QB.

Conker and Banjo can be AAA, just like Mario games are.

I wouldnt think Mario is AAA either.  Im not talking quality, im talking budget and man power.  Mario, Banjo, etc doesnt cost the same as lets say Halo, Metal Gear Solid, etc

So am I, banjo for the 360 took all the manpower rare had.. 

You realize that Perfect Dark isnt actually a stealth shooter historically right?  And Metal Gear Solid, Deus Ex, and Splinter Cell will remedy any stealth fans for both PS and XB.

If its good yes.  Outside of forums people dont even know who works on games.

Quantum Break.

False.  3 Games released in 2008 Developed by Rare. 5 in 2 years. 6 Games in 3 years. 8 in 4 years

Kameo 2005
Perfect Dark Zero 2005
Viva Pinatas 2006
Diddy Kong Racing DS 2007
Jetpac Refueled 2007
Viva Pinatas Pocket Paradise - 2008
Viva Pinatas Trouble in Paradise Release Date 2008
Nuts and Bolts Release Date 2008
Kinect Sports 2010

^^^

Chris Seavor: I'd heard rumours PD wasn't the big hit that was expected. They really expected it to be massive and there was a bit of disappointment at the sales. That tempered doing another one.

Plus, Microsoft were reassessing the market at the time. They were looking at the whole spread of games they had across Game Studios. And they had Halo, which was a pillar game. They were thinking, well, we've got that. We've covered our bases with that. So why do we need another game that's like Halo? Really, that was it. And they just went, look, close it down.

They were looking to make Rare into what Nintendo had Rare as but for Microsoft. They were saying, okay, why aren't we doing these cuter games? That's what Rare does - which is actually not true. But that's the way it was seen. So they pushed the Banjo game and they just got everyone on it. It was just a case of, this must be done by this date no matter what. And that was it. It was all hands on Banjo and that was the thing we did. That's what happened.

I did resist going onto Banjo and I did some more mini demos of a survival horror game, which I'd had on the back burner for a while.

(anything not called banjo were side projects with few people)

Im not sure why exclusive matters to be honest.  Exclusive doesnt make something better or worst.  Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft has just decided to focus on other genres which shouldnt matter as long as there is good games on their platform in that respected genre, and if their own output is also of good quality.

Look no further than Killer Instinct.  Good games sell.

Banjo was in the works for years and years.  It started as Banjo 3, turned into a kart racer, and then back into nuts and bolts.  Look into the history of the game.  After a while yes i would assume MSFT said it has to be done.