It’s Rare’s 40th anniversary and plans to celebrate have been revealed. This is certainly welcome news considering the gloom surrounding the UK studio of late.
Today saw a blue heritage plaque unveiled at the site of Ultimate’s first studio in Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Xbox owners can also download new gamerpics and a dynamic background – featuring an assortment of familiar faces – on the Xbox Store from today.
Fangamer meanwhile are stocking a new range of merchandise, including talking plush toys, T-shirts, vinyl records and the usual assortment of pins and keyrings. iam8bit are likewise rolling out a boxset of vinyl records. It’ll include 4LPs on blue and gold vinyl, with around 2.5 hours of classic Rare music. 8BitDuo are joining in too with a 40th anniversary controller, priced $89.99.
Sea of Thieves upcoming season, Smugglers’ Tide, will be a celebration of sorts with various cosmetics. However, the big surprise comes in the form of Rare Collection 1 for Evercade.
Available to pre-order from 30th September ahead of a November release, it’ll feature twelve games. Or more specifically, eleven 8-bit games and one arcade game:
● Atic Atac (Spectrum)
● Gunfright (Spectrum)
● Jetpac (Spectrum)
● Knight Lore (Spectrum)
● Lunar Jetman (Spectrum)
● Sabre Wulf (Spectrum)
● Underwurlde (C64)
● Cobra Triangle (8-bit console)
● R.C. Pro-Am (8-bit console)
● Battletoads (8-bit console)
● Conker’s Pocket Tales (Handheld)
● Battletoads Arcade (Arcade)
It seems reasonable to suggest that additional collections are planned.
Source: Xbox Wire.