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"So the big release season is just beginning, and those of you with deep wallets are rushing around pre-ordering every top game before each emerges onto store shelves.
"But what about those who can only afford maybe one or two new releases, or maybe none at all yet? There’s a global economic slowdown on after all.
"Well at OXCGN we’ve decided to put ourselves in the game Animus and go back in time to discover what titles we enjoyed this gen that you should be able to get for cheap (and..."
"Donkey Kong Country. Killer’s Instinct. Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Banjo-Kazooie. These are some of the games that spring to mind when someone mentions Rare, the British developer whose name used to be—back in the days of Super Nintendo and the N64—more or less synonymous with superb quality."
"A lot of games have them and a lot of them are annoying. We're of course talking about side kicks in video games. Whether your favorite genre is the classic platformer or you're more into hardcore action shooters, chances are you've had an annoying side kick at some point. We run down our top five worst side kicks of all-time. It's not likely that you'll agree with them all, but you're certain to remember how some of these number twos bugged you at some point."
"Many eons ago, during an age of cartridge-based game systems and split-screen multiplayer, there was a developer that seemed to turn every game they touched into gold. Ranging from first-person shooters, to platformers, to fighting games, this company covered nearly every genre imaginable, and almost always found success. That studio was Rare, the British developer most famous for their games published on the Nintendo consoles of the '90s. Although Rare hasn’t developed any new games for a nu..."
"I feel any good villain deserves a good rhyme. Here’s one I made for Gruntilda the witch:
There once was a witch named Gruntilda
who sat high atop a big hill-da.
Tooty’s beauty she’d take
and rhymes she would make,
because she’s an evil, angry witch and isn’t a very nice person at all.
I just wrote that right now. Proud of me?
Anyway, that’s enough of me trying to be poetic, creative, and post-modern with my—er—posts. Let’s just cut to the good stuff.
Gruntilda is a kickass vi..."
"Rare's most recent Xbox 360 title, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts might not have been a huge commercial success, but the British developer still believes the game was a success.
"I guess we consider it to be a success in that it met the expectation of the people that were creating it, in terms of the final product," Rare design director George Andreas told VideoGamer.com. "In terms of execution, I can honestly say I don’t think you could have executed that particular concept much better.""
"PathEngine has announced the release 5.21.00 of their pathfinding and agent movement SDK, with key features of the release being the addition of functionality for projecting 3D geometry to ground shapes, significant optimisation of pre-process data structures, and 3D content processing improvements. In addition, the team have also announced a licensing agreement with Monolith, and to Nexon for Nexon Star."
"Famed game developer Rare Ltd. has revived one of its most beloved and successful franchises exclusively on Xbox 360. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts embraces new and old fans alike, as the famous bear and bird duo return in stunning high definition for a unique adventure of epic proportions. The Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Original Soundtrack features original musical compositions by Robin Beanland (Killer Instinct, Conker's Bad Fur Day), Grant Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie) and David Cly..."
"Join Cam and Tash as they discuss the new Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. They cover the Story, Gameplay, Graphics, Sound and Key Features and end with an overall score.
Also thanks to the guys at Microsoft Australia we have a copy of the game to give away.
Check out the link for more details."
"Polish up that toolkit and prepare to dive back into the vivid world of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, where invigorating new challenges await with the Lord of Games' (L.O.G) Lost Challenges Game Add-On pack! Worried that Banjo and Kazooie may be falling back into their lazy ways, L.O.G has created a fresh series of tests and seven additional multiplayer modes for players to continue building their own distinctive vehicle creations. Although Spiral Mountain has been rightfully won, L.O.G. has a..."
"There are a couple hundred registered users here, so I figured that I'd give you guys a chance to respond via the comments section and name your top 5 games from last year. Sure, I'm a little late to that party, but by now you've all had time to sit back and contemplate your picks. You don't have to give reasons behind your top 5 (although you can), just list them like this!"
"There was one other franchise [on the Nintendo 64] that offered hours of fun in the days of yester, and that is the Banjo Kazooie series. Who would have thought when it launched that a game about a bear and a bird fighting a rhyming witch could be so fun? If you did, you were likely on acid and no one would have believed you, you drug-crazed maniac. How about you go to rehab and stop reading about video games, all right? Anyway, for all of us who are clean and sober, it's been a long wait sin..."
"Its the eleventh day of Christmas today, and that means its time for the eleventh instalment in The Twelve Games of Christmas. A feature series running every day on the twelve days of Christmas here at Electronic Theatre, The Twelve Games of Christmas aims to highlight the top performers of 2008 month-by-month, and help you decide what you should be picking-up in those January sales!"
Capcom should take notice for those who still have never been able to enjoy Dead Rising because of the small text problem. Rare has released a patch that gives you the option to play the game with larger text, thus allowing you to actually read what is going on if you are playing on a standard definition television (ie, still the majority of gamers).
"In the credits of the new Banjo-Kazooie, with designer names rolling, side kick Kazooie makes a self depreciating wisecrack directed at Rare that for elements of online forums is regarded as gospel
.
All the real talent left years ago.
Its a sad and misinformed myth that carries far more weight and supposed truth than it ought to.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is a singular, mighty salvo that refutes that.
For those who havent been paying attention or simply feel insecure about ..."
Looks like that in-game secret wasn't entirely crap after all -- Rare studio manager Mark Betteridge has stated a new Killer Instinct is being considered, but they're not sure how they'd bring it up to date now that fighting games have evolved as much as they have. Great to hear they're not willing to do it half-assed....
In the coming of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & bolts I thought that I would make a list of the top theme songs in the Banjo-Kazooie games.
5. Jinjo Village.
One word... WOW! The song is beautifully recorded and the theme is just one you can't get out of your head. When you first hear those first few notes you know that the song is a good one. The theme also suits the area in Banjo-Tooie as well.
4. Cauldron Keep
This theme is awesome and keeps in the theme of nervous tension. The...
Cranky Gamers UK has uncovered a juicy little nugget in the new Banjo Kazooie game, which apparenrtly reveals new takes on Killer Instinct, Battletoads, Jet Force Gemini and Ghoulies are coming to the 360 at some point. I'd definitely be down for some new KI, and Jet Force Gemini could be great too. Ghoulies I'm not familiar with, and I'm not sure how well Battletoads would translate these days, unless it was released like Mega Man 9 was..
In a sense it'd be great to see Rare get back to t...
"Show Notes:
What we have been playing: Mirrors Edge Demo (Xbox 360), Left 4 Dead Demo (Xbox 360), Mirrors Edge Demo (PS3), Tetris Splash (Xbox 360), Call of Duty 4 (Xbox 360), Rock Band (Xbox 360), Soulcalibur IV (Xbox 360), Oblivion (PS3), The Sims (PC)
Left 4 Dead not coming to the PS3. Again. For the last time.
VGXPO - Philly Area - Let us know if you are coming!
Wrath of the Lich King released
Study shows that playing violent games *bleep*s with your sleep
Microsoft bans..."
Chad Concelmo of destructoid.com has typed up an ode to Banjo-Kazooie in due to the the new game for the Xbox 360, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.
They managed to make a comprehensive reflection upon what we now see as the original Banjo-Kazooie. They listed everything that was great, why we as gamers loved it.
It's not a suggestion that the new game won't be great. On the contrary, they state "I have high hopes for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts". They do, however, feel that the vibe or char...
"PC
Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: World at War Limited Collector's Edition, History Channel Civil War: Secret Missions, Petz Horse Club, Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, Secret Service, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Expansion Pack), World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Collector's Edition (Expansion Pack)
PS2
Call of Duty: World at War - Final Fronts, Eternal Poison, Hasbro Family Game Night, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009
PS3
Call of Duty: ..."
Bad news for those Xbox 360 owners who haven't jumped on the HD train yet. In the demo of Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts many people with SD Tv sets found the text unreadable, which is rather big since there's no other way to find out what's going on without it. When this was brought up there was discussion of releasing a patch, but apparently its just not going to happen according to Rare's community George K. So I would steer clear if I were you.
GCHD has released 20 new screenshots for Rare's newest title, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. A wide variety of environments are on display, with some really impressive water and sky effects. Not sure about the gameplay yet, but it seems Rare's usual style and art design is still intact.
"The United Kingdom has a rich and robust history of software development - bedroom coders and small shops produced some of the most graphically advanced games for primitive systems like the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64, and modern studios like Rockstar North are responsible for some of today's biggest hits. One developer that has always led the way on the British Isles is Rare. Founded in 1982 by the brothers Tim and Chris Stamper, the wee company produced games as fast as they could for ..."
One of the surprise hits at the Tokyo Game Show was Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. Yes, a non-RPG Xbox 360 game literally stopped crowds. Every time a Nuts and Bolts video was shown, hundreds of people would stop what they were doing and watch it (as shown in the above picture). Take notes, Microsoft.
Discuss in the Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts forum
The official website for the platform game titled Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts has added a couple new things, which include forums and a developer blog! That's not all, though! Hit the source to find out what else has changed.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is set to come out on November 11th just for the 360.
Courtesy of blog Wii @ Everyday comes the scans from the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu for this week, with new game announcements and more images of those known upcoming games.
Games featured:
It's been a while since we last saw Banjo and Kazooie. So how are they faring since hitting the next-gen consoles? Here's a look at the new Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts town trailer ...
Discuss in the Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts forum
A full list of achievements that you can get for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts has come out from Xbox360achievements.org. There are a total of 50 achievements, and you can get 1000 points for all of them together. Go see the the source for the full list of achievements.
Peter Moore, former man in charge of the Xbox had said a number of interesting things in his interview The Guardian. But one of his most controversial is that Rare is not in touch with the modern games industry. Elaborating further he said that Microsoft had a hard time bringing the studio up to scratch, using Perfect Dark as an example.
"Banjo Dev Diary 2: Banjo and the Giant Robot
Hello, Banjo fans.
Ive continued to play the game over the last couple of weeks, and the improvements between builds are getting more and more dramatic. For example (and this could turn into an awfully long list), the games opening has now been fully populated and animatedyoull see various contraptions flying and driving around Spiral Mountain dynamicallythey dont follow a set path, so no two presentations of the opening scene will be 10..."
"[W]hen you pre-order Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts n Bolts (from selected retailers) you will receive a code which allows you to gain access to the classic Banjo-Kazooie game via the Xbox Live Arcade for FREE and before it is released to the general public.
The deal is actually pretty sweet, with the rest of the Xbox Live members having to wait till after the retail game launches which will be "a couple of weeks" after you gain access to it.
One of the biggest advantages to pre-ordering the game..."
"Rare has a list of ten 360 titles that might be heading to the 360. Here are the list of games:
"
On Tuesday, July 29th, lawyer and Microsoft game developer Melissa Batten, 36, was fatally shot by her husband, Joseph Batten in what was a murder-suicide in a parking lot in Redmond, Washington.
There were reports of the couple's marriage falling apart, with Melissa Batten filing for a protection order against her estranged husband after a series of events that had culminated in the latter acquiring and brandishing a gun to the late Mrs. Batten. The order was granted one week prior to th...
Yesterday Joystiq's Justin McElroy wrote his opinion on the Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts demo ... he was disappointed.
It seems like McElroy wasn't the only one. Kotaku's Michael McWhertor also got his hands on the demo and he had trouble controlling the vehicle aspect of the game, saying that it felt "slippery". With the vehicles being such a big part of BK:NaB, let's hope Rare fix this up by the time of it's release.
Discuss in the Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts forum
Joystiq's Justin McElroy got his hands on a demo of Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts at E3 and he was pretty disappointed with what appeared to be the main gameplay and plot. While he admitted to not being a big fan of the series, he felt severely "uninspired" while playing the demo, claiming that he was soon "bored and almost ready to pack it in".
However, it's not all bad news for BK fans. Once McElroy fiddled around with the vehicle editor he started having some real fun, eventually spendi...
"The original N64 classic, Banjo Kazooie, will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade this Holiday season. Along with Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, Rare fans will now have two platforming games to look forward to. Though one will include a little more vehicles than the other."
In a Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts IGN video yesterday, Microsoft Game Studios creative director Ken Lobb said "So you basically grab with the wrench, and then you twist the controller around...", which lead for some to think a motion controller could be coming for the 360. Microsoft has denied this, saying "Ken's comment is in reference to rotating the left analog stick while hitting the X-button to move different things in the game."
In a Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts video with the developer speaking about Showdown Town, he mentioned something in the video which means a Xbox 360 motion controller may be coming. If you skip to the 4:00 mark, the developer says "So you basically grab with the wrench, and then you twist the controller around..."
Here is the video:
Could this be the motion controller for the 360 that we've been hearing about?
This secret image, (which was sent only to 30 winners of a contest) shows us the side view of the heads of some characters present in Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. As you can see, the LoG (Lord of Games) is there under a ? mark, but there is also another character who has a ? mark. Who could it be?
"In a post over on the Xbox.com forums, Rare community manager George Kelion (under his XBL gamertag Monkeythumbz) has offered an insight into the "blocky" visual style seen in the developer's upcoming Xbox 360 video game Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.
"Banjo's new look is meant to be self-referential," explained Kelion. "Videogames have developed their own visual language - from the pixels of 8-bit gaming, through the parallax backgrounds of 16-bit to the blocky, low-poly designs of 32 and 6..."
"The first images from Rare's upcoming Banjo-Kazooie 3 (said to be called Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts) have been leaked online, showing off the art style and a vehicle creation screen for the very first time.
As we reported last week, Microsoft is rumoured to be showcasing this year's Christmas line-up tomorrow at a North American media summit.
Banjo 3 was tapped to be unveiled, along with Fable 2 and Gears of War 2. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the bear has jumped out the door prematurely."
Two screens were leaked before, but now 13 more have been revealed. It seems the game will have quite an emphasis on vehicles! Go to the source to see the rest of them.
Couple of screenshots of the next game in Rare's Banjo series have leaked to the Internet. They certainly seem to be legitimate, wouldn't you say? Rumours are saying the game will be compatible with the possible Microsoft Wiimote-ish device. More media should arrive this Tuesday in light of Microsoft's Spring Showcase event.
In answer to many Banjo and related Rare games, Scribes is at it again. This month, they released the name of the so called "Sunset Beach" level, they talk about whether they might consider doing a Banjo TV Show, and they discuss some other trivial things like Captain Blackeye's first name. They also 'accidentally' reveal that Weldar will return and we finally get a "screenshot" of Banjo-Threeie! =D
Go to Source for full article.
Well it looks like Rare's screwing with us again! In a new addition to the news page they have added 5 different plots and one of them is Banjo-Threeie's.
Although it was posted on April Fool's Day they admitted that it is not a prank, one of them is the true plot and they want YOU to send in what plot you think would be the one chosen!
Rare has recently launched a site for a new game in the Banjo-Kazooie series, containing a mere puzzle piece. Hopefully more will be to come shortly, but presumably this will show up on at least the Wii.
A recent update on Banjo-Kazooie 3 has just come up at rarewares official site!
As a responce to Fan Mail, Mr Scribes said that Spiral Mountain will come back again as the starting place of Banjo-Kazooie 3 but it will be sorta destroyed after Grunty used her mega spell to destroy Banjo's house and the Enviroment.
He also answered that the Mumbling that is said when the characters are talking will come back after much deliberation.
![Box shot of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts [Europe]](http://i.neoseeker.com/boxshots/R2FtZXMvWGJveF8zNjAvQWN0aW9uL1BsYXRmb3Jt/banjokazooie_nuts__bolts_frontcover_small_UCWbGw55JuMRDmu.jpg)