i aint buying a 360 to play banjo
port plx

Well most of rare's employees did leave the studio after making a great game. So there isn't much talent left in Rare.

They have just gone the wrong way, they only made games look good. Like donkey Kong 64, it was full of lightning effects and particle systems etc etc and however it is almost the best looking game, it just isn't fun enough. Banjo Tooie: same problem.

The only good one is bad Fur Day.

I don't know, I just think Rare is getting desperate because sales have gone down big way. Nintendo has been giving other firms the opportunity to release franchises, and with Metroid it was a succes. I'd say another firm should take over, Rare had their chance.

Banjo Tooie got a 90% on Gamerankings, so you're probably in the minority when you say "it just isn't fun enough".

I loved the Rare games on 64, in fact I owned 4 of them - GoldenEye007, Perfect Dark, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie. They were all fantastic games -- however, I haven't seen a game on the 360 that I have found at all appealing besides Viva Pinata (not even PerfectDarkZ looked all that good to me). Banjo 3 I will have to wait and see, as it wouldn't be the first time they screwed up a franchise from the 64

That said, as Dolla Dolla (i think) mentioned, Nintendo owns the Donkey Kong franchise, not rare

Rare has always been one of my most favorite Western developers, together with Naughty Dog, until they've decided to cross over to Microsoft. I was really angry. Angry at Nintendo for letting such a group of talent leave who has created a whole bunch of wonderful titles for Nintendo. Angry at Microsoft for waving around with a bag full of cash, and angry at Rare considering the fact that they probably thought money was more important. Donkey Kong 64, Jet Force Gemini, Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, Conkers Fur Bad Day, Perfect Dark (GBC / N64), Goldeneye 64, Donkey Kong Country (GB / SF)... got them all. I think I've got more Rare games than Nintendo games on the N64. Rare... I've missed them,... and still do miss them.

Reading that almost the entire team from back then has left Rare by now, does make the wound smaller. To read that they will probably, as soon as Nintendo ask for it, release the N64 games on the Virtual Console makes one of my wishes come true, when this actually "will" happen.

To be honest, the Donkey Kong games which Nintendo has created after Rare has left them, which are mostly party games, didn't impress me so far. Except that Donkey Kong Jungle Climber is a fun game on the DS, but other then that... not really. The atmosphere and the typical Rare magic which you saw in the older Donkey Kong games from SNES on, is missing *Sob*

damn... i miss da days of good rare games like goldeneye and perfect dark (n64 version)

Microsoft doesn't value Nintendo a competitor as high as Sony, due to the lack of multimedia functions in Wii. So to release games on Wii that bombed on X360 makes totally sense businesswise, as those games do not compete for X360 buyers and gain a few extra dollars for MS. 

It seems the X360 crowd just doesn't want Rare type of games, so MS better get some money out, and what better place than a Nintendo console.

This is how the Microsoft game division plans to make money, make games for Nintendo Consoles. Is diddy kong/Donkey Kong in the Brawl game? I'm sure Nintendo would of had to pay MS for that.

 I think it has been mentioned about 10 times in this thread: Donkey Kong belongs to Nintendo, not Rare.. yes they are in Brawl, but it is Nintendo's franchise

I'm not sure if it is exactly the same, but it would be like if Retro Studio worked for Microsoft, Nintendo would still own the Metroid series, even though Retro developed for it