But what does this have to do with Rare? Well, the music was actually composed by former Rare composer Grant Kirkhope. You know… The guy behind musical scores in Banjo-Kazooie, Viva Pinata, and Donkey Kong 64 to name a few. I played a bit of the demo yesterday afternoon and it definitely has a Banjoish vibe to. Just dont expect anything with cute and googly eyes… Expect the likes of iblood and gore./i Go get em!

Chris Seavor, the man best known as the lead designer behind the crude, vulgar and hilarious Conker’s Bad Fur Day, has sat down for rather long interview with folks over at Gamikia. There’s a ton of interesting information to be had, including when and how he was hired by his former employers, what led to the development of Conker and what he had in store for its sequel!

Interview here

GN: Conversely, time seems to sand the rough edges off games in the mind of gamers, what flaws in the original game did you find that you fixed in the new game?

JL: The N64 version of GoldenEye was a truly fantastic game, however there were plenty of opportunities to modernize the GoldenEye experience to meet the expectations of today’s gamer. We honestly didn’t think, and still don’t, that creating a step-by-step recreation of the N64 version would have given people the experience they were hoping for. There is an inherent thrill in discovering things for the first time. Because of this, the whole game has been conceived, designed, and built from the ground-up. It’s an entirely new ‘GoldenEye’ experience with nods to the original game, although putting the need to deliver a AAA Wii shooter experience before anything else. As this is a reimagining, rather than a remake, this means that there was nothing to fix, really. The underlying mechanics are designed for the current gaming audience. Needless to say, the graphics have been brought up to 2010 standards. I think you will be hard pressed to find anything that looks this good on the Wii. It is amazing.

Full Interview Here

There’s a lot of history behind LJN and Nintendo’s treatment of them and other 3rd party publishers during the NES era. Gamespite has an excellent article that goes in-depth on this subject. Definitely worth a read.

More Info Here

I did read that Mr Iwata asked them to innovate (GoldenEye) and they did do some new things with the control at Eurocom, and I think that’s great. But my feelings when I heard about that… You have mixed feelings. It’s inevitable. You see it as your baby.

Even when they ask, do you want to be involved, and you say no, it’s still something that’s connected to you and to your personality and that you want to cherish somehow. So there’s maybe some irritation, or insecurity that comes out of that. That someone else is running with that ball, but then again it is pleasing that it still has currency, that the name is still valued. And how how many games have been remade twice?

Those kind of things are pleasing.

Full Interview Here

The biggest issue that Microsoft and Rare face with Kinect and Kinect Sports is, in fact, the very audience they hope to reach and the core Xbox demographic. With a current audience that generally shys away from casual titles in favor for the usual first-person-shooter and other dark and violent titles, it’s easy to see why the hardcore gamers may not be willing to immediately jump on board, aside from, perhaps, mere curiosity and a need for new technology. Another issue is the simple hope that that same expanded and casual player is still interested in such titles. Who’s to say that the majority hasn’t moved on to more traditional titles after realizing what else gaming has to offer? And with a starting price point of $149.99 USD as it’s starting price, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the public shy away in this tough global economy.

Read the full editorial here