June 28th, 2008 by Daniel Duncan

Today, for our celebration of the ten year anniversary of the Banjo-Kazooie franchise, Rare-Elite introduces to you an exclusive and original video from the creative mind of Mario ‘Lupaie’ Paiano (the designer of Rare-Elite), Banjo-Kazooie: Mumbo’s Wand!!

Earlier this year after our relaunch, Tyrant and myself were discussing a variety of options as to what we could do in celebration of this special event. We wanted something big…something special…and something unlike anything else that is out there. It was at this time that Lupaie offered to create a special video of the Banjo games told from the perspective of a special character: Mumbo’s Wand.

The video began development in late March and took over 120 hours to complete. Lupaie designed the video completely from the ground up while his friend Smouvy handled most of the audio. A few others contributed some recorded footage and text (acknowledged in the video’s credits) of the Banjo games and even Rare’s George Kelion provided the sound samples of the exact dialogue of Mumbo that can be heard in the games.

So ladies and gentlemen, we present to you the world wide reveal and Rare-Elite exclusive video, Banjo-Kazooie: Mumbo’s Wand!!

June 28th, 2008 by Daniel Duncan

As promised (albeit late), here is some well done fanart that reader Crystal Bear submitted for Banjo’s 10th birthday. It’s Banjo and Kazooie set in the world of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and actually serves as a bit of a teaser as well for her Banjo: Ace Attorney project. It’s an interesting concept and we’re sure many of you will like it. Enjoy!

If there is anything you’d like to submit yourself for Banjo’s birthday, then e-mail it to me or send me a PM in the forums.

June 27th, 2008 by Daniel Duncan

In less than 24 hours, Rare-Elite will launch our special Banjo 10 Year Anniversary surprise. It’s a few days earlier than Banjo’s 10th (June 30th is the exact day), but we want to ensure that everyone gets to enjoy it over the weekend. Tonight we will have some exclusive fan art from Crystal Bear for Banjo’s birthday, but for now, enjoy this teaser image as we get prepared for tomorrow’s worldwide launch of…well, you’ll have to wait and see!

June 26th, 2008 by Daniel Duncan

On March 13th, we reported that the Goldeneye Petition had surpassed 22,000 signatures. On Sunday June 22nd, the petition reached yet another landmark and broke 23,000 and is still gaining signatures for a current 23,095 at this very moment.

As we’ve mentioned here several times before, the Goldeneye Petition was produced by us here at Rare-Elite in early January after word of the game being cancelled for the Xbox LIVE Arcade surfaced from 1up. From there we began a small campaign to get word of the petition across the interwebs to gain signatures from Goldeneye fans across the world. During that two week duration, a fire was ignited and emblazoned in the hearts of Goldeneye supremists everywhere that caught the attention of many publications, people in Microsoft, and even Rare themselves.

‘Save Goldeneye e-mails poured into Major Nelson’s inbox, a brief mention in one of IGN’s podcasts, Xbox 360 magazine held a world exclusive that included images and a ton of detailed information on the game, and even a video of the Silo level spawned from some one within Rare on Youtube. See the video below…

Hope for the game releasing was shattered in the months to come, however. Word has it that Nintendo doesn’t wish for the game to be released on the Xbox 360 even though it would see a release on their Virtual Console as well. But all is not yet lost. Though the future for the title looks bleak, there is always that possibility that it will one day come to fruition.

If you would like to see Goldeneye, never give up. Sign the petition if you haven’t done so already, create videos, draw artwork, etc. Any thing that could be essential to the titles future is dire. We will gladly post anything you create for this endeavor. We haven’t given up here at Rare-Elite, have you?

If you have any of the above things that you would like to contribute (videos, artwork, letters, etc.), then e-mail them to me and I will not only post them here on the site, but will see to it that the peeps at Rare and Microsoft receive them as well. Thank you all for the support thus far!

June 26th, 2008 by Daniel Duncan

Battletoads obscure? I’m not certain about that, but I am fairly positive that the series is one of the hardest I have ever played. Anyone else suffer from hair loss after playing these games? Not sure mine ever grew back. You know…the whole ripping-out-hair-from-its-roots and stuff.

But nonetheless, despite how difficult the games may be, Battletoads always has a tendency to appear on lists of games that should be revived or, in this case, one of the classic games that should be on the Virtual Console. And unsurprisingly, the toads aren’t alone! Want to guess what the other is? Well, if you said Goldeneye, then you’re absolutely right. Goldeneye is the most anticipated game for not only the Virtual Console, but for the Xbox LIVE Arcade as well. As one of the greatest first person shooters of all-time, it doesn’t come as a surprise to see the best Bond title ever leading the list. Want to see it happen? Then read the post above this one for details on what you can do…

June 25th, 2008 by Daniel Duncan

You can also watch the video at our YouTube account here

June 24th, 2008 by Daniel Duncan

Images via Rare

June 23rd, 2008 by Banjo-Conker

As the title suggests, the box art for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts is now available for your viewing pleasure. Thanks to forum member Grey Jinjo for the heads-up (though by now, there’s undoubtably a News story regarding this on just about every other Rare-related fan site).

June 15th, 2008 by hylian1

June 12th, 2008 by hylian1

Many media outlets were allowed the opportunity to breach Rare HQ to get an exclusive look and hands-on time with Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise for the Nintendo DS. Below are a jumble of interviews, hands-on impressions, and previews:

Kotaku Hands-on Impressions
IGN Preview and IGN Interview
Play.tm Interview and Play.tm Preview
Videogamer Interview
Spong Interview
Total Video Games Hands-On Impressions