One of gaming’s most storied team of developers is Rare, the England-based studio behind such classics as Banjo-Kazooie, Killer Instinct, Conker, and Battletoads. Formerly a second-party Nintendo studio, Rare was bought by Microsoft in 2002, and in the later Xbox 360 years, became known as “the Kinect Sports team”. During Microsoft’s E3 2015 presser today, however, both parties made it clear that Rare is set to leave its Kinect focus with the announcement of two new releases from the team.
The first announcement was of a new collection of games titled Rare Replay. Rare Replay is a collection that features games from all across Rare’s history, from games originally released on the ZX Spectrum to the Xbox 360. While the game aren’t necessarily being enhanced graphically, achievements are being added in for many, with attainable Gamerscore totaling to 10,000 points. Priced at $29.99 in the US, the collection will be released at retail for Xbox One on August 4.
The second announcement was for a brand new title being developed internally at Rare. Titled Sea of Thieves, the game is a multiplayer-focused first-person pirate simulator, with players exploring islands and sailing the seas with friends online. No release timeframe has been given for the game at the time of this writing.
Rare’s announcements today have a bit of something for everyone: those who love Rare’s past may want to pick up Rare Replay, while Sea of Thieves looks like a promising future for the studio.
Source: Microsoft E3 2015 press conference
