Rare shifty on Perfect Dark 2

By Robert Purchese Published 16 October, 2007

No comment on rumours.

Rare has told GamesIndustry.biz it has nothing to say about rumours that Perfect Dark 2 is in development for Xbox 360.

According to head of production there, Lee Schuneman, these sorts of rumblings are common place - but the team never talks about anything it might be working on until it is good and ready.

"There's always rumours going around about different games we may or may not be doing but we'd prefer not to comment on rumours at this stage," he said.

Yesterday blog GameGuru claimed unnamed sources had confirmed the project as being in creation, calling it a "true sequel" to the N64 game and revealing new gameplay additions like a morality system and player-perspective story sequences - like Half-Life 2.

Rare is currently working on a new title in the Banjo-Kazooie franchise, which Schuneman has previously promised will "bring something entirely new" to the series.

Less rare is the idea that inside every piece of fiction is gooey and delightful core of fact, something GamesIndustry.biz uses in all its concoctions.

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.

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

You may also like...

Comments (46) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • kissthestick #1 4 years ago

    they went to gamebiz just to debunk a rumour? lol

    its almost like they want the hype :)

  • Lateralaus #2 4 years ago

    Never played perfect dark on the N64 but the 360 release was terrible

  • ZuluHero #3 4 years ago

    so "yes" then? ;)

  • MBar #4 4 years ago

    Perfect Dark 2: Coming Summer 2017

  • lambtron #5 4 years ago

    "Never played perfect dark on the N64 but the 360 release was terrible"

    N64 one was top. 360 one, not so much.

  • captainrentboy #6 4 years ago

    The 360 PD was bloody awful, I'm not sure how long they were working on it but it stank of 'rush job, get it out quick for launch'. The day I played Perfect Dark on the 360 was the day I was introduced to screen tearing.
    But, I'm willing to give them a chance on the new one, they just need to take their time (I mean it's not like we're in a rush for another FPS) and it could be a smash hit for 2009. I want the new Banjo frst though.

  • Wash #7 4 years ago

    PDZ had potential just needed a year more in development.

    had problems much like many launch games.

  • jaxon58 #8 4 years ago

    Rare must only have about 10 people on each team, the amount of time it takes them to make a game.

  • Stifler #9 4 years ago

    instead of working on a supposed morality system perhaps they should concentrate on getting the weapons feeling right - kinda a big deal in an FPS ;)

    Edit: i meant morality on mortality :)
    Edited by 1 at 16/10/07 @ 13:20

  • rhinoxious #10 4 years ago

    And the aiming as well, just borrow the code from Bungie if need be.

  • Darren #11 4 years ago

    PDZ had some nice ideas but it was a victim of the rushed 360 launch, like PGR 3 and every single EA game released at the time!!! It could and should have been so much better. I'd rather see Rare making new games as the last thing the Xbox 360 needs is another FPS and a mediocre one at that.

  • monkie_king #12 4 years ago

    @stifler, a mortality system is kind of essential for an FPS. Like, if you get shot too much, then you die.

    I think Rare's usual development approach is to spend 4 or 5 years scrapping and rewriting projects from scratch, preferably targeting 2 or 3 different consoles as the generations slip by. They really used to take "ship it when it's ready" to extremes, though that seems to have changed in the MS era.

  • peterfll #13 4 years ago

    Steady now, should we place PDZ in the same category as PGR3?

    PDZ was mediorce, not a phrase I'd use to describe PGR3.

    PD on the N64 was a great game. I pulled it out recently and found it extremely playable still - albeit showing its age.

  • Triggerhappytel #14 4 years ago

    'No comment' usually equates to 'Yes, but we're not ready to dicuss it just yet'.

    Will wait and see what this is like. PDZ sold quite well, despite the poor ratings, and MS is unlikely to let an established franchise wither and die. I, however, think most of Rare's FPS talent went over to Free Radical many years ago.

  • Darren #15 4 years ago

    I didn't mean that PGR 3 was mediocre, just that like PDZ, it was another victim of a rushed launch with a lacklustre single player mode, 600p graphics and horribly long loading times. Who knows what PDZ might have turned out like if it was afforded another six months development. Rare typically takes ages making their games and don't usually have to churn something out for a launch. Kameo was a great game though and very polished but it had been in development since the N64 so it should have been great!!! PGR 4 is a much better game than PGR 3 but, again, the devs had time to complete it this time round. I believe PDZ could have been a good game if it hadn't been a launch game.

  • Vice.Destroyer #16 4 years ago

    How can a company that used to be a byword for quality produce game after game of rubbish? I think that the last Rare games I enjoyed were Jet Force Gemini and the original Perfect Dark. After that I have had to play through nonsense like their Star Fox game, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, PDZ, Viva Pinata (which in fairness may have been good, but did not appeal to me on so many levels. Gardening? I kept expecting to see Charlie Dimmock. That was scary. Someone buy her a bra) and some other rubbish.

    Let's see, £350m for Rare from Nintendo. Does that translate into 3 games for Microsoft? And one remixed N64 game in Conker? Let's hope they kept the receipt.

  • Telepathic.Geometry #17 4 years ago

    I assume that all the talented people at RARE are long gone. Am I wrong?

  • Darren #18 4 years ago

    Well I care because while PGR 3 looked a jaggy mess at times, I wouldn't say the same thing about PGR 4, which looks utterly gorgeous most of the time on my HDTV. And that's the point: I bought an HDTV to play Xbox 360 games on at 720p not faked 600p. If games are going to run at 600p then I might as well have stuck with an SD TV. :p

  • monkie_king #19 4 years ago

    Yeah, it's quite telling that since the Free Radical guys quit (mid PD1 development), they've put out three well-received multi-platform shooters, plus Second Sight. And they're a small team.

    Rare definitely jumped the shark midway through the N64's lifecycle. DK64 was a bloated mess and so by-the-numbers it was untrue, Conker's was completely misguided, and Banjo Tooie was too late to make an impression. I think it speaks volumes that Nintendo let them go.

    Their GC and Xbox stuff has been universally meh.

  • BadBoyBonner #20 4 years ago

    Give me a break, launch game troubles. Even Rare themselves stated that it was nearly complete on the original Xbox after being ported over from the Gamecube.

    So Rare had quite a while to come up with the game itself, all they had to do was get an engine up and running that would accept the data i.e. less work than most other developers launching on the system.

    What I will say is that if Rare managed the task of getting their Xbox engine running on the 360 for launch, why has it taken Bungie two years longer to manage the same?

  • spud71 #21 4 years ago

    Rare helped make the N64 experiance more enjoyable!! They brought out more good games than Nintendo itself. That's why Microsoft bought into them, they expected the same output for them as well.
    Conker and Ghoulies sales were pretty poor and them Kameo, Perfect Dark and Viva Pinata. Not quite making the sales of old, like the Golden Eye days.

  • Telepathic.Geometry #22 4 years ago

    I'm sure Viva Pinata is great, and Kameo looked okay. But Starfox Adventures sapped my belief in this particular dev. :/

  • Monkey_Puncher #23 4 years ago

    Starfox was horrible, cookie cutter adventure crapfest that melted my brain with its rubbishness. Kameo while not perfect was a lot better than Starfox and Viva Pinata was a return to form IMO.

    I have my fingers crossed the for Banjo, the original Banjo team are all still there so I don't see any reason why it shouldn't kick many asses.

  • JayScott #24 4 years ago

    @ NickM40A3

    Not a decent Zelda since OoT? And you expect people to take you seriously? That is a ridiculous troll like statement that has no chance of ever being backed up. They may not have put out a game that has topped OoT, but then imho no one has. Fucking troll.

  • Triggerhappytel #25 4 years ago

    @ NickM40A3 - "Free radical make shit games, sorry to tell you but they haven't had one amazing game since they formed."

    You're wrong - TimeSplitters 2 is excellent. And this is not just my opinion; it's fact.

    Future Perfect was pretty good too. Second Sight was a bit average and TS1 was too damn shallow and simplistic. Great multiplayer though.

    EDIT - NickM40A3 "Nintendo haven't put out a decent game since Zelda OOT."

    Metroid Prime? Zelda: TP? Just two games off the top of my head which I think are better than OoT.
    Edited by 1 at 16/10/07 @ 14:06

  • Stifler #26 4 years ago

    'You're wrong - TimeSplitters 2 is excellent. And this is not just my opinion; it's fact.'

    Facts can be represented wrongly - just ask Al Gore ;)

    All the Time Splitter games i have played (1 and 2) have been very much below par on all fronts.

  • L42yB #27 4 years ago

    Timesplitters 3 was the best one... they finally got the aiming right, IMO. And it was the first timesplitters to actually have a story that you could follow (rather than the randomness that was the Timesplitters 2 story).

    And I liked second site... it wasn't as cool as Psy-Ops, but it was still cool.

  • DB2k #28 4 years ago

    loved the co-op idea in PDZ where one player covers the other etc.. but frankly that game sucked like a sucky sucky thing. Plus when I finished it the POS didn't give me the achievement and I couldn't be arsed to do that mediocre end of game baddie again.

  • Inquisitor #29 4 years ago

    PDZ still has some of the best split screen multiplayer on the 360 to date in my opinion, one of the only games to offer 4 player splitscreen AND bots.

    The single player campaign was probably the worst FPS campaign I've played but the multiplayer more than makes up for it.

  • MaTTy_P #30 4 years ago

    Surely this would be Perfect Dark 3??? :)

  • SBfistfun #31 4 years ago

    "True Sequel" = We know the last one was whale balls

  • fightman2 #32 4 years ago

    i want to finger jo dark's wet cunt if it can be arranged.

  • BBIAJ #33 4 years ago

    Er, Vice?

    They only paid £189 million or there about for Rare, or $377 million... ;o)

  • fightman3 #34 4 years ago

    ha ha, disregard that, i suck cocks!

  • Xerx3s #35 4 years ago

    The single player campaign was probably the worst FPS campaign I've played but the multiplayer more than makes up for it.

    True. SP was so so but the MP really rocks with those levels and jetpacks.

  • The-Bodybuilder #36 4 years ago

    Why are people making excuses for PDZ? Like it was a rush job? THEY HAD 5 YEARS.

    Rush job doesn't excuse poor level design, or crappy AI and art design. Lets not forget the AWEFUL AWEFUL story. Yeeeesh.

    I have zero hype for any sequel. I guess MS are looking to PDZ now to fix thier halo-void.

  • Monkey-Wizard-Ken #37 4 years ago

    @fightman3
    Stop that

  • Monkey-Wizard-Ken #38 4 years ago

    A GOOD PD2 would be welcome

  • Nostromo13 #39 4 years ago

    Rare should be working on something…or do they all just sit around watching the viva pinata cartoon show?
    Edited by 2 at 16/10/07 @ 20:10

  • Vice.Destroyer #40 4 years ago

    @BBIAJ

    It's my memory. I really thought that the money being thrown around were pound sterling, rather US dollars. Either way. Money well spent, Mr Gates.

  • barnard666 #41 4 years ago

    I thought it said "Rare shitty on PDZ 2" I hated the last one, and am ashamed to own the collectors edition. I did however think kameo was ace, as was viva pinata, and the conker port....so I am not a rare hater, but I really think that PDZ is one of the worst games I have ever played.

  • septimus #42 4 years ago

    Some bits of PD0 were really well done technically, especially the audio positioning. But otherwise, that games sucked ass. Gameplay was just horrid and clunky.

  • hybridial #43 4 years ago

    "Player perspective story sequences like Half Life 2"?

    Considering Half Life 2 had nothing special or exciting in that area, I can't say that does much for me. Maybe lloking at Breakdown would actually be an advancement to speak of.

  • Machetazo #44 4 years ago

    Starfox Adventures was entirely NINTENDO'S FAULT, not Rare's. Look up on the interweb a game called Dinosaur Planet. Rare created that. The opportunists they were working with decided it would make a brilliant "platform" for Fox and co, to pretend they were Link and co. Badly. There was quite a different game that never saw the light of day, under all that rubbish.

  • DAN.E.B #45 4 years ago

    I really hope they dont ruin Bango i have a feeling they will! also where the hell is killer instinct?????????

  • Calo #46 4 years ago

    Please, just remake the N64 Perfect Dark. Easier, quicker, better. Will sell just as much as a new sequel after 2+ years dev time

  • spud71 #47 4 years ago

    I would expect a Killer Instinct and Jet Force Gemini sequel within my deal of purchase!!

  • TRUTH #48 4 years ago

    kameo was actually quiet a very good game. Got great action, humor and some nice adventure parts. The airship battle at the end was pure Rare entertainment...Vina Patnais another decent game, should have sold more. The only duff ones is Perfect Dark Zero - which was rushed to release for the 360.