A Rare no show
E3 2007 comes and goes with no Rare titles at all
A few hours have passed since Microsoft’s press conference, and in terms of Rare news, we received absolutely no relevant information. Well… sort of. Banjo got a brief two second mention as “the next Banjo-Kazooie title.” Nothing more. No Rare Xbox Live Arcade titles revealed at all. But still, there was a Viva Piñata fiasco that deserves some comments.
What none of us ever wanted to happen has just happened. Microsoft announced the first PC adaptation of a Rare game in history: Viva Piñata. No details about this version have been disclosed, so it’s hard to say either if Rare itself is working on the game or if some other company has been assigned to it. However, considering how these things usually work, and taking into account how busy the people at Rare normally are, it’s more likely to be the second option. But anything goes.
What is also worthy of note is that there is another title coming out called Viva Piñata: Party Animals, some sort of party game a la Nintendo developed by something called Krome Studios. Shane Kim was not bluffing when he said that Microsoft had future plans for the Viva Piñata license. What he never mentioned is that those plans didn’t even involve Rare. There is not much else to say up to this point, except that the game didn’t look exactly impressive in the only and brief trailer they showed during the E3 Press Conference. Poor graphic design and one not very original concept join together under the image of Rare’s best videogame for the Xbox 360 so far.
While the lack of Banjo is truly a disappointing prospect, one must remember that E3 will never be the way it was. There is still some importance to the trade show, yet it’s evident that E3 for now is only a shadow of its former self.
Feel free to commit suicide now if you like.
Somehow related news
- New 4Kids deal ensures future paper-mache brainwashing ()
- Rare to deploy all their Fall offerings on Leipzig’s GC ()
- Viva Piñata Trouble in Paradise to feature online co-op mode ()
- Banjo-Kazooie 3 was shown to selected media last week ()
- Building the upcoming Tepid Seat ()
