Rare wanted avatars for Xbox 360 launch Comments by Robert Purchese

That's great, but they're crap.

Mii's have more character and more facial options, which is arguably the point of them in the first place. The 360 Avatars don't have anywhere near enough options and lack any kind of charm.

The Avatars suck, i wish they would crawl off my dash and die - in a bloody horrible way :)

/ Dreams of the Dead Space Ripper and a room of Avatars......

Too bad Rare are clearly about to be 'realigned' after every single one of their games under MS has been met with a resounding "Meh!" Avatars aren't going to save you I'm afraid!

RIP Rare. LOL!

Really Rare? You swear on your life that you came up with avatars at the launch period of the Xbox 360?

(Insincire voice) I believe you! ;)

well looking at Rares track-record with atrocious character design i cant really blame MS for telling them to Jog on.

rare have been rubbish since they left nintendo, and camp avatars wont make microsoft king. 360's exclusive lineup for 2009 is lookin pretty poor compared to ps3 right now.

RIP RARE and XBOX360

The concept of avatars is something that we came up with about four years ago now

Does that mean that these avatars have been in development longer than Home?
At least they had the good sense to keep quiet about it.

Haven't 360 sales stagnated in Japan recently? They did enjoy a surge, but it has gone away again, although I haven't looked that closely at the sales figures.

@chris_ace

you are a machine! theres just no let up! im impressed!

Thankgod for the ignore button, alot of faboy hatred going on in this thread.

Anyway, as for the miis comparison derbs i kinda agree... but i'd wager that theres alot that the can built into the avatar system with regards to including in games/arcade titles. Also utilising it more for the community aspect of the 360 dash. I also think M$ will probably move faster to build on this then nintendo are with the mii's.

@Mogs.

I think they'll be ok, they offer M$ a different outlet to most of its 1st party studios. Also Viva Pinata was very good indeed, so for me personally it is not a total loss.

@Consignia

Perhaps, but the sales were never brilliant so a small blip in slow sales making them slightly slower, also considering the low sale price i doubt it was ever a boon the internet made it out to be.

Now I've read this article I clearly understand, given the time frames involved, that Rare completely ripped off the Mii designs from Nintendo so Microsoft could appeal to the family audience they've garnered.

Sorry, I mean Rare didn't completely rip off..

That's what the article was meant to do, right? I do get so confused.

Yahoo instant messaging used avatars a long time before Ninty had Mii's. They've been around in various forms for years.

Edit: Here's mine that I created many years ago:

Avatar

I actually like the Xbox 360 Avatars....i feel they have more character than the Miis...

some of my friends Avatars on Xbox are uncanny in that they are fairly realistic representation of the creator…in a cartoon way!

anyone know how to change the background my avatar stands infront off on the friends slide?

Oh M$.... You think people actually believe your bull shit!

If they want to reach a broad audience, dropping the xbox moniker is the only way to go. With NXE from the start the 360 wouldn't have sold a single unit more me thinks. Just like PS3 won't gain much (if anything) by Home.

I like my Avatar on the 360.
He's got a red hat and black sunglasses.

They couldn't have thought of them before there were Mii's or Home were announced, right? Because Mii's were the first avatars ever???

Some of you are pretty sad.

And I've used both avatars and Mii's and you seem to be able to get an avatar to look much more like yourself, or a real person in general, than the Mii's. Mii's aren't bad, but they don't look like much more than a bowling ball on top of a stick.

@ Mogsy

"Yahoo instant messaging used avatars a long time before Ninty had Mii's. They've been around in various forms for years."

Don't bother - people don't listen to reason here! They leave their little hateful comments and run away before they realize what jackasses they sound like.

Soon to open: Adidas avatar-parts store.

I don't feel the avatars as a complete rip-off, think they are nice to have albeit totally meaningless. However, it's clear that whoever designed the interface for NXE hade a look at the Wii. For example, the calming lounge music is there, the piano-like sounds and the bright milky backgrounds.

I don't mind the avatars, what's the big deal? I just made one that looked like me (eye-candy for the ladies) and was done with it. I suppose I could have made one look all counter-culture if I really wanted to protest in some way.

This, people, is not something to get care too much about...

"The concept of avatars is something that we came up with about four years ago now..."


lol lol lol... oh my... that's pretty damn funny!

"RIP RARE and XBOX360
"

Yep dreamcast two right there.. like dreamcast it just went past 25 million in 3 years.. oh right.

as for rare, their products are to widen the demographic really, no doubt recent games will get past 1 million through bundling as VP did (which as was excellent and deserved to) that way.

"like dreamcast it just went past 25 million in 3 years.. oh right."

Like dreamcast it didn't (sell 25m in three years that is), nor will it ever. It will very likely reach 25m+ though (only Armageddon within the next 6 months can prevent that), unlike dreamcast.

Internet posters just love to bitch about anything and make it sound like it's so bad they need to kill themselves.
The Avatars take all of 2 seconds to create if you just want a standard one, so why is it killing anyone? Fanboys...

Personally, I love the new Friends row. I have 99 friends and when I look at my friends list with NXE I can see all the avatars in the party instantly. It's really interesting as I typically have about 15-30 friends online in the evenings and many are in parties with up to 8 avatars. It's really interesting. It makes you want to jump into the party. It's also becoming easy to recognized members in a party, because I know what their avatar looks like.

In the old dash you just had a list of friends with text (not a nice looking box cover) telling you what game they were in. If you had five friends in a party, you'd have to look at what each one was doing and make and assumption they might be gaming together. Now it's so much quicker and simpler.

Lastly, my scrolling through the old friends list wasn't any quicker or if so not much. I can use the RB / LB buttons to quickly move through Friends/Avatar Row and I really enjoy lookiing at my friends designs.

They need more clothes, flexibility, but what's the big deal. This isn't life or death either way.

"rare have been rubbish since they left nintendo, and camp avatars wont make microsoft king. 360's exclusive lineup for 2009 is lookin pretty poor compared to ps3 right now. "

Dear god, you truly are a complete muppet aren't you?

"Like dreamcast it didn't (sell 25m in three years that is), nor will it ever. It will very likely reach 25m+ though (only Armageddon within the next 6 months can prevent that), unlike dreamcast."

It officially outsold the total of the xbox number (25 million) a while back. But don't let reality stop you from from cramming out more comedy gold. Anyone who points out the utter bull in your posts will just go on ignore eh?

@chris_ace

rare have been rubbish since they left nintendo, and camp avatars wont make microsoft king. 360's exclusive lineup for 2009 is lookin pretty poor compared to ps3 right now.

RIP RARE and XBOX360

+1

Xbox 360 is dead, no good games, only fairly decent games are Halo 2.5 and Gears Of War 1.5. Thats in my opinion. It's dead. Just every year we will have to wait for the next Halo and Gears Of War and its stupid. They just milk Halo and Gears Of War for everything they have.

Halo 1,2,"3" and "3.5". Halo wars, Halo merchandise and toys and stuff. Halo drink. Halo helmet, Halo Xbox 360. Won't be surprised with Halo trading cards etc. So sad... Get new developers.

I dont see how the Avatars "we were first" keeps getting to be news... come on EG you can do better than that, and if your interviewing Rare and they say that again, tell them to be quiet!

christ, an unusually large fanboy explosion today. Fetch me my shotgun, these rabid zombie like fucktards need'a cullin'

Rare = a bit crap, really; to say MS shelled out shedloads for a lemon would be an understatement.

Fanboys = getting even more inane and retarded by the day.

Me = off for a large JD on the rocks.

EDIT: Bloody recalcitrant fingers and their inability to push the right keys.

I just wish the avatars on your friends list didn't take up so much space.

What's the big deal with the buildings behind each avatar?

its good to see the SDF still talking the same shit day in day out!

"360's exclusive lineup for 2009 is lookin pretty poor compared to ps3 right now. "

Seriously, having just gone through "The Year Of The PS3" (that clearly wasn't!) I really wouldn't be calling the 360 out on its s/w lineup ever again ...

Dear Rare,

Can I have an option to turn them off.

Best Regards,

gareth

I see that newbie StealthAcolyte has some interesting views... :/
What's the point in joining a message board and instantly being a right cunt? If you're going to be a cunt, be more stealthy about it, like me:) Do it gradually over 1000 posts.
As for the avatars, maybe Rare thought about them yonks ago, maybe they didn't. Who gives a flying fuck? Believe it or not Nintendo didn't actually invent the things.
I don't mind them myself, they look and are animated far better than the Miis, they just need some more clothing and the option to actually move facial features up and around. Because as it is it would appear10 of my friends look pretty much identical to me, and that's just not true, I'm far better looking than all of them!

I can smell something

i wish there were ways of turning off these rubbish avatars :/

"Seriously, having just gone through "The Year Of The PS3" (that clearly wasn't!) I really wouldn't be calling the 360 out on its s/w lineup ever again ..."

Well, the gaming press has to resort to something to keep the console wars alive (so completely disregarding that what they're so obsessed about is a struggle for distant second place). Till 2010 or something we'll only see years of the Wii. And you got to hand it to PS3, it took a serious price cut for the 360 to still be in competition for second place in 2008 at this point...

And you got to hand it to PS3, it took a serious price cut for the 360 to still be in competition for second place in 2008 at this point...

this is true.

Isn't referring to Microsoft as 'M$' a bit past it now? Is it still really worth the extra effort of typing $ instead of S, just to make a shit joke? Is it?

The first Avatars were for the Commodore 64 as I recall for an online system called habitat. Basicly large 2d sprites but look real like Miis. So please enough with the Nintendo invented gaming and every one else copied them pleases.


http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/is...

I'm indifferent to the avatars, but the new 360 GUI is fucking lovely.

"its good to see the SDF still talking the same shit day in day out!"

Well, their rabid activity in threads like these does give a glimpse of desperation. Kinda sad.

"With an interface where you build a character that looks like yourself, or whoever you want it to look like."

If you want to look like a needy, attention-seeking cunt. Who stands to one side like they have a carrot up their arse. And dresses like a twat.

And now I can't delete it! I'm stuck with having an avatar in some form.

And most of the girls... look like dudes, because of their damned annoying mouth options. I can't tell you how much I hate these new avatars. I don't care if my friends want them I just want to be rid of mine. I will pay if I can delete mine.

@chris_ace

What a fucking tosser you are.

Did that bollocks make you feel good?

Funny how the 'dead' console sells more games per console than the others.

*chuckle*

Rare wanted avatars since the (wii.. sorry 360) launch

im confused, so rare are saying the copied wanted to copy nintendo before nintedo had did this. Interesting

I really like the Avatars and Miis (when they get used) even more so. Especially the Gamerpic photo function is ace for the avatars. If you chose to delete the current composition the Avatar will have a scared look - if you then cancel and quickly change to the gamerpic photo booth thing, you can capture that. All kinds of neat ideas in there.

"RIP RARE and XBOX360"

Absolute fucking comedy genius.

Take a look at your own disaster of a machine, the PS3 truly is the very worst joke of a console to ever have launched. It launched with a whimper and has still not managed to gain a decent software library or the respect of gamers, or live up to a single one of it's manufacturers promises.

Still, Bluray, eh? Gotta love those very expensive and slightly-higher-quality-than-DVD movies.

Oh, and anyone who complains about avatars... grow up, you are children having a tantrum. They do not affect your use of the console 1 iota. It's pathetic to hear such petulant whining.

"The concept of avatars is something that we came up with about four years ago now"

And there was me thinking the concept had been around for hundreds of years (never one to let a pedantic point slip, oh no).

I don't mind the avatars too much tbh. Initially the idea didn't interest me at all, now it interests me a little bit. Its kind of fun seeing what my friends have done with their avatars, and the party system does work well (although that could have worked equally well without avatars, they do add a certain something).

I'm not sure about them making the 360 less spiky though. I wasn't aware that the mass market really expected their electronic goods to give them a friendly hug.