Hero-of-Time Posted March 6, 2015 Posted March 6, 2015 So, this was doing the rounds yesterday... There’s been a little bit of a buzz recently, after Ken Lobb announced that there were plans to revive some older Rare IPs, and a bunch of old Rare guys have come together to do a Banjo successor. I wanted to take this opportunity to share some stuff from when I was working at Microsoft, and I can say that there has been a lot of internal conflict about these old Rare IPs as of late. I was with MS for several years, and have been tied to a lot of projects, like Sunset Overdrive and was doing a little bit of work for the Master Chief Collection. I wasn’t working on any games per se, but I was in a position where I was able to see a lot of these games and other potential projects in development. From my position, I was able to learn a lot about the relationship between MS and these old Rare IPs, and the one that had the most ‘buzz’ around the office prior to my departure: Conker. So the Conker IP has been pretty much been stagnant since the Xbox version, and it’s kind of fallen by the wayside. With other IPs, management seems pretty chill in discussing new ideas, but for the longest time Conker was never really on the table for new projects. A lot of people around the office thought that MS didn’t have much faith in the Conker IP. From what I heard, a lot of people thought the style felt really dated, and that the crude humor of it felt too 90’s for modern audiences. That was just rumors and gossip from the staff, some of which have been with the company since the first Xbox came out, so I trusted what they said. That mostly changed around spring of 2014. All of a sudden, I became flooded with emails and design docs for a new Conker game. Basically, MS wanted to reboot Conker, and was shopping around for developers to make the new game. MS wasn’t comfortable developing it, and Rare DEFINITELY wasn’t making it. For a while, it really looked like Insomniac would take on the Conker reboot, they were already doing third-party stuff for MS, and they had made a hit platformer series in the past. However, Insomiac turned MS down too. Apparently MS wanted Conker to hit store shelves by the end of 2015, and Insomiac refused because of the short dev cycle. MS wanted Conker out the door really quickly, because they wanted to reintroduce audiences to a bunch of older IPs that MS were planning on rebooting for 2016-17, like Perfect Dark and Banjo. The Conker project has been pretty much canned. No one wants to make it, because MS wants to rush it out. I’m not sure if those other reboots will continue as planned, or if they wanna wait for someone to tackle Conker, like I said, I no longer work for MS and have been out of the loop for a little while, but as is, don’t hold your breath for a new Conker game. Here is an email chain between me and another MS employee, just to show you some of the thoughts of the people at MS after Conker was put on ice. It left a sour taste in people’s mouths, as you can tell. The guy then answered some questions about the statement he had made. Is there any reason (that you know of) why Rare "DEFINITELY" wasn't going to make Conker? Is it because Microsoft doesn't trust in their abilities or because they were too busy (which I doubt, since they had just finished KSR)? A little of column A and a little of column B. Most of what we know as Rare isn't the same Rare from the N64 days, a lot of the key players left. With that said, Rare is a talented group of people, but with the Conker reboot they weren't sure Rare was up to the challenge. They thought Insomniac would've been a better fit to get a product out by the end of the year. Was the development time the only thing that made Insomniac refuse? Like, would it have been a done deal had MS offered more time? I can't say why Insomniac refused the deal exactly, because I wasn't in the room when they turned down the deal and wasn't important enough to be filled in to that length. The short time frame was the only reason I was given, and I imagine it was the deciding factor. As for whether or not a deal could've been made if MS had given them more time... I asked why that wasn't an option and the reason given was because the 2015 deadline was too important. Do you know what exactly was Microsoft's angle when they demanded Conker to be out by 2015? How exactly would that have helped other Rare IP? Why not start reintroducing these franchises with Banjo, for instance? Conker would've been the soft push to getting these old Rare IPs out the door, particularly Banjo. Banjo was something that MS wasn't ready to tackle just yet, and the development of that and Perfect Dark really depended on Conker. Conker seemed like the easiest game to develop because A) Banjo was going to be facing huge fan expectations and MS wanted to know if Insomniac could handle it with Conker and B) Perfect Dark was lower on the priority list because the shooter market has become oversaturated recently. I mean, nothing was set in stone, it's not like the order was always going to be: Conker, then Banjo, then PD, but Conker was always going to take the lead. Was there any talk of a Battletoads game, or any other Rare IP that they thought had potential in the future? Blast Corps, Jet Force Gemini, Kameo, Viva Piñata, or any other. Blast Corps is a big no, JFG never had anything serious in the works, Kameo no, Battletoads and Viva Piñata?.... Do you know anything else about the plans for the Banjo game other than a scheduled release date? If so, spill the beans. With Banjo nothing was set in stone aside from that it was going to be a reboot, and that it wasn't going to be as a radical departure from the originals like Nuts and Bolts was. Kampfheld on Neogaf mentioned that you were right on 2 things, wrong in 1. And he said you probably took a guess on that thing that you are supposedly wrong about. Can you imagine what is the thing he's thinking of? Is there anything in particular on your Reddit post that you feel you took a long shot at? I'm pretty damn sure that everything I said in the Reddit post was accurate. The only thing I can think of may've been the comment on how they were planning a PD reboot for 2016/2017. The word "planning" made it sound like PD was 100% confirmed for that release date when that isn't really the case. I haven't worked at MS in a little while, so it's possible he's referring to something that's either changed, or I couldn't possibly know about. When exactly did you leave MS, and before you left did you manage to catch a glimpse for what Rare is working on themselves? Is it a new IP? Is it Kinect? Is it HoloLens? Do you know anything at all about what those guys are actually working on? I don't want to put a date on it, but it was before the new year. As for what Rare was working on, I don't want to spill all the beans. I've actually been really frustrated with a lot of things while I was working at MS so I don't mind talking about that stuff. With Rare, I was on good terms with them, so I'd rather leave their surprises be... you'll appreciate it more that way, trust me. Interesting, if true. I'm pretty sure we will see a couple of Rare IPs at E3 but it's still sad to see Microsoft trying to rush things out of the door. Surely the issues with the MCC should be a warning to them about shipping a game that ain't ready. Saying that, it seems to be standard practice for most of the industry now.
Goron_3 Posted March 6, 2015 Posted March 6, 2015 Apparently the XBO will be 199 Euro's over the weekend, if anyone is interested in importing one... http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1005181
drahkon Posted March 6, 2015 Posted March 6, 2015 I can't even...229€ for an Xbox One + Sunset Overdrive? Tempting. Soo freaking tempting. Pretty sure it will be 279€, though. Would buy at 229...
Hero-of-Time Posted March 6, 2015 Posted March 6, 2015 Apparently the XBO will be 199 Euro's over the weekend, if anyone is interested in importing one... http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1005181 Insane deal, if true. I imagine they would sell out pretty quickly at that price.
Goron_3 Posted March 6, 2015 Posted March 6, 2015 I might buy one on my credit card..only a few games I want to play on there but could always sell it on for a PS4 later down the line. Very tempting
bob Posted March 6, 2015 Posted March 6, 2015 I literally have 200 Euros in my pocket right now...but it's for the weekend. My fiancée would be really mad if I spend our holiday money on an Xbone. Or would she?
Happenstance Posted March 6, 2015 Posted March 6, 2015 Just make sure there are actual games you want for it. I still regret buying my Xbox One and I wouldnt buy one at that price either if I hadnt got it earlier.
Aneres11 Posted March 6, 2015 Posted March 6, 2015 Insane deal. Also, you can pretty much get every game the ps4 has minus those must haves like the order, ahem, and other exclusives! So if you don't already own a PS4 there's really gonna be plenty to play... Plus y'all should buy one for Sunset Overdrive alone!
flameboy Posted March 6, 2015 Posted March 6, 2015 So, this was doing the rounds yesterday... The guy then answered some questions about the statement he had made. Interesting, if true. I'm pretty sure we will see a couple of Rare IPs at E3 but it's still sad to see Microsoft trying to rush things out of the door. Surely the issues with the MCC should be a warning to them about shipping a game that ain't ready. Saying that, it seems to be standard practice for most of the industry now. An interesting read for sure. I think if it's true about Conker then Microsoft have got it completely right by saying that Conker was too deeply routed in the 90s. I don't think simply spoofing movies in the way they did would work a second (or third if you count remake) time round. I think Sunset Overdrive's style of humour would work much better.
Charlie Posted March 9, 2015 Posted March 9, 2015 I literally have 200 Euros in my pocket right now...but it's for the weekend. My fiancée would be really mad if I spend our holiday money on an Xbone. Or would she? Only one way to find out!
Kaepora_Gaebora Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 Having to send my One off for repairs, the controllers keep disconnecting during gameplay, gone through all the trouble shooting options and it must be a console malfunction. Gutted as was getting to the end of Limbo finally! If I lose my save data...
flameboy Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 Having to send my One off for repairs, the controllers keep disconnecting during gameplay, gone through all the trouble shooting options and it must be a console malfunction. Gutted as was getting to the end of Limbo finally! If I lose my save data... You won't lose your save data it all automatically syncs to the cloud : peace:
flameboy Posted March 12, 2015 Posted March 12, 2015 ... love dat cloud About the only good meaningful part of it at this point. Anyway when you go to launch a game it will have a second to say there is newer data that it needs to sync and away you go! None of the pain the arse I remember PS Plus Cloud stuff being on PS3.
V. Amoleo Posted March 22, 2015 Posted March 22, 2015 I wish the Xbox One auto updated games that had been installed from disc. The PS4 does and it takes a lot of the frustration out of patching.
flameboy Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 I wish the Xbox One auto updated games that had been installed from disc. The PS4 does and it takes a lot of the frustration out of patching. See some games it does....Dead Rising has done in the past for example and some people were up in arms that it just did it automatically. I totally agree though everytime I've booted up Halo it's been f*&king painful.
S.C.G Posted March 26, 2015 Posted March 26, 2015 On Rakuten it seems that Xbox One is £243 for today only according to the e-mail they sent me, no idea if it's of interest to anyone but thought I'd just post in case. : peace:
Aneres11 Posted April 5, 2015 Posted April 5, 2015 Do not understand why this console takes so long to download stuff. It is wired to my router which is directly next to the console and I downloaded the Fast and Furious add on to Forza and it's been going now for about 2 hours with 46% complete. And I haven't even had a pop up to say I can start playing. I've got Sunset Overdrive DLC queuing too after that. So annoying at times.
Happenstance Posted April 5, 2015 Posted April 5, 2015 There is actually a problem which if you google slow Xbox one downloads you can find fixes for. Might be worth looking at those. Mine was always really slow as well but as I don't use it anymore I never bothered to fix it.
Aneres11 Posted April 5, 2015 Posted April 5, 2015 Ah thanks, I'll check that out. I did put it down to my router and internet speed (as it is pretty rubbish) but it's not this bad. Sat here twiddling my thumbs.
Happenstance Posted April 8, 2015 Posted April 8, 2015 Anyone else tried the Forza Horizon 2 Fast & Furious standalone dlc? Its free until the 10th so I'd recommend getting it regardless but I actually really enjoyed it. Its convinced me to buy the main game.
S.C.G Posted April 8, 2015 Posted April 8, 2015 Anyone else tried the Forza Horizon 2 Fast & Furious standalone dlc? Its free until the 10th so I'd recommend getting it regardless but I actually really enjoyed it. Its convinced me to buy the main game. I downloaded it a week or so ago, thought it was pretty decent! : peace: Overall I'd still rather play Drive Club long term but I'll be keeping my eye on the price of Forza Horizon 2 now for when it drops below £20... but certainly the Fast & Furious standalone game is well worth downloading while it's free, it'll be priced like an arcade game at £9.99 so I would advise anyone with an Xbox to download it while it's still a giveaway!
V. Amoleo Posted April 10, 2015 Posted April 10, 2015 I couldn't find the Xbox 360 discussion thread. The Xbox 360 will be getting support for up to 2TB external HDDs later this year.
Aneres11 Posted April 10, 2015 Posted April 10, 2015 I downloaded the F&F DLC too. I really enjoyed it, but I was a fan of the main game too. The main game is a little more fleshed out in the sense that you upgrade your level with all of the points earned whilst driving round and within races etc, which gives you the opportunity to win currency / cars. And you unlock skill points which do various things. I hadn't been on Forza for a while before this DLC but it has definitely made me realise how much I enjoyed the game.
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