We just received exclusive information concerning what one of Rare' s next gaming projects is and you' ll be surprised to hear that it' s both an Xbox Live Arcade game and it uses the Vision camera. Tie your running shoes, do a few stretches and warm up those hammies. Rare' s The Fast & The Furriest is real and is coming our way.

After reading through presentation materials that were sent to us from one of our super secret inside sources (yeah, we got ' em too) we' ve learned that Rare is working on an Arcade party sports game featuring some of Rare' s iconic characters called The Fast & The Furriest. The Fast & The Furriest will feature all kinds of sports based mini-games that include a 100 meter dash, bungee run, hurdles and tip-tup curling. Rare also has plans to release XBLM content packs that' ll expand the event offerings including croquet, bowling, volleyball, fishing and various target games. And get this. Most, if not all, the games can be controlled using the Vision camera if one chooses (but not required). But back to what we said about Rare IP characters being used. Each player will be able choose a character like Conker or Banjo which will actually be a " suit" (think mascot suits). Players will then be able to scan their face using the Vision camera to skin the face opening of the character suit. Taking the whole face mapping thing a step further, they' ll be using character faces as in game assets appearing on scoreboards and reflecting off objects like ice.

We also learned that Rare experimented with a wand type input device for gesture recognition (think Wii controls), but seems to have scrapped the idea for The Fast & The Furriest due to technology problems. It' s possible we' ll be seeing a special gesture controller, but not from Rare.

We' ve seen the presentation materials and have trust in our super secret insider. The Fast & The Furriest is real, is planned for the XBLA and in development by Rare. When the game will release, how much will change between now and then and if it' ll even survive the development cycle is a book of mysteries of it' s own.