New Rayman platformer confirmed?

[Lijik]

First question's answer. Second paragraph.

While the Ubisoft guy may have been kidding around, I'd like to think that this means a new Rayman platformer without Rabbids is in pre-production.

[Termonaptir]

Whew, ain't that a relief. Well he does sort of sound like he means it... I guess it's something to look forward to.

[El Dango]

I own two rabbids that run around my house like cats.

Either he spelled that wrong, or else he's just an idiot.

In the meantime, Rayman has had an alarm system put on his bike in the studio’s backlot…And he’s practicing Pilates until he’s ready for his next freakin' solo adventure!!!! (we put a restraining order on the Rabbids!) Don’t worry, I’m sure he hears you…

YEAH!!!

[Lijik]

I just read that intro to the interview. Oh God.
I really hope that interviewer made a typo.

[Cairnie]

LOL the interviewer read our drama on the Rabbits site! I find that majorly hilarious.

But the notion of a new Rayman game is very DO WANT

[DHGF]

I just read that intro to the interview. Oh God.
I really hope that interviewer made a typo.

Heh, no. It wasn't a typo. It's an in-joke with the Diehard GameFan staff. I have two RABBITS but they are always doing things that are both cute and exceptionally insane, so they have been nicknamed the Rabbids by the rest of the staff.

The whole interview is totally tongue in cheek and it's Ubisoft and myself joking around for the most part. Hence the references to Rabbids mating with Pikachu, talking about Black Flag's song by the name of the new game and the last question in French.

[El Dango]

You're the interviewer? But... how do you even know about us?

[Hunchman801]

I’ve been a huge fan of the Raving Rabbids series since it first started. Maybe it’s because I own two rabbids that run around my house like cats. Maybe it’s because I was a huge Three Stooges fan as a child. Maybe I just like hearing them scream. Whatever the reason, the Rabbids have quickly become one of my favorite video game franchises alongside Terry Bogard, Pokemon, Persona, and Sakura Taisen. I’m not the only one either. The entire staff damn near unanimously gave the Rabbids the ” Character of the Year” in our 2007 Gaming Awards.

When the third game in the series was announced, I leapt at the opportunity to get an interview with the Rayman Ravings Rabbids TV Party dev team about the game. Thanks to Michael Beadle, Ubisoft’s Senior Public Relations Manager (and our own Bebito Jackson) for making it happen.

Interview with Adrian Lacey - Game manager, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party

DHGF: The Rabbids have really taken a life of their own. They even won our “Best Character” award for 2007. At the same time there are some diehard Rayman fanboys that feel the original star of the game has been pushed into a background (at best) role. Although I’ve still got my Rayman cart for the Atari Jaguar, I strongly prefer the Rabbids to Rayman. Is there ever going to be a clean break between the two franchises so old school Rayman fans can have their characters back so that those that prefer the Rabbids don’t have to see message boards and even the official RR pages cluttered with whining and complaints?

Ubisoft: The Rabbids were originally created to be Rayman’s nemesis…But as soon as they sprang to life, they rampaged through the studio and have been trying to take over the world ever since!

In the meantime, Rayman has had an alarm system put on his bike in the studio’s backlot…And he’s practicing Pilates until he’s ready for his next solo adventure (we put a restraining order on the Rabbids!) Don’t worry, I’m sure he hears you…

DHGF: Raving Rabbids TV Party is going to make use of the Wii Balance Board that came with Wii Fit. We’ve already seen the clips of the racing game in which gamers will be making ample use of their buttocks. What other mini-games will feature the balance board, and what happens to those gamers who don’t have the balance board? How do they play these games?

Ubisoft: We’ll be unveiling the next batch of Balance Board mini-games at E3, so you’ll have to wait a few weeks to find out what’s in store. However, there are also a few games where you get to stand and rest your behind…

For people who don’t have the Balance board yet, the game allows you the option of using the two controllers at the start of each game. The wii mote and nunchuck are tremendously versatile, so the balance board games are still intuitive and fun and have been developed and tweaked to fit the controllers… But (no pun intended!), the board does add a uniquely fun dimension to the gameplay!

DHGF: It’s been mentioned that in both Party Mode and Co-Op that you can somehow sabotage your friends. How will this work?

Ubisoft: Basically if you are playing on the balance board, riding the Wildebeest in multiplayer, your adversaries can toss things to throw you off your butt-balancing. It means that you can still cause havoc, even when you’re not the one riding the board.

DHGF: We’ve seen a lot of parody rabid costumes including Spider-Man, Superman, Ken Masters from Street Fighter 2, and Darth Vader. Do we have any other famous pop culture characters getting the Rabbid treatment in TV Party? Maybe perhaps…Pikachu? After all, he IS a lagomorph.

Ubisoft: That’s hilarious! We were asking ourselves just yesterday if Rabbids are rodents and found out they’re lagomorphs, (lag = causing major lag and morphs = Cross-dressing fanatics). If I can catch a Rabbid and pin it down for 2 minutes, I’ll ask if they are into Pikachu…I’d love to know if they are related…maybe second cousins twice removed?

DHGF: The first Rayman Raving Rabbids was a multi-console title. With the sequel and now TV Party, we’ve seen the game going Nintendo exclusive, only appearing on the Wii and DS. What was the decision behind focusing only on Nintendo’s systems? Was it simply a gameplay decision or something else?

Ubisoft: RRR was designed to explore different controls and the way we prototyped them allowed us to showcase Nintendo’s new controllers. Movement off- and on-screen changed the development and the creative processes and the Wii became a perfect fit for Rabbid humor and gameplay style. This unique style benefits even further from the Balance Board, and we have tried to create weird and wonderful new movements using the board as well continuing to play with the Wii remote and Nunchuk in crazy ways!

DHGF: Will we see any previous Rabbid minigames return for another go-around? The rail shooters have been the one constant between the two previous games.

Ubisoft: This time you’ll have to keep the Rabbids from ripping apart the movie set where world renowned director Georges Rabbero is trying to shoot his latest Horror flick!

DHGF: What do you predict will be the most popular of the new mini games in TV Party?

Ubisoft: I personally laugh my “derrière” off playing the dancing games. It’s pretty hard not to look like your “dad-doing a-line dance-at-a wedding” at first, so the playing field is pretty even…until those of us with innate rhythm and soul start cleaning up the dance floor… :-)

DHGF: Possibly the most important question of them all, Since Daft Punk’s “Around the World” was used for the second game’s commercials, will we see any reference to Black Flag’s “TV Party?”

Ubisoft: There are loads of new tracks but we are keeping them a secret for now!

DHGF: Car vous êtes une compagnie française, souhaitez-vous journalistes américain et britanniques essayeraient de vous interviewer en français ?

Ubisoft: I don’t know about the others, but it’s my personal nightmare looking for all the different accents on my keyboard!!!

If you’re interested in our previous Raving Rabbids coverage, you can look at me squeal like a fanboy with my old review of Rayman Raving Rabbids 2. Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party currently has a scheduled release date of 11/11/2008, with a MSRP of $49.99.

Nice interview, and although not much of a Rabbid fan, I even get your point as concerns Rayman fans whining on the official Rabbids forums.
And by the way, your translator terribly failed

[FAB]

You're the interviewer? But... how do you even know about us?

Woaoooooooohhhh-ma-ma-mai! THEY'RE ALL SPIES IN THIS WORLD! SPIES I SAY!!

*starts panicing*

[Lijik]

I just read that intro to the interview. Oh God.
I really hope that interviewer made a typo.

Heh, no. It wasn't a typo. It's an in-joke with the Diehard GameFan staff. I have two RABBITS but they are always doing things that are both cute and exceptionally insane, so they have been nicknamed the Rabbids by the rest of the staff.

Oh, well that makes sense then.

[Hunchman801]

Woaoooooooohhhh-ma-ma-mai! THEY'RE ALL SPIES IN THIS WORLD! SPIES I SAY!!

Spies? No, more likely HTTP referers

[DHGF]

Nice interview, and although not much of a Rabbid fan, I even get your point as concerns Rayman fans whining on the official Rabbids forums.
And by the way, your translator terribly failed

Ha! It's purposely bad French. That's....kind of the joke.

One of our staffers Guy Desmaris, is Quebcois, and so I asked him to translate the question into broken french just to see their reaction. The interview was meant to be as weird as an actual Rabbids game, so I do apologize if some of the humour was lost since some of you reading it probably weren't aware we're kind of not very serious goofballs over at Diehard GameFAN.

And hey, I'm a Rayman fan myself. Like I say in the interview I still own my Jaguar cart of the original game. I just like both franchises and hate seeing fans of one crap on the the other, you know?

You're the interviewer? But... how do you even know about us?

I live in your underwear drawer.

[El Dango]

DHGF: The Rabbids have really taken a life of their own. They even won our “Best Character” award for 2007. At the same time there are some diehard Rayman fanboys that feel the original star of the game has been pushed into a background (at best) role. Although I’ve still got my Rayman cart for the Atari Jaguar, I strongly prefer the Rabbids to Rayman. Is there ever going to be a clean break between the two franchises so old school Rayman fans can have their characters back so that those that prefer the Rabbids don’t have to see message boards and even the official RR pages cluttered with whining and complaints?

Oh shit, I completely missed that!! I'm really sorry about that. And i'm really sorry about all that rabbid fan hate. It's because that most of them we have seen, have been really annoying. They have been saying things like "Rayman sucks!" and "Rabbids are much better than Rayman". And they said it at Rayman forums. But now i know that there are good people like you. Thank you so much! We could all learn from you.

[Hunchman801]

One of our staffers Guy Desmaris, is Quebcois, and so I asked him to translate the question into broken french just to see their reaction.

He did fine then ^^

And hey, I'm a Rayman fan myself. Like I say in the interview I still own my Jaguar cart of the original game. I just like both franchises and hate seeing fans of one crap on the the other, you know?

Fortunately, that doesn't happen here, certainly because we have very few Rabbid fans (I can't even think of any right now). However, if you check the official forums, which you've actually done if I'm not mistaken, you can gauge the extent of the disaster

[Limely]

Not so much anymore since it was all deleted in the hack though, lol.

[Termonaptir]

You can see roaming Rabbid fans everywhere. I kinda wouldn't be surprised if one of them is a member of PC. Who knows? Everything's a possibility. However - the last thing we need is a war between the Rayman/Rabbid fans here. It was bad enough on the RZ forum... Damn, did that turn rough.

[Lijik]

Fortunately, that doesn't happen here, certainly because we have very few Rabbid fans (I can't even think of any right now).

I'm not sure if liking both franchises places me as a rabbid fan, but Hi.

Its pretty weird though, I always find posts that say people are going to think Rayman is some party dude after playing the Rabbid games but the first one is what turned me to the Rayman platformers which I mostly ignored until then. Most of the people who hate Rayman but like the Rabbids never liked Rayman in the first place, I've found.

[Termonaptir]

I've said it several times, and I'll say it again. It annoys me when people refer Rayman as 'The Bunny Dude'. Either they forgot his name - or they're just idiots. The first Raving Rabbids was decent - but in my opinion, it'll never match up to Rayman 2. That game will always remain as one of my all-time faves. I hope this new platformer will follow its classic style. Another game similar to The Great Escape is certainly something to get excited about. Hoodlum Havoc was fun as well... But I just didn't like it as much. It'll also be great if Ly makes a return. Many fans have been dying to see her in a future Rayman title.

[El Dango]

Yeah, bring back Ly!!!

[Cairnie]

@DHGF: I'm OK with the actual rabbids characters and I can see them have a place somewhere in the Rayman universe other than the minigames series, but it's mostly some of the fans I get annoyed with, especially those who *think* they're Rayman fans just because they only played RRR. I've only played the first RRR and while it's so-so as a Wii game, it's very flawed, as expected of any launch game [like when the GBA came out with Rayman advance, god the audio was horrible], I'm sorry.

About the interview: so basically you don't need to buy the wii board to play TV Party? If so than that's a good thing, not everyone wants to have a wide rarely-used peripheral on the floor [like the Blaze dance mats OH GOD!]