Rare receives birthday makeover

By Robert Purchese Published 2 June, 2010

New logo, "new identity".

Ye olde British developer Rare has had a makeover ahead of its 25th anniversary this summer.

The Microsoft-owned studio now sports a logo that embodies a "new identity" for the team. This will be demonstrated soon with a website relaunch.

Rare has gradually slunk away from big-game development since the release of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts in autumn 2008. Instead the studio has focused on Xbox Live Avatars and powering the New Xbox Experience, among other secret projects.

This "new identity" may offer more clues about what games we can expect from Rare in the future.

1

Rare 2.0?

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (100) Latest comment 1 year ago

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  • StueyBoy16 #1 2 years ago

    Not good. Poor old Rare. :(

  • Bibbo #2 2 years ago

    Ugly...

  • Thedni #3 2 years ago

    With that logo it looks like they should be flogging stationary. Where's the character?

  • Mkwone #4 2 years ago

    I'm guessing rare are working on a Natal based Viva Pinata

  • Bremenacht #5 2 years ago

    It's year zero at Rare!

    Atic Atac, Jetman and Sabre Wulf never happened! Anyone who says they happened will be shot!
    The future is flippy, flappy and cute - long live the revolution!

    :(

  • Mr_Bogus #6 2 years ago

    bench clothing?

  • sneetch #7 2 years ago

    New logo, still no games. :/

    C'mon Rare, get a move on!

  • LHH #8 2 years ago

    Unrelated but slow news day EG?

  • mfnick #9 2 years ago

    Rare has gradually slunk away from big-game development since the release of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts in autumn 2008. Instead the studio has focused on Xbox Live Avatars and powering the New Xbox Experience, among other secret projects.

    Brings a tear to the eye :( Theyve fallen from a great height.

    No doubt the 'secret projects' are Natal Sports, Natal Fit & some other garbage like that.
    Edited by mfnick at 02/06/10 @ 11:35

  • Cpt_McOneball #10 2 years ago

    Molyneux was supposedly helping Rare out with this, wasn't he?

  • RobotRocker #11 2 years ago

    If they get rid of Scribes off the website I am going to boot some MS exec up the arse.

  • andywilkie35 #12 2 years ago

    Hopefully their new identity means Microsoft will let them make games again.

  • macmurphy #13 2 years ago

    'Rare has gradually slunk away from big-game development since the release of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts in autumn 2008. Instead the studio has focused on Xbox Live Avatars and powering the New Xbox Experience, among other secret projects.'

    Viva Pinata was by all accounts ok. As was Nuts and Bolts.

    But on the N64 a Rare Logo (the proper one, not that cake and arse one that looks like its from the eighties) meant instabuy. Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Diddy Kong Racing, Blastcorps, Conquers Bad Fur Day, Jet Force Gemini, Killer Instinct, Donkey Kong 64, Banjo Kazooie (Mickey's Speedway can suck a dick).

    Things haven't gone well and that logo sums it up - it looks like some half arsed designer's idea of clean lines and forward thinking - it seems a good fit for boffins working on avatars and software. Back in the day it was a big fuckoff shiny golden R, because Rare were the schiznit and that's how they rolled.

    If you could see decline in a picture, this new logo sums it up. I miss the halcyon days of the N64, you guys should never have sold out for the yankee dollar.

  • Markitron #14 2 years ago

    They have not made a truly great game in literally 10 years (in that one year alone banjo tooie, perfect dark and conker came out I believe). I was the biggest Rare fan in the world, Jet Force Gemini is still in my top 5. They are just riding on decade old successes at this point, such a shame

  • I\'mListening #15 2 years ago

    The best way for Rare to create 'a new identity' for themselves this gen is to put out a classic game or two. Simple.

  • Stompy #16 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 23:13:35 17-04-2012

  • DoctorZoidberg #17 2 years ago

    Poor Rare indeed.

    They have made some fantastic games for the 360 (not to mention their back catalogue) and all people do is slate them because they are not "FPS set in the future with big guns and a brown colour scheme". Why would they go out of their way to make things for you if all you've done is moan.

    I'm sure anyone who's played Nuts and Bolts, and especially the Viva Piņata games agrees they are real gems.

    For shame gaming community. For. Shame.

  • rock27gr #18 2 years ago

    Surely this logo is just something Eurogamer came up with for this story. Isn't it?

  • Steroyd #19 2 years ago

    But the old logo used to blind me full of awesomeness everytime I booted up one of their games. :(

  • Stuz359 #20 2 years ago

    Zoidberg, while they have released some decent games this gen they have hardly released a classic, and certainly not on a par with anything they did on the N64. It seems Rare hasn't even produced a typically Rare game in 10 years. In the N64 era, they rivalled Nintendo in the quality they put out, now, the games they put out aren't fit to lick Nintendo's boots.

    Please, get back to form Rare, please.

  • el_pollo_diablo #21 2 years ago

    Avant Garde Bold

    /stealth typographer

  • Weezer #22 2 years ago

    Nice and low-key - just like the company these days.

  • sneetch #23 2 years ago

    @macmurphy
    If you could see decline in a picture, this new logo sums it up. I miss the halcyon days of the N64, you guys should never have sold out for the yankee dollar.

    Great post, sums up how I feel about them too. They must regret going to Microsoft; if you'd talked to anyone back when they first left Nintendo I bet no-one would have said "and hopefully we will end up working on some Avatars for Xbox!"

    Viva Pinata was great though. BK N&B was alright but I'd have much preferred a "classic" style BK despite their assumption that we're all done with the collect-a-thon style of platform game. Vehicles only in the overworld and classic platforming in the game worlds would also have been better.

  • Aloominum_man #24 2 years ago

    Speaking as a designer, that is weak - it hardly shows a commitment to 'new identity' if you have to keep a direct reference to the old one. With respect to the designers involved, though, that's probably the result of a nervous committee of client-side interference... I agree with the other posters; the best way to for Rare to change and improve their identity - in addition to this exercise - would be to develop excellent games.

  • Canyarion #25 2 years ago

    Oh, how the mighty have fallen...
    Nintendo were right when they sold them off, especially for that sum.

  • lordofdeadside #26 2 years ago

    oooh nice, I like the "R" in the circle. People are always going to hate change, especially in a much loved brand, but it's a nice design.

  • Sniper_007 #27 2 years ago

    Well there's no chance of a new Killer Instinct game with a grown up (read dull) logo like that is there? :(

  • The-Bodybuilder #28 2 years ago

    I must be the only person that likes the new logo. :/
    /shrugs

  • stevetuck #29 2 years ago

    Microsoft should buy Crytek and put them back into Rare.... win?

  • nuanimal #30 2 years ago

    I remember booting up GoldenEye & Perfect Dark on the N64... and just seeing that massive shining gold R spinning in the middle of the screen. That was awesome. Even when it sparkled in the Banjo & DK games it looked cool.

    The point of a company logo is to make it stand out and be memorable as well as "sticking" the brand to people heads. They're going to lose that positive association :o(

    Edit: Spelling! Wow was having a really bad time!
    Edited by nuanimal at 02/06/10 @ 13:41

  • Eraser #31 2 years ago

    How odd. According to Wikipedia the studio was founded in 1982. Doesn't that make them 28 years old already?

  • Quint2020 #32 2 years ago

    Yeeaaaahh, I prefer the original tbh.

    BK:N&B was bloody awesome, to everybody who didn't buy it: fack off.

  • des #33 2 years ago

    Four logos,not one.

  • kinky_mong #34 2 years ago

    Sad to see a once great company continue to lose all the magic they once had, but to be honest all the talent left for other companies like Free Radical so I personally haven't played a good Rare game since the end years of the N64.

    Was still hopeful for a Killer Instinct sequel, but it looks like that will never happen now.

  • Whitster #35 2 years ago

    They should well make a new Blast Corp!

  • menage #36 2 years ago

    @designers headache

    Not more 10 years ago then their old logo at least.

    The type is only that heavy because it's crammed in a little box, put it on a white big canvas and let it breathe. Still very bold but this just screws it up even more the way it's set up here.

    And grey is the new black at the moment. Agree about not really popping out, but as we don't know what their new identity will be I'll reserve judgment. It's also clearly for print as we see it now, I wonder how the video version will come out.





    Edited by menage at 02/06/10 @ 12:18

  • FutureDave #37 2 years ago

    There are actually 4 versions of the logo that inlcude different polygons in different colours behind the 'R'.

    Personally I don't think it's bad, just not 'fun'. It's very Wii-like. Also brings to mind something you might see on hospital equipment.

    But, like all new logo designs, we'll all forget about it in a few weeks.

  • monkeywithnoeyes #38 2 years ago

    "This "new identity" may offer more clues about what games we can expect from Rare in the future" - yeah.. the answer being none.

    Whats the point in buying a studio and then not milking all their IP's that come with them. You dont buy a studio for the "talent" as the talent always leaves anyway. You buy them for their IP's.

  • Gecks #39 2 years ago

    isn't the basic problem with rare that a sizeable chunk of the core staff had already been snapped up by other studios, or formed new ones (free radical) back in the late 90s, so by the time MS got their hands on them there wasn't much left?

    i don't think it's realistic to say that Rare would still be pumping out banjos and goldeneyes these days if they had been left to their own devices, but who knows.

  • BlinxHDD #40 2 years ago

    [link url=http://www.mediamolecule.com/
    ]http://www.mediamolecule.com/
    [/link]

    Mm logo, that's how you do it.

  • dudefella #41 2 years ago

    I'd bet all the money in the world that Rare is working on some flagship Natal software for launch.

  • lucky_jim #42 2 years ago

    People dismiss Banjo Kazooies N&B too readily. It was an absolutely brilliant game.

  • Bluetooth #43 2 years ago

    Microsoft have totally sucked what little soul was left in Rare, after its N64 days.

    Poor poor Rare, it deserved so much more

  • McBradders #44 2 years ago

    Dear Ultimate Play the Game,

    Atic Attack MMO.

    You can have that one for free.

    Cheers,

    Brad

  • kimchibaka #45 2 years ago

    The final nail in the coffin...a dark day indeed for someone who followed them from the SNES days.

    RIP Spirit of Rare.

    *sniff*

  • menage #46 2 years ago

    Gamers are a conservative bunch aren't they.

  • muscleblade #47 2 years ago

    Snake Rattle N Roll from 1991 was ace. One of the best games ever made.

  • oceanmotion #48 2 years ago

    Fresh start. Do it Rare. Come out guns blazing.

  • JeroenZM #49 2 years ago

    I haven't checked their E3 line-up yet, but are there any genuinely exciting games in the pipeline?

  • LowEnergyCycle #50 2 years ago

    Jeez. If that's all you've gotta come up with to be paid megabucks as a Graphics Design studio, I'm in the wrong business.

    It must have taken... Ooo... 5mins?

  • BlinxHDD #51 2 years ago

    I still look at the updated Konami and (Square)-Enix logo's with disgust.

  • menage #52 2 years ago

    @Low

    ehm, you really think there aren't a dozen other in the bin right noiw?

    Most of the time the suits fuck it up in the end by choosing the safe/corporate way out though.
    Edited by menage at 02/06/10 @ 13:27

  • CaptainQuint #53 2 years ago

    Who?

  • dr_faulk #54 2 years ago

    It's the 2012 Olympics logo all over again...

  • beastmaster #55 2 years ago

    Hasn't Peter Molyneux been charged with giving Rare a new identify and upping their media profile?

  • GiarcYekrub #56 2 years ago

    E3 line up: Blast Corps 2, Killer Instinct 360, Perfect Dark 2, Conker BFD2
    Edited by GiarcYekrub at 02/06/10 @ 13:58

  • Tanners #57 2 years ago

    NEW JET FORCE GEMINI PLEASE. the new logo looks more consumer friendly. i dont like it.

  • Floppy #58 2 years ago

    @Eraser

    Originally they were 'Ultimate Play The Game' (Jetpac, Sabre Wulf... etc), then wound that down to become Rare. So this is 25th anniversary of Rare.

  • MikkyX #59 2 years ago

    Sod redesigning the logo, give me a Conkers BFD sequel dammit! (and no, Live and Reloaded didn't count)

  • mingster #60 2 years ago

    Just revert back to Ultimate Play the Game.
    That was the best company ever.

  • LowEnergyCycle #61 2 years ago

    @zandergrin
    Then enlighten me, oh intelligent one, because it looks to me like somebody chose a font and then typed Rare.

    Prick.

  • mychuma #62 2 years ago

    Is it too Rare to ask for a new proper 2d Donkey Kong Country along with this new identity :)?

  • Steroyd #63 2 years ago

    @Mychuma

    DK is owned by Nintendo so that's never happening, unless the corporate gods shift again.

    The main issues I have with the logo is that it screams Wii/Ipod, only difference being the little R at the top right of which they killed off the golden R, logo's are supposed to be discernable damnit.

  • DoctorFouad #64 2 years ago

    it is about time !

  • Beano #65 2 years ago

    I wonder what the folks at Rare make?.. except new logoes... maybe a new game at some time in the future...no?

  • Machetazo #66 2 years ago

    How many words do you think were afforded Rare, for Microsoft's email communication about the new regime? The bastards probably even relied on mail merge, and signed it, "Regards", with a pasted typed signature! >:(
    It's a new identity, all right! One that's a bit shit, frankly.

    Of the logo, erm it's bland, soulless, not worth the money paid to its designer. In the old days, they'd have made a contest and let the community have at it (for gratis), take the best entry and work Rare graphic design magic on it in the interrim (until the next Scribes! ;) ) to personalise and then, use that. This is all a mess. :(

  • TonyHarrison #67 2 years ago

    Rare should stand as one of the best examples of why selling out for the big money isn't always the best of ideas. They made the N64 one of the best consoles ever, and now look at them.

    It's depressing.

  • Lee_Morris #68 2 years ago

    This looks awful. I'll fully admit the gold logo was outdated but that grey with green is horrendous. At the very least take the 'R' out of the dot. Jeez, doesn't put confidence in their 'game' output at E3 does it.

  • wizlon #69 2 years ago

    Don't care about the logo, let's see some GAMES!

  • Luckyjim #70 2 years ago

    How the mighty have fallen :(

  • butler` #71 2 years ago

    LOL at that logo

  • CaptainTrips #72 2 years ago

    Very nice and all that, BUT WHERE THE FUCK IS MY KILLER INSTINCT 3!??!?!??!

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #73 2 years ago

    Obviously all game fans are a bunch of whingers, but Rare HAVE made cracking games on 360 (Kameo, BK: N&B, and especially VP). Nothing quite as good as the original PD, GoldenEye, etc, but they're still top-notch developers.

    I quite like the new logo. Not seen every version, but I'd like some classic yellow in there.

  • ronuds #74 2 years ago

    Ummm, how many 1st party studios have made over 4 games for their respective consoles this generation?

    Whenever the topic of Rare comes up, the first response is always exactly the same: "Where are the games." Because gamers are mindless sheep who regurgitate whatever they read on the internet. Well, they've made plenty of games - maybe they're just games you don't enjoy? Give some effing credit where it's due, though. It gets tiring hearing the same nonsense spewed over and over and over again when people clearly haven't a clue what they're talking about.

  • menage #75 2 years ago

    And 90% of the people screaming they want new Rare games buy COD instead. Hypocrites.


  • Jackface #76 2 years ago

    Hmm. It's a bit minimal but that's fashionable now. I bet they paid someone an absolute fortune to do that.

  • ronuds #77 2 years ago

    You have to remember, too - MS relies on Rare to do a lot more than make games. Rare had a large role in the avatars for XBL and now in developing for Natal.

    Even still, Rare have managed to release at least 1 title almost every year that isn't just a sequel to the game before it. Viva Pinata 2 has been their only sequel. Compare their output to almost any other 1st party dev and Rare have done twice the work in the same amount of time.

    It's just a shame that there's no requirement to actually know what you're talking about before commenting on the internet. :p

  • onyxbox #78 2 years ago

    Found this link on VG247... it all makes sense now...

    <a href='http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg96/scaled.php?tn=0&server=96&filename=vphf.jpg&xsize=640&ysize=640'>http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg96/scaled.php?tn=0&server=96&filename=vphf.jpg&xsize=640&ysize=640</a>

  • Arcadiian #79 2 years ago

    I thought Jetpac Refuelled, BK: N&B and Viva Pinata were great. Perhaps people aren't gushing praise for the developer like they used to be, but the quality, if not commercial success, of their recent games has been excellent.

  • Sunyavadin #80 2 years ago

    Ewwwww[link url=http://www.
    ]http://www.
    [/link]

    Are they moving into the footwear industry or something?
    Edited by Sunyavadin at 02/06/10 @ 16:12

  • BlinxHDD #81 2 years ago

    - "Ummm, how many 1st party studios have made over 4 games for their respective consoles this generation?"
    - "Compare their output to almost any other 1st party dev and Rare have done twice the work in the same amount of time."

    Bullshit. Rare has several full size teams with hundreds of staff under one name. They most certainly SHOULD be releasing one or two games every year.

  • TRUTH #82 2 years ago

    I really enjoyed Kameo, I though that given more time (it was rushed as was PDZ for launch), it could have been a classic game. Rare have been forced to make family orientated consumer games thanks to MS. Though Vina Pinata, was actually a cleaver and very good game; it wasn't aimed for the gamers who enjoyed: Perfect Dark, Jet Force Jemeni, Killer Instinct, Golden Eye, Blast Corpse...If MS stop this silly family friendly games (which no one buys on XB360), and tell Rare to go for games that appeal to a gamer; with games like KI 2, Blast Corpse 2, a proper deeper Perfect Dark and more games with adventure as Kameo (Kameo 2 was canceled thanks to MS, so they can make friendly dumb party games for Natel)..only then Rare can get it's quality back...Better games for gamers - not for kiddies market!

  • Machiavellian #83 2 years ago

    Maybe its me but Rare wasn't fast during their Nintendo days so why would you think they would be faster under MS. I know I have enjoyed the majority of games that have come out from Rare since Nintendo kicked them to the curve.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #84 2 years ago

    It's funny, whenever there's an article about Rare or Lionhead the first 40 or so comments are spectacularly negative, and then the rest are generally positive and a lot more even-minded. Like all the knee-jerk narks have to get in there first.

    Anyway, yay Rare!

  • Spekingur #85 2 years ago

    That green R thing reminds me of the AMD logo for some reason.

  • Markitron #86 2 years ago

    @Machiavellian

    Not fast during their Nintendo days, are you on crack? From march 97 to july 2000 they released Killer instinct, Blast corps, DK racing, Goldeneye, Banjo kazooie, Get force Gemini, DK 64, Banjo Tooie, Conker and Perfect dark. Iv never seen that kind of productivity before or since from ANYONE, bear in mind that these are also all absolute classics of the late 90's

    Apologies for reitorating that list

  • Pasco #87 2 years ago

    My first game ever was JetPac for the Speccy, which had a better framerate and was a better game than everything they made after they went N64, except JetPac Refueled perhaps.

  • mukki #88 2 years ago

    Baaaah haaaa!!!

    WTF is that!

    bad!

  • albinac #89 2 years ago

    rare died the day they left nintendos employ, or maybe a tiny little bit before leaving nintendo.its really sad to see the people who made goldeneye turn out to be little more than a personal slave for microsoft, they are so much better than this.

  • uzivatel #90 2 years ago

    @Arcadiian: Kameo was great, PDZ was pretty good for a launch game and Avatars are great idea well executed.
    I dont understand all this Rare hate.

    @TRUTH: They are much older now, maybe family friendly stuff like Viva Pinata is actually more their kind of video game these days.
    Edited by uzivatel at 02/06/10 @ 22:38

  • SuperCoolEskimo #91 2 years ago

    What happened to the Stamper brothers anyway?

    They seemingly disappeared off of the face of the Earth.

  • Blazewamp #92 2 years ago

    NEW conker game dammit dirtyer and nastyer

  • ShinMegami08 #93 2 years ago

    How much money did MS pay for Rare? 300 million dollars?
    For this price they could have made 10 games with a budget of 30 million dollar...

    Rare reminds me of an indie rock band which has suddenly success, signs up to a big label, becomes lazy...and disappears slowly.

  • RodHull #94 2 years ago

    Shall we wait until after E3 before we doom Rare to the scrapheap shall we? Their last three games were superb.

  • BillMurray #95 2 years ago

    Looks all very 2002 doesn't it?

  • geeza2020 #96 2 years ago

    Rodhull - they are superb games if you are into their respective genres, which the majority of people who own an xbox 360 are clearly not. Rare must no full well what all the "gamers" out there want, and must know that they would make a fair bit from a Blast Corp or Conkers BFD sequel. It comes down to one of two things; either the developer talent that enabled to them to make those great games on the n64 are no longer there, or MS are just ordering them to do the avatar/natal stuff that they are apparently working on and forbid them from making the sequels so many crave.

    I personally don't think MS are quite as totalitarian as that, so it must be that the devs just arent there anymore. Anybody know who left Rare after their acquisition by MS, and where they went?

  • Redeye #97 2 years ago

    *leans forward in rocking chair, lights pipe*

    I remember a time when Ultimate titles were the most highly-anticipated things in gaming, especially when they started doing the fancy cardboard boxes with the fantastically-stylised artwork and the foam insets - heck, for the early-to-mid-80s, these things were a class act amongst the piles of generic tape cases. The metal-and-green logo was a byword for excellence, and you could bet your last penny that regardless of platform, when that tape had finished loading, you were in for a real treat.

    Reckon MS would be well-served to look at Rare's early history a little closer, and get them back to what they did so well then...

    *rocks gently, lost in memories of monster sessions of Alien-8, Cookie, Gunfright, Lunar Jet-Man, etc.*

  • TRUTH #98 2 years ago

    MS are really missing a great opportunity to remake classic Ultimate & Rare game!...Knights Lore, Saber Wulf, Killer Instinct, Blast Corpse, Kameo 2, a proper Perfect Dark..etc etc.

  • RodHull #99 2 years ago

    @Geezer2020

    Aside from the Stamper brothers, the major departures have been Dave Wise and Grant Kirkhope from the music dept, and George Kellion the community manager. The former two are significant to me as love both of their works for BK/VP and Star Fox Adventures respectively.

    Overall I know Rare are yet to hit their highs of the N64 era but they're hardly in the doldrums that many are suggesting.

  • mediaprizm #100 1 year ago

    Wonderful and nice post of "Rare receives birthday makeover".
    Custom Logo Design|Custom Website Design|Custom Stationery Design|Custom Brochure Design|Custom Banner Design