On IgnCube there's an insider story today "Rare-no more rumors, the full story"

[burgundy]

Originally posted by SpoDaddy
I really don't think Nintendo's going to let Rare have those franchises SMBchick, they've probably been haggling so long because Nintendo won't give anything in a compromise. Nintendo's far too proud to let franchises it helped develop start appearing exclusively on another system.

Not false, but fallacious. If this was about "pride," Nintendo would not have sold out at all. This isn't the Yamauchi era anymore.

And personally, I'm going to be really pissed if I can't play Conker on Xbox because Nintendo is hard-headed.

SMB: You have a point, but it was a lot weirder to see cutesy Conker from DKR get drunk and piss all over fire demons.

[Stone]

It's not like there's anything particularly special about Conker itself, though, is there? No real history built up around the character (and it's not like the name itself will sell games, considering how poorly the first game sold). Some scouser chipmunk (or whatever) would do the business equally well.

The same thing goes for Perfect Dark - yeah, PD sold very well (compared to Conker), but, is anyone really going to miss the character herself?

Video game character properties are only really worth something if people have built up an emotional attatchment to the character, and I don't think much franchise value develops until a sequel happens. Banjo-Kazooie is the only real franchise Rare has, it looks like.

[sexual nougat]

Originally posted by Stone
Banjo-Kazooie is the only real franchise Rare has, it looks like.

what about battletoads? still waiting for a new one..

[SearchManX]

The problem with Nintendo letting these franchise characters go, no matter how many games they starred in or how popular they are, is that Average Joe Schmoe will see Rare's games on the Xbox with such and such character who appeared on an N64 and think "Nintendo games are on the Xbox now!" when that is hardly not true. Companies like Nintendo have to keep their properties and identy together as a whole, otherwise, confusion among customers will equal a loss of sales or even anger towards Nintendo if Joe Schmoe finds out that Mario games are on the GC and Conker is on the Xbox.

[burgundy]

That's a very good point, but doesn't that happen when third parties jump consoles? I don't think the average gamer has any concept of who develops what. Did most people see Final Fantasy as anything but a Nintendo game before Square jumped? Do most people see FF as anything but a Sony game now?

Even on the GameFAQs boards, where you would expect to find gamers more knowledgeable than average casual gamers (pause for fits of laughter), I read someone whining that Contra and Castlevania aren't in Animal Crossing.

[bbobb]

Originally posted by burgundy
Even on the GameFAQs boards, where you would expect to find gamers more knowledgeable than average casual gamers

Have you been toking on the crack pipe again?

[SearchManX]

Originally posted by burgundy
That's a very good point, but doesn't that happen when third parties jump consoles? I don't think the average gamer has any concept of who develops what. Did most people see Final Fantasy as anything but a Nintendo game before Square jumped? Do most people see FF as anything but a Sony game now?

Even on the GameFAQs boards, where you would expect to find gamers more knowledgeable than average casual gamers (pause for fits of laughter), I read someone whining that Contra and Castlevania aren't in Animal Crossing.

LOL, yeah, you'll always get those types who really have no clue what's going on. And that very well happens when third parties jump, which is something that I believe that 1st parties don't like at all. I wonder if Sony had apprehensions when Crash Bandicoot became 3rd party. And I think it depends on the type of game too. Square gamers are more hardcore than the average Joe Schmoe who buys Goldeneye.

I'm pissed Mega Man isn't in Animal Crossing.

[burgundy]

I know it's funny. But wouldn't you expect that someone who goes out of his way to find a game site and sign up for a message board would be more likely to know that Konami makes Contra than your average gamer who buys a PS2 to play Madden and THPS and that's it?

[SearchManX]

Even on the GameFAQs boards, where you would expect to find gamers more knowledgeable than average casual gamers

Everybody and their mothers knows about GameFAQs, so I doubt that's true 80% of the time. The problem is that when you dilute people who knows about games with a large population of people who think they know about games, you get funny posts like what you mentioned...

[burgundy]

Perhaps. But that doesn't change my main point, which is that most people don't know who develops what, so I don't think Banjo-Whatever on the Box would cause any more of a stir than any third-party but previously Nintendo-exclusive franchise.

I don't think we'll see another Banjo game on the Box, because it doesn't seem that the Box's target market would accept it. But I'd bet on PD and Conker.