Shane Kim Rules Out Banjo And Piñata As Big Hits This Year

Apparently, we'll have to wait for quite some time yet in order to know what "stuff" is that they are developing right now. Killer Instinct 3? Like we recently learned, the never ending rumours about this highly anticipated game are starting to sprout again. Everything looks bright and happy right now, but who knows, the age of the cuteness may be coming to an end. It's been some time since Perfect Dark Zero and next year may be the right moment to make a new turn towards the, how is that supposed to be called? Hardcorism?

[Hellsvacancy]

wot a complete tw@ hes sooooo delusional

[canadianpatriot]

It's obvious you dont like him so why dont you just ignore the article and dont read it...? is it that hard?

[Deadman64]

It is too hard for him.

Anyways, banjo and viva aren't big so why say they are? I wont be getting either, unless the release a demo for both and I am suddenly amazed, I mean really amazed. The only games I'm getting this year is Gears 2 and RE5[if it makes this year]. I simply don't have time for anything else with college. Gears 2 is big enough to last.

[Mc Fadge]

What a twat. Why you would label games as good and bad for you company, I don't know.

[jack32]

Banjo looked good

but i lost about 97.24% interest in it (i even know it to 2 dp) when i found out it its not a platformer.

More of a racing game

[gaffyh]

Exactly, what's the point of buying these games if they aren't going to be good?

[Alexander Roy]

I lol'd. Hard.
Honestly, everybody knows that some people love to say "XBox(360) only has shooters", so why doesn't he hype games that come from a completely different genre? I mean, a broader portfolio/audience can't be bad. Especially with the new Banjo-Kazooie, which was one of THE games on the Nintendo 64, you would think he would promote them better.

[DJ]

But they haven't seen the actual game. Hopefully Microsoft pushes Banjo and Viva like crazy this fall, because they really do need to branch out more.

[Vojkan]

Reading or listening what he is saying, some might even think Resident Evil 5 is exclusive to 360 and of course we know it is BS but just the way he is saying it.

Also for once i agree with him Banjoo and Viva Pinata lol can not and never will be big titles.

[canadianpatriot]

Why not, Banjo 1 and 2 were considered one of the best platformers on the n64 and viva pinanta scored very good reviews it currently holds 84% on metacritic and a similiar score on gamerankings

[LastDance]

Banjo wont be big because its on xbox....not 1 person here can give a valid reason why it SHOULDNT be on the Wii.........Microsoft spoil something good...again.

[mintaro]

it shouldnt be on the wii because Microsoft owns Rare

[SaiyanFury]

@ mintaro

Agreed. Although I don't know why Nintendo would have sold one of it's best second party studios in the first place. Seriously, who associates Kameo, Banjo Kazooie, and Viva Pinata with Microsoft? Those are the kinds of games that really would find success on the Wii, specifically because it's developed by RARE, which typically only designed games for Nintendo consoles. Their style hasn't changed but their success has certainly not blossomed on Microsoft's consoles as it did on Nintendo's. At least it certainly doesn't look like it. I could be wrong.

[THAMMER1]

Good read.

[PwnShop]

He's actually saying that games percieved as "casual games" such as Banjo and Viva will not be as popular as more "hard core games" like Gears of War 2. Plus this video seems like theres selective quoting.

[niall77]

Is this guy on soe kind of "act like a tool" press tour or something?

he has been spouting so much spin the last week its crazy.

[-EvoAnubis-]

I see interviews with this guy almost daily here. Shane Kim, all by himself, has shot his mouth off more in the past month than Sony has in the past f'n YEAR.

[leeger]

at least he has a new pic.

[eagle21]

We know the real Shane Kim has one headshot. :)

[jonboi24]

haha. that's a pic of his twin, liquid shane.

[bootsielon]

He says something stupid. Why won't he shut up? microsoft, please shut him up.

[jonboi24]

he's almost as bad as itagaki.

[eagle21]

This time dissing his own first party games? Classic. :)

[DiabloRising]

Wow. Worse than Sony PR.

[heyheyhey]

Microsoft need to fire his ass unless he can learn to shut the fvck up at least one day a week

@below

yeah that's good for the reviews, but not so great for the sales

hype= sales

Microsoft really need to shut the guy up for their own sake

[felidae]

at least he's not overhyping something ...

[xboxftw]

What do you want them to do? Show CGI/Concept of games of 2011 and show them as 2008 titles? NO they cannot do that that's copyright of sony corporation.

[Xlll]

Didn't stop MS from showing clips of Too Human and that was dated to be out in the 90's. Lets not forget Alan Wake or Splinter cell bum fights. Copy right means little to MS as they will pretty much copy everything anyone else has done.

[Archaeox]

WOW

[Pornlord]

I'd much rather hear from him that Aaron Greenberg, at least what Kim said has some sort of stigma of truth to it.

[TheMART]

He just points out that Gears of War 2 and Fable 2 will be able to meet much higher demand and reach the mass market more then Banjo and Viva.

Seen the results in the past, he's probably right on that one.

[canadianpatriot]

Shut up nobody cares

[Maverick_]

Xbox 360 fails.

[sixaxis]

i have nothing to say but, F*CK U Shane Kim.

Maybe i had a bad day, but im SO sick about this guy. BTw i only read the headline, blame me if u want.

[Aclay]

I wonder why Microsoft even put in their time and money into Banjoe 3 if they didn't really expect it to be a big hit on the console. It's obvious that Microsoft is mainly still trying to cater to the hardcore gamers, but at the same time they are "trying" to reach the casual audience as well.

And yeah, that article was pretty much right on the spot when it said that Gears 2 will really be one of the only biggest 360 games for a long while after it's released because it is. Sony is setting the tone for 2009 early with Killzone 2 in February.

Sony even said that they felt that LittleBigPlanet will be one of their biggest titles of 2008 and it's not even a hardcore game. The hardcore gamer audience is much smaller than the mass market and unless Microsoft overcomes that hurdle of just attracting hardcore gamers, they will never win the console war or any future console war.

[leeger]

dont forget about FF13 early next year. Its probably bigger than GeOW2, KZ2, and even MGS4.

[canadianpatriot]

It denfinitly won't be bigger then Geow2 or MGS4
that's such some silly thinking right there

[beavis4play]

i don't know about MGS4, but gears 1 was very short.......why would you think FF wouldn't be longer game than gears games?

[jonboi24]

FF13 is definitely going to be bigger than geow2 and kz2. Seriously when geow2 and kz2 are released it will most likely get crazy but when an FF game gets released its usually a global phenomenon.

[aaron5829]

"It denfinitly won't be bigger then Geow2 or MGS4
that's such some silly thinking right there"

Are you sure ?? In Japan alone, final fantasy will sell consoles. The rest of Asia are Final Fantasy fanatics (including myself)

I'm pretty sure FF sells in Europe and US too. Very well in fact.

Geow2 is pretty big in the US or maybe Europe, but i can tell you, not many people talks about it.

You wont see people queing up to get GEOW2 on launch day, but we definately will see people queing up for FF.

And no, i'm not BS-ing.

(I'm talking about Asia mind you)

[ISA_Scum]

Let's see....

1) Insult Gears of War in comparison to Halo: CHECK!
2) Insult other potential sellers coming out this year: CHECK!
3) SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!: NOT YET DONE
4) GET FIRED: WELL ON MY WAY!

This man is an idiot. Then again, as a SONY fan, I'm kinda happy he is.

[jonboi24]

Seriously, with a guy like Shane Kim who needs a Sony or Nintendo PR trashing the 360.

[heroman711]

i wish Phil Harrison came back and peter Moore

[juuken]

Um...this guy is a tool.
Nuff' said.

[clintos59]

ken kuturagi because he seems to brag alot and talk alot crap out of there a$$. Please bring peter moore back.

[PirateThom]

They don't know how to respond to Sony bar insults, while Peter Moore focused on Microsoft's strengths rather than Sony's weakness and was even giving credit to Sony where due.

Kim and Greenberg are idiots, worse than anyone at Sony or Nintendo.

[adorie]

the only thing is shane kim isnt a professional dealing with inventing new technology or having had an impact on the game industry in revolutionary ways.

[Whoooop]

He was a great asset to Microsoft... Far much more smart and interesting

[pow3r of t3h c3ll]

Screw you cannadianasswipe!!! enough of these stupid articles! Do you have to know what shame kim thinks about every single thing!!! If I was in same room as you right now I would slice you up good for this!!!

And by the way before you say it no I cant just ignore these articles cus every day you cant help but see shane kims face on the main page and then want to massacre whoever posted it!!!

[Ali_The_Brit]

LittleBigPlanet is going to make people forget there was ever such a thing as banjo or pinata. dream on xbots and jump out

[ActionBastard]

That's awesome.

[n00bPwner]

viva and banjo suck almost as much as Kiddy Big Pedophile.

[xboxftw]

You forgot Homoalone.

[n00bPwner]

lmfao. so true.

[Maverick_]

:''(

[jollygoodchap8]

Did he run out of Sony things to bash?

What gives?

MS should finally see that their PR is terrible now. They're even downplaying their own stuff!

MS please fire this guy, and if you're feeling generous fire Greenburg too. Let Kotaku or Gametrailers hire them as bloggers or something.

they'll fit right in.

[beavis4play]

some of the comments being critical of kim have 1 disagree.... do you think it's SK disagreeing? or maybe his mom?

[ISA_Scum]

He should definitely get on ripping NGII by now for obviously failing in PS3 development before being ported exclusively to the XBOX360. I mean, what else could explain horrible framerate and camera issues, not too mention bland and ugly environment graphics? Geez....get on it Kimmy!

[StrboyM]

is a robot, and his speech program is broken...

I happen to know his reset button is in the back of his neck, can someone please chop him in the back of his neck, or just reprogram him altogether please before he RRoD during an interview?

[cmrbe]

I can't believe they are still making the same mistake. This just reinforces to the public again that casual gaming is just an after thought to MS. Sony on the other hand hype up their hardcore games as much as casual games like HS and RC last year as an example.

MS should know that they are really shooting themselves in the foot with this kind of comments. To casual gamers when they read about this sort of comments. They will question weather MS is really serious about focusing on casual gaming as much as hardcore gaming.

[LaChance]

I hope you realize that 99,99% of gamers and public in general are NEVER going to see/hear what Shane kim says.

So what this guy says has close to 0 impact on peoples perception of the 360 or MSFT in general.

They did ads on TV (EU) and stuff for Viva Pinata back in the day so dont expect them to move one step backwards when Viva 2 comes out especially since its gonna be the xmas season.

I think what he means is that they arnt going to hype it like they gonna do with Geow 2.

[cmrbe]

Isn't Shane the main x360 person now?. Don't you think that what he says will greatly influence what people think of the x360 since he is at the helm?. Agree that they won't hype Viva and Banjo like Gears. That is exactly the problem with MS and it seems they haven't learned their lesson. Its one thing putting out casuals games but its another thing all together to market them and hyped them up.

[BlackIceJoe]

hope the next game Rare makes is a new Perfect Dark, Killer Instincts, Jet Force Gemini or Blast Corps.

Also on a side note I hope MS advertises Banjo and Viva Pinata. Every ones knows Gears will sell and be a fun game. So no need to waste money selling that game because it will sell what MS needs to do is put a lot of advertisement behind Banjo and Viva because those games are great and if MS can get the Casual market and Hardcore market to buy these games then that will really help push sales of these games.