October 23rd, 2010 by Devin Durock

While work here at Rare-Elite has begun anew, I’ve also joined the writing team over at fellow Rare fansite SimplyRare. My mission here is basically to provide links and resources to any and all available Rare news as it becomes available across the web, no matter what it may be. As a part of the team over at SimplyRare, I will writing editorials for them from time-to-time with insight into various different aspect of the company. My first editorial, as the title of this post implies, basically talks about the upcoming launch of Kinect. Below is a small portion of that article, but to read the entire thing you’ll have to take a visit to SimplyRare at the provided link.

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

October 21st, 2010 by Devin Durock

Editor Dan Ryckert of Game Informer briefly discusses some of his favorite titles released on the NES that werent, per se, AAA hits, but still fun and great in there own right. Among them is Rare’s Anticipation. Don’t believe I have personally had the opportunity to ever try give it a run. Any of you?

Full List Here

October 20th, 2010 by Devin Durock

Portion of a NowGamer interview with Rare’s Nick Burton…

So with Rare focused on Kinect for the time being, do you think you’ll be able to explore retro-style titles in future, whether using Kinect or a traditional style control scheme? ls there a possibility that you might still be able to do projects for XBLA? Or now you’re working with Kinect, are you purely focused on that?
We’re focused on Kinect at the moment, but we’d never say never to doing smaller projects like that. While we’re not working on anything right now, that’s not to say we wouldn’t do something like that in the future. Over 25 years, our back catalogue has been very eclectic – we’ve done very different kinds of games from the very early days on the NES, through to the N64 and GameCube and now on the 360 and with Kinect. Whatever seems to be exciting and interesting is what we’re particularly interested in making.

Full Interview Here

October 19th, 2010 by Devin Durock

Rare’s creation of the Avatars have been a big part of the Xbox experience since their inclusion to the gaming community a year ago. Now, thanks to a soon-to-be-relaunched overhaul of the official Xbox website, you’ll be able to edit and attire them how you see fit straight from your PC or new Windows Phone 7 without having to actually log on to the Xbox 360.

For more details on this new feature and many others, go here.

October 19th, 2010 by Devin Durock

Krome Studios, one if Australia’s now former top game developers, will soon be closing it doors. The company is most notably known for its contribution to the gaming community with titles such as Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, Blade Kitten, and most recently the Xbox 360 Game Room.

For us Rare fans, you may remember a little title released back in the holiday season of 2007 entitled Viva Pinata: Party Animals. Yes, Krome was the developers of that game. While it may not have been a huge success, it was fun in its own right as a kind of spin-off to what Rare was doing with the franchise as a–as the title implies–a simple party game based off the short-lived 4kidsTV! television series.

Despite these unfortunate circumstances, we wish everyone at Krome the best for a speedy recovery as they enter the field anew in search of new ways to best bestow their creative talents to the gaming community.

Check here for more information regarding the closure.