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Rare's bear and backpacked bird make their debut in this latest Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing trailer. The Banjo-Kazooie team tear up the track big-truck style -- mainly because they're in a big friggin' truck. The trailer also takes care to remind us Avatars will be playable in the Xbox 360 version of the game -- but, really, who cares? Banjo and Kazooie are in a big friggin' truck!

Rare has seen fit to brighten up your Xbox Dashboard with a new holiday-inspired theme. Everyone will be able to download this new free theme -- wait, it's not free? It costs 240? Wow, we guess Christmas really is all commercial now.

Shortcut: Add Rare Holiday Theme to your Xbox 360 queue [Via Xbox.com]

As promised, Viva Piñata: Party Animals is now available on Xbox Live Games on Demand. Before you get too excited, just remember that Party Animals is the Viva Piñata themed party game. It doesn't involve the wonderfully addicting gardening and breeding aspects of the original Viva Piñata or its sequel, Trouble in Paradise (which is also available on demand, incidentally). That said, if you're looking for a decent game for the kids, you could probably do worse. In the US of A, the game can be had for $19.99. Be sure to check Xbox Live Marketplace for the price in other regions.

Shortcut: Add Viva Piñata: Party Animals to your Xbox 360 download queue (via Xbox.com)

[Via Major Nelson]

Say what you will about Rare, it certainly knows us. The company announced via its Twitter account that the XBLA version of Perfect Dark was officially slated for early 2010 and not winter like it promised, and before we could even work ourselves into the hint of a lather, Rare chided that the window "is still 'winter', stop moaning."

To help smooth things over a little more the company dropped the fresh screenshot you can see above. OK, Rare, you're forgiven ... this time.

Rare has posted some new screenshots of the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade remake of Perfect Dark. If you're looking at the above screen and thinking it doesn't look too hot, you aren't alone. Fret not, however, as this is a shot from the original game. After the break, you can see what the wizards at Rare have done to beautify the original.

Once you finish marveling at its majesty, check out another screenshot and some new art in the gallery below.

Among the truckloads of possibly legit megatons included in the alleged leaked minutes from a meeting between Sega of America and Sony Computer Entertainment America, a number of notable gaffes and oddities can be found. Besides wondering if "characters from [the] Rare or Fable universes" should be included in Sonic Racing, it appears that Sega may be interested in assigning all of its properties a PlayStation Home-room. Oh, and a product evaluator thought Alpha Protocol felt "barely RPG" -- final analysis: make it even more Mass Effect-y.

Additionally, the mention of PS2 games as downloadable content on PSN makes us reminisce all the way back to mid-2006 when the idea first popped up on our radar --- surely, this isn't why Sony removed built-in backwards compatibility? And either the person taking minutes was daydreaming or knows something we don't, as reference is made to "Eidos' Batman" featuring "PS3/PSP interoperability" support -- a Batman or related DC Comics PSP game then? Juicer still, that little mention comes right after talk of a project named "Vanquish" and a possible PSP iteration of the currently shelved Aliens: Colonial Marines that Gearbox Software is working on. Also, Sony is eager to check out that hopefully not-so-crappy Thor game soon (suggestion: make it less Iron Man 2-y).

The cherry on top comes in the form of what we've been calling around the Joystiq water cooler: "Sonic and the Inverted Castle." Found under the "Sonic Anniversary" subhead, the note taker jots down, "SCEA would love PSN exclusive power ups/different game modes (like Castlevania's flip it over/backwards)." Actually, we believe that's Missy Elliott who puts the thing down, flips it and reverses it, thank you very much.

Despite having released a number of games on the platform, Rare's Xbox 360 franchises haven't had the fan following of your War Gears and your Halos -- the developer's design director, George Andreas, chalks this up to the fact that the "hardware is aimed at a different demographic, and so we've always battled against that." That is fairly true -- the hardcore Xbox 360 audience has little patience for anthropomorphic piñatas or bird-backpacked bears. However, Andreas has hope for the future -- a future which will see the introduction of Microsoft's full-body controller, Project Natal.

Andreas has stated Rare's interest in the new technology before, but in a recent interview with VideoGamer.com, he further explained the studio's excitement -- "it's a union of the two philosophies of the different companies, I guess," he said. Sounds like Rare's sticking to its family-friendly roots -- we suppose that rules out the possibility of Rare's secret Natal project being Gun Murder 3: The Legend of the Lost Shoot-Blaster.

While most people were struck with thoughts of the future when Microsoft's motion-control apparatus Project Natal was unveiled, Rare couldn't get its mind off the past. In a recent interview with VideoGamer, 15-year Rare veteran George Andreas explained the device "gives us an opportunity to maybe at some point in the future investigate some of those older IPs."

Andreas was particularly excited about one unnamed Rare franchise which would be "absolutely phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal" if it should incoroporate Natal. He added, "I think it would be an absolutely world-beating product. But we need to explore a little bit more in that direction." Got any ideas? Our money's on Jetpac -- though we suppose a motion-controlled Conker's Bad Fur Day would have its humorous, bawdy merits. Just ... make sure the blinds are closed while you're playing it, okay?

Looks like the Nuts & Bolts soundtrack is about to get some company. Rare has announced via its oh-so-trendy Twitter that the Viva Piñata soundtrack will release on July 28. The soundtrack will be available from Sumthing Digital and Amazon. Amazon is currently taking pre-orders for the album for the price of $15.98.

We're sure there are lots of delightful, candy-coated songs on the soundtrack -- including plenty of adorable Romance Dance themes -- so we probably don't need to encourage all the piñata ranchers out there to plunk down the cash. Of course, there's really only one song you really need from Viva Piñata. Give it a listen after the break.

"Once we were bought up by Microsoft obviously things have changed within the top ranks and stuff. And I think over the last few years maybe the awareness of Rare has dropped." That's according to Steve McFarlane, art director for the studio responsible for such titles as, umm ... hang on, we're just checking Wikipedia here.

Won't take a moment.

Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, Viva Piñata and GoldenEye, it says here. Anyway, according to an interview with OXM, Rare's counting on some revitalized recognition, courtesy of new(ish) Microsoft Games Studios Europe director, Peter Molyneux. "And the idea of Pete coming in and being this new face of Rare it's a great thing for us. It's really just to get us out there a bit more," McFarlane said. Pete's a real pal, having similarly expressed a desire to foster an improved identity for Rare just a few weeks ago.

With a hit game and solid promotion, there's no reason the spotlight can't fall back on Rare, even inside Microsoft. We're fairly confident you've all heard of standouts like Lionhead and walkouts like Bungie.

If you're in the market for a delightfully bouncy orchestral video game soundtrack, then we've got some good news for you. Sumthing Digital will be offering the official Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts soundtrack starting tomorrow. We've sampled a few tracks and can confirm that it is most definitely delightfully bouncy and orchestral. All kidding aside, it's actually a pretty decent soundtrack, and certainly better than a lot of the other game music out there.

The soundtrack will also be available from Amazon, and can currently be pre-ordered for $13.99, nearly two bucks off the $15.98 list price. As Rare states on its website, "Nobody has an overabundance of vehicular bear music in their library right now, so this deserves a shot."

Source - Sumthing Digital
Source - Amazon

Microsoft's European Creative Director Peter Molyneux would like to help fellow UK developer Rare gain an identity. Speaking with GI.biz during E3, the outspoken Lionhead Studios head says he was "totally blown away" by the talent at Rare and he wants to "help them get well known." Not that the studio isn't already known -- for better or worse over the last half decade -- having developed Perfect Dark Zero, Viva Pinata and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.

It's not exactly clear what Molyneux will do to help Rare gain an identity. Overall, Rare has been a disappointment ever since Microsoft bought it for $375 million back in 2002, never achieving the greatness it had while developing titles for Nintendo like Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong 64 and GoldenEye.

Major Nelson just confirmed via his Twitter that Xbox Live will be receiving a care package this winter in the form of Rare's Perfect Dark. Major made no reference to price or improvements to game content, aside from mentioning that the title will run in 1080p and that fans will be able to nab it this winter. And if you are a fan of Perfect Dark, keep an eye out for a free theme releasing tomorrow on Xbox Live.

[Thanks to all who sent this in!]