Rare all but confirmed to have left Nintendo says IGN Cube.

They say Nintendo did not choose to entirely buy it Rare (which it previously owned 49% of), and that an announcement would be made later this month at the X02 Xbox event in Spain. Also some company, (hopefully not Microsoft) will have to purchase or at least set up publishing contracts with Rare. At this point nothing has been officially released from Rare, Nintendo, Microsoft or any one else but IGN says it has industry insider verification of this from various sources. They say they "stake [their] reputation on it."

Oh well, I guess lately Rare hasn't shown anythign that great. The only game I'll miss is Perfect Dark Zero, but the article says that Perfect Dark is a trademark of Nintendo so Rare might not get to keep that. I hope Nintendo will do something good with the money it saves from not investing in Rare. Kinda sucks though.

 

Hehe, now all those fanboys who have been in denial since last Christmas can have closure. The IGN boards must be in an uproar right about now. I can just picture the Rare hate threads on the Cube boards. The writing was on the wall. Now the reasons to own a Gamecube have significantly dropped. Guess Nintendo wasn't kidding when they hinted that the Cube would be their last console. Rare has no other choice if it wants to survive. They have to jump ship if they want to keep making games. What were they going to do? Stick with the Cube for it's 7+ year life span while Sony and Microsoft whip out their new systems with better tech.

Edit: Got this from IGN's free board:

>>>No more rumors.

September 11, 2002 - In past months, UK development studio Rare has been the subject of a seemingly endless stream of rumors, all of them suggesting the company would break from Nintendo's wings and possibly join with a new publisher. Now we have the full story, anonymously confirmed by numerous credible, high-level insiders. The reports are true. We stake our reputation on it.

Nintendo, formerly a 49% shareholder in Rare, had the chance to purchase the company outright nearly a year ago, but refused, according to high-ranking sources. With Rare software contributions amounting to only 9.5% of total revenues in Nintendo's fiscal 2001 year, and a miniscule 1.5% in fiscal 2002, the publisher weighed the benefits and drawbacks of making additional investments in Rare and decided against it.

Rare went on the market. Publishers bid on the company. Activision and Microsoft were both interested in acquiring Rare, but it was Microsoft who won out and delivered the asking prices for the developer and Nintendo's 49% stake in it. Nintendo sold all of its shares in Rare, according to insiders, and the studio's second-party status was terminated.

The obvious questions then: why all of the secrecy and why haven't Rare, Nintendo or Microsoft made any announcements? The truth is that the details have not been finalized. Insiders allege that Nintendo and Rare are still haggling over licenses, and specifically whether or not Rare will be able to purchase the properties it worked on under the Nintendo brand, including Perfect Dark and other trademarks Nintendo holds. Franchises and characters created and owned by Nintendo, of course, including Donkey Kong, will remain in Nintendo's control. An official announcement, though, is not far off. The latest word is that the news will be made public at Microsoft's X02 Europe event which begins September 24 in Seville, Spain.

Meanwhile, sources indicate that Nintendo plans to utilize some of the money it made in the selling of its Rare shares to entice other development studios to make GameCube software, fund new games, and more. The company's de-emphasized focus on a second-party model and its new partnerships with Namco, Sega, Capcom and others exemplifies its change in development philosophy, and leaves no room for an expensive investment in Rare.<<<

So Microsoft bought them. The more developers the better for Xbox. Although personaly I've always found Rare to be overated.

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I hadn't really believed the rumors up until recently, but now I'm fairly sure Rare's going to end up in Microsoft's hands. Which isn't necessarily bad, as I'd love to see what they can do (PD0 omg) for the Xbox, and of course Nintendo doesn't have to rely solely on them any more for good products. They have Capcom and Square back doing work for them. I really can't see anything that's overly-bad about this situation, but I'd rather see Rare being a neutral third party and dishing out quality titles for all systems.

 

I'd also rather see Rare as a neutral third-party developer, but I don't think this is such a huge blow to Nintendo. Rare hasn't really produced anything remarkable in a while and I believe the Goldeneye team left the company and joined the developer of TimeSplitters 2. And for me at least, Nintendo's first-party titles are more than enough reason to own a Gamecube.

While I am an Xbox owner, I find Microsoft's attempts at buying out third-party (and first-party[!]) developers a little questionable. For a while they were aggressively trying to buy out major developers like Squaresoft and even Nintendo, which was shades of the same thing that got them busted by the U.S. government. There's really no danger of a Microsoft monopoly in the console industry, but Microsoft has proven that it has vast resources of money to throw around and doesn't mind burning it just to claim a portion of the market, so that makes me a bit wary.

They're already predicting substantial losses with the release of the Xbox 2, yet they're still going ahead with the project. I dunno, I guess I find it strange for Microsoft to announce their next system when their current one is still miles from turning a profit.

Anyway, back on topic, the Xbox is really in need of quality games and developers, so this could be a pretty good thing for the console. I hate to think where it would be right now without Bungee (sp?) and Team Ninja.

 

"Although personaly I've always found Rare to be overated."

That's why this "news" is pretty inconsequential to me. I don't own a Cube, but I do own an X-Box.

Rare hasn't made a game that interests me since PD (and that's also why I don't think this will be that big a loss to Nintendo either). Let's hope that this shift will help them to step it up a notch.

 

What reputation do they have to stake? Their reputation that has them stealing other website's images, slapping their IGN logo on it, and calling it an exclusive? Or their reputation about picking up on an internet rumor made up by some fanboy in a message board, and then calling it an exclusive? Or the fact that they're always a day late with their news because their "reporters" refuse to get out of bed earlier than 2 pm?

Don't get me wrong, I'm "Insider." I paid my cash. They're a decent site. But their reputation is still far from perfect.

I'm sick of Rare rumors. I wish people would just shut the hell up about it until some concrete proof has been presented and not concrete conjecture. I really don't give a damn if Rare leaves. They haven't impressed me with any game at all since Donkey Kong Country for the SNES.

It's pretty sad when fanboys have to make their own buzz about rumors to keep message boards alive and active (am talking about other Nintendo forums, not this board.. it's sick how many Rare threads are out there). It's even more sad when a news site has to resort to the same.

-Jomero

 

Well IGN does have some notariaty to stake I would say, especially since they do have some paying customers.

I saw some more rumors yesterday but I wasn't going to post anything without concrete evidence. Rare's done some good work for Nintendo, but I agree that they've been pretty silent lately. Untill they announce an Xbox game I'm excited about I'm neither cheering or booing this, just watching. It would be interesting though to see some fanboys reaction to PD2 coming out on Xbox (and if they jump ship, the inevitable debate of "which is better Halo2 or PD2" lol)

Still as reliable as these sound, rumors are rumors and nothing is absolute.

 

Well now Nintendo officially stated that they have not been contacted by Microsoft or Rare about a buy-out.

Where's internet drama when you need him?

 

Where's that "official" statement, tenor?

Link please?

 

I find this funny if it is true. The rumors are if Rare leaves Nintendo it won't have many of the characters to take with them, including Perfect Dark. So in all actuallity Microsoft is only buying a name and nothing more.

 

From planetxbox.com

The Rare soap opera had thought to be over yesterday with reports from both Reuters and the LA Times citing sources close to the negotiations had confirmed the selling of Rare to Microsoft. Today however, previous reports seem to be in conflict with an all-new one from Dow Jones. According to the article, a spokesman for Nintendo said, ?hypothetically, the company would consider what to do with its Rare shareholding if actually contacted by Microsoft or Rare, but there hasn't been any such contact.?
So, it seems this soap opera is posed for another episode. Of course, whether this is simply a case of denying until the official announcement remains to be seen.

And btw Rare would walk with the contracts to games like Perfect Dark. Other games like Donkey Kong and such still belong to Nintendo of course.

 

I don't think Rare cares if they can take Perfect Dark. The characters and story kinda suck anyways. Rare can always make another FPS with a different setting

Donkey Kong, Diddy, and crew? Now that's another matter altogether. I betchya Rare would like to have them in their suitcase.

EDIT: Thanks, tenor.

 

As I alluded to earlier, the major players of Rare's Goldeneye team have left the company and are with Free Radical Design now. If Rare were to make a new Perfect Dark game, essentially it would be with a new team.

 

As a matter of fact, I remember reading an interview with Shigeru Miyamutu where he said he was personally overseeing PD0. So maybe Nintndo will keep Perfect Ark.

 

[image=http://www.manifestation.org/~ill/images/funny/ohdramaimage.jpg]

 

+1

 

Eh, it doesn't matter to me. The only Rare games I ever liked were Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, and many of those developers have already left Rare and went on to form Free Radical Design.

I'll make a bold prediction that FRD's Timesplitters 2 will blow PD0 out of the water. Anyways, it's a multiplatform game so I doubt PD0 will be able to compete against that...

 

It's evident that same guys are working on Timesplitters 2. Theres no jump! Bah! I hated that about PD and Goldeneye. I've played the demo for Timesplitters 2 and from the gameplay it's nothing to write home about. Not only is the gameplay kind of average but the graphics are pretty weak. Chalk that up to having the limitations of the PS2 as a base for all three versions.

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Well, like many others, the only Rare game I've really really loved recently has been Goldeneye (PD was basically copy of it, plus the SP sucked IMO). Back in '97 when the N64 & PSX were battling it out, Rare was great..but it seems now they're sort of slacking off

 

I was hoping for something along the lines of Perfect Dark Cubed.

Ah well.

 

Actually According to the Japanese Stock exchange it stated that Nintendo owned the copyright's to Rare's characters but might sell certian characters to Rare. Anyway we will all find out sometime after the 24th.

 

RBE, Timesplitters sports the fastest console FPS engine ever, running at a crisp 60 frames per second. Besides, if graphics are such a huge concern go get the X-Box or Gamecube versions.

And jumping is the most overrated feature ever. It just encourages newbies to jump around like a bunch of asses, trying to line up headshots without actually aiming.

 

No more Nintendo-exclusive games from Rare

I guess that is the final word. There you go.

 

>>>if graphics are such a huge concern go get the X-Box or Gamecube versions.<<<

LOL, I've got the demo of the Xbox version. This game is dumbed down with PS2 graphics as the mainstay with minor tweaks for the Cube/Xbox. From what I've played and read up on from previews this game is pretty average it's your basic FPS formula. There is nothing here that screams greatness... well maybe for the console only gamers, who are pretty easy to please.

No jumping is lame, thats part of the past. FPS have evolved since the time of no jumping. It kills level design. Your stuck having to climb ladders to get to higher elevation. One of the fun things about a FPS is finding that perfect spot to launch an ambush or snipe. And that is usualy acheived by using the jump button to explore those hard to reach places. By having everyone confined to ladders it takes out some of the strategy of the game. Not to mention the defensive strategies one can use with a jump feature. Besides I hate walking up to a two foot high ledge and not being able to get onto it without a ladder or steps. Talk about killing the mood.

Edit: For those who belive Nintendo owns the Perfect Dark name look closely:
[image=http://vysepayground.homestead.com/files/RareOwnPD.jpg]
Published by Rareware.

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Monkeys with guns.

'Nuff said.