of Conker for N64 (the multiplayer was great) Jet Force Gemini, while a seriously flawed game, is still one of my favorite N64 games. This rash of delays and push backs is nothing new though, Rare has been playing this song for nintendo for years and it is one of the reasons that the Big N cut them loose. They produced some of the most memorable games on the N64, and did some class A work on the SNES and NES back in the day. What has happened to this studio?

What Microsoft needs to do, is kick their asses a little. Pick one of their projects, (Perfect Dark is a strong candidate) put the others on hiatus, fire the management, and set an ultimatum. (similar to what nintendo did wit retro studios when Metroid Prime was in it's infancy) What good are all of these games going to do if they don't come out until 3 months before the x-box 2 releases?

Then again, maybe Rare just doesn't have it anymore, their E3 display was a joke, and now they are saying that their flagship title is years off yet? Maybe these guys should get jobs working on the Phantom over at infinum labs or whatever they call themselves, i bet they would fit right in.