# Microsoft: They might have Battletoads... and more Rare titles!



## Krory (Jan 13, 2015)

Microsoft Studios creative director Ken Lobb might've made a little boo boo on a recent podcast, dropping the dime that they have their eye on some of the franchises from Rare including _Banjo Kazooie_, _Viva Pi?ata_, _Black Corps_, and _Battletoads_.

Speaking during an interview, Lobb said:



			
				Ken Lobb said:
			
		

> ?Will there ever be another Banjo, Viva, Blast Corps, Battletoads? Yeah, someday. We know there?s value. We have a lot of passion internally for each of the games. And we have surprises in store in the near and long future.?



Lobb later had to revise his statement, simply saying that while Microsoft is still looking to expand their expanse of IPs, that it might also be time to start digging back into their portfolios and looking at "some games that people love."

You might remember that back in November, Microsoft filed a trademark for the Battletoads name.


----------



## Atlas (Jan 13, 2015)

Nuts and Bolts 2!


----------



## dream (Jan 13, 2015)

Just give me a Perfect Dark game that is amazing.


----------



## Xiammes (Jan 13, 2015)

Please, Microsoft is just going to turn it into kinect games.


----------



## Deathbringerpt (Jan 13, 2015)

Ken Lobb basically killed Kinect, actually. And he allowed Rare to start working on traditional games again.


----------



## Platinum (Jan 13, 2015)

Viva Pinata and Banjo would make me happy as fuck. I'm pretty sure that Banjo will be announced at E3 this year.


----------



## Krory (Jan 21, 2015)

.

Those of you who paid attention might remember during E3 last year, Spencer were shirts of games that would go on to receive XBox One announcements during the course of the event including _State of Decay_ and _Limbo_.

Well during the Microsoft conference today, he can be seen wearing a distinct _Battletoads_ t-shirt.

Take of it what you will, but when asked about it later by GameSpot, he said:



> “I don’t think I’ve ever worn a t-shirt that’s been a complete head-fake. I wouldn’t do that.”


----------



## DemonDragonJ (Jan 23, 2015)

This is certainly an interesting development, and I wonder: will the new _Battletoads_ game be as insanely difficult as was the original game? I hope not, since extreme difficulty might hinder sales of such a game, but I also doubt that it shall be, since video game mechanics are now so different from how they were back when the original game was release.

While the idea of reviving the _Battletoads_ franchise is interesting, I very much would like to see revivals of the _Commander Keen_ and _Jazz Jackrabbit_ franchises, as those are two of my favorite video games, ever.


----------



## Enclave (Jan 23, 2015)

Meh?

Rare sucks now, I have zero faith in them regardless of what IP they're working on.


----------



## Simon (Jan 23, 2015)

Enclave said:


> Meh?
> 
> Rare sucks now, I have zero faith in them regardless of what IP they're working on.


Really? Why? Because they developed a few Kinect games? You wouldn't have any faith in them if they announced a new Viva Pinata or Banjo?


----------



## shit (Jan 23, 2015)

battletoads were way too hard for me


----------



## Enclave (Jan 23, 2015)

Simon said:


> Really? Why? Because they developed a few Kinect games? You wouldn't have any faith in them if they announced a new Viva Pinata or Banjo?



Because all the talent left the company years ago and they're a shell of their former selves.  I would have zero faith in them with any IP at this point.  If they want me to trust them again?  They need to prove it by making a few good games.  I refuse to get excited for any shit they plan on making until they can prove to me post-release that whatever they made isn't actually shit.


----------



## Deathbringerpt (Jan 23, 2015)

^

I keep reading this and I don't think people realize who actually directed and designed Rare's most famous games. Ken Lobb is still at Rare and oversaw the last Killer Instinct, Gregg Mayles is part of the furniture at this point and he had game design duties on pretty much everything you can think of: Battletoads Conker, Banjo, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Star Fox Adventures and Viva Pi?ata. Grant Kirkhope, who fucking hated Microsoft, is now on good terms with them because of Phil Spencer who's apparently mediating a lot of bad blood between some of the guys that left after the Kinect crap happened, they been teasing plenty of shit on twitter. The FPS guys left Rare even before Rare was sold to Microsoft by the Stamper brothers.

Several of them left but there are still important veterans. That alone warrants some benefit of the doubt. I don't remember people overreacting this much when Retro lost most of its major talent after Metroid Prime 3.

Edit: Speaking of Grant getting into Rare again:


----------

