Stamper Brothers Leave Rare

It's an end of an era. Reported here, the original founders of the iconic games developer Ultimate: Play the Game, later to become Rare have left the company four years after it was bought by Microsoft.

It could be argued that Rare have not been firing on all cylinders since Microsoft bought them from Nintendo for $375m in 2002.

However, anyone who grew up playing the ZX Spectrum or Commodore 64 cannot forget the greatness of games from Ultimate: Play the Game. Not only for the great cardboard boxes they came but also the founding of innovative gameplay with the likes of Jet Pac, Lunar JetMan etc and the series of much copied 'isometric' games such as Alien8, Gunfright and Knightlore.

Becoming Rare in the late 80's creating many great games for the original Nintendo Entertainment System and in the 90's some classics such as the brilliant Goldeneye, as well as Blast Corps, Killer Instinct on the N64 and Donkey Kong Country on the SNES (to name just a few).

In a games industry dominated by the US and Japan, it's worth noting the impact that this UK firm has had on gaming over the past 20 years and although sad for nostalgia fans, its worth highlighting that Rare are just one of many UK games development companies that continued to create revolutionary games for all leading platforms.

My Games of the year (part 2)

When I went to pick up my Nintendo Wii on December the 8th, in spite of being hungover from a Christmas party, I was not quite prepared for the amount of sheer fun I was going to have that day.

This was down to one very simple, subtle title that came free with the Wii; Wii Sports. This could so easily have been a very basic title designed simply to show off the innovative new control system of the Wii Remote which of course it does, superbly. But it also is such an incredibly addictive title which rewards continued and 'genuine' play as you understand the little nuances that are involved in each included sport.

Me and my mate spent about 8 hours on launch day playing that game, and although we did destroy his lampshade during some over excited play, I have to say it was probably the most enjoyable days gaming I've ever had.

I ached like hell the next day, but it was worth it!