Rare will fix SDTV Banjo-Kazooie text issue [update]

by Alexander Sliwinski { Nov 5th 2008 at 2:20PM }

Update: Rare is now planning to release a patch within the next 30 days.

Original story:

Rare has confirmed that Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts' unclear text on standard definition televisions will not be fixed. The issue came to light following the release of the demo last week and now Rare states that the issue is "too expensive in terms of time, resources and money to alter."

SDTV haters aside, let's accept the fact that this is a serious oversight on par with Dead Rising's tiny text. Adding insult to injury, CVG points out that Xbox Live Arcade games must be playable, which includes text being readable, on a 14" SDTV. Too bad Microsoft doesn't seem to hold its first-party retail games to that strict standard.

Source - Rare community manager statement [NeoGaf]
Source - No fix for Banjo SD TV issue [CVG]

Tags: banjo-kazooie, banjo-kazooie-nuts-and-bolts, nuts-and-bolts, rare

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

[.sm0ke.] @ Nov 5th 2008 2:23PM

if anyone out there is playing on a SDTV, they should go get a computer LCD and a VGA cable. Poor man's HD.

J. Kyle @ Nov 5th 2008 2:38PM

Yep, that's what I'm doing until I can afford an HDTV. It's not great (mainly because text is still pretty small when viewed from several feet away), but it's better than SD for sure.

Mr Khan @ Nov 5th 2008 2:46PM

Often its the cables that make quite a bit of difference. Even if you can't go full-blown HD with your TV, if you have an EDTV from around the millenium or so, or even an older TV with S-Video, you should definitely get it

Composite, and particularly Coax, make everything that much muddier

Jakka @ Nov 5th 2008 2:51PM

I do have a TV/Monitor combo and the VGA slot is already occupied by my PC. What now?

holyice7 @ Nov 5th 2008 3:02PM

Failing that, the Xbox S-Video cable works just fine. It was still a bit of a squint fest to read Dead-Rising's text, but it WAS readable over S-Video, unlike with composite cables.

I've also used Component, and now HDMI, and I haven't seen much improvement on text readability since the jump to S-Video anyway, though the game looks better. And really, what SDTV sold in the last 15 years DOESN'T have an S-Video input? If you can afford an Xbox 360, you should at least be able to buy a used TV and an extra set of cables from Best Buy.

Jakka @ Nov 5th 2008 3:06PM

Thanks HolyIce for the advice,btw I never even knew I had an S-Video slot on my TV.

infernus @ Nov 5th 2008 3:21PM

Jakka: surely you could use the DVI slot with your computer? Unless you have an HDMI-DVI thing going.
VGA cables + LCD really is the cheapest way to get some HD console gaming. And with NXE coming out soon, there won't even be that slight stretch anymore (assuming your monitor doesn't have built-in scaling).

[.sm0ke.] @ Nov 5th 2008 3:25PM

Jakka, you could set up a KVM switch so they're both connected.

Marty @ Nov 5th 2008 3:38PM

I played the demo, and though I thought the text was small, but not on par with Dead Rising by any means. You can read this text if your TV is clear and you're sitting marginally close.

Clutch_beast @ Nov 5th 2008 4:43PM

I switched my x-box to sd mode just to check this out, and I honestly didn't think it was a problem to read. Sure it wasn't as crisp as in 720p, but it wasn't unreadable. If your sd tv was made within the past 10 years, I don't see the big deal. If it was, you deserve an upgrade.

R @ Nov 5th 2008 5:23PM

Thats pretty much what I do. I have a 19 inch Hannspree monitor. I looked long and hard, and finally found a monitor with HDMI and VGA input. I have my comp on VGA, and my 360 elite via HDMI, and I take the audio from the default monitor speakers and use my PC speakers. Works quite well for me.

BananaBoat @ Nov 5th 2008 6:49PM

Is anyone buying Banjo Kazooie? I think his concerns that they can't afford to spend the money to fix the problem are legitimate. There are only 100 games that are better coming out in the same time frame. Makes it hard to sell a game based on a franchise that is long since unimportant.

That said, I set my 24" LCD Monitor to 640x480 and I could read the text. If my eyesight were any worse though, it would have been a problem. How something like that could escape the exhaustive Microsoft quality control channels is beyond me.

JaZen @ Nov 5th 2008 7:03PM

"On par with Dead Rising", are you kidding me? This game is two years old, and they should've known better. This is just more confirmation about how far Rare has fallen from being a premier quality software developer. You have to test all of the possible resolutions offered by console and PC, or you're just sloppy...enter Rare.

Poisoned Al @ Nov 5th 2008 7:47PM

If you live in Europe then getting a full SCART cable is is better then the S-Video (not just using the crappy composite to SCART converter). However, I would get a HDTV. The smaller, older ones aren't TOO expense now, and it really makes a difference. A lot of them can double up as PC monitors, and it's exactly what by brother does. I dualview mine so I can watch old MST3K episodes on it. If you can afford it, they ARE worth the money. I didn't think it would make much difference, but it does.

Shagittarius @ Nov 5th 2008 2:26PM

If you have an SDTV there is a console designed for you!

Mr Khan @ Nov 5th 2008 2:37PM

Which might explain, in part, why said console is selling so well

Snowblind @ Nov 5th 2008 2:44PM

It's just a shame that the Wii looks god awful on HDTV, to a point were games are nearly unplayable. Surely it could have supported HDTV's better, while still working with standard ones?

Mr Khan @ Nov 5th 2008 2:48PM

I really don't know why they didn't, except for cost-effective purposes.

But hardware features have always been a particular failure of Nintendo's. Something to provide upscaling just wasn't in the cards, i presume, and building the system natively for HD would've ruined the whole point of cost-accessibility in the first place

loof @ Nov 5th 2008 2:51PM

@Snow
I don't know what kind of HDTV you have but the Wii has looked good on just about every TV I've tried it on.

baby sea tuna @ Nov 5th 2008 2:58PM

The Wii looks like shit on all the HDTVs I've ever seen it on, with muddy textures and massive aliasing. It looks much, much better in standard def.

Haggard @ Nov 5th 2008 3:06PM

It actually looked pretty good on my sister's HDTV. I was a bit stoned though..

TwEE @ Nov 5th 2008 3:07PM

I play the wii on my friend's Hdtv and it looks fine to me.. not as good as on a SDTV but good enough.

bobartig @ Nov 5th 2008 3:23PM

Are you guys using a component cable and 480p on the HD set?

In my experience, the Wii looks way better on an HD set in 480p than SD 480i setup. What games in particular look so awful in HD?

InfinityPlusOne @ Nov 5th 2008 3:43PM

I use my Wii on my HD projector (92" diagonal picture) and I must say that having the component cable and switching to 480p makes a huge difference in both clarity and colour when compared to the picture quality over composite cables running at 480i. It is quite the improvement.

As for the SD problem with this game and Dead Rising, I agree with what others have said. Hook it up to a computer monitor and enjoy.

Lysergio @ Nov 5th 2008 4:18PM

Hahahah nice one!

samfish @ Nov 5th 2008 3:52PM

Wii looks just fine on my HDTV.

Pedobear @ Nov 5th 2008 4:10PM

Wii looks like shit on my HDTV. And yes that is with component cables and 480p.

Vcize @ Nov 5th 2008 4:12PM

If you think the Wii looks good or even acceptable on an HD set then I envy you, because it is obviously VERY easy to appease you.

Bluebrake @ Nov 5th 2008 4:34PM

Wii on HDTV varies quite a bit with the game. Still, the only Wii game I've seen that looked worse on an HDTV than an SDTV was Resident Evil 4 (it was pretty awful, actually). Everything else has absolutely looked better.

samfish @ Nov 5th 2008 4:35PM

More like you just have overly high standards...

Zertoss @ Nov 5th 2008 5:28PM

It's going to vary from HDTV to HDTV too. Not all HD sets display 480i/p very well. Panasonic makes a 32" set that does SD and ED content beautifully. Sharp's AQUOS sets also mostly do a good job.

Abscissa @ Nov 10th 2008 11:29PM

"It's just a shame that the Wii looks god awful on HDTV"

Well of course, but that has nothing to do with Nintendo: SD content always looks worse on an HD set than on an SD set (with the possible exception of HD CRTs, but you can hardly get those anymore).

Hell, that's one of reasons I've stuck with SD: Not interested in spending hundreds of dollars for something with resolutions that a cheap 15 year old VGA monitor could top, just so most of my existing content will look worse.

barbehque @ Nov 5th 2008 2:28PM

downloaded yesterday. Not that fun to begin with and the small text just added to my rage.

On the other hand I also downloaded the mirrors edge demo. And that was awesome

Tom18230 @ Nov 5th 2008 2:55PM

I played it over and over again.

Thinking of pre-ordering it, just so I can play the time trial, then cancelling it or giving it to someone. I'm getting it on the pc...whenever it comes out.

Arnon @ Nov 5th 2008 5:17PM

Sorry Tom.. B-K has never gone to PC. And seeing Rare.. it never will. You might as well pre-order, and get the free code to download the original B-K on the XBLA

Mike @ Nov 5th 2008 7:52PM

@Arnon: He's talking about Mirror's Edge, not Banjo-Kazooie.

blabla @ Nov 5th 2008 2:29PM

I have a (good) CRT and a HDTV and i dont think theres much difference in using a 360 on both, apart from the text on dead rising that is...

Anyway this is just one of many screwups, the top one being gears of war being fucked up on 4:3 VGA resolutions. I wonder what those people at MS certification actually do. Eat donuts?

Vidikron @ Nov 5th 2008 2:30PM

Semi-OT... has anyone received their code for the XBLA version of BK for their pre-order of BK: N&B? I have no idea when we're supposed to get those or how.

Vidikron @ Nov 5th 2008 3:03PM

OK, so either no one knows or I'm the only guy that pre-ordered to get the free XBLA BK...?

Mrblonde @ Nov 5th 2008 3:53PM

You get it when you pick the game up Vidikron

samfish @ Nov 5th 2008 4:50PM

Yeah, they told me that a code would come with the game.

Vidikron @ Nov 5th 2008 4:55PM

OK, thanks. I asked the guys at Gamestop and they had no idea.

John @ Nov 5th 2008 2:33PM

Before any more SD hate comes along, I hope this game fails due to this.

Way to insure quality control MS, So much for your high standards for releases.

ice~ @ Nov 5th 2008 2:36PM

ARE YOU KIDDING? I played the demo on my SDTV...yea shoot me i dont own HD...and the text was completely unreadable, it annoyed the hell out of me, and now that they're not fixing it, even though i want this game with a passion and i am a banjo fanboy, i might not get it, unless they fix it.

On the bright side, im still getting the banjo kazooie orignial on the arcade :D