MS sees Banjo as Mario-like 360 mascot

[Shrygue]

via Computer and Video Games


Rare wants Banjo-Kazooie to become an Xbox mascot in the vein of Mario, Lara Croft, Sonic and a Tetris Block (we ran out of mascots towards the end there), the developer has told CVG.

Speaking in an interview published today, on Banjo-Kazooie's 10th Birthday in Europe (raise your pint glasses), Rare studio head Mark Betteridge said that the new Banjo is a game the Xbox 360 "needs".

"We think the time is right for Banjo to be a mascot character for the 360, that's the key point," he said. "The price of the box is less than it was at launch, there are more casual customers buying consoles, so I think there's now a really good opportunity there. It's a unique game in the 360 line-up, it's a game that the 360 needs."

"Certainly as a mascot character Mario is fantastic and that would be wonderful to have Banjo mention in the same breath as 360 in way that Mario is with Nintendo," he added.

Should we expect to see Banjo Kart shortly, then? "We've used our characters in other games before with Nintendo," Betteridge added. "I suppose that's an historical skill of Rare's, to create likeable characters and characters that have proven to be popular worldwide."

Read the entire interview with Rare here.

[Shadowblind]

Forget that, Master Chief is 360s mascot, and the best one they could've chose.

[JKKDARK]

It should be really successful for being the "mascot"

[Eviltaco64]

I dont think that something that started out on a rival console should be considered another's consoles mascot.

But thats just me.

[Darksaviour69]

Mario (Donkey Kong) was in the Arcade first then on the 2600, ColecoVision, INTV before it was on the Nes (I had it on the BBC Micro)

[acn010]

i cant imagine as a mascot.......

[Eviltaco64]

Mario (Donkey Kong) was in the Arcade first then on the 2600, ColecoVision, INTV before it was on the Nes (I had it on the BBC Micro)

Well that was before Nintendo had a console, and it was common that Arcade games got ported over to home consoles. Then there was Mario Bros. on how many consoles (I have it for 2600 and 7800 ). But still, they were multi-platform games.

Banjo, however, was previously exclusive to Nintendo, and there were about three main Banjo-Kazooie games, Banjo Pilot, and DKR on Nintendo consoles, whereas there are no Banjo games out on Xbox yet.

Obviously, you know all this.

[Accordion]

Eh? how many Banjo games on the 360 then?

360 pretty much means Halo and Gears above all else.

[Dbgtgoten]

All they need is the Chief on the Box and it could possibly work to make the 360 look like a child's system i guess >.> big furry bear with bird on the front anyone? More Profit = Yes for them