Now that Yooka Laylee is essentially a critical failure... this is good time for Banjo Three!

[Veknoid_Outcast]

Goatseye said:

Veknoid_Outcast said:

Don't get me wrong: I admire Mayles a lot and nothing would make me happier than Banjo-Threeie. I bought my 360 in part because of Nuts & Bolts -- which turned out to be different from what I expected, but still fun. But I look at Rare's track record since 2003 and I look at how Microsoft has mismanaged the studio, and it's hard to be optimistic. Mayles is an essential piece of the puzzle, I agree. I just think he needs to right team below him and the right management above him to be successful.

I wouldn't call it mismanagement. It was a decade of transition, Perfect dark team left as soon as they shipped the game. 

Most of the team didn't like Nintendo's intrusion later in their relationship. Microsoft basically got a decaying team with some talented individuals still at the helm of Rare. Viva Pinata, Kameo, Kinect and Sports Nuts & Bolts were excellent games.

It was a combination of a lot of things, yes. A lot of the talent left around 2000, which is why Nintendo was smart to let the studio go. But I don't think Microsoft did Rare any favors. Its inexperience really hurt the studio in those first few years, and later on, according to ex-Rare employees, the relationship between the two parties was far from ideal.

Personally, I only find Nuts & Bolts to be a special game. That's one excellent game in 15 years. Between 1994 and 2001, Rare was turning out great games every year. It's just an average studio now, which stings.