December 19th, 2001 (12:00am) - Rare’s company Christmas card this year offers an intriguing hint of future plans that will create a huge stir among Nintendo fans and gamers everywhere - the developer of GoldenEye and Banjo-Kazooie could be thinking about branching out into multiformat publishing in 2002.
The fold-out card has a selection of seasonal character artwork, and reads:
4 elements of power (referring to Kameo, a Gamecube title),
3 wulf tracks (Sabrewulf on GBA),
2 perfect shots (the forthcoming Perect Dark sequel),
...and surprises under every tree.
And if you check out the Christmas tree on the last page of the card, you’ll notice what appears to be an Xbox and a PS2 wrapped up next to a Gamecube and GBA. There’s also a fifth mystery package, which is sort of mobile phone shaped.
Perfect Dark Developer Goes Multiformat?
--=G=-- Posted on December, 19
Rare’s company Christmas card this year offers an intriguing hint of future plans that will create a huge stir among Nintendo fans and gamers everywhere - the developer of GoldenEye and Banjo-Kazooie could be thinking about branching out into multiformat publishing in 2002.
The fold-out card has a selection of seasonal character artwork, and reads:
4 elements of power (referring to Kameo, a Gamecube title),
3 wulf tracks (Sabrewulf on GBA),
2 perfect shots (the forthcoming Perect Dark sequel),
...and surprises under every tree.
And if you check out the Christmas tree on the last page of the card, you’ll notice what appears to be an Xbox and a PS2 wrapped up next to a Gamecube and GBA. There’s also a fifth mystery package, which is sort of mobile phone shaped.
So what’s going on? Could the eagerly awaited Perfect Dark game be seen on Xbox PS2 and, erm... WAP phones? Well, there have been a few rumours around the industry of late, suggesting that something is going to happen at Rare. But as for splitting from Nintendo and going multiformat (and advertising it on a Christmas card, for goodness sake), it seems about as likely as, say, a major console manufacturer ditching its hardware division and taking on EA in the all-formats publishing stakes.
Nintendo has a major financial interest in Rare, and the developer currently has its hands on two of Nintendo’s biggest and most lucrative names - Donkey Kong and Star Fox. Unless the Stamper brothers, who founded the business, are about to buy back their company from Kyoto, in the process sacrificing the forthcoming SF and DK titles, we’d guess things aren’t about to change in the foreseeable future.
We contacted Rare to get the official line on this, and a spokesman told us that the card is ’just a little bit of mischief’. But then they’ve got a reputation for teasing the public - remember the brilliant Perfect Dark spoof corporation internet campaign?...
Christmas joke or not (the character holding the PS2 is called ’Mr Pants’), it’s certainly something to think about. Have a look at the rest of the card while you’re mulling it over, and see if you can spot any other little titbits (but don’t analyse it too closely - you’ll send yourself insane).
A close-up view of that mysterious tree
