Even despite our best efforts of wanting to enjoy the day, that does not stop someone from peeing on the proverbial rug of contentment, thusly ruining what might have been an enjoyable afternoon in the process…


Or literal rug, obviously, though it does bring up the notion of irony that after said rug, proverbial or otherwise, has been peed upon on, you look back thinking to yourself that if it didn’t tie the room together so well, said stained rug wouldn’t be that big of a deal, circling back to a “best effort” being essentially, a non-effort of having a rug, or an expectation in the first place…

Pissed on rugs is semi-related to what is, admittedly, quite the bizarre post, as it involves what turned out to be an antiversary, as it were, as I’m technically not here to celebrate something, but bemoan the theoretical celebration of it. This is due to the fact that in bringing up a milestone that originally felt worthy of tribute, upon further reflection, felt like a soiled moment in time, related to some games I never got the chance to vibe enough with to excitedly discuss in relation to said celebration, and celebratory happen stances that should be of a jubilating sort that aren’t all that fucking jubilicous, everything considered.

Leaving me with nearly nothing of note to celebrate. It’s like a post related to partying about nothing, truth be told.


And much like the show about nothing, which was in fact, never not about nothing, this post did end up bejng about something, just not the thing it was suppose to be about, creating at least a feeling of nothingness within

Active Time Event has been going on for so long, I’m fairly certain I’ve made a similar version of that joke before, but you try writing 100’s of articles largely off the cuff for 13+ years and see how much originality you retain. I digress, however, as the topic of the day is more or less Rare, and their recently celebrated 40th anniversary which took place on August 4th. Kind of a bitter sweet topic, mind you, as Microsoft’s massive layoffs, affecting more than 9,000+ people, spared few in it’s wake, Rare no exception. Further to that point, Rare’s own veterans of several decades, Greg Mayles, who’s been with the company since the 80’s and Louise O’ Connor, who started on Conker’s Bad Fur Day, both who helped develop some of Rare’s most famous properties, departed the studio after both Perfect Dark and Everwild had been canceled following the fallout of the layoff disaster.


This is usually a good moment for a well timed visual gag….but, uh…yeah, some endings just aren’t fun.

Which did leave the premise of my article in question, as remembering multiple points involving Rare, including layoffs, canceled projects, vets of the company leaving, and not even having enough time to celebrate the anniversary due to tiredness, left the whole atmosphere of the write up on kind of a downer note. As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been avoiding the regular news due to…uh, you know, the general state of the world being kind of totally fucked, sticking mainly to gaming news to try to focus on boosting my spirits, but even within this realm, the situation can be dire. I was then also reminded of how during Rare’s 25th anniversary, a fansite named MundoRare, wanted to make a documentary celebrating the history of the company, only to have Rare essentially shutdown their efforts, saying it wasn’t on point for the company at the time, which subsequently lead to MundoRare’s closure.


God damn, I say

I probably should have led in with the notion that the post’s title was kind of a multi-leveled pun, as it involved me missing the exact date of the celebration(?) of Rare’s 40th, including being left out in the cold with what was suppose to be a way to have fun with the date in question. This relates to an in-game event being hosted in Sea of Thieves, celebrating Rare’s four decade long anniversary, but then I remembered that in spite of all my efforts, even having played Sea of Thieves at E3 2015, and coming back to tell my friends excitedly about the game, I could never really get anyone to play it with me, every attempt ending in abject failure. Even now, the concept still excites me, but with the game being 10 years old, it kind of feels like I indeed, “missed the boat”, in getting in on the Sea of Thieves action, with both the game not necessarily being the go to multiplayer game, and my gaming friend groups having all dried up, making the in-game event kind of moot.


The whole thing kind of ends up being epically shitty, which ironically comfortably fits within Rare’s wheelhouse, though in a less joyously melodic manner this time around

All of this doom and gloom of course, triggered me further, as I contemplated the many facets of the phrasing “epically shitty“, involving Rare’s long and storied history, which then remided me after their departure from making games with Nintendo due to the Microsoft acquisition, they ended up releasing Grabbed by the Ghoulies…


Grabbed by the Ghoulies is my Missouri

So yeah, like I said, this anniversary really turned out to be an antiversary, as the company I wanted to celebrate was really a husk of its former self, some of the games in question apart of the celebration I have no real attachment to, with real world events leaving me exhausted, embittered, and slightly enraged, with little else but a non-literal anti-celebration, symbolized by a proverbial rug, metaphorically pissed upon…

…one that would have really tied the room together

There you have it: Rare’s 40th anniversary and first ever antiversary, as it were. If the energy for this celebration was a conceptal house, I guess I would borrow a quote from Carl of Aqua Teen Hunger Force fame when I say:



~Pashford

(This is part 2 in a 30(?) part series…part one is here, if you’re interested.)