With this information in mind, the question that is begging to be asked is why this game never came to light. There are a couple of possibilities. As Unseen64 mentioned, Perfect Dark and Conker’s Pocket Tales, Rare’s previous GBC titles of N64 games (or former N64 titles, in the latter’s case), were met with low interest and low review scores, which could’ve very well resulted in its cancellation. Another possibility is that JFG on the N64 was unfortunately not the blockbuster that Rare wanted it to be, and was canceled due to low sales of the original. Yet another possibility lies in the copyright of the year 2000. It was during this time that Nintendo revealed both the Game Boy Advance and the GameCube. With this in mind, it’s possible that it could’ve been canceled in order to continue development on a more powerful portable. Yet, unless we see a GBA version, the latter possibility is probably the most unlikely.

Either way, while it’s sad to know that hardcore JFG fans, as well as the rest of us, could’ve had an extra game in the series to play, it’s nice to know that it existed to begin with. Special thanks goes out once again to Dano2k0, who was kind enough to let the internet know what could’ve been ten years ago.

“Fazeley studio will be home to some 90 staff working on new Rare games although number will fluctuate with the development cycle,” Microsoft states. This may still come as a surprise for some after Rare’s restructuring process in early 2009 when the future of several employees was compromised. But, according to the PR, “Digbeth is ideally placed for recruiting new staff” since it’s “close to several universities and colleges”.

The Birmingham Post indicates that “Fazeley Studios occupies a 150-year old converted Unitarian chapel and adjoining Sunday School buildings as well as extensive former factory buildings converted to light and spacious studios.”

Rare’s Studio Head Mark Betteridge had this to share with the press: “The old way of making games just doesn’t work anymore, we need to be much more flexible in how we staff a team and setting up new facility in Digbeth will help us to do this. Its central location and the nature of other businesses in the area make it a very appealing environment in which to work. While we are committed to keeping our headquarters in Twycross, we feel a second studio in a more urban location will be appealing to some staff.”

In a long interview with Games Industry Betteridge shared some further ideas about why this was the moment to take this decision: “Teams have become somewhat unwieldy in the development process – very inflexible, very expensive. Over the last six or seven years it’s really started to get out of hand, and companies and teams that were having great success before are realising the same thing.” This won’t mean an exodus from their present facilities, though: “We believe very firmly that Twycross is in our DNA, it’s still going to be very much the centre of of the creative hub of Rare, but the way that development demands are now we need the availability of a greater skillset of people – and we also need them on a time frame that’s more flexible, rather than just employing everybody full time with whatever expertise they have. [...] The creative hub will definitely remain at Twycross, there won’t be a big restructure here or anything of that order.”

And how many people would those new facilities be able to house and with which purpouse? Betteridge answers that, “ballpark, we’ve been looking at in the region of 40-50 people in core development and probably a similar number again in test. Now, test is an important one because while we have a large test area in Twycross which has expanded over the years as projects have gotten bigger [...] Because of the nature of Natal – and it would have been exactly the same with the Wii – to test it properly you need a larger physical space than you had before. [...] With Natal, we believe test is extremely important to get the balance and the content of the game right – because a lot of the people that Microsoft will be appealing to with this technology won’t be traditional games players, and we need to test with a wide range of people, different ages, demographics, and so on.”

Considering the benefits of outsourcing vs. insourcing approach, Betteridge thinks: “Outsourcing is something that a lot of companies have done – especially with art – but it’s not a silver bullet. We believe more in a term I’ve used before and that’s insourcing. Avatars was the perfect example of a small project that we were able to put forward to Microsoft, which was then green-lit and went into full production… we developed that project with just the core people here as employed by Rare, probably four or five people was all it was. But there was sometimes in excess of 30 people, sometimes contractors, working on that project. That’s a simple example, but it shows how we’re able to think. [...] Other people have been doing traditional outsourcing of for many years, and we have some experience of it, but for us – and for fast iteration on fun gameplay – it’s very important that we have a hands-on contact with how this content will be created.”

So, with Rare looking for new employees and more space to test their projects, hopefully this will mean more games or at least no cancelations after Kameo 2, (Not-)Perfect Dark 2 and a secret Natal project came to a sudden end last year, and the recent confirmation of KI3 not being in the works after all.

Americans are already able to get the game in their stores, while Europeans will be as soon as this Friday, February 26. Asians will have to wait a bit longer, until March. The recommended prices in these territories are $49.95, £39.99, €59,95. As usual, if you live in Europe, you should avoid that abusive price by buying it for half its price in a British or American online store…

S&SASRWBK is a typical karting game, featuring all the main Sega characters; but the Xbox version got the inclusion of Banjo and Kazooie, and the Xbox Avatars as well, as guest stars. A rather simple demo is available in the Xbox Live Marketplace.

For starters, the game will not have the usual 12 achievements of every Live Arcade title, but 20. The number of Gamerpoints are still 200G, though. Additions to the early list are new achievements for beating the game on each difficulty level, earning all the Leaderboard Crowns and using each Maian weapon.

Some sites have also been reporting in the last few days that GoldenEye maps are coming to PDXBLA. But, sincerely, this has been known for a while; and Temple, Facility (renamed Felicity), and Complex were already there in the N64 version of the game, anyway.

Also, a new Premium Theme for the Xbox Dashboard is now available for the price of 240 MSP. Albeit it’s based on the Carrington Institute, don’t expect roof lights and marble walls: dark shadows from the basement are all you’ll find. A bit disappointing for me, I must say.

Finally, if you’re also keen on getting Toy Soldiers and Scrap Metal for XBLA before March 31, you will enter the Block Party promotional offer that affects both of them and PDXBLA as well. Buying those three games and downloading for free the upcoming Game Room you’ll be rewarded with 400 MPS (which technically makes PDXBLA cost half of its price) and a whole month of Xbox Live Gold will be added to your account for free.

Expect more PDXBLA stuff over here, at MundoRare, as the release date approaches…

Interestingly enough, the idea of KI1 and 2 on XBLA was mentioned, but Klobb stayed silent throughout that part. Also interesting is that Ken Lobb is to thank for the Ultra Combo.

So what does Klobb’s comment mean? At face value, assuming he’s not lying, KI3 isn’t something being worked on right now. This would lead some credence to Mark Betteridge’s quote in a previous issue of Games TM magazine that said that we would have to wait to see what would happen with KI3 after Natal.

At the end of the day, whether KI3 is in development or not is still something not willing to be admitted by Rare. The opportunity with Natal is there, the fans still remember it, and, honestly, 4J just needs to bring the originals back on XBLA, complete with KI’s “Coming to your home in 1995 only for the Nintendo Ultra 64” message. Except it most likely won’t.

Kotaku recently posted an article that mentioned that “there’s a good chance the game could get” DLC. According to Mr. Ken Lobb (named after the best weapon of all time in GoldenEye, the “Klobb”), “that’s something we’ve talked about, but it comes down to the audience reaction,” he said. “One of the things we speced out was DLC, it would probably be new maps and it would be interesting to do a couple of new guns.” A 10-year old game getting new content? That’s something that I bet a few kids/adults dreamed of before DLC and online gameplay became all the rage. And with a game as replayable as PD XBLA, it would boost it tremendously.

On a somewhat related note, it’s also interesting to read in the same article that Ken Lobb admitted that they messed with Perfect Dark Zero’s controls and tried to make it a mix of PD and Halo. As a fan of Perfect Dark Zero (specifically its online mode), this is something I can agree with; it just felt too slow compared to PD’s speed on the N64. A pity we won’t see what lesson Rare learned in Not-Perfect Dark 2.

• IGN reports that, in addition to the game running at 1080p and 60 frames per second, character models that were originally 300 polygons are now 3500, while guns that were 150 polygons are now close to 2000.
• Two new control set-ups, entitled “Spartan” and “Duty Calls,” will be included in the remake. Considering the 360’s fanbase, it shouldn’t be difficult to decipher what each control scheme references.
• Instead of four player multiplayer, multiplayer is now playable with eight players online. Features like Co-op and Counter-Op are playable both online and offline. Splitscreen mode is also available both online and off.
• GoldenEye’s three levels, Temple, Facility, and Complex, are still in the game, but with a new twist: remember the single-player only GoldenEye guns brought back from Perfect Dark? They’re now available to use in multiplayer. Which means that, in a very small way, GoldenEye will be on the 360 after all. Ken Lobb also told IGN that GoldenEye 007 XBLA was “up and running to the same level as the Xbox Live version of Perfect Dark” was. Assuming he means all the features included in this game, such as additional multiplayer options and control schemes, it sadly brings back the pain about a lack of GoldenEye.

Rare has also released new screenshots of the game, which you can see here.

Finally, why not see the game in action for yourself with Rare’s official trailer? Bonus points for the inclusion of the 4J Studios logo; those fine chaps do deserve credit, after all.

Either way, the new features are sure to impress, and March can’t get here any faster. At ten dollars, with the additions that were made, it should be a no-brainer that Perfect Dark must be added to your Xbox Live Arcade collection.

This demo offers just a single race in the Lost Palace circuit for either one or two gamers, and the only playable characters are Sonic and Banjo & Kazooie. Bear and bird’s car is named “Bolt Bucket” and it features a high speed and turbo-boost with decent handling but low acceleration; their especial attack seems to be “Jiggy Rain”, which is a mix of both a turbo and and attack to rival racers.

Also, the final achivements for the Xbox version of the game has finally seen the light of day. There are not any Rare or Banjo related challenges that we can beat, though. Rare has announced that a “All-Stars Racing premium theme is imminent too,” but there’s no word if it will feature any BK cameos either.

Sega All-Stars Racing with Banjo-Kazooie will be released next February 23 in America, and February 26 in Europe.

According to VG247 (in a rather brilliant entry, I must say), the latest rumor is that Rare is working on, brace yourselves, “a fitness game for Natal. Like Microsoft’s version of Wii Fit.” Apparently, Rare have been “working on it for a good while,” as well as something else that we “can probably guess at.” Killer Instinct 3, perhaps?

In said dialogue, it can be implied that we’ll see something about this come E3. Still, it doesn’t really bring any positivity to fans that have been waiting to see what Rare’s up to. On one hand, the lack of a Wii Balance Board helps make the game more affordable. On the other hand, we’re getting this in favor of Not-Perfect Dark 2? Kameo 2? The Conker sequel that everyone (including Rare) wants made, but not Microsoft? Really?

Personally, the prospect of ports/remakes of classic games on Xbox Live Arcade is more appealing than this.

“There’s nothing to announce yet after Perfect Dark, but we’ve got over 25 years of IP to dip into so there’s no shortage of possibilities,” says Mark Betteridge, Rare’s studio head.

Besides the fact that Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie XBLA were the first games to be ported to the XBLA (as opposed to PD XBLA, despite it being a remake), this is fantastic news. It would be ideal to have games on the Xbox Live Arcade to entertain us while we wait for Rare’s full titles on the Xbox 360.

There is a lot of potential for past titles to make an appearance on Xbox Live. To list all of them would easily fill up the page. Yet, personally, it would be great to have a Blast Corps remake (especially since Rare’s Christmas Card had a bulldozer that looked quite a bit like Ramdozer), Bad Fur Day (can you say “Online Heist/Raptor/Beach?”), Jet Force Gemini, both Killer Instincts, and hell, maybe Battletoads (particularly the Arcade version, which wasn’t released on consoles).

With this news in mind, what ports/remakes would you be most happy to see on the Xbox Live Arcade? Voice off in our comments section!