Talk:Rare (company)/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Jaguar (talk · contribs) 15:20, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

I am the oracle of Rare. It seems appropriate that I should take this one on, seeing as it's one of the only subjects on Wikipedia in which I have genuine professional knowledge about. To make this even more special, this is my 400th GA review! I'll make this one as detailed as can be. JAGUAR  15:20, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

Initial comments

Lead

• Remove either 'England' or 'United Kingdom' from the infobox, seems a bit cluttered as it is
• "During its early years, Rare kept an air of secrecy" - this sounds slightly informal. Furthermore, I don't think they were secretive only in their early years, they will still by far a seclusive company even after Microsoft's 2002 buyout. This could be reworded slightly
• "the company's focus shifted to Xbox Live Avatar and Kinect" - the Xbox Live Avatar
• "In 2015, Rare released Rare Replay to celebrate their 30th anniversary" - a bit more should be added about Rare Replay. Like In 2015, Rare released Rare Replay, a compliation of 30 games produced by the company to celebrate their 30th anniversary or something similar
• "Rare was widely recognized" - recognised

Founding

• "and founded in Ashby-de-la-Zouch by former arcade game" - I know I added this part, but I would write out the full location and founded in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, by former arcade game
• "Rare also developed Battletoads, a beat'em up inspired by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise," - full stop instead of comma
• "The game became known for its extreme difficulty, and seeing success, publisher Tradewest published multiple ports for the game" - and upon seeing success
• "Tradewest also gave their own home Double Dragon license to Rare" - home licence? How about own licence? And also, 'licence' is British spelling
• "and Snake Rattle 'n' Roll, an action platform game with Tim Stampers" - Stampers? Stamper. This problem is also in the quote box ("Tim Stampers, founder of Rare")
• "Several Battletoads games were also ported to Sega Genesis" - Mega Drive. Please, I beg you!
• "and the third instalment of the Jetpac series, Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warship. [10]Rare" - spacing is wrong here
• "When the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was conceived" - abbreviate this to (SNES) after the full name, as done with the NES before
• "However, despite the huge catalogue of games" - 'huge' is a tad informal, try large instead

Partnership with Nintendo

• "Rare, using the SGI systems, created a boxing game game demo " - repetition
• "making Rare a Nintendo second-party developer" - might sound better as making Rare a second-party developer for Nintnedo (minor)
• "The Stampers asked for Donkey Kong" - this link would be more appropriate as Donkey Kong (character)
• "The resulting game was Donkey Kong Country which was developed" - comma needed in between 'Country' and 'which'
• "and Rare moved out from their headquarter at the Manor Farmhouse" - headquarters
• "A large-scaled platformer was set to be released afterwards but was delayed" - wait, what's this about? Even I don't know what this is referring to. It can't be Project Dream because that's mentioned later in the section?
• "New elements, such as stealth, headshot mechanic" - headshot mechanics or a headshot mechanic
• "GoldenEye 007 was the first console first-person shooter" - this means the first console first-person shooter released by Rare?
• "Banjo-Kazooie was released in June 1998 to critical acclaim. A sequel, Banjo Tooie, was released several years later" - no, it was released in 2000. Two years later (to critical acclaim as well, it might be worth mentioning that it also sold more than Banjo-Kazooie)

Microsoft era

• "Game-development costs gradually increased" - no need for the hyphen
• "and Nintendo did not provide Rare with more capital or purchase the company's remaining stake" - may sound better as and Nintendo did not provide Rare with more capital nor did they purchase the company's remaining stake
• "According to Rare founders, they were surprised" - elaborate this to According to Rare founders Tim and Chris Stamper, they were surprised
• "but the deal collapsed and on 24 September 2002 Microsoft paid $375 million for the company" - this can be ignored, but I think the original figure was in pounds. I don't know how to work out the 2002 exchange rate, so maybe it's better off being ignored for now
• "Character trademarks from games developed by Rare for Nintendo consoles" - unlink 'Character'
• "a humorous action adventure game set in a haunted house full of crazed creatures" - a humorous action-adventure game set in a haunted mansion full of supernatural creatures
• "Originally intended as a free-roaming game, it was significantly streamlined in design and concept" - I would add that the reason why it was streamlined; it was simplified in order to attract a larger, more casual audience (evidence is in the article itself)
• "a prequel to the first Perfect Dark, was originally intended for Nintendo GameCube before its redesign as an Xbox 360 game. Rare removed several features to meet the game's release deadline.[44] Kameo: Elements of Power was also intended for the Nintendo GameCube" - remove 'Nintendo', no need for it here
• "Nuts & Bolts received significant criticism from player due to its focus on" - players
• "Despite good reviews, the company's Microsoft titles sold poorly" - Despite generally positive reviews, the company's titles for Microsoft sold poorly
• "Originally titled Sports Star, a more-complex sports sim" - simulation?
• "A new game, Sea of Thieves, which was marketed as "The Best Game That Rare Has Ever Made"" - this doesn't mention that it's a multiplayer game (like the lead does)

Culture

• "The film, to celebrate Rare's 25th anniversary, would have been distributed on the Internet" - de-capitalise internet
• "This sparked controversy about Rare's current direction with Microsoft and shut down MundoRare" - this sounds like Microsoft shut them down, when they shut themselves down
• "Rare's secrecy was criticized by Hardcore Gamer's Alex Carlson" - criticised

Related companies

• I would recommend splitting this into two paragraphs
• "Former Free Radical and Rare staff also formed Crash Labs, a studio specialized in developing iOS games" - specialising in
• "Chris Seavor, director of Bad Fur Day" - full name needed; Conker's Bad Fur Day
• "Chris and Tim Stampes joined FortuneFish" - Stamper
• "a mobile game company founded by Tim Stampers' son, Joe Stampers" - Stamper's, Stamper

Awards

• "Rare was awarded the B.A.F.T.A." - just BAFTA

On hold

Well done with all the work and effort put into this article. Regarding the references, I could find no dead links and no issues with them. The review is quite long, but I wanted to ensure that something like this gets the best treatment. I was always thinking about bringing this up to GA but I never got around to it, due to lack of motivation. Still, I think this is a fitting 400th review. JAGUAR  20:49, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

@Jaguar: Thank you very much for the review, and congratulations for achieving a new milestone! I've addressed the issues you raised above, besides the part about $375 million, which I think is important to mention (especially when it comes to the later part, talking about how Rare products failed to become profitable). Thank you once again! AdrianGamer (talk) 12:14, 30 January 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for working on this Adrian. You've done an excellent job. By all means, promoted. I hope the Stamper brothers are smiling at us right now. JAGUAR  15:16, 30 January 2016 (UTC)