Scribes – May 15, 2009

	It's the stupid Rare letters page! Send us your mail! Mind the Groke and don't step on the Hattifatteners!   D-d-d-dear Scribesbad,      You guys are making it seriously hard for me to resist the pull of buying an Xbox 360 what with Nuts & Bolts and the enhanced port of the first Banjo-Kazooie on Xbox Live in all of its Stop 'N' Swoppy goodness and whatnot. The only thing holding me back is that dang red-ring problem the console has. Right moving on, I noticed you're also offering up Tooie for XBLA with it also loaded with the same Stop 'N' Swoppy goodness to which is something that has kept me wondering something. I think I already know the answer to one question anyway but I'm going to ask just to double-check.      1) What will happen to those bouncing N64 cartridges? I know it's obvious they won't return in N64 cartridge form but will they still be around? I don't expect the Stop 'N' Swop items from the first Banjo game to actually unlock the same stuff they did in the original 64 version of Tooie and I still want to see Dragon Kazooie and the Breegull Bash still in the game in some form. I could care less about the Homing Eggs and Playable Jinjo options.      2) Since Stop 'N' Swop is also returning in the XBLA version of Tooie, can we also expect another lost gem to return? Namely, Bottles' Revenge? You can't tell me that being able to unlock this feature without "going through certain channels" wouldn't be a nice addition? Even better would be if it had on-line support but I don't expect that to happen. Would be nice, but I don't expect it to happen.      Well that's all I have to say. I look forward to your answers. (Don't make me act like a smart-arse again.)      Falcovsleon20 1) To the best of my knowledge, nothing has been removed from the Stop 'N' Swop setup. In fact it's been expanded, as it now covers not only Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie but also Nuts & Bolts and the Lost Challenges DLC, so that the vehicle design contest winners' blueprints could be incorporated. But before you go red-faced with indignation we should stress that you don't need all the parts of the puzzle just to unlock S'n'S – the simple combination of a save file from B-K and either B-T or N&B will crack open the secret areas in B-K. And you can still get Dragon Kazooie, Breegull Bash etc. plus another cheeky inclusion which I'm sure will provide a source of jovial, lighthearted Scribes banter for another few years.      2) Too much work, guv. On the whole 4J have done a bang-up job so far, but neither they nor us have infinite resources. Adding the features you mention just for kicks is a nice idea, but in practice trying to retrofit them into the game would cause more problems than it solved. They were excluded back in 2000 for good reason, not just deadlines. While Stop 'N' Swop did sort of make it into N64 Tooie (even if it was reduced to a self-contained approximation of the original plan), Devil Bottles mode was never completed and online play was obviously never even started. It's true that online play at least would be easier to achieve nowadays, but that doesn't mean Time Pilot should automatically offer a 16-player live deathmatch. Look at me, I'm all about the bad analogies today.   Hello Scribes!      There are no MP3s of Diddy Kong Racing at your website! So, where do I get the music from DKR? Has there been released any soundtrack CDs?      And could you ask David Wise to consider making orchestrated remixes of Diddy Kong Racing music? Wouldn't a DKR symphony be great? Maybe a musical? Diddy Kong Racing On Ice? Anything, I'll be there!      The Crunchy Cookie There was a soundtrack CD... at the very least there were definitely German, Japanese and US releases. As a rule we don't upload anything that was featured on a soundtrack CD out of respect for the publisher, but you should still be able to get hold of a CD from the usual collector haunts like eBay. Or Dave says you can buy his signed copy for £5000.      A Diddy Kong Racing musical? Are you mental? Kris Kristofferson as Bumper, Scarlett Johansson as Pipsy, Vincent Schiavelli as Wizpig – oh, he's dead.   Well, hello there, editor at Rareware dot com. How do you do?      Like many other Banjo followers, I'm deep into B-K: Nuts & Bolts right now. It's a fine game indeed, despite all the not-always-very-unbiased criticism it's gotten – you know, all that "What, it's got VEHICLES?! RIOOOT!" and the Jiggy-and-note-caused situation of "Professor, videogame reviewers say Rare creates collectathons. What's a collectathon?" "Ah, that's a derogatory term describing a situation or game which, not matter how fun it is, has a number of somethings spread across far and wide, and the cast has to go find them. However, it's important to know that this term can't be used for any game with the words SUPER MARIO in the title. Research is currently undertaken to find out why this is the case, and I can honestly say that I expect the research team, should it be successful, to win a Nobel prize."      Anyway, if we're at it, might I ask you two questions? That's right, despite what it may have looked like, this isn't intended to be a monologue. Well, at least not entirely.      1. The (more) insolent question comes first: Could you somehow provide the fanbase with that excellent background picture of Klungo's arcade game? Most of it can't be seen since it's covered behind the game itself. Which is a shame, because what little I can see demonstrates perfectly that everyone's favorite Saulus-turned-Paulus Gruntling should've chosen a career as a painter rather than to try himself at L.O.G.'s business. Oh, and it looks cool.      2. And for something completely different: Friends of mine claimed that someone called Guy Whodoesscribes was the script writer for Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Land, their sequels and DK64. However, the credits of my DKC SNES version are listing Dan Owsen as the man behind the English manual and the text. Was Mr. Whodoesscribes his ghost writer who couldn't be credited because the poor lad was an illegal immigrant? His name kind of sounds like that... No, I'm certainly not a racist!      That's all. Thanks for your patience and have a nice day.      Graf Saecula 1) I mentioned this to Phil (who created the artwork) before Xmas, but he left me with a dirty pixellated low-res version and ran off laughing. There was also the problem of the big black rectangle in the middle of the original artwork, because it turns out the game screen doesn't overlay part of the picture, it was actually drawn like that. Fortunately this wasn't the case with the brand new DLC Klungo backdrop, so that was good to go, and thanks to the ingenious wiles of artists we also got the original primed for maximum wallpaperability in the end. Hit that Nuts & Bolts Downloads section and don't say we never do anything for you.      2) I did no scriptwriting for any of the games you mention, sir. I'd have thought the designers handled it themselves, although Dan "The Man" Owsen may well have contributed to the earlier game(s) as he worked for Nintendo at the time (you may or may not remember the Ask Dan column on their website – Scribes follows a similar update pattern). Actually, after checking with Gregg it seems he wrote most of it himself, but due to a policy of only listing people once in the credits the honours went to Dan, who handled the manual layout and co-ordination. Another mystery solved! Damn, we're good. Dear Scribes,      Okay, bpa--wait. What am I doing? It's just four days after a new Scribes! ...oh well, better early than when-I-forget! Have a numbered list! Er, lettered list. You know what? Bullets.      * You know, Klungo looks a lot different now than he did before, not even taking the actual style change into account.      * And I'd just like to say Kazooie looks too feminine. That... is pretty much the only complaint I had about the design change after the initial blaargenhaargen was over.      * Um... let's see here... if the next Banjo-Kazooie game has a new sort of game... format... thing, don't make it vehicles. I'm just bad at vehicular games. I crash too much. And am bad at them. How about an RPG? ...Sure, BKRPG would be the most bizarre and insane thing ever, but hey! They learned moves as they progressed in the old games, right? And the only other real genres left encompass spin-offs or life simulation... or strategy. I can see it now: Grunty returns with a Gruntbot army and Banjo and Kazooie must rally the Jinjos together and collect parts for a broken weapon that suspiciously look like random things from other Rare games.      * That went on too long. Is it just me, or are Gruntilda and Mr. Patch the only "bosses" in BKNB?      * Finally (until I remember there's stuff I forgot)... where's that portal to when video games were good?      Topmonhit Character changes: well, it has been almost a decade since their last full-blown console outing. All characters are revised over time, and with the genre-bending antics of Nuts & Bolts coming into play (it wasn't all platforming, I don't know if you noticed, some people did) and the characters themselves hopping into different roles in different worlds, not to mention the fact that people seem to expect a few more polygons in their models nowadays, it seemed like a good time to make some revisions. And, you know, Kazooie is a girl.      A B-K RPG wouldn't necessarily be all that bizarre – in addition to the upgradable moves, other RPG standards like rambling conversations and scores of freakish NPCs have been part of the Banjo experience since the beginning. And bosses. Apart from N&B, which as you rightly point out didn't have many bosses in the traditional sense. That's because the epic Blast Corps-style MechaPiddles confrontation was axed at the last minute, unless I just dreamed that one again.   Dear Scribes Dude,      Ah, Scribes, I love reading a lot of the questions, but usually it's the answers that are the most humorous! Anyway, I have questions to ask and I realize that by the time they are answered, I will probably have the answers through another source. Just joking! Now on to the numbered list...      1. You pretty much confirmed that you are working on 4 "unconfirmed" games. There's a rumor about 2 of them being at E3, though that's not what I am asking. I know you can't tell me what the games are, but I wondered if you could say how many of them are new IP and how many are sequels?      2. Why don't you guys ever make an RPG? You've made Platformers, Shooters, Racing games, Fighting games etc. but no RPGs. This makes me a sad panda :-( Square-Enix should be able to teach you a thing or two. You two should put a game together. I can see it now, Final Instinct or Kingdom of the Ghoulies or even Piñata Quest. Great titles right there!      3. Umm, how much did you enjoy answering these questions?      Well, I guess that's it for now. I hope you will answer these questions. Till next time, my Rare friends!      Morphingjar90 1) I don't know where and when this confirmation happened, but it must have passed me by. The actual situation here is that things are so TEH TOP SECRAT at the moment, I'm a loooong way from being in a position to spill the beans on everything that's cooking. What I will say is that there's little talk of the 'obvious choices' I've seen rumoured elsewhere.      2) Despite any random B-K RPG speculation you may have just witnessed, I can't help thinking such things are best left to those who specialise in the genre, and there are plenty of 'em these days. Final Instinct sounds like a rubbish film from the 1980s, most likely a rude one with Kim Basinger. Technically Kingdom of the Ghoulies wouldn't be a kingdom, it'd be a barony, unless you removed Baron Von Ghoul from the top of the chain, and then I fear there'd be a fan backlash the likes of which you've never seen. Piñata Quest, though – is that just Puzzle Quest with Piñatas? You could be on to something.      3) Any questions that let me ramble on aimlessly for five minutes like the last one are always welcome. Beats having to poke busy staff members for answers to intrusive queries any day, although you might not think so. I rate your questions 7.5/10.   Dear RARE,      I have been playing your video games since 1991 when I was 5 years old.One of my favorites was Killer Instinct.I'm sure people have brought it up but a 4th (I realize you made 3rd KI after gold)installment to this game would be facemelting.Seriously,if you were to make KI 3 then people who loved the old KI faces would then melt off their heads.I mean the first two KI games were far superior to any other 3D fighting game of that time and KI characters were so original and I'm sure you guys could also toss in some new edgier and more badass characters as well.I realize you can't really tell me if one will come out even if you were making one because of marketing and stuff but just know there is about a billion people out there that would jump all over a new KI.Your games are awesome and legendary and they have been close to me for 15 years and to see one of your best comeback would be great.Thanks Rareware.      Michael Millwood Traditional unedited email merged with inevitable KI3 request to make such things doubly easy to avoid for those engaged in the serious business of analysing each letter for real, marketable information secreted away between all the flippancy and misdirection.      Beyond that low-concept gimmick there's not much we can say, as usual. KI3 is not an impossibility, but we've got nothing to tell you right now. Although the global news coverage of a billion people's faces falling off in unison does sound like a good reason to do it.      The internet told me a couple of weeks ago that we're doing new KI and PD games at E3, if that's any help. Should this information somehow, almost inconceivably, turn out to be less than 150% accurate, please feel free to direct your rage at any part of the internet that isn't this one.   Greetings loyal minions of L.O.G.,      I believe you guys "ah da bawm!" I have followed the Banjo series all my life, collecting Banjo toys, Banjo soundtracks and even (please, I'm not that pathetic) Banjo drawing books. I am very happy with the duo's progress throughout the gaming world and even Banjo's latest nose job which has transformed him from an ordinary round-nosed bear, into a freakishly weird, square-nosed freak (I STILL LOVE HIM!!!). Now, I have a favour to ask of you guys... Or two.      The next game. Now I know it's a little early now, but when you guys get to making Banjo's next adventure, could you please make it less "vehicley" or however you would put it. I loved the retro adventure and environmental safetiness the old games had to offer and I'm not asking for you guys to completely cut the vehicles, but could you minimise their role and leave Banjo to do some footwork? Pretty Please? With 5 cherries on top?      Now my next question has plagued the thoughts of many men down here in Oz... HOW CAN BANJO POSSIBLY SEE IN FRONT OF HIMSELF WITH THAT BIG NOSE IN FRONT OF HIS EYES?! Now I even try sometimes to be a Sherlock Holmes and investigate how Banjo could possibly see in front of him by putting the camera in front of my Tux-wearing bear in the game. All I can see is that stupid nose. Why I should, bloody hell stupi–      Aussie Pants Well, it's up the Banjo team in which direction they wish to escort our hairy bumpkin friend next. That's not to discount your opinion – the designers don't just shut themselves off and refuse to acknowledge any feedback – but ultimately the series is their baby. So what'll it be? More platforming? More vehicles? Something else entirely? At this point in time I don't know any more than you do. In the meantime, Banjo-Tooie on XBLA, bargain etc.      You do have a point about his massive nose. Let's ask veteran bear 'n' bird artist Steve: "A bear's sense of smell is much more important than his eyesight, that is why Banjo's breed of particularly strong-smelling bear has evolved to boast a rather large conk at the expense of his eyesight. Doesn't help much when he's driving, but his long-standing alcoholism probably doesn't do him any favours either." Um... "Is that last comment going too far? I think it's important we help Banjo confront his problems..." We should certainly point out that alcoholism is bad for you, so don't do it, kids.   Dear Scribes,      I have been a fan of Rareware since I got my N64 and still am today. Your games have a certain quality about them that makes them unique to any other, one look at a game will let you know that this game is another hit by Rare. I still have my Nintendo 64 hooked up to play the classic Bear and Bird games. I just have one request though...      Please think about a Port of Banjo-Kazooie to the DS.      Think about it, there are so many young kids with a DS you would sell heaps of copies and the money could be used to make all new games for the 360. I reckon even Conker's Bad Fur Day would sell heaps of copies. Plus there is just something about carrying your favorite games in your pocket on your very own console that makes it that much more personal, rather than a shared family console that your brother will push you off after five minutes.      Keep up the good work! Can't wait for a reply.      Ben It's far from the first time we've been asked. And we have thought about it, and we've never flatly ruled out the idea. But you bring up an interesting point in the assumption that anything (or at least anything kid-friendly) ported to DS will fly off the shelves faster than a publisher can package it. It's not necessarily true: you may reach a younger audience than the 360's traditional userbase, but the fact that the audience is also so much broader makes it just as likely that they're not all out for the same game type. Also, are you saying we should market Bad Fur Day to kiddywinks? BAD BEN. BEN IS BAD. I'm not sure Nintendo would give two thumbs up to the "we want more money to make Xbox 360 games" approach either.   Dear Rare,      I've been a long time fan of yours and frequent reader of the Scribes. I eagerly await to purchase and play Grabbed by the Ghoulies when it is re-released on the Xbox Live Marketplace. But at the moment I would like to ask you a question about Donkey Kong 64. Is it true that development started right after you finished Donkey Kong Country for the SNES? Thanks in advance.      Jerry What, the first Donkey Kong Country? That seems a bit unlikely. If you mean the trilogy as a whole, so the end of work on DKC3 led into the start of DK64, then yes, probably. My dim memories involving people who worked on both games would seem to back that up. I have previously been accused of 'remembering' things that didn't really happen, but I'm right and they're wrong. The scar on my hand was definitely done by Orcs when I was 12.      Wait, we just had email from Ben and Jerry. Where's the free ice cream?   Dear godlike masters of games,      I downloaded L.O.G.'s Lost Challenges earlier today, and I just finished Klungo's new arcade game. That is to me the final proof that there is no game developer like Rare. The simplicity and excellent level design, the epic boss battles and the music that is beyond anything I've ever heard in a game. That game shows that it doesn't have to be flashy to be great. I really hope that you continue with the Klungosssoft games. It's definitely one of the greatest games ever, and I hope you make a complete 360 game of this. Just don't make the same mistakes that so many game developers have done before and "improve" everything by including frustrating new gameplay modes. But that would never happen at Rare, right?      Talking about frustrating new gameplay modes, Nuts and Bolts is a great game, but I really want a "real" sequel to Banjo-Tooie, is that ever going to happen or is that impossible? I know that you'll neither say yes nor no to this question, I just wanted to point out that people out there still like old-school platforming.      Two final questions:      First – What are the chances of a Blast Corps sequel? That game had enormous potential, and a replay value off the charts, but not even close to Klungo's, and that game could really work well with the youth of today who just want to blow stuff up.      Second – Jet Force Gemini was a great game, is there any work going on on a sequel there or is that game as dead as my old hermit crab?      With adoration,      Victor Johansson Platformer preference duly noted. Again. I hope you're not being sarcastic about Klungo's Arcade, as he's trying his best and it's not nice to pick on people when they're trying their best, even if they're thick and green and insurmountably delusional.      In an ideal world I would be playing Blast Corps and Jet Force sequels right now, but reality is a harsh mistress. We've got other things on the boil. Maybe XBLA would be a good place to reintroduce the whimsical savagery of the originals first, what do you perky young noobs/jaded old hands reckon?      Sorry to hear about your crab. I've got a giant millipede at home but apparently those buggers live for years. Dear Scribes,      As a long-running game player of the older generation, I have to ask one simple question. With your connection to Microsoft and your link to Xbox and therefore Xbox Live. Why do you not take advantage of your massive back catalogue to sell through the Live Marketplace? As someone who still owns (and cherishes) his AMS 464 and Spectrum 48k I can tell you that I STILL get out the likes of Sabre Wulf, Alien 8, Nightshade, Knight Lore, etc. I wait the five minutes to load and dive into nostalgic bliss of side hacking, or isometric view fighting and solving puzzles and I think some of the newer generation would enjoy the experience. I don't know if it would be worth the hassle of transferring if so it would run on the Xbox but I can tell you there are oldies out there like me who would jump at the chance to play these old gems without the 5 minutes of SCREEECHING!!      Please take this into consideration as my Amstrad won't last forever.      Lenny Ah, the Spectrum. How can we take the UK version of The Apprentice seriously after what Alan Sugar did to the Spectrum's legacy? I ask you.      The Ultimate properties haven't lain untouched since 1986, as we've released souped-up/completely overhauled versions of Sabre Wulf on the GBA and Jetpac on Xbox Live Arcade in the last few years. There are all sorts of things that could be done with the IP, but we also have a metric truckload of other IP established since then which is known to a far wider audience. For every mail asking us to "please make a new Knight Lore" there are 100 politely requesting "OMG KI3 U IDEOTS" and we still haven't done that yet. So never say die, but on the other hand we may never say Atic Atac 2 either...   Dear Mr. Loveday,      It seems to me that Scribes has seen certain stages in its history. First was the "OMG I LOEV ALL UR GAEMS"-stage, then came the "WTF WHY U LET M$ BUY YOU NINTENDO WAS ALWAYS #1 I HATE ALL OF YOU"-stage and now it's back to a quiet "the hardcore-fans that stayed tell you that your games are way better than all those reviewers say"-stage. Well, I'm about to break this stage, as I recently picked up Banjo Nuts & Bolts and I was not satisfied. As someone who played all your games since Donkey Kong Country and completed all of them, 100% or more where applicable, it's certainly saying something that I didn't feel the urge to play the game anymore after I completed the first level. It might be that I'm growing out of video games, but it most certainly might also have something to do with the declining quality of your most recent game installments.      Now I know reviewers aren't always the ones to trust, but 81% for Perfect Dark Zero as compared to 95 for the original Perfect Dark or 80% for Nuts & Bolts compared to 90+ for the first two Banjo games (source: gamerankings.com) tell me I'm on to something.      To get back to Banjo: What we all loved about it was exploring huge worlds, running around, jumping around, looking around, getting stronger by learning new moves and contemplating about the hidden secrets. What you created isn't a Banjo-game. It's a "Now you can be an engineer"-game. The characters seem so out of place and forced into their new role it's not even funny. Now after you destroyed my fond memories of Star Fox (Adventures had almost nothing to do with the original games, the flying-levels were kind of an unnecessary gimmick), Perfect Dark (PDZ was too Haloesque and didn't provide the same feel GoldenEye and PD did) you ruined the Banjo series for me.      OK, that was a long rant I just had to get off my chest. I am curious how you see this whole situation and how it feels to know that Rareware was once one of the top-notch video game developers and is currently stuck in mediocrity. What are you, as a company, going to do about it?      Will we see a Killer Instinct dating sim or a Battletoads MMORPG? Those are the two remaining trademarks that fans still care about.      fraggingBrain For a start: massive simplification, sweeping generalisation and statement of opinion as fact. But there's no point pretending we never get emails like this, so let's look at what you have to say.      We won't argue the case of our games making the same splash with the 'traditional' fanbase as they did at the peak of our success to date, but that's down to a number of factors rather than a simple, blasé claim of Rare going down the toilet. Establishing the Xbox 360 as a base for family-friendly games is a far cry from being told to go off and make a post-apocalyptic FPS. You don't factor in that as you've grown up with Rare games you've also shifted away from the demographic we're still tasked with targeting, and you also fail to mention any of the games that wouldn't support your argument about our games going downhill in the critical stakes, such as VP.      With Banjo in particular, if Nuts & Bolts wasn't for you, that's fine, but it is still a Banjo game. Our reasons for the gameplay shift are well-documented, and it remains part of the Banjo franchise, designed and built by the same core team. The fact that you would have preferred a straight-up platformer doesn't change that.      We know where you're coming from, and we're not blind to the fact that the old-school fanbase isn't necessarily getting all it wants from us right now (in as much as the fanbase has a consensus opinion, which historically it never has). We do listen to feedback, and we are aware of decisions made that have and haven't been appreciated. But like any other company, Rare has to do what's necessary to stay on the map at any given time. People yelling "YOU DESTROYED STAR FOX" and "THIS ISN'T BANJO" aren't likely to have much of an impact on anything right now.   I just got a great idea, Rarely Brown!      Why don't the masterminds at RARE put an updated collection of their past Nintendo handheld games on the Nintendo DSi? It would possibly exclude their already updated, already ported games (i.e. the Donkey Kong Country series) and/or Game Boy Color game(s) (i.e. Conker's Pocket Tales) so as to only have games they made specifically designed for the Game Boy Advance. Then again, I would love to play Pocket Tales for the first time on my DSi and if I'm not mistaken in technically did have a few GBA-only features, and I wouldn't have anything against them for adding in an even more updated Donkey Kong Country series, but mostly I am thinking of a Super Mario Allstars-like recreation of Beowulf, Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge and, best of all, MR. PANTS!!!      One of your many dreaming fans Beowulf? Are we talking about the CGI Ray Winstone one where you can see Anthony Hopkins' arse, the sci-fi version with the mighty Christopher Lambert or the original Old English epic? Or Sabre Wulf?      There were two versions of Pocket Tales on the cartridge, you're right. However, the main hurdle in what you propose is the clear split in our GBA output between the Nintendo properties (DKC trilogy) and the THQ-published titles (Grunty's Revenge, Sabre Wulf, Pilot, Pants). And even if you focus on just the latter four, there's still the issue of stuffing all that code into one cartridge. We're talking about games that are only a few years old and therefore lugging around a bit more audiovisual weight than, say, Jetpac. So probably not all that viable, but any plan encouraging wider distribution of It's Mr. Pants should be applauded all the same.   To my superiors,      Hi. I have a question for ya. Why not make some Rare food? I got some great ideas:      Banjo Burst fruit juice      Conker Cola      Jet Force Gummis (I'm sick of those damn gummi bears/worms. I want some Jet Force Gummis, dammit!)      I'll even sign something that says that I won't sue you for using those names! So long as I get a lifetime supply of GoldenEye Soup. That would be a good name too. "Find the Golden Eye in your soup and win BIG prizes!"      Also, maybe I'm just being an ignorant American, but why does Gregg's name have 3 "G's" in it? I'm used to seeing just Greg. Anyway, bye for now and I hope you answer these questions.      The Termite from Banjo-Kazooie King Jeff sweets. Mmmm. Floyd Pastilles. I'm not sure about the wisdom of releasing brown food and drink products associated with Conker though. And permission to release GoldenEye Soup would have to be secured from Nintendo, Activision, MGM, Eon, Danjaq, Waterstone's, Cadbury's, General Motors, West Midland Safari Park and Leona Lewis.      Gregg's name has an extra 'g' just because it can. I wouldn't be surprised if it was also tied to Stop 'N' Swop in some way.   Dear Scribes,      First off I am a huge fan of your games. Especially the Banjo Series. And yes you guessed correctly I have a couple questions for you:      1. Will Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts see more promotions in the near future?      2. Will Banjo-Fourie have vehicles in it?      3. Will there be a Banjo-Kazooie show? Seriously, you need to make the show!! If your plan is to introduce Banjo to new gamers that would be a smart idea.      4. Were you guys planning to make Banjo-Threeie for the Gamecube? And if so, what was the game going to be about?      Thanks! And please, PLEASE print this letter in the very next edition of Scribes or I will unleash an angry mob of Anti-Goulie fans on you!!      Banjo Dude Do you mean 'Anti-Ghoulies fans'? Surely no such people exist.      1) What kind of promotions? Like the Kraft thing? No idea, but doubtful. Seems to me that sort of thing is only really useful within the launch window. Or do you mean Klungo being promoted to Grunty's boss at the game factory? Could happen.      2) Let's not even start on that name until there's something to back it up. People are still upset that we didn't go ahead with the Banjo-Threeie name, even though it was, well... awful. What I want to know is why the fourth The Fast and the Furious film wasn't called The 4st and the 4rious.      3) We kind of thought that making a new game with Banjo in it (and re-releasing the first two) would be a good way to introduce him to new gamers. Never say never to a TV show – VP transferred pretty well – but you must realise that if people thought chucking some cars and planes into the mix was akin to us taking a lead pipe to the Banjo franchise then stamping and urinating on the broken pieces, there would probably be some kind of localised internet apocalypse if Banjo and his fellow freaks started enunciating proper words in human voices.      4) Short of the brief movie reel at Spaceworld 2000, I don't think there were ever any plans for a full-blooded third Banjo game until Nuts & Bolts. Bear in mind that Tooie came out in 2000 and Ghoulies from the same team in 2003, which (given the transition from GC to Xbox) didn't leave a lot of time for farting about with anything else.   Hello Rare employee who reads this tripe,      I want to say I have been a fan of Rare since the N64 days, and continue to this day to hold your games in high esteem, PDZ still gets played at least once a week in my apartment. I would like to ask the team something though: Can we please ditch the flag in Capture the Flag... I mean this entire series revolves around people who are essentially well-kitted bounty hunters and we could switch the arbitrary flag for a hostage?! All the same rules could apply, the hostage would still stop the saviour from firing weapons (due to having to drag their sorry ass through battle that is) and the other team could have to capture another hostage, or alternatively a caught teammate...      I don't see why Miss Dark and Co care so much about a piece of fabric... heck if you wanted to be really lazy and far less cool you could replace the flag with a memory stick of some sort... assuming all data isn't on the cloud by then. So yeah I am just curious... are game design decisions made by one or two people or is the entire team involved... if it's the whole team then please ignore the coders' vote as they are probably very satisfied with leaving the flag code intact.      Keep up the great work,      J Well then, let's ask a PDZ programmer. Preferably one I go to the pub with to make it as easy as possible for me.      PDZ programmer Nic obliges: "I'd think a flag was chosen as it is big enough to see when being carried, can be used as a weapon and is pretty much an accepted item in 'Capture the Flag' game scenarios, it could have been something else, hostage, memory stick, custard doughnut.      "It wouldn't be too hard to dig out all the PDZ code, spend some weeks modelling and animating a hostage character, replace the flag with a hostage (assuming the hostage or memory stick is 'just' a graphical change to the flag), write or alter the game modes to support this new object instead of the flag object, submit it to testing, get it certified and release the title update to the world, then finally sit back and see the sales soar."      But considering PDZ was released four years ago this hypothetical situation seems unlikely to come to fruition, even if the entire gaming public was up in arms demanding the flag be changed to something else and it wasn't just, well, you. Still, there is a chance that the flag-related status quo will be shaken up in any future Rare FPS projects, now that you've planted a niggling seed of doubt in the programmers' minds.   Hello,      A friend and I were having a conversation about games that had good music and so I referred him to some Blast Corps music.      I then realized that I missed the game and thought to myself, "I'd definitely download it if they had it on the Wii Shop Channel", is there any possibility of that happening? Or is it owned by Rare/Microsoft?      Troy Good old Blast Corps, one of the few games with tunes I can always remember. Fine work by Mr. Norgate. However, as you suspected, it's owned by Rare (and thereby Microsoft) so the chances of seeing it in the Wii Shop any time soon are pretty remote. XBLA is a better bet, although looking at this official list of upcoming XBLA projects I see Captain Skyhawk 2010 and Killer Instinct Zinc are still ahead of it in the queue NO REALLY.      May I humbly suggest browsing our on-site MP3 collection for some quality tunes to keep you and your demanding friend occupied? If you're after stuff from the same era it includes pretty much the full JFG soundtrack, which I'm surprised you didn't mention in the first place considering it's full of win.   Hello Rare,      First off I'd like to congratulate you for being one of the few game developers out there who is willing to try something new with their games it's a shame that the public are far too narrow minded and if it's outside their comfort zone of shoot the big ugly brownie grey coloured alien/terrorist thingy then they won't buy it. I don't really have a lot to ask well I do but I'm of an age where I can realise there's no point saying "errm hey there Mr. Rare can you please make me KI3". But as I sit here writing my first letter to Scribes I'm sure I can think of some questions I'd like answered.      1. How has the economic recession hit Rare I heard a rumour that there had been staff cutbacks has this slowed down or even cancelled some projects in the pipeline?      2. How much say does Microsoft have over what you guys are making I felt that the decision to make Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts into a racing/platformer came from a higher power? PS I loved Banjo though great game.      3. I'm not sure if this will get published before E3 2009 but do you plan to make any announcements? Because if you don't well I've got nothing to look forward to.      4. And finally people are always asking about whether or not you're going remake this or that what I want to know is will you ever go back to making games with certificate 18 plastered on the cover or have the bosses said no you're not allowed because we want loads of money like Nintendo so if you make a game everyone should be able to play it.      Well I hope you can answer a few of my questions I tried to keep away from the usual questions you get asked but these are probably nothing new to you.      Devoted Rare Fan We're not at home to Mr. Comma today, are we?      1) We took a hit, same as pretty much everyone. Lost a couple of vocal Scribes participants too, sadly. But no, I can't say it resulted in the canning of entire projects.      2) Actually, as far as I know the Banjo gameplay shift was always driven (do you see?) by the team. MGS may point us in a certain direction when there's a type of game they need, but they tend to leave us alone to get on with it when it's our own established IP under the Rare Tinker-O-Scope.      3) I've heard rumours, but nothing definite. At the very least I'm not bashing together any new site sections just yet. You've got nothing to look forward to at all? That's sad, man. Maybe you should get an iguana.      4) The broad appeal games are our main focus, but there's no unbreakable directive stating that we will never again be able to do anything that isn't E-rated and full of fluorescent animal/junkfood hybrids or waddling witches and their comedically useless minions. Mind, it's not as if we were consistently bloodthirsty and psychotic in the old days either. Not in public. Hello there Rareware!      My name is Clint Duarte, I am an 18 year old guy who lives in Jacksonville NC. Let me just say you are my favorite video game software company no doubt! I have enjoyed playing many of your games! But my most favorite is Conker's! But I will tell you that my favorite was the original back on the N64 when you were with Nintendo. By being a huge Conker's fan I recently just got a tattoo of him on my left calf. I would like to send this picture to you guys, and hopefully be posted on the site itself or in a gaming magazine :D Please let me know what you think. The tattoo artist that I got this from was Bart Andrews from Bombs Away in Jacksonville North Carolina. It is very detailed and it looks better than the picture itself!      Clint Duarte That is actually quite impressive, especially compared to some of the epic tattoo fails you see floating around the 'net. Worthy of featuring, but we don't produce any gaming magazines because that would be mental, so hopefully the Scribes exposure will suffice.      I also prodded high-rankin' Conker artist Mr. McFarlane for his professional opinion: "Hey dude, great piece of leg work... but I really think it needs an extra touch, my signature... just to finish it off."   Yo, Scribes!      Now, for this letter, I'm going to do some stuff to make SURE I get put in the next edition of Scribes.      First, the wall of orange text: Banjo-Kazooie. Killer Instinct. Battletoads.      Perfect Dark. Donkey Kong 64. Donkey Kong Country. Diddy Kong Racing.      Mickey's Speedway USA. GoldenEye. Jet Force Gemini. Star Fox Adventures.      Grabbed by the Ghoulies. Viva Piñata.      Second, a few questions, in the classic listed-by-numbers format you apparently love so much:      1) Is it true that you're working on four projects at the same time? If so, then DAAAAANG. But then, you guys used to juggle ten at a time during the NES days, so this is probably like a cakewalk for you.      2) Are all four games sequels, new IP, or some strange combination of the two?      3) Since the whole owned-by-Microsoft thing hasn't stopped you from developing GBA and DS games, would it be possible for you to make games for the PSP? That system has been on a decline lately, and just a single game from you people may be able to change its fortunes.      4) If you were to bring back another classic game series from your past, which would it be and what changes would you make to the formula?      5) Have you seen the Angry Video Game Nerd? He has reviewed several of your worst (no offense) games on the NES, as well as Battletoads. You should check him out he's hilarious.      And now, for the kicker. Putting this single word in my letter will guarantee your responding: ARSE.      The [impersonator of the] Lord of Games 1 & 2) This again, eh? You'll just have to wait and see. Perhaps worth pointing out that NES games were a wee bit less taxing on the old manpower than Xbox 360 games.      3) Microsoft had arrangements in place for DS versions of MS-owned properties, but I don't think there's anything like that on PSP. Besides, we don't have any history with Sony so there wouldn't be any avenues to reopen. They'll just have to continue supporting the platform without the help of It's Mr. PSPants.      4) You know what this calls for? A spontaneous straw poll. Exciting new Scribes tradition! Maybe.      Designer Justin: "It would be Gunfright for me. We could make a really good game in a western setting, expand the town into a sandbox world and have some really mean outlaws passing through causing chaos. I might get rid of the 'horse costume' that let you move faster though, I'm not sure that would translate very well into a modern game :)"      Programmer Nic: "Super RC Pro-Am would be my pick to bring back with a few million dollars' worth of funding and an all-star dev team. Just thinking of how the monochrome graphics of the Game Boy could be displayed in all that modern high-def loveliness makes me giddy inside. Or something."      Musician Steve: "Knight Lore – I'd add a few more colours and write a little ditty for it, but apart from that, it was great! Also, I played it at my friend's house when I was about 12, and he let me borrow his computer when I was off school for a week. Didn't finish it though. Happy days."      Designer Chris: "MY past? Mr. Pants 2001, but if I did that everyone would fill up the forums complaining that it should be 0 MSP because the PC version was free. Failing that, Jet Force Gemini most certainly deserves another outing with Juno, Vela and Lupus in play simultaneously, and AI players filling in as needed."      5) I am familiar with his work in passing, but linking directly to the potty-mouthed scoundrel would not be the family-friendly thing to do. Appreciated the long overdue Battletoads pause tune shout out though.   dear rare ware      I think you should make project dream on xbox 360 and I get angry when nintendo use the style of donkeykong you made.Me and my friend patrick like banjo kazooie mabe you could make a banjo kazooie on xbox 360 and make a rare ware massive multiplayer online role playing game.My favourite games are banjo kazooie, conkers bad fur day, banjo pilot, banjo kazooie, banjo tooie,banjo kazooie grunty's revenge,jet force gemini(you could make this on the xbox 360 also)donkey kong 64,diddy kong racing.      Mike gamegeek Apologies to anyone who thought they'd skipped the token unedited letter for this edition. Now then, you, sir: on the one hand your knowledge of and enthusiasm for our back catalogue is surprising and fairly impressive, but on the other hand you type like a monkey having a stroke and I can't take anything you say seriously. There's also nothing I can do to shake the absolute conviction that your friend Patrick is actually this Patrick.   Dear Scribes,      I'm really glad that you guys decided to port the Banjo-Kazooie series to Xbox Live with enhanced extras such as the long overdue Stop 'n' Swop feature. However, I'm a bit worried about what would happen when the downloads are eventually pulled off the network and my system dies. Since I can't make back-up copies of downloaded games and you can't buy "used copies" of downloaded games, that would mean that I'll lose the games for good if that happens. Is there any chance of releasing the Banjo-Kazooie series onto a compilation disc for retail purchases? That would make hunting down a copy of the improved Banjo-Kazooie classics much easier should Microsoft decide to pull the games off the network one day in the future.      Don Hmm. No immediate plans for a compilation disc to my knowledge – barring the original Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged (and the odd third-party thing like PopCap Arcade) there's not much of a precedent for that sort of thing, and some might say it defeats the object of downloadable software anyway. But I have heard the idea being punted around within the Rare/MGS camp before now, so it could happen eventually. Maybe when there's more to add...      For now, if you download something from XBLA then later lose it, you should be able to retrieve it through your Download History regardless of whether or not it's still listed. So as long as XBLA is still in operation, your downloaded games should be safe. And while I'm not privy to future developments in the world of Microsoft hardware, I would point out that by the time the next iteration of the Xbox arrives in the future space year 20XX, having the games burned onto an Xbox 360 disc wouldn't necessarily help you to continue playing them anyway.   Hi Rare!      I'm a French guy and I'm doubtless your bigger fan in France! I've all your fantastic games since the first Donkey Kong Country (except for the games on Microsoft's systems. Sorry but I'm a Nintendo fan-boy before!).      I've a lot a questions for you and I'm sorry if my English is not good...      - Is it possible to see your Nintendo 64 games on the Wii's Virtual Console? If no, why the 3 DKC are available?      - Why did you change your logo? Personnaly I prefer the old blue and gold. I think he was more modern than the new...      - Actually, who own the Goldeneye's rights? You, Nintendo, EA or Activision?      - Do you work again on Nintendo DS?      - Is right that Diddy Kong Racing began his development as RC Pro Am 64?      - Project Dream... that was the working title for Banjo-Kazooie right? Does the project begin on Super Nintendo or on Nintendo 64?      - Did you keep some ideas of Twelve Tales Conker 64 in the final Bad Fur Day version?      - And finnaly: where are Tim and Chris?      Bests regards from France!      Nicolas Euro-question onslaught! Let's see which of these can actually be answered...      Rare games appear on VC when Nintendo request it and usually only when Nintendo own the properties, hence the DKC trilogy – Microsoft own other Rare IP so XBLA is a more likely destination. The logo change was due anyway and the switch to Microsoft seemed like a good time to put it into action. The GoldenEye rights are too tight a knot for me to even attempt to untangle without jeopardising the structural integrity of my fingers. Nothing to say on future DS games right now, but we'll see. DKR didn't actually begin as Pro-Am 64, but it did go through that stage. The very first incarnation of Dream (long before it became anything to do with bears) was on the SNES, probably the earliest 'beta version' I got the chance to play. BFD inherited quite a lot of content from Twelve Tales, just one of the reasons that a revival of Twelve Tales itself is not really a going concern. And Tim and Chris are still working on their own ventures, which aren't really for us to discuss. There we go. Did reasonably well with that lot, I thought. Don't know what came over me, it's not like me to make such an effort. Bests regards from Twycross! Snippets   Is it true that in Conker: Live and Reloaded you can see Grunty's Lair in Future War?... Please tell me eitherwise I'll lose a bet of 20 pounds n that would SUCK! Tracey Lourigan 'Eitherwise'? Let's ask Mr. Seavor. "You don't see Grunty's Lair in Future War. Definitely not..."   Check this out, I just finished this earlier today. You guys are a fantastic company. Keep makin good games :D Richard Evans Nice one. It's easy to forget what a grisly Cronenbergian sort of character he is, bless his rusty, slimy heart.   Any word on bringing back Killer Instinct !!!! I would pay an arm and a leg for another rev !!! Gus Never understood that saying. Why would anyone want your manky severed arm and leg?   I was wondering, is Piddles a male or female? It never really says in the game. Until this is answered, I shall assume it's a female, since it's purple. Unless of course it's a cross dressing cat. Morphingjar90 After some internal debate I believe it was decided that Piddles was an actual girl, not a transvestite like Birdo.   Please, oh Please, oh Please make me a screen saver of the blue Jinjo in the Terrarium surrounded by poppies. Also, why don't I ever hear anything about Blast Corps? I loved that game! TWEEDLEDEEDEEZ Screensaver? No. You can have a nice big wallpaperesque screenshot though, thanks to Dave the screenshot-grabber.   hello scribels. i like rare games. i have a idea for a new game. fat cat. i hope you like it. Ike Sounds like either a 'comedy' Flash platformer or a shareware corporate decadence simulator. Either way, no ta.   Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie are two of my favorite games. I ran a little contest and I ended up with six neat pictures of me hanging out with Banjo and Kazooie. You can check them out here: http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Bwark-Kupo/contestoid-draw-me-with-banjo-and-kazooie-is-over-127328.phtml Zachery Norman Again, naughty words and rudeness prevent direct link. Nice pictures though. Disturbing, but that goes without saying.   Was Timber 64 ever really in development, or is it just a myth? It sounds unlikely, as I've only seen one webpage about it. Andrew Sellars I went directly to the DKR team leader, who said "No". Don't tell me you had a £20 bet on as well?   Remaking WWF Superstars would be a wise commercial decision. Wrestlingly yours, H. Hogan Except it would now have to focus on wildlife presenters and conservationists... bare-knuckle fighting. Maybe.   Is it too much to ask for a cryptic hint as to what the fine games manufacturing company Rare is working on at the moment? If not, please, give us a cryptic hint. If so, then please, give us a cryptic hint anyway. Jakob LeAwesome I'm afraid it is too much to ask, so here's my dog dressed as a knight to distract you. Does this mean we win the internet?

	Scribes – May 15, 2009