"There is still some magic left at Rare," says ex-MGS head Fries

Ex-head of Microsoft Game Studios Ed Fries has said there's still "magic" left at Rare, despite the studio moving away from its roots in recent years.

"My seven-year-old son woke me up a couple mornings ago because he couldn't find Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts," said Fries, speaking to Eurogamer.

"As you might imagine, he has lots of games to choose from in our house. But that's the one he wanted to play. That game, of all the games. It says to me that there is still some magic left at Rare."

Former director of gameplay at the studio, Phil Tossell, also believes there's some talent left at Rare today.

"A lot has been made by press and fans of the fact that many old-time Rare employees are no longer with the company, and that how somehow as a result that there's no talent left there anymore," he said.

"But I can safely say there are still many talented people there and I wish them continued future success. My only regret is that some of the cool prototypes we were working on never got to see the light of day."

Fries was in charge of Microsoft Game Studios when it paid $375 million for Rare in 2002, buying stakes from the Stamper brothers and Nintendo.

Since the buyout, the studio has edged away from the core games it's best known for, such as Banjo Kazooie and Perfect Dark. In the past few years, the company's worked on Kinect projects, such as Kinect Sports and Avatars.

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