DrunknMunky Veteran Posted October 6, 2008 Veteran Share Posted October 6, 2008 (edited) Developer: Rare Ltd. Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios Designer: Gregg Mayles Composer: Grant Kirkhope & Robin Beanland Engine: Havok physics Release dates: NA November 11 2008 EU November 14 2008 Genres: Platform, vehicle construction & adventure Modes: Single-player & multiplayer Hands On - 11th Sept 2008by Rob Fahey With only weeks to go before Rare's venerable Banjo-Kazooie franchise emerges from its decade-long slumber, the game is seriously taking shape. This week, at Microsoft's UK headquarters in Reading, we were able to go hands-on with almost finished (albeit not yet bug-free) code. You can tell a game is approaching its final state when the small touches start appearing - like loading screens bearing helpful hints, tips and suggestions. One of those tips in particular caught our eye - suggesting that if you aren't getting along with vehicle-based gaming, perhaps you might like to try out the Xbox Live Arcade download of Banjo-Kazooie instead. It's a bit of a throwaway comment (and we suspect it might not make it to the final version), but it sums up our primary misgiving about Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts rather well. A lot of players, we suspect, are going to find that this game has rather too much emphasis on Nuts & Bolts, and not quite enough Banjo-Kazooie to go around. It's going to be a controversial one, and right now, that could be Good Controversial or Bad Controversial. It's tough to call. It could go either way. In essence, then, this is a game about vehicles. Its nod to its platforming roots lies in the progression system, which is a fairly pure example of Nintendo's well-worn Mario 64 system in action. The idea is that a chap called Log has decided to settle the battle between Banjo and Grunty for once and for all. In order to achieve this, he has created a number of game worlds and populated them with challenges - Banjo has to complete them, Grunty has to stop him. This gives us our hub world - Showdown Town, a city environment dominated by Log's Castle. Showdown Town has a large number of districts, only one of which (the Central Square) is accessible at the outset. There's also one challenge world available to begin with, Nutty Acres. As you progress, Log will give you new worlds to play with - these come in the form of crystal balls which need to be transported across town (progressively further away from Central Square) and placed on pedastals to activate dormant gateways. Each world is accessed by several different doorways - and depending on which doorway you enter via, there'll be a number of different challenges on offer. Some doorways open as soon as you place the game sphere on the pedestal - others will only open when you achieve a certain Jiggy Score, indicated by the number above the doorframe. Jiggys, of course, remain the currency you're awarded for each challenge you complete - the direct analogue of Mario's Stars. One interesting tweak, however, is that you have an opportunity to earn a TT Trophy for completing challenges in excellent time - win the trophy, and you'll earn a quarter-Jiggy, so four trophies add up to an extra Jiggy in the bank. Each game world is uniquely themed, and is introduced by a retro-TV style video when you first unlock the world. In a nice twist, all of the standard characters from Showdown Town appear in each gameworld in different guises - Rare has deliberately given this an amateur dramatics society feel, with rather weak costumes and some bad character acting thrown in for laughs. Similarly, each world has been crafted to look like it's been stitched together imperfectly by Log himself. "The design was that Log had created these worlds, and we wanted them to look like they'd been created," lead technical artist Neil Harrison explains. "Our idea was that he's done quite a good job of creating these worlds, but not perfect. There are holes in the floor which have been patched up, and sometimes you can see the workings of the levels, big cogs under the floor and that sort of thing." It's one of the nicest aspects of the game's unique visuals and was, Harrison claims, a fun challenge for the art team. "It's almost like you're trying to deliberately make things look bad sometimes, and that's quite risky. "It would be quite easy to make a level with grass, put next-gen grass effects on it all blowing in the wind, and that looks great - that's what people expect. If you want to make it look constructed, though, you have to ask how you make it look as good as that, but without doing that - making this patchwork of fabric instead." Continues at Eurogamer.. Screenshots: Videos: Showdown Town Trailer E3 2008 Trailer E3 2008: Chris Chamberlain Interview E3 2008: Goal Scoring Cam Gameplay E3 2008: Gameplay Clips E3 2008: Driving Cam Gameplay E3 2008: Flying Cam Gameplay TGS 2008 Walkthrough part 1 TGS 2008 Walkthrough part 2 TGS 2008 Walkthrough part 3 TGS 2008 Walkthrough part 4 TGS 2008 Walkthrough part 5 TGS 2008 Walkthrough part 6 Mumbo's Factory Gameplay TGS 2008 Terrarium Trailer Achievements: Pointless Collector 10 Take part in the L.O.G. badge collecting challenge at the start of the game in Spiral Mountain Open Nuts 10 Place the Nutty Acres Game Globe on its plinth in Showdown Town Next-Next-Gen 10 Place the LOGBOX 720 Game Globe on its plinth in Showdown Town History Lesson 15 Place the Banjoland Game Globe on its plinth in Showdown Town Let the Games Begin 15 Place the Jiggosseum Game Globe on its plinth in Showdown Town Super Banjo Universe 20 Place the Terrarium of Terror Game Globe on its plinth in Showdown Town My First Bank 10 Bank your first Jiggy in Showdown Town Little Banker 20 Bank 10 Jiggies in Showdown Town Big Banker 30 Bank 30 Jiggies in Showdown Town Shower of Gold 40 Bank 60 Jiggies in Showdown Town Jiggillionaire! 50 Bank 131 Jiggies in Showdown Town Pimped Up 20 Complete the Showdown Town Trolley with Parts won from Grunty battles Witch Hunt 50 Defeat Grunty at the end of the game My First Trophy 10 Earn a T.T. Trophy from any challenge Few Trophy Pts 20 Earn 10 T.T. Trophies from any challenges More Trophy Pts 30 Earn 30 T.T. Trophies from any challenges A Lot of Trophy Pts 40 Earn 60 T.T. Trophies from any challenges Be Crateful 15 Find and return two crates to Mumbo's Motors Blueprint Buyout 15 Buy a blueprint from Humba in Showdown Town Roid Rage 15 Train Banjo once in the Showdown Town gym Start to Free the Showdown Six 15 Free and re-house a Jinjo in Showdown Town Vigilante 15 Lock up a Minjo in Showdown Town Bingo! 20 Complete a line on the Bingo card at King Jingaling's Palace Stop 'n' Swop 0 Return a Stop 'n' Swop crate to Mumbo's Motors BBQ Beef 20 In Nutty Acres, they like their steak well done Massive Damage 20 Aim at the 10 legs for massive damage Test Your Strength 20 Roll up, show the whole of Banjoland how strong you are Great Balls of Fire 20 Take a heavy ball around the Jiggosseum and get a burning sensation Ultimate Combo 20 More like a three-hit combo in the Terrarium of Terror Floater in the Pipe 20 Eeurgh! That's not going to help the Test-O-Track plumbing Burn the Witch! 20 Showdown Town witch hunt Head for Heights 20 Find the best view in Showdown Town Fuzz Off! 20 POP goes the Weasel! Paint Your Wagon 10 Paint any part of your vehicle in Mumbo's Motors Speedy of the Colossus 25 Build a vehicle with 200 blocks or more and go over a set speed Minimalist 25 Build a vehicle with five blocks or less and go over a set speed Whoa Nelly! 25 Travel in a vehicle over a set speed Loose Change 20 Collect ALL the Showdown Town Loose Change Arcade Pwner 20 Finish all levels of Klungo's Arcade game Sunday League 20 Play in and complete a multiplayer game League Premier League! 40 Play in and complete a marathon multiplayer game League (Every Race, Every Sport or Every Race and Sport) What's That Smell? 10 Play an Xbox LIVE multiplayer game against a Banjo team member, or somebody who has already done so Bit of Blue 10 Share a blueprint with another player or Friend over Xbox LIVE, or save 20 blueprints Paparazzi 10 Take a photo and upload it to Xbox LIVE, or take five photos Caught on Camera 10 Send a video replay to a Friend over Xbox LIVE, or save five replays High Fives All Round 10 Be on the winning team in a ranked team game All My Own Work 20 Win a ranked solo game with a custom vehicle Too Easy! 10 Win a ranked solo race by reversing over the finish line Too Easy Too! 20 Win a ranked solo race by running or swimming over the finish line Are You Trophy Thomas? 40 Win 20 Xbox LIVE ranked multiplayer games in any mode XBLA Titles: Banjo-Kazooie It was announced at Microsoft's E3 2008 press conference that Banjo-Kazooie will be made available for download on Xbox Live Arcade in the future. This version would feature increased screen resolution and minor graphical refinements. Properties of Nintendo have been removed throughout the game. For example, the animated Nintendo 64 logo is absent from the opening sequence, while the Nintendo company logo on Mumbo's xylophone in the introduction was replaced by the Microsoft Game Studios logo. Characters who have appeared in other Nintendo-published games will be unchanged, including Bubblegloop Swamp's Tiptup and Click Clock Wood's Gnawty the Beaver. On its website, Rare revealed that the port is being handled by 4J Studios. The game will be publicly released on Xbox Live Arcade on November 26, 2008 for 1,200 Microsoft Points. It will also be offered as a preorder bonus for the upcoming Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts two weeks before the public release. Source: Wiki Screenshots: Videos: Leaked XBLA Footage Leaked XBLA Gameplay Banjo-Tooie Banjo-Tooie has been confirmed to be re-releasing in an updated Xbox Live Arcade port, much like its predecessor. So far, only a vague release window of "early 2009" has been given by Rare and Microsoft. Source: Wiki Links: Xbox.com Game Page GameTrailers Game Page GameSpot Game Page IGN Game Page Eurogamer Game Page Thanks to my good man .Kick for helping put the topic together! Edited October 12, 2008 by DrunknMunky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spenser.d Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 I'm stoked for this, though I probably won't have it until Xmas. I will get the original on XBLA when it comes out though, as I'm sure I can get all of the achievements for it (considering I've completed it 100% multiple times on N64...) and because I know I'll spend well more than enough time on it to make it worth the money. I had initial misgivings about the whole vehicle thing at first, but I think I've warmed up to the idea and I think this is going to be an awesome game. -Spenser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted October 6, 2008 Subscriber² Share Posted October 6, 2008 Waiting for reviews on this one. Want to see how big the vehicle impact is, then how fun/well implemented it is! I'll just emulate the past games :p I'm not paying for a game that's not really been improved in anyway since the original (like higher res textures or something). Funny thing is, there is probably an N64 emulator hi-res texture patch for the older games. I know patches exist for Zelda and some other big N64 games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Cuban Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 looks like that coke commercial with the huge factory to make a bottle inside machine, all colorful and gay ( gay as colorful, 86' :p) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spenser.d Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 I'll just emulate the past games :pI'm not paying for a game that's not really been improved in anyway since the original (like higher res textures or something). Funny thing is, there is probably an N64 emulator hi-res texture patch for the older games. I know patches exist for Zelda and some other big N64 games. They are upgraded graphically though on XBLA, and they do have achievements now... -Spenser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted October 6, 2008 Subscriber² Share Posted October 6, 2008 They are upgraded graphically though on XBLA, and they do have achievements now...-Spenser Yeah just upscaling from the looks of it. For 1,200 points, which is like ?10.20, I'd expect a bit more:yes:: Especially after buying Wipeout HD for like ?11.99, and it's essentially a "port" seeing as it uses PSP tracks. However it's production values are of a retail game. If the game was like ?5-7 I'd be happier. I'm not an achievement ###### so I don't ca:p :p But fair enough, achievements add value to those who care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunknMunky Veteran Posted October 6, 2008 Author Veteran Share Posted October 6, 2008 I get it free with my preorder so I'm happy (Y) Esp since I don't have an N64 to play the original and it would cost me more to buy one from Gamestation or eBay, this is the best way to play it :yes: /spits on emulators :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spenser.d Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 @Audio - All the articles about it have said that there are graphical and resolution upgrades to the game - it's not just upscaling. It even says that in the OP in this thread. To each his own though - I'm not trying to sell you the game, I'm just trying to make sure you actually know the facts about it and you're not just spreading around your assumptions in these threads. -Spenser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted October 6, 2008 Subscriber² Share Posted October 6, 2008 Don't need to sell me on the game, it's awesome, I just think that's a bit of a high price to charge for an existing game! That's all :) Here's what high res textures are like for it on emulation. Bump up the res as well on the emulator and it looks awesome! I am a tight bugger though with money :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Browno Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 Is this the one coming to marketplace or the actual game? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted October 6, 2008 Subscriber² Share Posted October 6, 2008 Is this the one coming to marketplace or the actual game? Nuts & Bolts is the new game, but the title coming to the market place is mentioned in post 1 as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerzdawg Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 Is this the one coming to marketplace or the actual game? Both are listed in the OP... so... to answer your question... both! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mystic MVC Posted October 6, 2008 MVC Share Posted October 6, 2008 I played the original many times but I just don't think I will plunk down the money for it (big tight wad :p). This game has taken an extremely different direction so let's hope they succeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draken Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 Waiting for reviews on this one.Want to see how big the vehicle impact is, then how fun/well implemented it is! I'll just emulate the past games :p I'm not paying for a game that's not really been improved in anyway since the original (like higher res textures or something). Funny thing is, there is probably an N64 emulator hi-res texture patch for the older games. I know patches exist for Zelda and some other big N64 games. I'm with Audioboxer, too much for a game you can emulate at higher quality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricardo Gil Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 I'm with Audioboxer, too much for a game you can emulate at higher quality Except only one of those options is legal. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draken Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 Except only one of those options is legal. :p Legal? :blink: is that a game? :rolleyes: ahem ahem /wonders how many legal things Mr Gil owns ........ :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricardo Gil Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 Legal? :blink: is that a game? :rolleyes: ahem ahem /wonders how many legal things Mr Gil owns ........ :p A lot, honestly. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MillionVoltss Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 I preordered with Amazon uk hearing there were going to offer the pre order offer of the first game but because i preorder to early all they could tell me was, On checking with the relevant department, I can confirm that this offer applies to first 1000 pre-orders only and is only redeemable from Xbox LIVE. Unfortunately we can?t confirm that your order is in the limited 1000. However, if your order is in the first 1000 pre orders you will receive the pre-order code. Should i cancel order and try to get best price on game and buy the arcade game ? or wait and hope i get an early code. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunknMunky Veteran Posted October 7, 2008 Author Veteran Share Posted October 7, 2008 I'd reorder it from Game, they are giving the XBLA game with every order afaik. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GameOverRob Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Plus I haven't trusted Amazon with pre-orders since they screwed up my Gears of War on release day, I ended up buying it instore and sending it back to amazon [it arrived on the tuesday after the release day] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.KICK Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 N64 versus 360 XBLA Version Link (HD) The XBLA version looks so much better (Y) Enjoy :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunknMunky Veteran Posted October 10, 2008 Author Veteran Share Posted October 10, 2008 (edited) N64 versus 360 XBLA Version Link (HD)The XBLA version looks so much better (Y) Enjoy :) Looks awesome :woot: 16:9 No blur No jaggies Larger draw distance Better colours Higher res textures I can't wait! :drool: Edited October 10, 2008 by DrunknMunky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Teej Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Oh man, that looks AWESOME. I'm not entirely sure which one I'm more excited about, honestly :laugh: I'm definitely going to preorder this now. I heard something about getting BK XBLA free if you preorder the game, does this apply to the UK too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.KICK Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Oh man, that looks AWESOME. I'm not entirely sure which one I'm more excited about, honestly :laugh: I'm definitely going to preorder this now. I heard something about getting BK XBLA free if you preorder the game, does this apply to the UK too? Yes, pre-order from Game http://www.game.co.uk/Xbox360/Action/Adven...-Bolts/?s=banjo (Y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunknMunky Veteran Posted October 12, 2008 Author Veteran Share Posted October 12, 2008 Some new videos from TGS TGS 2008 Walkthrough part 1 TGS 2008 Walkthrough part 2 TGS 2008 Walkthrough part 3 TGS 2008 Walkthrough part 4 TGS 2008 Walkthrough part 5 TGS 2008 Walkthrough part 6 Mumbo's Factory Gameplay TGS 2008 Terrarium Trailer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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