Rare does not deny KI3, but combo lovers take it as an offence
One ridiculous uprising follows a misinterpretation
The latest news on Killer Instinct 3 has made its way around the Internet thanks to an interview with Gregg Mayles at MTV Multiplayer. When asked about the fighting saga, Mayles resorted to stock answers and played Rare’s usual ambiguous game. “To me, if you’re just doing a game because of IP, that’s not the right thing to do,” he said. “If someone came up with some revolutionary idea for a new fighting game, yeah, we might think of resurrecting Killer Instinct. But what we’re not gonna do is just say ‘okay, there’s this kind of vocal, fairly small vocal minority of real die-hard fans out there that want to see KI, so therefore, we should be doing KI.’ That’s not how we’d approach it.” The problem arose when several gaming sites took Mayles’ comments as gospel that the game is not being made for sure.
As a reaction to this unique rendering, fans blamed Rare for not listening to them and cutting words surfaced in rather popular joints across the Net. In Gametrailers’ forum, prophets of doom even foresaw the near end of the developer. This kind of laughable crap talk originated in media reports like those of Daily Destin, host of Hard News video segment of ScrewAttack, who verbally spat at Rare in the midst of an adrenaline rush. “Rare would rather sell a shitty remake like Perfect Dark than listen to what their fans want and develop a new or remake Killer Instinct.” Apart from the fact that Perfect Dark hasn’t seen any remakes in the history of its franchise, professional bullshitters like Destin actually miss the point at many other levels. Gregg Mayles did not discard the chance that Rare may retake Killer Instinct in the future nor even denied the possibility that they might be working on a third instalment already. Anyhow, we are kind enough to be forgiving with those people who didn’t do very well in their Scholastic Aptitude Test, so here we are to provide you with a Sesame Street type of explanation for all those that missed the subtlety unit.
On early September, a very special music sheet was sent to us by Microsoft. What made it so special was the title, since it was labelled as the main theme of Killer Instinct 3. This sheet was real and the picture was taken in Manor Park, right at Rare’s headquarters, as it can be proved by simply comparing it to another photograph of a Viva Piñata music sheet taken at the same place. Plus we confirmed that the thing actually existed, we are not George Bush.
Shortly after this, composer Chris Tilton, fellow workmate of Michael Giacchino (thus a veteran of soundtracks like Alias, The Incredibles and Mission: Impossible III) happened to be reading our site. He arranged a beautiful version of the piece, encouraging other musicians to work on it as well.
Possible 'Killer Instinct 3' Main Title
ChrisTilton.com
“I’d say they definitely recorded a theme. It’s still no solid confirmation though. They could have written a theme just for fun,” Tilton noted. That was a well-spotted remark, as the piece did not match the classic KI main theme ‘The Instinct’, which remained unaltered in all Killer games so far. “However, it seems more likely that they’d take the time to do it if it was a real project,” Tilton added. Whether this theme will be part of a third Killer game or not remains to be seen, but what seems clear is that Rare has been putting quite some emphasis on Killer Instinct related jokes lately. How many references to Jet Force Gemini have we seen recently, in comparison? How many references to Banjo-Kazooie did we see prior to this year’s Nuts & Bolts announcement, on the other hand? Ghoulies and Kameo, anyone?
Another thing that should be taken into account is the current situation of the fighting franchises for the Xbox, Dead or Alive and Soul Calibur being the two major blockbusters in the genre. Perhaps the reason we haven’t seen a Killer Instinct 3 yet is because it would pose problems competing against upcoming sequels of those sagas. Sequels that are not in the horizon anymore. With Namco’s Soul Calibur IV just released, it doesn’t look like we are going to see a fifth one anytime soon. Same goes for Dead or Alive, especially due to Tecmo’s recent issues of series creator Tomonobu Itagaki leaving the company this summer, and therefore having the fate of Dead or Alive up in the air. In a May interview with the magazine Computer and Videogames, Itagaki said: “me and my closest colleagues all agree that we were able to achieve the definitive fighting game with DOA4. So we’re not looking to extend the series at this point.” Even though Tecmo executives promptly responded to this stating that they are “far from abandoning the Dead or Alive series,” as they have “several games in development,” they are probably more focused on the highly anticipated Dead or Alive: Code Chronus, the only game they can have at an advanced stage at this point, considering Itagaki’s feelings towards the saga right before his departure. The good news is that Code Chronus is a non-fighting game following the adventures of DOA’s heroines Kasumi and Ayane before the tournament that made them famous, and therefore will not be a direct contender for Killer Instinct.
Finally, let’s dissect what Mayles said. He states that doing a game due to the sake of IP is not “the right thing to do.” He says that if someone came up with a “revolutionary idea” for the next Killer Instinct title, then they might think of doing it. We don’t need to read quote enough times to make the head spin to conclude that Mayles has done what Rare’s been doing for ages: giving out non-answers instead of denying it as tons of sites are out to believe. Who’s to say that they haven’t thought of this revolutionary idea ages ago, and are thus working on the game now? If Rare really wanted to deny Killer Instinct 3, they would just flat-out say that they’re not working on it, much like Loveday has had to do in Scribes over and over again ad nauseum for ten years. Either way, denial can go both ways; remember when Justin Cook said that there was no game in development called Viva Piñata 2? Look what happened that same Mother’s Day weekend: Trouble in Paradise was announced.
For all we know, Killer Instinct 3 might in fact not be in development. Then again, there’s a substantial amount of evidence pointing to the possibility of it coming soon when you place all the puzzle pieces together. The only thing we can do is wait and see, and to not rule out the possibility. When and if Killer Instinct 3 is revealed, MundoRare will let know you and digitally pinch you to make sure you’re not dreaming.
Somehow related news
- Rare threaten with their Killer Instinct? ()
- Rare “may do” another Killer Instinct ()
- Rare “not working on” Killer Instinct 3, according to Ken Lobb ()
- “If we could bring back one game, it would be Killer Instinct Arcade” ()
- Piñata demo in time for springtime ()
12 Comments
Hey, i’m a fan…and i’f love to see a “shitty” remake of Perfect Dark over KI.
Comment by Perfect Dark 0 — 01.Oct.08 @ 7:13 pm
Read my response over at
http://screwattack.com/node/10774
It’s in the comment section.
Comment by Daily Destin — 02.Oct.08 @ 5:41 am
Hmmm, Killer Instinct 3!?!?? Yeh BABEH!! Killer Instinct rocks! I did not care for Killer Instinct 2 as it was like playing with ’strong cardboard’. another thing that MADE Killer Instinct stand out was the “C-C-C-Combo Breakerrrrrrrrr!” and “Awesome Combo!”, “Killerrr Combo!”, “Kinnnnnng Combo!” etc (missing in KI2) and the screams and such. I have this on SNES and play it from time to time. The SNES controller is the best. Microsoft needs to get a Third Party to make us fighting fans a decent D-Pad! Check me out at http://www.youtube.com/warrengonline
Comment by Warrengonline — 16.Oct.08 @ 9:08 pm
i have the arcade machine in my liveing room….ive been waiteing for sooooo long for the word to come out that killer instinct 3 is officially comming to home consoles like ps3 and 360…if it dont then the whole rare staff needs to commit suicide lol
Comment by TjCombo — 10.Dec.08 @ 2:38 pm
Hey rare if your reading this, I’m the best at using orchid in the arcades, I am undefeated. Still I thought killer instinct 2 had really lousy combos compared to the flawless first game. Plz make sure the game is like the first game because all your recent games has been shit lately. I don’t know how else to say it, plz don’t dissapoint even if you didn’t confirm making this game yet, there is a lot of fans like me waiting forever.
Comment by HitmanAgent47 — 30.Jan.09 @ 9:09 pm
Waiting for something revolutionary? What do you call online play? Jeez, what are you waiting for… telepathically broadcast video games? I think the real problem is staffing. I’m sure very few of the original developers of KI are still employed by Rare. Fighting games require a rare breed of developers and producers to be constructed correctly. KI3 should be a close port of the original with updated graphics. After that, the team should have a little experience with fighting games and then work on evolving the franchise. Baby steps, rare. Take a page from the book capcom wrote on fighting games. Street Fighter 4 was also a long time coming but it is one sweet fighting game.
Comment by cobra — 11.May.09 @ 9:53 am
you need to make another killer instinct you need to has been my favorite fighting games since i was like seven and yes make it more like the first one with better graphics for sure but cobra street fighter 4 sucked asssssssss!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by anthony — 22.Jul.09 @ 3:15 am
What if Rare don’t want to go back to any of their old stuff?
Ringing the bells of doom and predicting the end of the developer just becuse they aren’t doing a rehash of a decade-or-so old game is ridiculous.
Let Rare move on, already.
Comment by Rinx — 01.Oct.08 @ 2:45 am