No Rare Franchises on Revoultion's VC

[Reality's Fringe]

Matt Casamassina spoke to some Rare/Microsoft people at GDC last week and got confirmation that most of Rare’s intellectual properties won’t be showing up on the Revolution’s Virtual Console. That includes titles such as Jet Force Gemini, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, and Conker’s Bad Fur Day.

While I want Banjo-Kazooie and Jet-Force, I don't think it's that big of a loss(And games like Diddy Kong Racing and Blast Corps should still show up). It's just kind of confusing, since Rare will be developing DS games. Does MS have the rights to those franchises now?

[shipwreck]

Yes, Microsoft owns Rare and thus owns all of Rare's IPs. They allow Rare to develop for the GBA and DS as they are not currently competing in that market.

[Reality's Fringe]

Yes, Microsoft owns Rare and thus owns all of Rare's IPs. They allow Rare to develop for the GBA and DS as they are not currently competing in that market.

Oh, I thought that Nintendo was still doing that insane liscensing structure in the N64 days in which they owned the rights to the characters and such (like during the SNES days). Oh well. Banjo Kazooie would've been sweet as hell :cry:.

[CapAmerica]

No big lost to me, The only decent Rare games in my book were the ones where they used someone elses franchise.

I wonder about Killer Instinct, I just did a quick look up in the US Trademark Search and found that Nintendo holds the Trademarks to the series.

[DrunkTigerWoods]

What about Goldeneye?

[javeryh]

What about Goldeneye?

That will be a huge ommission, IMO. Imagine a graphically enhanced Goldeneye that otherwise plays EXACTLY the same... mmmm.... that would be sweet...

[shipwreck]

What about Goldeneye?

That would be extremely messy. EA currently holds the Bond license, so I don't think Nintendo can touch that one either without EA somehow having a say.

edit: javeryh, you're a lawyer... make it happen.

[javeryh]

That would be extremely messy. EA currently holds the Bond license, so I don't think Nintendo can touch that one either without EA somehow having a say.

It's probably a messy situation but nothing that couldn't be worked out once all parties recognized the potential to make some money with little or no effort.

I don't think the Bond license qualifies as a "material contract" for EA because I didn't see it filed as an exhibit to their last 10-K. Too bad - I'd like to take a look at it just for fun. Maybe if I dug around a little I could find it. After looking at last year's 10-K (for FY 2004) it appears that they are doing great. Their next 10-K (for FY 2005) isn't due until the beginning of June because their fiscal year-end is March 31. Their last quarterly report looks pretty nice too - they are making tons of money.

[Ecofreak]

Wait - so even though Rare owns the IP could their games come out on XBLA even though they were launched exclusively for a Nintendo console?

[guyver2077]

i dont think killer instict belongs to nintendo...

rare has mentioned that theres a possibility it will revisit the series on 360

[willardhaven]

I guess I shouldn't hold my breath for Donkey Kong Country 4.

[javeryh]

Wait - so even though Rare owns the IP could their games come out on XBLA even though they were launched exclusively for a Nintendo console?

It depends on the terms of the license.

[Strell]

It depends on the terms of the license.

Yes. The official legal term for this centers on the level of ghey present in the license MS and Rare currently hold. Right now we're hitting a magnitude of 7.3 or so on a scale of 10 - enough to irk some, but not a dealbreaker.

The level of ghey can elevate and/or decrease through judicial practices such as "calling MS ghey," "egging Rare," and "cockslapping J. Allard in the eye."

I tend to prefer finer, more elegant methods, which may or may not include the use of walruses, Roman candles, and superglue.

In legal terms, this is called a "shitstorm non gratis e plurbius unum et cetera ghey."

[guyver2077]

I guess I shouldn't hold my breath for Donkey Kong Country 4.


you know that never crossed my mind... i guess nintendo could continue the series!!

[Kendal]

I just want Perfect Dark with a decent framerate and be able to use the Rev controller on it. Is that too much to ask?

[daroga]

I know a lot of people, some of my close friends here included, are really bummed about this. But for me, it's no big deal. Goldeneye was fun, but doesn't hold up in the face of today's insane twitch shooters. The Banjo games were entertaining, but it was much of anything that Mario 64 didn't do (better) as well. And Perfect Dark? I get ill every time I try to play that game.

I think between Nintendo's, Sega's, Hudson's, and the gimme announcments of Konami's and Capcom's backlog, the VC will be a smashing sucess even without Banjo Tooie.

[Kendal]

I know a lot of people, some of my close friends here included, are really bummed about this. But for me, it's no big deal. Goldeneye was fun, but doesn't hold up in the face of today's insane twitch shooters. And Perfect Dark? I get ill every time I try to play that game.


Perfect Dark > Goldeneye Also, isn't a twitch shooter a side scrolling/Top down shooter?

[Who's The Twitch Now?]

The Rare N64 games will be a huge loss (especially with Perfect Dark being my favorite game ever - chop or no chop), but there's one thing I want to know:




Will there be Battletoads?

[hohez]

will there be blast corps? It has been my number 1 game to download on day one since the virtual console was announced. It will be a huge gaping hole in my downloads if it is not there, but i also realize there will be plenty to keep me occupied. Uniracers on Rev!!!

[daroga]

Perfect Dark > Goldeneye Also, isn't a twitch shooter a side scrolling/Top down shooter?
You could describe 2D shooters as such, and probably is a bit more accurate.

In terms of FPSs, though, Twitch is usually the faster paced game (UT, etc.) whereas a non-twitch is a little bit more methodical (HL2, I guess those unending WWII games). I think on the whole, I didn't mean twitch shooter so much as the whole of modern FPS games, which to be perfecty honest, since beating Half-Life 2, bore me to death.

[shipwreck]

The Rare N64 games will be a huge loss (especially with Perfect Dark being my favorite game ever - chop or no chop), but there's one thing I want to know:




Will there be Battletoads?

Battletoads is a complete mess of a license with TradeWest being mixed in there. It would take an enormous amount of effort to get those games on the Revo.

[CapAmerica]

Will there be Battletoads?

Rare doesn't own Battletoads or any of the games, Tradewest was the owners of the Battletoad series and Tradewest got bought out by Midway, so it all depends if Midway decides to join Nintendo's VC

[boyward]

I won't miss any of those games. The only Rare games I liked were 007 and Donkey Kong Country, and I own those on the cartridge format.

[Ecofreak]

While disappointing, I am sure Nintendo will have more than enough classics to keep everyone busy.

[shipwreck]

Rare doesn't own Battletoads or any of the games, Tradewest was the owners of the Battletoad series and Tradewest got bought out by Midway, so it all depends if Midway decides to join Nintendo's VC

It's more complicated than just Midway joining Nintendo's VC though, because I'm sure they probably will. Otherwise, Midway would have been releasing Battletoads on some of their compilation discs through the years. There's something tricky with the franchise (and don't even try to understand what it would take to get something like "Battletoads & Double Dragon" a green light).

Another interesting situation is the Tengen games that were on NES. A lot of these were never licensed by Nintendo, so I'm not sure if the Revo is going to have these games. The R.B.I. series would be out due to using the players actual names I'm sure (this will also likely apply to Tecmo Bowl, etc, but that's another issue alltogether). Man this is a mess.

[Who's The Twitch Now?]

It's more complicated than just Midway joining Nintendo's VC though, because I'm sure they probably will. Otherwise, Midway would have been releasing Battletoads on some of their compilation discs through the years. There's something tricky with the franchise (and don't even try to understand what it would take to get something like "Battletoads & Double Dragon" a green light).

Way back at the beginning of the Gamecube days, I seem to remember hearing a rumor about a Battletoads game for the GCN. Since the legendary series ended on the lowest possible down-note with the atrocious insult "Battletoads & Double Dragon," I prayed my favorite NES game would make a return. To have the original downloadable on the Rev instead of risking my worn-out cart all the time would be a dream-come-true.

[Reality's Fringe]

At least we'll get DKC.

[Blind the Thief]

Meh, I'd only be excited about Diddy Kong Racing anyway. That game ruled.

[RelentlessRolento]

all I care about is when Killer Instinct will get a comeback, and this kinda ruins it.

[Beana Blasta]

Meh, I'd only be excited about Diddy Kong Racing anyway. That game ruled.

indeed it did

[Tybee]

Put me firmly in the "no big loss" camp. Most Rare titles left me cold.

[Blind the Thief]

I put the blame squarely on Rare for utterly killing any interest I may have had in platforming games, thanks to Banjo-Kazooie and DK64. *shudders*


Since then, Mario Sunshine has been the only one I've played, and with good reason.

[j.elles]

E3 comes we'll be hearing new info on revolutions storage medium. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6146790.html

Or should I say mediums. I smell a premium edition. Like a Revolution that comes prebundled with a ton of NES Sega and TurboGrafix games. May one all together may one for each, who knows. A revolution that comes with one or two 4 GB SD cards. or a hard Drive that hooks into the USB that has them all on there. Who knows but its extremly likely since Iwata said it. Plus this might be the Big Secret thats Miyamoto talked about a while back.

[Strell]

I want Miyamoto to pee on my Revolution.

Faceplates? HAH. I'll be cloning my Miyarmyoto squardrons in no time.

[Tybee]

I want Miyamoto to pee on my Revolution.

Faceplates? HAH. I'll be cloning my Miyarmyoto squardrons in no time.

I have you been watching Rawhead Rex again? :roll:

[Moxio]

That will be a huge ommission, IMO. Imagine a graphically enhanced Goldeneye that otherwise plays EXACTLY the same... mmmm.... that would be sweet...

I'm assuming you haven't seen GoldenEye Source.

[Strell]

I have you been watching Rawhead Rex again? :roll:

I'll have you know that I had NO idea what the hell you were talking about, which lead to the inevitable google search, where I ended up at X-Entertainment's review of this movie, which sounds ludicrously hilarious. But I'm not really much for gore fests or horror movies in general, so I doubt I'll be renting it anytime soon or not. It is a Clive Barker story, however. Despite my lust for horror-themed literature (Edgar Allen Poe being my favorite author of all time AND inspiration for my short stories), I haven't read any Barker. I dunno where he is on my to-do list, but I still need to finish more Poe before moving onto others, including Lovecraft and more Shirley Jackson (whose stories literally paralyzed my mind for weeks on end).

That all said, the google image search provided me some interesting illustrations. I have also heard there is a graphic novel for this story. That might be fun to track down at some point.

[Tybee]

I'll have you know that I had NO idea what the hell you were talking about, which lead to the inevitable google search, where I ended up at X-Entertainment's review of this movie, which sounds ludicrously hilarious. But I'm not really much for gore fests or horror movies in general, so I doubt I'll be renting it anytime soon or not. It is a Clive Barker story, however. Despite my lust for horror-themed literature (Edgar Allen Poe being my favorite author of all time AND inspiration for my short stories), I haven't read any Barker. I dunno where he is on my to-do list, but I still need to finish more Poe before moving onto others, including Lovecraft and more Shirley Jackson (whose stories literally paralyzed my mind for weeks on end).

That all said, the google image search provided me some interesting illustrations. I have also heard there is a graphic novel for this story. That might be fun to track down at some point.

I'm not a big horror movie fan either, but way back in HS my brother and I and a small group of friends would get together and rent the worst looking low-budget horror movies, 70s teen comedies, Andy Sedaris films, etc. and give them the MST3K treatment. "Rawhead Rex" ranked high in that context.

[Lobsterjohnson]

DKR was the bomb, but most Rare titles were buns. I even thought PD0 was horrible.

[Lan_Zer0]

No Jet Force Gemini? Too bad... :applause::D:D:D:D:D:D:D:applause:

[Doom Gaze]

2002: All Rare GBA games are cancelled! No way are there going to be any. No chance. Just play Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero when they come out for Xbox later this year.

2004: What? DS support? Are you kidding me? PLEASE GO BUY GRABBED BY THE GHOULIES, because there is no chance of us ever supporting that.

We work for Bill now.

Yeah, no chance any Rare games are showing up on the VC.. *rolleyes*

[WrestleCrap'sRD]

What about...RC Pro Am? Didn't they do that one?

RD

[Doom Gaze]

What about...RC Pro Am? Didn't they do that one?

RD


Yeah, it applies to all Rare stuff, I guess. Probably not the games that Rare developed but were Nintendo properties.

Also..

I heard the Ultimate Warrior died.

No, I'm kidding. I'm sorry. Please don't smite me.

[Strell]

I heard the Ultimate Warrior died.


Maybe not, but everyone owes it to themselves to read Somethingawful.com's legal dispute with him. Absolute comic gold.

[vherub]

What about God of War or Ico?

No? I think N should just say, screw it, make everything available and go out in a kickass blaze of glory with THE one system that rules all past systems.

[FurryCurry]

Sucks when it comes to Goldeneye but...

As long as I get Treasure classics and Panzer Dragoon Saga (bit of a huge stretch along with...) NiGHTS then I'll be a happy camper.

[Michaellvortega]

2002: All Rare GBA games are cancelled! No way are there going to be any. No chance. Just play Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero when they come out for Xbox later this year.

2004: What? DS support? Are you kidding me? PLEASE GO BUY GRABBED BY THE GHOULIES, because there is no chance of us ever supporting that.

We work for Bill now.

Yeah, no chance any Rare games are showing up on the VC.. *rolleyes*

That would be a direct competitor of Xbox live arcade. So no, I dont think rare games will show up on REVO VC.

[VanillaGorilla]

And how exactly is this surprising?

[Michaellvortega]

And how exactly is this surprising?
QFT

[Reality's Fringe]

QFT

The fact that Rare is developing for Nintendo again, and Nintendo's old licensing structures sometimes gave direct control of the IP to Nintendo. It was speculated that Nintendo owned some of the rare franchises, so it's not "surprising" but it deserved confirmation.

[Zmonkay]

Sucks when it comes to Goldeneye but...

As long as I get Treasure classics and Panzer Dragoon Saga (bit of a huge stretch along with...) NiGHTS then I'll be a happy camper.

I bow to your way of thinking. C'mon Sega, you don't wanna re-release these for some reason, fine. Let Nintendo do it for you!

[Michaellvortega]

Nights retooled for the REV control would be cool

[Doom Gaze]

Yeah, if they have Genesis they've got to put Saturn in too.

[wageslave]

What about...RC Pro Am? Didn't they do that one?

RD

Crap, your right.

I know there is no chance we'd get Solar Jetman, but it would be cool if it somehow could happen.

[anomynous]

No Jet Force Gemini? Too bad... :applause::D:D:D:D:D:D:D:applause:
jet force gemini >>>>>>>>>>> perfect dark & goldeneye

[Friend of Sonic]

Yes. The official legal term for this centers on the level of ghey present in the license MS and Rare currently hold. Right now we're hitting a magnitude of 7.3 or so on a scale of 10 - enough to irk some, but not a dealbreaker.

The level of ghey can elevate and/or decrease through judicial practices such as "calling MS ghey," "egging Rare," and "cockslapping J. Allard in the eye."

I tend to prefer finer, more elegant methods, which may or may not include the use of walruses, Roman candles, and superglue.

In legal terms, this is called a "shitstorm non gratis e plurbius unum et cetera ghey."
:grouphug:

[Lan_Zer0]

jet force gemini >>>>>>>>>>> perfect dark & goldeneye

doorstop >>> JFG

With a doorstop I can hold a door open, with JFG I can only prop it open a crack.

[Doom Gaze]

That would be a direct competitor of Xbox live arcade. So no, I dont think rare games will show up on REVO VC.


Well, no Rare (except perhaps their ancient Sinclair stuff) will be on XBL either, since it's on Nintendo consoles.

[shipwreck]

Well, no Rare (except perhaps their ancient Sinclair stuff) will be on XBL either, since it's on Nintendo consoles.

That all depends on who actually owns the Intellectual Property and the publishing rights. Case in point: Conker.

[WrestleCrap'sRD]

Yeah, it applies to all Rare stuff, I guess. Probably not the games that Rare developed but were Nintendo properties.

Also..

I heard the Ultimate Warrior died.

No, I'm kidding. I'm sorry. Please don't smite me.

Oh, but I REALLY want to smite you!

RD

[Vinny]

I'm guessing MS will have those games available for their download service...