Rare: Half the studio working on secret projects

Speaking to VideoGamer.com at the Develop conference in Brighton last week, Nick Burton, a senior software engineer at Rare, revealed that currently announced Rare titles only account for half the development studio.

Asked directly if Rare would be making a second Kameo title Burton replied: "This is where I have to be enigmatically vague. Never say never. I'll say that I'm not working on one at the moment. I'm not working on one at the moment. Doesn't mean nobody else is, but that doesn't mean they are either. Sorry. For the obvious PR reasons we can't talk about what we're doing now."

He went on to suggest that there's plenty going on behind closed doors at Rare that should have gamers getting very excited.

"All I can say is, you know about VP2 (Viva Piñata Trouble in Paradise), Viva Piñata on DS, Banjo obviously. There's a couple of things on the roster that are going to be pretty cool as well. Obviously you do the math. Look at the size and how big the Banjo team currently needs to be, how big our shared technology group and asset group are. Look at the number of games and how they're staggered and how many teams we have. There's about half the studio missing from the release schedule at the moment (laughs)," said Burton.

[InMyOpinion]

Would be cool if they did something a little more hardcore. Swap some of the color and furry animals for I don't know...blood? =)

[NO_PUDding]

Halo Fouriie?

[gaffyh]

I'm guessing a new perfect dark.

[Superfragilistic]

Conker is about as edgy as Rare gets, and quite frankly I like it that way. Plenty of blood and gore from everyone else anyhow... ;)

If you want hardcore you should really be asking for a Battletoads remake! :)

[Kratos Spartan]

That is one game I would love to see now. And give me Killer Instinct.

That Rash looks like a Pimple surrounded by Zits

[La Chance]

very disapointed to what they did with the new Banjo , the whole "vehicle" thing.I was REALLY hoping they were going to do some kind of real Banjo game.Just have to wait to see what it gives.

It would be cool if they made a new Pefrect Dark.I had the N64 but never played Perfect Dark , so want to see whats so ccol about it.

I heard PD zero was pretty bad.

[InMyOpinion]

I guess you are right when I think about it. We have enough gritty, bloodsoaked games coming out this generation. Battletoads would be cool but a new Conker wouldn't be too shabby either =)

[Silly Poor Xbots]

Poor Xbots

Poor Xbots, those half are still crying about M$ buying them.

Poor Xbots

[ukilnme]

Poor Us

Poor Us, once again you failed at your suicide attempt.

Poor Us

[ToastyMcNibbles]

@ silly poor xbots your comments are hilarious dude i always read them like its a poem and i love the repetition of "poor xbots"

[Pain]

so we make fugtasticly Crap on PC err XBOX 2...

Fixed.

[Superfragilistic]

"RARE : The GOOD Half of the Company left to Free Rad when M$ bought it.
so we make fugtasticly Crap on PC err XBOX 2... as opposed to Free Rad who went on to make Haze."

Fixed. ;)

You're makin me feel dirty! lol

[TOSgamer]

to Kameo and Perfect Dark in the works. I think both could be fantastic now that they aren't under the gun to deliver 2 launch titles.

[thenickel]

Well it would be nice to see a new Kameo, Killer Instinct, and much better Perfect Dark released. I have a lot of faith in rare and can't wait to see what they come up with.

[Superfragilistic]

Yeah they could turn Kameo into a real Zelda type franchise if they got some serious time and reworking with it. And a Jet Force/Killer Instinct game would be great.

There's so many other franchises they could be working on though. Blast Corps, Battletoads, Conker, Wizard and Warriors, Jetpac, etc...

And I suspect Banjo on XBLA is a test run with Nintendo, before they revisit the possibility of Goldeneye.

[Dark_Vendetta]

Conker 2! please let it happen!! Kameo 2 would be nice too by the way.
With Banjo3, 1&2 on XBLA, Viva Pinata 2, the new XBLA game (forgot the name), and the secret projects there is quite a lot stuff coming from Rare

[Superfragilistic]

Yeah it's amazing really, MS has a lot of secret projects that are starting to leak, which seems to indicate their in house development is starting to find its stride and rhythm... which quite frankly is about time!

Rare have three confirmed projects which given the quote above, suggests there's at least two if not three in the pipeline.

Lionhead have Fable 2 and the XBLA titles confirmed, but they have kept the Dmitri AI project and another project under wraps (Syndicate MMO please!). The selfish part of me would love to see a streamlined version of "The Movies" where I could cast my Avatar and others into my machinima and share over Live.

Turn 10 have been exceptionally quiet, but it appears they are well into Forza 3 and perhaps another IP (PGR?).

Bungie whilst now third party remains very tight lipped about at least three projects published by MS that speculate as Halo FPS/TPS, remake of Oni/Marathon, and fresh IP.

Wingnut (Peter Jackson) has the one confirmed Halo: Chronicles project, and in addition is signed to do an original exclusive IP to boot.

Lots of rumours to think about! lol

[thenickel]

Did you say blast corps lol? That game was one of my favorites back in the day.

[Superfragilistic]

Certainly did mate. Rare have done so many great games it's not funny. I still remember Marble Madness, Battletoads, RC Pro Am, Snake Rattle n Roll, Digger T Rock, and Wizards and Warriors on the NES like it was yesterday! :)

And yes Blast Corps, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong Country, Banjo Kazooie/Tooie, Donkey Kong 64, Jet Force Gemini, Killer Instinct, and Conker were all exceptional titles/franchises on Nintendo consoles, and almost all are personal favourites! lol

Have a trip down memory lane and go to http://www.rareware.com/ and then click "Timeline" for all their titles. :)

Or you could be boring and go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wik... but it doesn't have that Rare kitsch! ;)

In fact the only other developer I've loved as much, but on PC, was Bullfrog and imo its spiritual successor, Lionhead. Maybe I just love the way Poms make their games! lol

[PirateThom]

I find it hard to get excited for Rare games, considering their last great game was like Perfect Dark or Banjo-Tooie?... they haven't released anything of note in like 8 years, so I refuse to get excited for anything Rare puts out.

Unless the secret project is an enhanced remake of Jet Force Gemini, then I really don't care too much.

[fredy]

with your comments...i doubt.

[mepsipax]

JET FORCE GEMINI, man that game was amazing, like mind boggling amazing, awesome gore, hilarious, huge enviroments, lots of exploring, awesome weapons, a dog in a tank, cute teddy bears (that you could blow up) man, how did that get a T rating, but rare has mad lots of good titles after the two you mentioned such as conker, kameo, star fox, and VP, while their not as great as the 64 and before era there still completely solid.

[juuken]

Killer Instinct 3?

And yankeespawn...open zone is that way-->

[predator]

@yankeespawn - Midway pubslihed the games on Aracde as they helped develop them, Nintendo publsihed the games on Snes and N64 and above all Rare own the IP so this has nothing to do with Midway or Nintendo

[Le-mo]

It bothers me to see Microsoft releasing games on their competitor platform (Nintendo). Case in point, Viva Pinata and Blue Dragon.

[predator]

they don't see the DS as compition as they don't have an hand held out in the market...if they did that would be a different story

[Superfragilistic]

Correct Predator, but they also view it as a "gateway drug" by exposing handheld gamers to Microsoft franchises and hoping they will in turn move on to the 360 in the future.

It's also a nice way to smooth relations with Nintendo, so as to get some of Rare's previous titles across to XBLA, such as the recently announced re-release of the original Banjo Kazooie.

EDIT:

@Predator. Read my early comments. The DS and XBLA relationships are clearly paving towards the future for titles that may include Goldeneye. If Nintendo sees good money generated by Banjo XBLA and the DS games boost its lineup, their tune could change very quickly. :)

[predator]

they still need to sort out the Goldeneye fiasco otherwise nintendo are just $%^&

[Kratos Spartan]

Micro and Ninty should move in together. You know, to test the waters of a relationship before getting married and become a single force.

[mepsipax]

but for goldeneye to be released there needs to be more than M$ and Ninty embracing each other, well lets see, first you need to get permission to use the pierce brosnans image, rights to the bond games license which Activision? now owns, and on top of that Ninty and M$ need to love each other so I don't see it happening, instead of complaining "oo boohoo no goldeneye" why not get perfect dark released on XBLA, well lets see, more cooler weapons, better multiplayer, more gore, better graphics and better story. sure goldneye is the original but why steal a chicken when you can just steal its eggs, haha that made no sense.

[Kratos Spartan]

i wasn't being serious, just being silly. WHEW!!! Fanboys on here are just waiting to attack those keyboards in the event someone mentions a certain company. Too much seriousness. This site needs more humor to it. Sit back, relax, and let ya toes rest.

[predator]

Killer Instinct 3 and Perfect Dark 2 are a given....well KI3 better be

[kewlkat007]

..That's what they are good at.

KI3 would also be nice with a Joypad on XBL.

[titntin]

I'd like to think Killer Instinct 3 would be a great title, but MS is pretty keen on using rare to develop 'family' IP's, so maybe this might not happen?

I've not been blown away by Rare's output over the last few years, so I would genuinely welcome a return to great form! A much better Perfect Dark game would have appeal, and I'd be happy to see another Conker's game with the same great humor!

It will be enough for this year to try out the new Banjo game for myself, and play the new pinyata title , anything further to look forward to for next year is a bonus. Fingers crossed for a Killer Instinct title though!

[jay2]

Just hang in there guys, you'll find out whats coming very soon.

[kingme71]

At least he is succinct and to the point.

Well, I'm not working on this project, but others could be, just because I say it's not me doesn't mean it can't be others. Others could be working on something that I can't talk about or maybe I'm just not going to talk about what others could be working on if they are really working on anything else.

[SwiftArsonist]

im pretty sure its gonna be KI3 and Pefect Dark Zero 2, especially the last one given the popularity the genre has.

[Superfragilistic]

I really want a KI3 but it doesn't really fill a strategic need.

A new FPS IP or a much improved Perfect Dark for Holiday 09 on the other hand would make a lot of strategic sense, and fill the MS FPS void, if there is no Halo FPS come Holiday '09.

But I think tintin is right. We're likely to see more family friendly orientated games... although Conker is a very strong and unique IP that could differentiate itself in the market.

[Mcrmarcher]

off topic but i wish Goldeneye would come to psn or live, dam that be would be so sweet.

Id love killer Instinct 3, that was my favourite fighting game of all time, fulgore kicked so much @ss.

[Jdoki]

This is going to sound like a whine unfortunately, but I was a huge Rare fan back when they developed for N64, and even when the were Ultimate Play the Game on the Speccy, so it really does pain me to say this... but,

Instead of having half the team working on secret projects, why not stick the WHOLE team on one or two projects and actually get them released!? Rare's output has been lacklustre at best - which would be almost forgiveable if they also released games fairly frequently.

Kameo was good, but hardly AAA especially considering the length of development. Perfect Dark was rubbish. Viva Pinata was a good start, but needs expanding hugely so we'll see what the sequel brings. Not exactly an amazing line up of games from the company that created Blast Corps, Jet Force Gemini, TransAm, Knight Lore, Alien 8 etc etc and etc!

The company really started to decline around the time of StarFox Adventures, but by that time a lot of the key staff had already gone on to new things.

Nintendo must have laughed all the way to the bank when they offloaded Rare to MS.

[Superfragilistic]

"The company really started to decline around the time of StarFox Adventures, but by that time a lot of the key staff had already gone on to new things... Such as Haze."

Sorry I couldn't help myself. ;)

Rare are a great developer, that have struggled under the pressure of new and very different owners. I wouldn't fret though. From all indications we'll be seeing at least five titles from Rare in the coming year and a half. And MS seems much clearer on their direction and supporting their studios much better than in the past

When you play Banjo you'll realise Rare is very much back at the top of their game. It's exceptional. Along with Viva Pinata and the secret projects, Rare is very much building momentum not seen since the N64 days.

Patience is a virtue that will be well rewarded. Trust me. ;)

[mepsipax]

I personally love star fox adventures, just I don't like it because that's when rare started it's feud with nintendo, I mean come on, Miyamoto was stupid for telling rare what to do with their game, they probably sold more games than nintendo did during the 64 era, than shiggy just says, "hey look you guys created an new IP, um, your main character looks like star fox, so if you wouldn't mind, change him to star fox." but as for rare working on secret games, awesome, while the rare team has been hollowing over the years, they still are a better than average game dev, it's just that they can't live up to what they created before, Jet Force Gemini is probably my favorite game of all time, in fact 5 out of 10 of my fav games of all time are rares on the 64. I personally think rare misses nintendo, Nintendo gave rare lots of love, like ninty owning 49% of rare instead of M$ owning 100% M$ also tells rare what to do with their games a lot while ninty let rare do their own thing (except for dinosaur planet)
as for superfrag, yeah forget haze, and remember time splitters.
wow long rant, and don't see what I was trying to say here but,
JET FORCE GEMINI FTW!!!

[Jdoki]

Well, I didn't say they had moved on to good new things! :)

There's developers taking their time to get things right, and there's devs who just don't have the skills any more. If they nail it with Banjo - that's one AAA title in what? 7 years? (2001, Conkers Bad Fir Day).

Are we really supposed to wait 7 years for each AAA Rare game? I don't expect them to be churning out AAA like in the N64 days - but their output for the last TWO generations has been mediocre... Grabbed by the Ghoulies is an embarrassment to the company who produced so many quality titles.

And how long was Kameo in development for? Originally for the PS1 wasn't it? Then the N64, then the Gamecube and finally it splats on to the 360... and what we got was pretty average game. The hardware wasn't the issue, the core game mechanics were flawed, and overall it was just so, meh!

Rare are now over-rated, their glory days are gone, and it'll take more than Banjo's nuts(!) to convince me otherwise!

[Superfragilistic]

I think saying Rare's glory days are over is a bit extreme to be honest. Rare like every other developer has had it's ups and downs, if not a hell of a lot more. And I beleive such behaviour to be cyclical.

Remember the NES/GB period where they produced 60 odd games in five years? How many of those were AAA as opposed to shovelware? And then look what came after it... the ground breaking CGI platformer Donkey Kong Country on SNES in 94, followed by the N64's Blast Corps, Goldeneye, Banjo, Donkey Kong and Jet Force all in the space of five years! Followed by Perfect Dark and Conker over the next two years.

My point is that when Rare dropped the Spectrum in '85, and whilst they had a number of mild hits on the NES over the next ten years, the period is largely comparable to the early MS period efforts Conker, Viva Pinata, Kameo and Perfect Dark over the significantly shorter period of 6 years.

It took them nearly 10yrs from the original Nintendo agreement to hit their stride and start churning out the hits I mentioned earlier, it appears to be much the same case here (although I'd argue VP is AAA).

If the pattern were linear, I'd say wait till 2012 for Rare to really hit their stride, but Banjo Kazooie, Viva Pinata 2 and the vast rumours on other titles appear to suggest Rare is starting to build that momentum we saw in 94 in the SNES and then accelerate onto the the N64. In fact it's ironic that both are signalled by a genre breaking platformer with 2008's Banjo 3 compared to 94's Donkey Kong Country.

Does that mean we'll have to wait for the Xbox720 to see Rare's newfound Glory Days? Maybe. But that means we'll get all the AAA titles akin to the SNES whilst we wait. Of which VP2 and Banjo 3 certainly are.

I'm happy to see Rare get stronger and stronger each year, because it very much looks like a Rare Renaissance is taking place... now if only we knew what the secret projects were?! lol

And Bubbles for the discussion. :)

[Jdoki]

Well, I really hope you are right Super! :)

Sounds like you've been around since back in the day, as have I, so I'm sure you can understand any frustrations regarding Rare/Ultimate's previous gems compared to recent output.

I'm cautiously optimistic about Banjo, seems like a good premise. VP2 is something to look forward to if they seriously address the limitations of the original... One of those secret projects better be a new Blast Corps (if they still own the IP - maybe it's a Nintendo franchise - in which case Nintendo better get the game out for the Wii!)

(Also good to have a discussion on N4G - bubbles back!)

[Raoh]

master chief and kazooie maybe? the quest for cortana?

[Xi]

there's more then enough remakes on the market.

I would love to see rare make a new fps IP or action adventure IP. Perfect dark suffered having an engine designed to run on the original xbox, but it still looked quite good, and I'm sure with the added time they have a great engine.

I think that a developer that sits in it's niche for too long begins to get lazy and I really can't wait to see something new from rare that isn't an action adventure game.

[from the beach]

Good to know there's at least some possibility of a Kameo sequel, it was rather an underrated game.

[BlackIceJoe]

I so hope for a new Killer Instincs plus there was a rumor that Rare was working on a new Perfect Dark. PDZ did sell over a million after all so I would not be surprised to see another one.

[TheColbertinator]

Secret projects?

Killer Instinct!

[PoorDroids]

Nice. The first Kameo was awesome. And I could use another HD showpiece. That game is still one of the most mind blowingly amazing-looking games out. Hard to believe it was a 360 LAUNCH title. Rare have some of the most amazing artists in the industry. And even though PDZ wasn't a AAA game, the graphics were f*cking godly. Two of the best-looking games I've ever seen. Period.

Will definitely buy the sequels.

[Isaac]

Rare has gone downhill ever since Star Fox Adventures, that was the worst game I have ever played. Hopefully Banjo Kazooie and KI3 will be good, but even then I do not have high hopes. I doubt Banjo will be revolutionary, much less KI3.

[jinn]

nothing is a secret, the next day there will be a leak about it in an article