Thu, May 15, 2008 | 21:51 BST
New Banjo will shake up “stale” platform adventuring genre, says Rare
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts dev lead Gregg Mayles reckons platform adventuring of old is over – and the new Rare game is the true evolution.
“It’s true that anyone wanting a carbon copy of the previous two games will be disappointed, so I’m not even going to make out that it is,” he said in a live chat with Rare fansites.
“What I believe it to be is an evolution of the platform adventure genre. The genre is too stale: it needed shaking up, so we’re trying something different, but within the framework of a ‘traditional’ Banjo game.
“It has a familiar structure, things to collect, characters to talk to and all the humour you would expect. I said on one forum that all we have done is to make the travelling fun. So that pretty much sums it up, we have taken the boring bit (travelling) and made it fun.”
Mayles went on to give an abolute ton of information on the upcoming game, which was announced earlier this week at the Microsoft Gamer’s Day in California. Fill your lunchtime with Rare bear.
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Posted in: Action, Adventure, Microsoft, Platformer, Puzzler, Xbox 360
Tags: Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, gregg mayles, microsoft gamer's day, rare
22 comments
#1
G1GAHURTZ
15/05/08, 12:31 pm
I don’t think Mario Galaxy was very stale.
#2
morriss
15/05/08, 12:35 pm
Well it wasn’t exactly ground-breaking.
#3
pjmaybe
15/05/08, 12:40 pm
“characters to talk to”
Oh bugger, I was looking vaguely forward to this until I read this bit.
NO TALK, JUST ACTION DOCTOR JONES
#4
ecu
15/05/08, 12:41 pm
SMG was a revelation.
#5
Blerk
15/05/08, 12:41 pm
By adding cars! And weapons! Yes! INNOVATION!
#6
ecu
15/05/08, 12:46 pm
Jack and Daxter was fairly groundbreaking, and nobody gave a shit about that. Again though, somebody PLEASE explain why it’s so important for games to be innovative and groundbreaking? I’m sick of hearing about it.
#7
morriss
15/05/08, 12:49 pm
Because some people get bored of playing the same old thing? Because if it games didn’t attempt this the genres would become stale?
I dunno, makes sense to me.
#8
G1GAHURTZ
15/05/08, 12:52 pm
“Again though, somebody PLEASE explain why it’s so important for games to be innovative and groundbreaking? I’m sick of hearing about it.”
It’s important for publishers and developers so that their game becomes the genre defining experience that can’t be found anywhere else.
I don’t think that it’s all that important for all gamers though. I’m sure many people would still rather play a 2D platformer over the latest stuff anyway.
#9
ecu
15/05/08, 12:55 pm
Wrong on both counts. Just because a game doesn’t have some new features, doesn’t mean it’s the same old thing. The best games never innovated anyway. Ocarina of Time wasn’t innovative, Halo wasn’t, FFVII wasn’t, GTAIII wasn’t, none of the best games are ever innovative. It’s the refinement of ideas that makes the best games. Almost all of the games that you might think were innovative, nearly always had an unknown game that preceded it. That a game should be innovative is one of the popular myths of gaming, up there with “gameplay is the only thing that matters”.
#10
absolutezero
15/05/08, 12:55 pm
Little Big Banjo using coloured lines to attack things to other things and drop them into the game world.
INNOVATION.
#11
morriss
15/05/08, 12:59 pm
Can’t argue with that, ecu. Fair play.
#12
absolutezero
15/05/08, 12:59 pm
“Ocarina of Time wasn’t innovative, Halo wasn’t, FFVII wasn’t, GTAIII wasn’t, none of the best games are ever innovative.”
You sure about that?
Ocarina of Time was the first 3D Zelda and it created the Z tageting scheme. Halo created the silly re-charging shield nonsense. FF7 was the first big RPG to take advantage of the extra storage space of a CD, it was a huge epic sweeping tale, especially in comparison to the SNES games that came before. GTA3 created an entire genre.
#13
DUFFKING
15/05/08, 1:02 pm
I think those kinds of games do have some originality, but never on a massive scale. As mentioned with Halo, the little things made all the difference – (AFAIK) the best vehicle implementation in an FPS, the recharge shields, the melee system and having grenades on a button rather than a seperate weapon were all new ideas.
#14
ecu
15/05/08, 1:03 pm
Depends what you class as innovative, then, absolutezero. Z-targetting and shield recharging are new features, but the games are really just ultimate refinements of existing ideas imo.
#15
absolutezero
15/05/08, 1:05 pm
I do agree that refinement is far far more important than innovation for innovations sake. Adding in lots of little new ideas though serve to shake things up alot.
GTA3 was’nt really a refinement of anything though.
#16
Blerk
15/05/08, 1:35 pm
Here’s a nice figure for you:
Banjo 3 gaming balance – 20% platforming, 80% vehicles
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=189036
I sense a fanboy storm a brewin’!
#17
George K.
15/05/08, 2:13 pm
@ Blerk
FYI: the comment you quote from C&VG is taken from the very same source Pat links to in this article. I urge you to read the source before either linking out or jumping to conclusions on what we think makes the game innovative.
#18
Psychotext
15/05/08, 2:18 pm
/waves at George K
Ignore Blerk. He hates everything.
#19
Blerk
15/05/08, 2:24 pm
Ooh, get her!
#20
deanimate
15/05/08, 2:30 pm
better get some vaseline in here and quick.
#21
pjmaybe
15/05/08, 2:32 pm
/misses UncleClive
http://lolrare.ytmnd.com/
#22
Psychotext
15/05/08, 2:38 pm
\o/