The Shrine

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Anyone got IGN Insider? Mother fuckers have a story with the headline "Rare Truth: No More Rumours" and it's a fucking Insider story.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Nintendo sold their share of Rare to Microsoft</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>For a lot of money too from the reports, well, I will probably buy an Xbox now =)</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>September 11, 2002 - In past months, UK development studio Rare has been the subject of a seemingly endless stream of rumors, all of them suggesting the company would break from Nintendo's wings and possibly join with a new publisher. Now we have the full story, anonymously confirmed by numerous credible, high-level insiders. The reports are true. We stake our reputation on it.

Nintendo, formerly a 49% shareholder in Rare, had the chance to purchase the company outright nearly a year ago, but refused, according to high-ranking sources. With Rare software contributions amounting to only 9.5% of total revenues in Nintendo's fiscal 2001 year, and a miniscule 1.5% in fiscal 2002, the publisher weighed the benefits and drawbacks of making additional investments in Rare and decided against it.

Rare went on the market. Publishers bid on the company. Activision and Microsoft were both interested in acquiring Rare, but it was Microsoft who won out and delivered the asking prices for the developer and Nintendo's 49% stake in it. Nintendo sold all of its shares in Rare, according to insiders, and the studio's second-party status was terminated.

The obvious questions then: why all of the secrecy and why haven't Rare, Nintendo or Microsoft made any announcements? The truth is that the details have not been finalized. Insiders allege that Nintendo and Rare are still haggling over licenses, and specifically whether or not Rare will be able to purchase the properties it worked on under the Nintendo brand, including Perfect Dark and other trademarks Nintendo holds. Franchises and characters created and owned by Nintendo, of course, including Donkey Kong, will remain in Nintendo's control. An official announcement, though, is not far off. The latest word is that the news will be made public at Microsoft's X02 Europe event which begins September 24 in Seville, Spain.

Meanwhile, sources indicate that Nintendo plans to utilize some of the money it made in the selling of its Rare shares to entice other development studios to make GameCube software, fund new games, and more. The company's de-emphasized focus on a second-party model and its new partnerships with Namco, Sega, Capcom and others exemplifies its change in development philosophy, and leaves no room for an expensive investment in Rare.

Look for much more on this major news as it develops.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt georgia; text-align: left; '>Huh! I'm not so sad to see them parting with Nintendo, but joining the Evil Empire? The dark side is strong :).</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Not overly surprising they left, but to go from one second-party to another? I thought the whole point was for them to get picked up by a multi-platform publisher so they could maximize their potential instead of concentrating on one platform, like Sega</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Microsoft is not Evil! They're just playing the game of Monopoly like Nintendo and Sony, only they have a lot of cash on hand and they just decided to trade a lot of that cash for one of Nintendo's higher valued properties =)</div>

<div style='font: 11pt ; text-align: left; '>$$$ makes the world go round.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Of course, but I thought Rare would see the benefits (particularly the worldwide benefits) of being multi, but I guess that's far too future-looking</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Well, they used to be, anyways. Star Fox is their first 'Cube game and system seems to have done fairly well without them, a shock considering how much they relied on them in the N64 days. I wanna see a few releases from them on next-gen to see how big they still are. Still a big coup for Microshaft</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Well, they did hit their peak in the late SNES early N64 days,</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Nah, they're better off second party, Nintendo financed Rare with millions and millions to produce their games, without support from an economic power like Nintendo or Microsoft, Rare might not be able to create the best games in the World anymore.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Yeah? And? An "outsider" story would be rumors.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>I imagine it's nice to be a console-maker's favorite son.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Companies like Sega or THQ coulda given them the funds for some big games and made them multi, but I guess when you're getting THAT much money from Microshaft...</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "Fine Hand"; text-align: left; '>I think Rare lost its touch after Banjo. I mean, I recall you guys not being too happy with the new Donkey Kong 64.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Dk64 was a good game, just not as good as Banjo Kazooie. Then again, look at Conker which is an awesome game, one of the best ever made (but it took more than 4 years)</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>He means part of the pay service.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>After the first two "levels", Conker ruled ass</div>

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>I do believe that is Ish's job, and I believe it's Gman's ass for that matter.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "Fine Hand"; text-align: left; '>Stop projecting your fantasies on me. You know YOU want it from Ish.</div>

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>I'm not "projecting" anything. Again, that's for you to do and for Ish to catch. ;)</div>