Tag Archives: rare

Rare Designer Who’s Stereoblind Explains How He Can See 3D On Nintendo 3DS

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George Kokoris, a senior designer at Rare Ltd., sees double images when he looks at anything farther than 18 inches. This is because his eyes aren’t parallel and he’s “mostly” stereoblind, which is a term given to people who don’t have the ability to perceive stereoscopic depth. Amazingly, when he first played on a Nintendo 3DS, Kokoris says it was the first time he had ever seen a third dimension. To read more about Kokoris’ experience with a Nintendo 3DS, click here.

 I had never known it was possible for reality to look this way—for things to look as solid as they feel.

Yet there I was, holding this little chunk of plastic and silicon in my hands, tears streaming down my face because I had never known it was possible for reality to look this way—for things to look as solid as they feel. I couldn’t look away. I got a 3DS of my own the next day, and later replaced it with an XL. I revisited Hyrule in Ocarina of Time 3D, stopping and staring at every piece of architecture. I still spend more time running aimlessly through Super Mario 3D Land’s gorgeous environments than I do trying to beat the game.

-George Kokoris

Banjo-Kazooie Composer Wishes Ex-Rare Staff Members Would Make Banjo 3 For Wii U

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banjo_kazooieOn a recent episode of Game Grumps, Banjo-Kazooie composer and former Rare staff member Grant Kirkhope says he keeps wishing that all ex-Rare staffers would unite, form a company and ask Nintendo to give them the funds needed to make Banjo 3 for Wii U. While it would be a dream come true for many fans of the series, the mentioned scenario is highly unlikely, as Rare is a subsidiary of Microsoft Studios, which also owns the Banjo IP.

The latest game in the series, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, was released in 2008 for the Xbox 360 and, partly because its gameplay and story, it wasn’t considered a direct sequel to the first two games, both of which were originally released for Nintendo 64.

“I keep wishing that all the ex-Rare staffers would just get together and form a company, and go to Nintendo and say ‘give us the money. We’ll make you Banjo 3 for the Wii U’ or whatever. …Just make Banjo 3 like it should have been made back then and it would be great, and it would be great on Wii U, and all the ex-Rare guys would be together again all happy and kissing each other. … I just keep thinking we should just give it a try.”

-Banjo-Kazooie composer and former Rare staffer Grant Kirkhope

Rare Responds To Fan’s Request Of A Banjo-Kazooie Remake For Nintendo 3DS

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Banjo_KazooieA fan of Nintendo 64 title Banjo-Kazooie asked its developer, Rare, via Twitter, whether there is a possibility for a Nintendo 3DS remake of the game. Rather than replying with a definitive answer, and although it’s not very likely, Rare told the fan that anything’s possible. I, for one, would love to see a remake of Banjo-Kazooie, as it is one of my all-time favorite 3D platformers and Nintendo 64 games.

This is probably an annoying question to you. Is there any possibility of a Banjo remake in 3DS? Like they did to Ocarina of Time.

Rare: Anything’s possible, even if it’s not very likely :)

Thanks, Komaru.

Donkey Kong 64 & GoldenEye Dev Leaves Microsoft For Sony

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Veteran Rare developer George Andreas who helped develop critically acclaimed games such as Donkey Kong 64 and GoldenEye 64 has announced that he is leaving Microsoft and has joined Sony this month as creative director of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Andreas also helped develop Kinect, Kinect Sports 1 and Kinect Sports: Season 2 as well as Xbox 360 launch games Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero.

Star Fox Adventures’ Lead Software Engineer Says He Understands Why Game Was Negatively Received

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star_fox_adventures_charactersNintendo GameCube-exclusive Star Fox Adventures’ lead software engineer, Phil Tossell, says he understands why there was plenty of negative reactions surrounding developer Rare’s action-adventure game among fans of the Star Fox franchise.

Tossell says he knew the game had flaws, and he thinks that it borrowed too many elements from The Legend of Zelda, which supposedly made it less unique. Regardless of the amount of criticism the game received, Tossell says he’s extremely proud of what his team achieved with the final product.

While I don’t think Star Fox Adventures was the best title in the series, I enjoyed it quite a bit… What did you think of the game?

“I totally understand the reaction, because many of us on the team felt the same way. Personally, I knew the game had its flaws, but also it borrowed a little too heavily from Zelda, I think. It also felt a little too much like the Star Fox elements were tacked on – which of course they were! But saying all of that, I’m incredibly proud of what we achieved, especially given the amount of time and resources we had. I think some of the criticisms were unjustified and seemed to revolve around it not being a proper Star Fox game like all the others, rather than judging it on what it was. I’ve had plenty of people come up to me in subsequent years and say that they loved the game and didn’t understand why it received so much criticism.”

Donkey Kong Country Games To Be Removed From Wii Virtual Console

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Nintendo Europe has confirmed that the three Donkey Kong Country games available on the Wii Virtual Console are going to be removed from the service on November 25th. There’s currently no explanation as to why Nintendo has decided to remove these retro classics. So, if you’re desperate for your Donkey Kong fix and have yet to download them, then these are the games you need to get.

  • Donkey Kong Country
  • Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest
  • Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Quest

Thanks, Sebastian Mårtensson

Ex Rare Developers Want To Know If You Want Their Game On Wii U eShop

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Nyamyam, an independent development studio composed of ex Rare staff members, want to know whether you would like their new game Tengami on the Wii U. The developers have spoken to Nintendo Europe and say that they’re very excited about Nintendo’s plans for the digital Wii U store. They went on to say that it’s very indie/small dev friendly. You can watch the game, above.

Ex Rare Members Want To Create Spiritual Successor To Banjo-Tooie

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A number of ex Rare developers have joined forces in the hope that they will get enough support to develop what they say will be the spiritual successor to Banjo-Tooie. They’ve already got Grant Kirkhope and Stephen Hurst on board, so it will be interesting to see how this pans out. To register your support all you need to do is follow their Twitter account.

Thanks, William

Rare Employees Would Have Stuck With The Company If Still With Nintendo

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Famed Rare employee Chris Seavor has confessed that a number of high-profile Rare employees would have stayed with the company had they not been bought out by Microsoft in 2002. Seavor says that Rare founders, Chris and Tim Stamper, would have stayed with the company, rather than pursuing other opportunities.

If Rare were still with Nintendo today, do you think the company would have still been the same as it was all those years ago?

“Pretty much. Tim and Chris would still be around, Mark B, Simon, loads of other people who subsequently left as well… Even me maybe :) A company isn’t defined by bricks and mortar. It’s a people thing, so yeah , bar a few tweaks it would have been pretty much the same, both the good and the bad.”

Conker 64 Developer Working On iOS Game

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Chris Seavor, the project leader and game designer of Conker’s Bad Fur Day, has announced that he’s currently working on a brand new franchise for iOS platforms. Details of the project are admittedly rather scarce, but Seavor says that the game should launch on iPhone and iPad sometime next month.

“These are a few of the protagonists…. Actually it’s pretty much done, just about to go into alpha test…… The target audience seem to like it; kids who don’t mind wasting hours on mindless collecting things. I’m not claiming it to be anything particularly ground breaking, just my take on a old favourite genre.”