Killer Instinct

[zenith16]

Microsoft renews Killer Instinct trademark

(12 minutes ago)
5

Long-languishing intellectual property Killer Instinct has had its trademark renewed by Microsoft.

Microsoft's PlayXBLA noted the renewal, saying the company's legal department authorized the following statement about the franchise: "We have either renewed or refiled a trademark application in various jurisdictions."

The takeaway here is not much more than Microsoft protecting its rights. The most recent mention of the series was an interview with a former 3D modeler at Rare, who said, "We all wanted to make KI3, but Microsoft [was] more interested in broadening their demographic than making another fighting game ... So it never got made, I doubt it ever will."

[Thanks to all who sent this in.]

• Via: PlayXBLA
• Source: USPTO

[RavenX]

interesting.........but it would really suck if KI3 was XBOX-exclusive.

[Midnyte_Sun]

Freakin tease.

[Spider-Vader]

Originally Posted by RavenX

interesting.........but it would really suck if KI3 was XBOX-exclusive.

Well, seeing as how MS owns Rare & KI is made by Rare, it'd definitely be an Xbox exclusive.

[zenith16]

• 
  
• 
  Microsoft Denied Renewal Of Killer Instinct Trademark
  
  News
  on Dec 04, 2012 at 09:02 AM
  2,632 Views
  
  26
  Company denied renewal of trademark due to potential conflict with canceled Fox show.
  ... More
  

source:GI

[LuisTX85]

So I guess KI is still dead!

[WolfCypher]

Well that's stupid. Does the patent office know that there's this crappy television show called Wipe Out? Isn't that conflicting with Sony's very own WipeOut video games...which the two are nothing alike? So dumb.

[zenith16]

Originally Posted by WolfCypher

Well that's stupid. Does the patent office know that there's this crappy television show called Wipe Out? Isn't that conflicting with Sony's very own WipeOut video games...which the two are nothing alike? So dumb.

who knows? I'm wondering if they know which one of them came out first name wise with killer instinct. cause I've never heard of the one on fox til now, and I have the freaking channel. another reason a lot of people will be annoyed with fox for now.

[Coca Cola Duracell Franklin.]

One more amazing IP Microsoft will NEVER use.

[Jick09]

I was listening the soundtrack on YT some days ago. It's awesome. Some great tracks.
Rare had an aptitude for beautiful and fun music and they repeated with KI the great job done in Donkey Kong.

[bkong0]

Some patent reform eventually would sure be nice.

[Spider-Vader]

I'm hoping MS is just lying to keep the game a secret.

MS really needs to use the Rare franchises, having more exclusives will make the console look better. Hell, since Rare sucks now I'd be fine with MS letting other developers use the franchises.

[Soapy]

Originally Posted by Jick09

I was listening the soundtrack on YT some days ago. It's awesome. Some great tracks.
Rare had an aptitude for beautiful and fun music and they repeated with KI the great job done in Donkey Kong.

David Wise is one of my favorite video game composers.

[Midnyte_Sun]

I still listen to the KI soundtrack, they make great workout songs.

[Iceman]

Which franchises does Rare have?

[Coca Cola Duracell Franklin.]

Originally Posted by Iceman

Which franchises does Rare have?

Pretty much everything they developed aside from Donkey Kong.

[hippie_hunter]

Originally Posted by Iceman

Which franchises does Rare have?

When Microsoft acquired Rareware they also acquired Banjo-Kazooie, Battletoads, Conker, Killer Instinct, Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini, Sabreman, Jetpac, Mr. Pants, Snake Rattle 'n' Roll, and probably a few others like Warriors and Wizards, Captain Skyhawk, and Blast Corps. And under Microsoft's direction they added Kameo, Viva Pinata, and Grabbed by the Ghoulies to their portfolio.

Microsoft has no desire to continue with any of those IPs and has instead turned Rare into a Kinect games factory. Most of the people that made Rare magical are long gone now and Rare is essentially the epitome of Nintendo's stubbornness against acquisitions even though it makes perfectly logical sense.

[Iceman]

Right, thanks for that. Seems like quite a waste!

[Tristan_McClark]

Times like this I wish I had a 360. Killer Instinct brings back memories. Cinder was my fav! I thought of him as a magma T1000.

[hippie_hunter]

Originally Posted by Iceman

Right, thanks for that. Seems like quite a waste!

It really is. It upsets me to see that Nintendo failed to acquire Rare and see them turn into this. Under Nintendo, even with the Wii Remote, would have still treated Rare as the games studio that it was during the days of the SNES and N64 and they could have put out some of the best games for the Wii. And unlike Microsoft, Nintendo doesn't allow their AAA games to be total ****, so Nintendo supervision probably could have saved crappy games like Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Kameo: Elements of Power, and Perfect Dark Zero.

I feel the same way with Microsoft failing to acquire BioWare. I think they would have treated BioWare with respect unlike EA which just slaps their name on just about any Western RPG nowadays.

[TheVileOne]

I'm still annoyed we never got a more accurate console version of Killer Instinct on like the N64 or Gamecube. I remember playing this in the arcade and how awesome it was. The SNES version was all right, but we really needed a full version.

[Slushy]

What a buzzkill!

[Iceman]

Originally Posted by hippie_hunter

It really is. It upsets me to see that Nintendo failed to acquire Rare and see them turn into this. Under Nintendo, even with the Wii Remote, would have still treated Rare as the games studio that it was during the days of the SNES and N64 and they could have put out some of the best games for the Wii. And unlike Microsoft, Nintendo doesn't allow their AAA games to be total ****, so Nintendo supervision probably could have saved crappy games like Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Kameo: Elements of Power, and Perfect Dark Zero.

I feel the same way with Microsoft failing to acquire BioWare. I think they would have treated BioWare with respect unlike EA which just slaps their name on just about any Western RPG nowadays.

Yeah, Nintendo Rare & Microsoft Bioware would have been much better fits than where they ended up. I don't know why the usually aggressive Microsoft has been so tentative on studio acquisitions at the same time as neglecting their own 1st party stuff for the last few years.

[WolfCypher]

Not Nintendo's fault that Rare went behind Big N's back and sold some of their shares to Microsoft, Nintendo's competitor.

So instead of Nintendo sharing Rare and their properties with the enemy, Nintendo just sold (the rest of their shares with) Rare and called it a day.

[hippie_hunter]

There wasn't going to be any sharing when Microsoft owned 51% of the company. So Nintendo washed their hands of Rare.