From Ultimate to MGS-era Rare: the full story Now into its third decade and still going strong, read up on Rare's origins and the major events in its lifecycle to date... 1 .2 .3 Next    Again, in 2002, only one title was released: the long-awaited Star Fox Adventures for Nintendo's new GameCube system. However, there was a much bigger Rare story in the wind this year, as rumours of the company's buyout flew thick and fast until their clarification and confirmation at Microsoft's September X02 event in Seville, Spain, where it was confirmed that Rare had officially become part of Microsoft Game Studios. From this point on, the company would be bringing its development talent to bear on the Xbox range of consoles.    This was a drastic change for Rare, and the period following the acquisition was turbulent as teams faced up to the process of creating and converting properties for a brand new system. The first title to be ready for launch was the Banjo team's haunted house romp Grabbed by the Ghoulies, released under the MGS label in late 2003.    Ghoulies was followed by the return of Conker in radically upgraded two-games-in-one package Conker: Live & Reloaded in 2005, the months between filled by Rare's backlog of GBA output: updated ports of the classic DKC series plus original THQ-published titles Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge, Sabre Wulf, It's Mr. Pants and Banjo Pilot. Meanwhile, two of the developer's biggest ongoing projects - epic shapeshifting adventure Kameo: Elements of Power and legendary prequel Perfect Dark Zero - would ultimately be carried over to bolster the launch of the Xbox' successor system.    A year on from the simultaneous Xbox 360, PD Zero and Kameo launches, with several DLC packs for both games also under its belt, Rare let loose its third 360 title: Viva Piñata, a wildly imaginative customisation-fest and the boldest attempt yet to broaden the console demographic, supported by an animated TV series and all manner of merchandising deals. Adding to the momentum, MGS' X06 event in Barcelona prior to Piñata's launch also promised the gamesplaying public a brand new third instalment in the Banjo-Kazooie franchise.    Rare has since gone on to release its first titles of 2007 in the form of two debuts, Diddy Kong Racing DS on the dual screen handheld and Jetpac Refuelled as a downloadable Xbox Live Arcade title. Further details on future projects including Banjo's long-awaited Xbox 360 return will emerge in good time, so stay tuned. In this generation, Rare is just getting warmed up. 1 .2 .3 Next