RARE: BANJO 3 NOT 'TRADITIONAL' PLATFORMER
So what is it, then? Rare's not spilling the beans quite yet.
Banjo-Kazooie came out at a time when the 3D platformer reigned supreme, but times have changed since 1998 -- a fact poignantly raised to the attention of Rare in the latest installment of its Scribes letter page. "[One] of the things that I loved about the Nintendo 64 was the abundance of platformers. Sadly, with the last two generations platformers have kind of disappeared," wrote Banjo fan Conner Willoughby. "So, will you be staying true to the platforming nature of the series or will [Banjo-Kazooie 3] be turning into an over-the-shoulder view shooter with lots of blood and gore?"
A good question. Rare's response? Neither of the above: "Banjo won't be a shooter (unless we sell no copies like [Grabbed by the Ghoulies] and out of desperation give him a gun for the next game) but it also won't be a traditional platformer," wrote a Rare representative. "We somewhat grandly like to think that it will be a different take on the genre. Some would say a brave gamble but I'm confident it's the right decision, and when people see it I'm sure they will say 'although the old games are clearly brilliant, this new one is even better.'"
While Rare isn't saying exactly what this new direction is, they do hint that it'll lend itself well to multiplayer, which "should offer a multiplayer experience unique to anything currently available." Whatever it is, our only hope is that it offers at least 75% less item collection than past Banjo games. Please?
We found out earlier this week, according to Microsoft Game Studios' head Shane Kim, that Banjo-Kazooie 3 is aiming for a holiday release this year. If that holds true, we can expect to hear more concrete details relatively soon -- perhaps even at GDC next week? Well, maybe not that soon, but we'll see.
This disappoints me.
Brian ZuckerGeneral PR Manager, VGChartzbzucker@vgchartz.com
