The Rare We Knew Is Dead

Microsoft officially reveals the long-awaited console, named Xbox One X, which is slated to release worldwide November 7th, 2017. Packing impressive technical specifications, the console includes a CPU/GPU combo capable of delivering 6 teraflops of computing power, 12GB of GDDR5 RAM, and 1TB of storage, sticking true to the long-speculated 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disk driver and true delivery of 4K gaming cont


Microsoft opened up the press conference by showing a reel that intimately showcased the company's newly engineered Xbox console officially revealed as Xbox One X by head-honcho Phil Spencer, with excited applause from eager attendees. __ Technical specifications were furnished, confirming Microsoft's eager direction to bring the company's most powerful console to your home with a multitude of games that will undoubtedly take advantage of it's hulking hardw


Unlike past year's E3 events, this year's had a particular air of familiarity. Going into the even most gamers had a pretty good handle on what should be announced, and by and large the major publishers stuck to their scripts. There were some surprises, like the official reveal of the Xbox One Scorpio , but mostly it was the known quantities that impres

Now the current occupation of creative team members in the company rely on one thing and one thing alone to sell their games: nostalgia. The current Rare as we know it relies heavily on gamer's nostalgia of IPs of gaming’s past. It's no coincidence that Rare Replay (an amazing collection of old Rare Games) was released during the same time Microsoft was announcing that Rare was going to be making more "Traditional" games again. Don’t be confused; even though Rare Replay was released on Xbox and marketed as Rare titles, these are in no way a reflection on the current company. The majority of the games seen in Rare Replay were done by employees that no longer exist at the company.


Developer Bluehole announced that it's hit MMO, Playerunknown's Battlegrounds , will be available first on the Xbox One. Built in Unreal Engine 4, the game allows you to direct your anger at other players by setting them ablaze or by unloading round after round of bullets into your oppone

The reveal of Rare Replay and the teaser for Sea of Thieves was a marketing poly to get gamers excited to play Rare games again, even though the game will not be anywhere near the same quality we have come to expect from "old" Rare titles during their run with Nintendo. This isn’t to say the game has no chance, but the point is that "old" Rare is officially dead and this new incarnation is building up hype off of titles they had no affiliation with.

Even though the gaming world-renowned name remains with the company, Rare as we knew it is dead and everything we ever knew and loved about them was laid to rest years ago. I can already hear you now: why is this a big deal? Why does Microsoft purchasing a company that was actively seeking a buyer mean that the old Rare as we knew it is gone? They're still around making games for the Xbox One, with Sea of Thieves on the way, but a huge chunk of their creative development team was lost during the transition from Nintendo to Microsoft and it shows. After founders Tim and Chris Stamper quit in 2007, they were replaced by Gregg Mayles, the current Creative Director for Rare.

The reason this change in creative directors is such a big deal is because the company we once fell in love with as a whole no longer existed at this point in time. Everyone who had worked on the classic smash hits such as Banjo-Kazooie, Jet Force Gemini, Donkey Kong Country and many, many others throughout their seven years with Nintendo had left the company and were replaced by a whole new group. Rare, as it stands today, has no members of the original creative team behind their ingenious games left on their roster. Much like when Star Wars was bought by Disney, a whole new creative team is now behind those films; George Lucas and his new ideas have been tossed out never to be heard from again. Meaning that Rare as we knew it is truly dead.


One of Microsoft's strongest franchises -- the racing simulator Forza Motorsport -- was given its seventh installment announcement, showing impressively alluring gameplay smoothly operating at an impressive 4K and 60 FPS on Xbox On


A recent datamine of the game's files uncovered lots more Sea of Thieves weapons|https://seaofthievespedia.com/ of Thieves content, including new enemies and animals such as parrots, pigs, and seagulls. The leak also pointed to lots of character and ship customization , from tattoos and eyepatches to a variety of ship hulls. With the game's microtransactions still a few months away, Rare is still working on the finer details but these datamined options do sound like the sort of cosmetic items that could be unlocked via microtransacti

There are definitely some major questions about Sea of Thieves, especially when you consider that Rare is not a studio that has ever put together an online game that feels truly cutting edge, but if everything hits, Microsoft's investment in this legendary studio could be totally worth it. The real goal here should be to find a way to make a charming, deep online version of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag , considering that may be the best pirate game we've ever received.