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.

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 loo

Re:Are the games ever going to come out?

[metamatic]

Yeah, and Goldeneye's developers left long ago.

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?

[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 Conke

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

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 an