Rare Drop a Massive Bombshell Hidden in Banjo Kazooie! [Cranky Gamers UK, thanks Jordan, Maze, and many others]

With a driving, flying and boating replacing hopping and bouncing, with almost everything else that made the series seemingly in tact, does Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts sink or swim?

Loved
Deep But Simple Vehicle Customization: Given that Nuts & Bolts' relies so heavily on a wide range of customized vehicles, the construction in Mumbo's workshop had better damn well work. It does, thankfully, with bespoke vehicles Duplo block-simple to throw together in 3D. Vehicles provided stock by the Lord of Games or via blueprint generally work well enough to get by, but you can always do a little bit better. Whether it's as simple as trimming some excess weight and slapping on a beefier engine, or something more creative, like tossing on some balloons and springy wheels for better hang-time, there's plenty to fiddle with here.

Superior Visuals: Rare knows how to deliver fuzzy caricature, but it's also expert at making the inhabitants of its games feel alive. Showdown Town is visually awesome to behold, rife with careful detail and dripping with cool visual tricks. The visual integrity of the various game worlds may be inconsistent, as can the frame rate — it can seriously chug — but it's a pretty little package.

Value: Like Rare's other 2008 release, Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, Nuts & Bolts comes budget priced. (Banjo Kazooie is definitely the better value of the two.) The game is packed with things to do and collect, worlds, challenges and vehicle parts to unlock, ensuring that even after you've burned through the 12- to 15-hour single-player portion, you'll have plenty left to do. Multiplayer is a nice addition, but generally feels like a series recycled single-player experiences, not something that will likely replace your current online gaming obsession.

Sense of Humor: Rare offers a massive dose of self-referential humor, poking fun at its commercial failures, its reputation for widget and doodad collecting marathons, and past Banjo Kazooie games. Stabs at the Xbox 360 console, the Frag Dolls and even Mario are peppered throughout, offering some genuine laugh out loud moments.

Hated
Horrible Vehicle Handling: While the challenges offered to Banjo and Kazooie in exchange for collectible Jiggies are typically straightforward and simplistic, actually completing those challenges can be maddeningly difficult due to the game's awkward vehicle physics. You'll spin out while racing, get hitched up on corners while cruising around Showdown Town and slip off platform edges more often than might keep you sane. Nothing's hard, necessarily, just too much repeated effort to get the job done.

Escort Services: Nowhere is the game's unforgiving physics model more frustrating than in protection and escorting missions. Trying to protect multiple battlefronts while manipulating tanks or choppers seems wildly out of whack difficulty-wise with the rest of the game's challenges. Since on-foot travel is so slow, you'll have to stay in your vehicle for almost all missions. When those missions involve firing upon or ramming into multiple foes with a slippery ride, you may dread completing your Jiggie count. Also, having to deposit Jiggies in the bank after winning them, as well as carting vehicle parts back to the center of town to unlock them adds an extra layer of escorting anti-fun.

It's A Collect-a-thon Too: Inasmuch as Rare comically turns the lens upon itself over its obsessive item collecting gameplay mechanics, it doesn't appear that criticism has been taken to heart in Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. You're still hoarding a ton of stuff: parts, notes, Jiggies, trophies, Jinjo challenges. Perfect for the maniacal completist, but tired for those of us who had enough "thing" warehousing last decade.

Highly Polished Dullness: Many of the game's challenges simply aren't any fun — driving around in a circle for two minutes, for example. For as much stuff as there is packed into Nuts & Bolts, there isn't a ton of substance. The core gameplay feels distinctly hollow, with the real appeal seemingly for those who prefer to beat the clock, optimize their creations and see 100% of each widget and doodad in their inventories.

Banjo Kazooie enthusiasts may bemoan the lack of platforming, whatever that really means anymore, in Nuts & Bolts, but the game is actually quite enjoyable as a unique take on the action-adventure genre. It almost feels like Rare — and the Banjo Kazooie fan, for that matter — would have been better served offering a compromise of gameplay styles — things that can be completed with and without the use of the game's near infinite customized vehicle choices. In the end, Nuts & Bolts feels more like a googly-eyed version of a Grand Theft Auto game, one filled with simplistic driving missions piecing together a micron thin storyline.

Even if you despise the new direction that Rare has taken with the series, given the financial investment required, we'd advise cautious fans giving Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts a spin. The urge to see and do everything may peter out, once you've had your fill of scratching your collection itch or suffered through some of the game's deplorable vehicle handling, but there are still moments of fun buried within.

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was developed by Rare, published by Microsoft Game Studios and released in North America on Nov. 11 for Xbox 360. Retails for $39.99 USD. Completed single-player campaign, tested online multiplayer.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Comes now George to pass word from Microsoft PR that the text issue will in fact be patched. Here is the statement, posted on the Banjo Blog.

“It has come to our attention that people are experiencing subtitle [dialogue text] readability issues with Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts on Standard Definition TVs. We would like to assure you that contrary to earlier reports, we are aware of the issue and currently working on a title update to be released within the next 30 days that will fix it for those with Standard Definition TVs. We’re committed to ensuring all fans of the franchise are able to have the best experience possible with Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.”

No word on when the patch is available, but it sounds like it's a priority if Microsoft PR is taking charge.

GOOD NEWS: Fix for Small Text on SD TVs Issue in the Works! [Banjo Blog via RareWitchProject and thanks to gamer4250 for the tip]

Sure! It's something that we've been looking at. It's all about building a platform where we can do that stuff without impacting the newer things here. It would be great if we could get Killer Instinct coin-op on there.

You know what, Mark? That would be pretty great.

A Rare Look at Rare [1UP]

I'm sorry that we weren't able to address this issue as nothing would please us more than turning all your complaints into gleeful responses, but it's simply something that's too expensive in terms of time, resources and money to alter.

Wouldn't have been so expensive if someone had thought to check earlier in development, and...oh, that's not helping, is it.

Rare: No fix for Banjo SD TV issue [CVG]

Check out the late night cable TV spot after the jump. It's MAXIMUM RISKY stuff, Diddy Kong Racing this ain't.

The most Risque Nintendo commercial ever [Infendo]

After updating to the New Xbox Experience, we were presented with an intro video welcoming us to the change that was impressively rendered, but of highly questionable worth. It did little to inform us about the updated interface, but as eye candy it was cute.

We moved on to Avatar creation, also a mandatory step.

The Xbox 360 will greet you with ten pre-made Avatars of both sexes that you can choose from. If you don't see one you like, hit X to randomize another set of ten.

We opted to customize one that looked a little more personal. That proved to be a bit of a challenge, as capturing your own look is more difficult than we had expected. Avatars are of higher fidelity than their Mii predecessors, making a recognizable caricature of yourself difficult.

You'll be able to customize your Avatar's hair, eyes, eyebrows, nose, ears, mouth, chin, body type and skin color. You'll also be able to add freckles, beauty marks and, curiously, face paint in camo, skull or tiger patterns. There are some very odd choices here. For instance, the Avatar will burp when the right analog stick is pressed in. Huh?

At first blush, however, the wild liberties Wii owners took with Miis to re-create celebrities and fictional characters seems to be mostly unattainable by Avatars. My Prince Leia and Homer Simpson were rather sad doppelgangers of what they were modeled after.

You'll also be able to pick out your Avatar's clothes, but from a frustratingly limited set. There's plenty of Xbox-themed stuff to choose from, like boots, jerseys, tees and sneakers, but you aren't given the option to modify colors, sizes or decals. Your stock choices feel bland, soon-to-be-dated or grossly out of fashion. In the end, the clothing and body choices we had made resulted in a very hate-worthy Avatar. It reflected the worst of our real-life style and made me wonder "Do I look like that much of a d-bag in real life?" (We later opted to drop recreating our own look and clothing. It was simply too hard to look at.)

You can then save your Avatar, as well as a few sets of outfits, to the hard drive. You then have the option to take a photo of your virtual self and use it as your Gamer Picture, should you choose to do so.

Fortunately, the method for doing all this stuff is mostly straightforward, even if the Avatar customization interface isn't as elegant as the rest of the NXE.

Should you ever want to change your Avatar, you can do so under the My Xbox series of folders. This is where you'll view your music, photo, and video libraries, alter your profile and system settings, or view content from a Windows Media Center.

You'll also play and install disc-based games from the My Xbox area. You'll also be able to view game details, Achievements and see what Xbox Live Marketplace content is available for the in-drive disc. We installed Dead Space to the hard drive in just about 10 minutes, deleted it in a few seconds.

Just for kicks, we tested a few original Xbox titles that still aren't supported by Xbox 360 backward compatibility. Neither Otogi nor Gunvalkyrie worked, so our hopes for a stealth BC update with NXE were dashed.

Overall, we're impressed by our first spin through the New Xbox Experience, even if Avatars feel limited and awkward, more of an excuse for microtransaction fashion relief than a new exciting feature. Keep checking back as we explore all the changes in the Xbox 360's new look and feel.

Build awe-inspiring vehicles and tackle the Jiggy challenges in any way you see fit! Show your creations off over Xbox LIVE.

See? All kinds of vehicle building and challenge taking on to be had by all, two weeks in advance of the game's release. Enjoy!

Demo: Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]

As far as incompatible franchise mashups go, Viva Piñata Vs Killer Instinct must be eligible for some kind of award. Only Manhunt Vs Animal Crossing could compete, really.

Nevertheless, that is what Rare are offering via the medium of Piñata Vision cards. By downloading and printing out this set of Killer Instinct themed Vision cards and then laboriously scanning them in to the game via a Vision camera, you can get some, er, KI Piñata.

PIÑATA VISION CARDS [Rare]

If anything, we're now guilty of giving too much direction on justifying one's game. Rare's Neill Harrison took advantage of our goodwill, which is letting developers and producers prep ahead of time for Justify Your Game, resulting in carefully planned elevator pitches. For Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Harrison pretty much nails it following a minutes long mental practice. If it weren't for the last second awkwardness, this one would've been left on the cutting room floor. Thank the video gods for performance anxiety!

Nope. It was none of them. Believe it or not, the video presentation that was showing at the time was for Rare's Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Really. And every other time I saw it shown, people stopped, turned, and watched, where for most other titles (Star Ocean 4's STUNNING cinematics aside) they'd just keep on walking.

Guess it's not being marketed that heavily here, and looks, I don't know, different. Unique to Japanese eyes, maybe. Who knows! If you guessed wrong, chin up. There are more important things in life. If you guessed right, remember, internet bragging rights are yours for a day.

Sure, it's still a grind of a collect-a-thon and the eyes are still as googly as the fur is furry, but Nuts & Bolts' repeatable missions and vehicular combat made us realize that Rare has something rather unique on their hands — a wide-open world without the ultra-violence.

While we knew all about the vehicle customization and creative puzzle solving, we didn't know that acquiring a "jiggy" following a successful challenge would turn into a high speed police chase. Turns out the cops are corrupt in Showdown Town, that hauling your bird and bear asses back to your safe house from the Jiggoseum was such an important part of the game.

Sure, it may have more hugs than hookers, more furry woodland creatures in overalls than drug dealers, but GTA-style game design looks to have had an influence on Rare. (Who says their skills aren't applicable today?) That players can carjack each other's rides via Xbox Live — you can lock your vehicles to prevent such a thing — makes us wonder if Rare will be the ones actually corrupting our youth.

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts also has plenty of the Metroid-style backtracking and unlockable areas courtesy of new upgrades. But watching Rare's demo of the game today made us immediately compare it to Rockstar's most popular efforts, not so much classic Nintendo fare.

We'll see if the open world sandbox gameplay finds an audience. Nuts & Bolts, with its LEGO block-esque vehicle customization and cuddly free-roaming adventuring sounds like a winning combination (and the budget price doesn't hurt). We wonder if it will be a worthwhile pacifier for the underage crowd who want to go hog wild in a virtual sandbox.

Rare's being especially bullish about online — creating a team dedicated to multiplayer — and about the game's creation aspects. In the age of LittleBigPlanet, competition is stiff, but Rare's confident in all the various vehicles players can make in Nuts and Bolts. When asked if there's the possibility for one proverbial user-created vehicle that could break the game, Betteridge replied: "I hope not. We are confident that we built a substantial world... No, it won't crash."

Where was I? Oh yes! This is a pre-order bonus for Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon for the Nintendo DS, and you can only get it at Amazon.com. You might want to set up your order now before this baby winds up on eBay's ridiculously inflated rare, collectible, plush squirrel aftermarket.

NATSUME ANNOUNCES EXCLUSIVE PRE-ORDER GIFT WITH AMAZON.COM FOR RUNE FACTORY 2: A FANTASY HARVEST MOON FOR NINTENDO DS

Order The Game Now And Receive A Rare, Collectible Plush Squirrel

Burlingame, Calif., October 6, 2008 - Natsume Inc., a worldwide developer and publisher of family-oriented video games, announced today that it will offer an adorable squirrel plush as an exclusive pre-order gift for customers who order Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon for Nintendo DS from Amazon.com.

"There are gamers counting the days until they get their hands on Rune Factory 2, and we wanted to give them a little something special for being the first to order the game," said Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO at Natsume. "Fans of Rune Factory and Harvest Moon have loved the exclusive plushes that we have created for the series over the years, so we know that they will be excited to get their hands on this one and add it to their collection."

Rune Factory 2 will be available for the Nintendo DS system in U.S. retail outlets later this fall. The Rune Factory series combines the fun and rewarding Harvest Moon gameplay that fans know and love with the fantasy and excitement of an action-RPG, offering Harvest Moon fans and traditional RPG players the best of both worlds.

Rune Factory 2 is set several years after the first game. The evil Sechs Empire has been defeated, and the Kingdom of Norad is once again at peace. Things may not stay that way for long, however, as strange disturbances in the earth warn that a great evil is stirring. It's up to player to uncover this new threat to the land and bring peace to the kingdom once more. Over the course of the story, players will build and develop a farm, befriend townspeople, raise monsters, take on quests, and find a wife.

In a first for the Rune Factory series, the story of Rune Factory 2 is multigenerational. Players begin the game as Kyle, a strange man who comes to Alvarna Village.

Eventually, players will take on the role of Kyle's child, opening up a whole new adventure. It's an innovative feature that allows players to follow the story of their family and the townsfolk over two generations!

Rune Factory 2 is rated E for Everyone by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).

To order Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon and receive the limited addition squirrel plush, please visit http://www.amazon.com/Rune-Factory-Fantasy-Purchase-Nintendo-DS/dp/B001BWRBA8/ref=pd_rhf_p_img_1.

For more information on Natsume's titles, please visit www.natsume.com.

• United States: Amazon, EBGames, GameStop and GameCrazy
• UK: Amazon, Play.com, Game and Gamestation
• France: Micromania and Game
• Spain: Game
• Italy: GameStop
• Scandinavia: Game and GameStop

Canada, Japan, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Benelux, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand are participating, but retailers there have yet to be confirmed, says Rare.

Nuts & Bolts Retailer Pre-Order Info for Free Banjo [Xbox 360 Fanboy]

How does Rare feel about all this? MTV Multiplayer asked the developer's own Gregg Mayles, one of the creators of Banjo Kazooie, who says "I don’t take much notice about what people say about our games I work on, whether positive or negative." Mayles never mentions Moore by name.

It's a healthy attitude, we suppose, and Mayles adds that Rare doesn't have a formal plan in place to recapture its Nintendo 64-era status as superstar developer. It's just doing its own thing.

MTV also asked if that "thing" involved a new Killer Instinct game, something Rare has been rumored to be involved in — rumors that may have simply sprung up from internal misdirection.

Mayles' answer comes loaded with non-answers and maybe even a little bit of misdirection too. He said "If someone came up with some revolutionary idea for a new fighting game, yeah, we might think of resurrecting Killer Instinct." Who's to say that they haven't had that revolutionary idea?

Rare Responds To Peter Moore Out-Of-Touch Critique, Doubts ‘Killer Instinct’ Revival [MTV Multiplayer]

Rare's follow up to Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, is also slated to make an XBLA appearance in early 2009. Soon the Xbox 360 will encompass the entire bear / bird trilogy! How can it possibly contain so much awesome?

Banjo-Kazooie remake appearing on XBLA November 26th [Strategy Informer]

Good News: Rare's senior animator, Elissa Miller, says that the company has no plans to revisit any more of its classic titles at the moment. "We've always got to have a reason to revive a franchise, we don't do games just for the sake of them," said Milller, speaking to 360 Gamer. Yay originality!

Bad News: This means no chance of revisiting some of the awesome games right at the back of Rare's Retro Cupboard. The ones in the dusty shoebox labeled Ultimate Play The Game.

I could give two figs for a new Banjo Kazooie game, but a next-gen Sabre Wulf, Head Over Heels or Gunfright? Now we're talking.

Rare: No plans to revive more old franchises[CVG]

Microsoft defends relevance of Rare to Xbox business [GI.biz]

Can a gamer who wasn't a fan of the first find something to love in Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise? We gathered up some love and hate to find out.

Loved
Piñatas Are Cute(!): Even ornery old curmudgeons like myself can't help but be won over by little bobbling Sweetles and prancing Mousemallows. Spotting new creatures may wear on one's patience, as the intro sequence can't be skipped, but your garden's inhabitants may induce cute overload. Superficial, yes, but the adorable art style of the game's piñatas is hard to hate, even by the hardest of men.
Strong Visuals: However you may feel about Rare's aesthetic, it's hard to argue that Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise looks stunning in motion. There may be the odd level-of-detail pop-in and some frame rate sluggishness, but graphically the game is spectacular. The paper inhabitants feels more alive thanks to Rare's attention to detail and technical prowess.
Incredible Depth: There's an amazing amount of virtual stuff to collect, challenges to complete and ways to modify your garden. Mating mini-games are surprisingly fun. Two new environments, Dessert Desert and the Pinarctic, add a dash of variety and dozens of new species to horde, even if they don't bring much in the way of thrilling new gameplay.
Excellent Pacing: Despite a rough start, in which I didn't know what the hell my objectives often were or how to get them done, the game ramps up the difficulty relatively well. You may feel overwhelmed at times, as you juggle multiple objectives, watching your piñatas be picked off and as parts of your garden go to pot, but it's unlikely that you'll become bored with building out your garden.
Disarmingly Addictive: Gardening games, pet sims, god control — not exactly my thing. But time can fly by in Viva Piñata as the constant growth and encyclopedia additions, as well as the improved auto-saving, will make time fly by. Even when I had convinced myself that I was ready to give up, the game somehow managed to keep me absorbed for another hour.

Hated
It's Viva Piñata: To be honest, I wasn't a fan of the first Viva Piñata and, following the completion of this review, it's likely I'll never play Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise ever again. If you weren't fond of the first, it's likely you won't be fond of the second. The game feels, on many levels, like a redux release that does little to mix-up the gameplay, instead opting to streamline it and expand the piñata bestiary. The budget-y release price tag helps alleviate the feeling of been there, done that.
Hideous Humans: Inasmuch as the piñatas in the game are adorable, the humanoid characters are disturbing, creepy and annoying. Grating voice work compounds the hate.
Random Overcomplexity: Whether it's confusing interface choices or too many button presses to get done what needs to be done, Trouble In Paradise can frustrate with some of its control design decisions. The game has some welcome control revisions, but we sometimes felt lost in the UI.

I'm about to commit my least favorite review cop out — If you liked the first Viva Piñata for the Xbox 360, you will like the second even more. If you didn't like the first Viva Piñata for the Xbox 360, you're more than likely going to feel the same way about Trouble In Paradise. Some people get it and absolutely adore it, but I'm not one of those people. I couldn't stand Pikmin, for example, a title that I find similarly puzzling in its appeal. That doesn't mean that Rare has made a bad game by any means, just that its appeal continues to be selective.

Those who did appreciate the first will likely be thrilled by the addition of online multiplayer and local coop, even if the former is more successful than the latter in its implementation. An expanded roster, a "Fun For All" mode and better Live integration will probably bring you back, but if you never jumped in in the first place, we'd suggest a rental.

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, developed by Rare and published by Microsoft was released on Sept. 2 for the Xbox 360. Retails for $39.99. Focused on main campaign over the course of twelve hours, tested coop modes and Xbox Live online play.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

I thought ultimately it would be very successful — and you know, Microsoft, we'd had a tough time getting Rare back — Perfect Dark Zero was a launch title and didn't do as well as Perfect Dark...but we were trying all kinds of classic Rare stuff and unfortunately I think the industry had past Rare by — it's a strong statement but what they were good at, new consumers didn't care about anymore, and it was tough because they were trying very hard — Chris and Tim Stamper were still there — to try and recreate the glory years of Rare, which is the reason Microsoft paid a lot of money for them and I spent a lot of time getting on a train to Twycross to meet them. Great people. But their skillsets were from a different time and a different place and were not applicable in today's market.

This honesty from Peter Moore is refreshing and illuminating. But these Rare remarks must really sting. That is, if you're Rare. If not, well.

Peter Moore Interview: Part Three [Games Blog]

Microsoft's Don Mattrick let slip during the E3 expo that the game was set in the Halo universe and that the title would be better served being shown at a "dedicated event." We're checking with Microsoft to see if the rumor has any validity, hoping that someone didn't dredge up and repurpose this old (and debunked) rumor.

Gamer.tm's source also points to a potential game reveal from Rare. That sounds a little less likely, as the UK developer still has Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts to wrap up and publicize. We'd recommend canceling any breath-holding you may have planned, but will update when we have anything further.

Bungie game announcement next week [Gamer TM]

“(Avatars were) an idea we had, even before Miis were part of the gaming scene, of putting these characters that you have an affinity with, not necessarily as part of the Xbox dash, but somewhere in the Xbox that you would play multiple games with, that you would have multiple experiences with that same character”

So while it could still be considered an attempt by Microsoft to capitalize on the success of Miis, don't drag Rare into that business. Miis were just a happy occurrence that helped bring their original idea to fruition.

The Eurogamer TV Show: Rare on Avatars [Eurogamer via Strategy Informer]

[Nuts & Bolts] is like an introduction to what we could do. If we went on and did some more then we could push it. If it was accepted and people enjoyed it then we could definitely push it in a much bigger direction. This is like an opening to a new type of gaming I guess.

Sounds good to me. Hell, even if Nuts & Bolt doesn't work, no harm in pushing the originality envelope a little further.

Next Banjo will "expand" N&B concept [CVG]

To promote the game's launch, Xbox.com are running a Viva Piñata treasure hunt.

Piñata egg icons will be dotted around the Xbox.com site. Clicking on each of them reveals a hidden PDF file containing a Piñata Vision card that can be printed out and imported into the game using a LIVE Vision camera. There are 25 such cards to collect on Xbox.com and Xbox Community Manager Graeme 'AceyBongos' Boyd will be distributing 25 more via XCN.

Each Vision Card contains an exclusive Piñata that can be imported into your current game.

Viva Piñata Community Site

"We don't have any plans for DLC. As far as the team is concerned we are taking a break from VP for a while to make something new. But things change quickly in the software industry so next week it may be a completely different story"

But what could this new game be? I spoke to Rare's Community Manager George Kelion, who said that the team were keen on a fresh challenge after spending so long cooped up with just sentient Piñatas for company.

"With VP2 out the door and Banjo in its vinegar strokes, we're focusing on getting the Avatars all finished and done for the New Xbox Experience," said Kelion, "After that, it'll most likely be a mix of new projects and hopefully a Banjo sequel.. maybe? Fingers crossed, anyway!"

Chatting in Paradise [Mondo Rare]

"On the seventh day, we ran out of candy..."

Rare continue their series of Halo 3 'tribute' virals with this nod towards the 'Museum' ad.

For my money, it doesn't work quite as well as 'Believe' - mainly because the sombre woman in a Piñata mask they have got to play Leafos seems to be on the verge of turning the proceedings into a Bat For Lashes video.

One of the things that I always find funny is when people always quote Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero as being flops at the launch of the 360. In the industry if you break even you're lucky, you're in the minority. If you make a decent amount of money you're really in the minority. You're in the top percentile. Those two games made a lot of money. For the install base they sold phenomenally well. Kameo is still selling now.

Who the hell is still buying Kameo?

Rare: Perfect Dark and Kameo 'sold phenomenally well' [Videogamer]

When will we find out? According to Burton, "soon enough." If that means Leipzig Games Convention, we'll be surprised, and expect that we'll hear real details after the release of Rare's already in development Xbox 360 titles.

Rare: Half the studio working on secret projects [Videogamer]

Batten, a Harvard-educated lawyer, was a Software Development Engineer in Test for Microsoft, supporting Rare on its 360 titles work. She had worked for Microsoft since 2002, earning credits in Halo 3 and Gears of War as an SDET. Earlier, as a lawyer, she had been a public defender for the Mecklenburg County (Charlotte, N.C.) Public Defender's Office.

Her husband, Joseph Batten, was also 36. He had also worked for Microsoft but most recently worked for Wizards of the Coast, publisher of hobby games such as Magic: the Gathering. Melissa had obtained a restraining order against her husband on July 21. Another news story describes Joseph Batten as obsessive and verbally abusive, and when she learned he had obtained a handgun, she sought the protection order.

This is a video from Coin-Op TV showing Melissa at E3 discussing Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts:

The thing that appealed to me most was the game's Leaderboards implementation. It essentially lets players download replays of the game's challenges, letting other players improve upon, for example, the ideal way of moving a giant ice cube man up a slippery slope. That feature reminded me of my obsessive Diddy Kong Racing days, in which I was racing against ghost data and fighting the Nintendo 64 analog controller to shave seconds off my time.

That kind of community driven perfection, letting others watch your best time at scoring goals on an oversized soccer pitch, with the most creative vehicle implementation possible, may be Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolt's most appealing feature.

Lobb and Bettridge recounted some of the more creative vehicle builds, including creations that mimicked aircraft carriers and space shuttles, the kind of things that lead to ingenious overcoming of obstacles. That someone built a Godzilla clone out of parts at Mumbo's workshop should excite user generated content fanatics.

In one challenge to score some Jiggies, the in-game currency, Banjo was tasked with getting some soccer balls into a goal. One vehicle used a V-shaped scoop with a spring loaded boot to carry the ball then kick it in. A simpler vehicle was essentially a giant basket, capable of transporting four balls at a time. There are many more options, like sticky balls, air hoses, and vacuums that can get the job done, making for some insane replayability.

The new Banjo Kazooie looks sharp too. It's as bright and busy as Rare's Kameo: Elements of Power and Viva Pinata, but far easier on the eyes. It's dripping with impressive reflections and water effects, giving Banjo and Kazooie a hell of a visual upgrade since their last appearance.

Finally getting my hands on the game, however, is where the shine started to wear off. While Banjo controls well, and Kazooie's magic wrench is easy to come to grips with, vehicle control was amazingly challenging. Watching the vets at Rare play, the game looked more fun than a box full of puppies. Actually trying to complete the game's challenges, whether it was with a pre-built beginner vehicle or an expert level one, was just short of maddening.

My rides wound up in the drink far more than I had expected after overturning and losing control. This sort of thing can probably be prevented when one comes to grip with the Xbox 360 control scheme and gets a better handle on the intricacies of the tractor beam-like magic wrench, but for the first 20 minutes or so, I was cursing the game's physics.

We look forward to more time with Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and its rich vehicle editor. We didn't get to tackle any of the more traditional on-foot platforming sections of the game at E3, so we don't feel like we've had a complete experience yet.

We're hoping that the floaty nature of the vehicles is due to little time spent hands-on — and that the camera becomes more usable closer to release — but have become optimistically cautious, instead of cautiously optimistic, about tackling the final release.

Microsoft's John Schappert took the stage today at Microsoft's E3 2008 press conference to reveal the new face of Xbox Live. Coming this Fall, your gamer tag will now be linked to an avatar, designed by the folks at Rare, who will then be customizable with any of thousands of pieces of clothing, accessories, etc., all available via Xbox Live Marketplace. What a surprise!

The avatars, much like Miis, will be playable in many upcoming Microsoft games, including Uno on Xbox Live and the new Scene-It!: Box Office Smash.

There's also a new community channel called Live Party, where you can add up to 8 friends to chat and share content, such as photos.

"There’s no truth to the Banjo motion control rumor," said Rare's George Kelion. "Banjo has been designed to be played using a game pad from the outset."

Microsoft yesterday denied that a suggestive comment made by Ken Lobb in a clip video referred to motion control.

Kelion admitted that while he's not privy to every design detail about the game, on having played the title, he played it with a normal controller and noted the absence of motion control input.

But is Rare doing something with the fabled X-waggle? "No idea," said Kelion. "And that's the truth."

"People shouldn’t take rumors that gestate in comments sections so seriously, even on respectable news sites like Kotaku. They can often turn out to be red herrings, as is the case with Banjo and motion controls," he said.

“There is no truth to this speculation," reads an official statement that comments on rumor and speculation. "Ken’s comment is in reference to rotating the left analog stick while hitting the X-button to move different things in the game.”

Aw, you're no fun, official statement. Why'd you have to come in to our post and spoil the speculative fun? Regardless of this denial, we're still sticking to our multiple E3 predictions based on an X-waggle reveal. Bring on the accelerometer! [Edit: I mean X-elerometer!]

Specifically, Ken says "The primary function that Kazooie has in the game is she carries this wrench and the wrench is used for many different things. One of the things that the wrench is used for is to turn these devices. So you basically grab with the wrench and then you twist the controller around and it'll move different things in the game."

While we're mostly positive that Microsoft will be spilling the official beans on X-waggle come next week, we're not going to take Ken's word as motion controlled gospel. He could have merely misspoke, even if it's a rumor we've heard before. If you want to be the judge, make it to the 4 minute mark on the IGN video linked below.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Xbox 360 Developer Commentary - Showdown Town Walkthrough [IGN - thanks, William!]