http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/860/860964p1.html

MS Launches Banjo Kazooie Website

Teaser shows new Banjo design and more.

by Patrick Kolan, IGN AU

Australia, March 19, 2008 - Just when we thought things had gone suspiciously quiet on the Banjo Kazooie front, those delightful scamps over at Rare have seen fit to kick-start a fresh website for their upcoming Banjo Kazooie threequel.

The official site, which can be found here, barely betrays any new information. However, the blueprint-style background does reveal 'Caution! Bear at work!', sets of interlocking gears and a strange propeller - perhaps from a seafaring vessel. However, the rotating Jiggy in the middle does flash a slightly redesigned Banjo for a split second, and the words 'coming soon!' on the reverse.

In order to see the site in its full glory, you need to install Microsoft Silverlight. This is essentially Microsoft's version of Flash, but don't fret if you can't (or don't want to) download it - here's a grab of the page:

Click for a closer look at the new Banjo!

Looking deeper into the page, the source code also reveals some interesting information:

"Game Type (Windows, Xbox)
s.prop9="en-us" //Region Code
s.prop10="Main" //Feature Section (Main, Forums, Blogs, Leaderboards, PhotoMode"

It would appear, if the code is correct, the game is going to be released on both Xbox 360 and Windows, and will feature leaderboards and something called Photo Mode. The site itself will also feature Forums and Blogs.

Hopefully, Microsoft and Rare will start the information trickle on this hugely anticipated release shortly. Stay tuned.

They've already said that it's coming to PC... right?

I don't think they've announced it for anything but 360. I assumed a PC port might come along after the 360 version though.

^ Yeah you're right, I kept on thinking about Bionic Commando: Rearmed.

I guess what I was remembering are comments by a Banjo Kazooie 3 team member in their Scribes question and answer column on their website.  The comments are mentioned here in another story about the same lines of code.

http://mundorare.com/news/2008/03/banjo-kazooie-3-website-goes-online/

"Maybe, more interesting than what the site shows, is what the site… hides. Snooping into the HTML code we can find some unclear data:

s.prop8=”Xbox” //Game Type (Windows, Xbox)
s.prop9=”en-us” //Region Code
s.prop10=”Main” //Feature Section (Main, Forums, Blogs, Leaderboards, PhotoMode

Update: It seems that all those lines of code are used in many Microsoft Game Studios sites for statistical purposes, including that confusing part that says “Game Type (Windows, Xbox)”; for example, you can find it both in the Gears of War or Fable 2 websites as well.

The general mumbling over the Internet indicates that the game could be released both in X360 and PC, though. But Rare already explained themselves about this very same issue some months ago in the Xmas edition of Scribes, when a member of the BK3 team stated that “although there are no plans for a PC version at this time, I don’t think that Banjo would be a particularly good fit anyway. Control schemes for these kinds of games are difficult to recreate on a PC, due to it primarily using a keyboard and a mouse. In my opinion, PC games seem to fall into a small number of categories and generally lack innovation whereas console games offer more choice and are willing to try something new. As Banjo falls into the latter category its natural home is on a console.” So, maybe, releasing a Windows version after that comments would be a bit contradictory, wouldn’t it?

In any way, one thing is crystal clear at the moment: will “soon” be able to find out why BK3 “won’t be a traditional platformer.” The final countdown has started…"

^I remember that as well, as it helped solidify my decision to by an Xbox 360.

Is there any games that actually force people to get a 360?

This game would be HUGE in Microsoft's push to be more 'family friendly'

i have a feeling this won't be as amazing as the n64 verison

Banjo Kazooie 3, Too Human, Tales of Vesperia, Halo Wars, Ninja Gaiden 2, Forza Motorsport 2, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Project Gotham Racing 4, Infinite Undiscovery, etc.  Then there are multiplatform console games that don't appear on PC and PC games that only appear on 360.

"PC games that only appear on 360." Wuh? That's a bit of a twist...that's technically a multiplatform game that only appears on the PC and 360.

Also, some of those games could end up on PC, such as Banjo as we just discovered, perhaps Halo Wars, maybe Blue Dragon sometime...