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Bandcamp houses complete Banjo-Kazooie soundtrack
There's probably no amount of reminiscing that can return the Banjo-Kazooie series back to its 3D platforming glory at this point, but at least now you can give kudos to the man behind the series' musical beginnings. Grant Kirkhope, composer of Banjo-Kazooie's soundtrack and longtime contributor to Rare's portfolio, is offering the sounds that backed the bird and bear's debut to those willing to name their own price. The exhaustive 164-file collection includes tracks, sound bites and a few unused beta tracks, all of which take us right back to searching for notes, Jiggles and Jinjos in the 1998 platformer. As a general Bandcamp reminder, you can take a thorough dose of nostalgia in MP3, FLAC or other formats, and those that pay will earn unlimited streaming through the Bandcamp app. If sampling the tracks has made you miss exploring themed worlds and Kazooie's general disdain for every other character, ports of both Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie are still on Xbox Live Arcade for $14.99 each. We imagine those ports will retain their usefulness to collectathon fans in the coming years, considering the cancelation of the series' spiritual successor. [Image: Microsoft]
Banjo-Kazooie spiritual successor canceled, composer says
A proposed spiritual successor to Rare's Nintendo 64 platformer Banjo-Kazooie has been called off, series composer Grant Kirkhope confirmed in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" post this week. "The other guys actually had a secret meeting in a pub near Rare and we even got as far as having a character drawn up and a demo level type thing but it all fell to bits .... everyone's got other jobs, etc.," Kirkhope said. Developed by a team of ex-Rare staffers, the "Mingy Jongo" project promised to retain the detailed environments and googly-eyed characters of its N64 inspiration. The team's Twitter account went dark in December 2012, and a proposed Kickstarter project failed to materialize. [Image: Rare]
Banjo-Kazooie composer creating soundtrack for Castle of Illusion remake
Grant Kirkhope, composer of many standout soundtracks during the Nintendo 64 era, revealed via tweet that he is putting the finishing touches on a collection of tracks for Sega's coming remake of Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse. Kirkhope began working with developer Rare in 1995, producing music for GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark, among other games. Kirkhope's first solo composition project, Banjo-Kazooie, remains one of the N64's best-known and widely acclaimed soundtracks. Kirkhope also wrote Donkey Kong 64's unforgettable "DK Rap." You might say that he's one hell of a guy. Castle of Illusion HD Starring Mickey Mouse will premiere on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and PC this summer.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning dev diary features soundtrack
This Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning diary features Audio Director Grant Kirkhope talking about the game's orchestral soundtrack and audio design. Make sure you stick around until the end: Kirkhope issues a heartfelt apology for one of the most heinous crimes in video game music.
