14 DAY TRIAL // The camera-based motion controller from Microsoft is expected to arrive in 2010 and the company is scrounging up resources from wherever it can to give the new device proper software support. The new Xbox 360 controller has already managed to enlist Fable III as one of the big games that will support it, as Peter Molyneux announced last month. But one game isn't going to be nearly enough for Project Natal to succeed, so Microsoft has decided to take some drastic actions.
In 2002, game developer studio Rare was bought by Microsoft, and, as any colony of an empire is expected to do, it too has been enlisted to support the war effort. But becoming part of a bigger picture usually means sacrificing your freedom, and that is exactly what Rare lost. To accommodate the new project that it needed to get ready for Natal's big unveiling in 2010, the studio had to cut back on its work at the moment and even shut down some games altogether.
Apparently, Rare had to cease and desist any development for the sequel to Xbox 360's title Kameo: Elements of Power. According to CVG, which decided to keep its sources, at least for now, unnamed, the studio had to shut down work on the project due to its sales not matching Microsoft's expectations. Most likely, this won't be the only title that Rare won't be making anymore, with new releases for Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, or Killer Instinct getting flushed down the drain as well.
Apparently, the Kameo 2 project went offline all the way back at the beginning of the year, when Microsoft removed everything it believed to be excess baggage for the developer. Even if, at that time, Microsoft officials didn't comment on the possibility of this having dire consequences for any of Rare's ongoing projects, nobody really believed it anyway. The original Kameo sold only 300,000 copies in the US, even if it was priced at a lower value than most Xbox 360 releases. We can only hope that whatever involvement Rare will have with Natal will give birth to a new game, and a good one at that.