Half the team behind Goldeneye left pretty soon after:

'Key members of the GoldenEye development team left Rare soon after beginning work on Perfect Dark. Head of software Martin Hollis was the first to leave in 1998, working at Nintendo of America on the GameCube, and in 2000 he started his own company, Zoonami. Other members, such as David Doak, left soon after Hollis and formed Free Radical Design who went into administration in December 2008. Doak left prior to this and set up a new games development company, Pumpkin Beach.
The classic Rare logo (1994–2003)

However, prior to both of these events, Rare had already publicly lost staff from other teams. In 1997 a small number of employees (Oliver Davies, Oliver Norton, Steve Patrick, Jeff Stafford, Christopher Gage, and Adrian Smith) left and formed a new studio to be known as Eighth Wonder. '

Then:
'On 2 January 2007, it was announced that Tim and Chris Stamper have left Rare to pursue "other opportunities". Neither Microsoft, Rare, nor the Stamper brothers have stated specifically what they intend to move onto post-Rare.

So the Rare i grew up with, then known as 'Ultimate Play The Game' and the Rare now are the same in name only.

Not trying to disagree with points you made here, just that there is no escaping the fact, Rare has under gone huge changes in terms of the talent working there, creative wise i mean.

Viva pinta was great, Critical success as far as reviews went also, but sales wise? bombed.

Also, Rare were`nt exactly pleased at how MS handled the Marketing, were they?

'Viva Piñata developer Rare has questioned why its owner Microsoft decided to back Gears of War with such a high-profile marketing campaign, which left its own new franchise in the shadows last Christmas.

Software engineer James Thomas feels that the new family-friendly IP lost out to Epic's Gears of War, which enjoyed a much bigger marketing budget from Microsoft, helping it top the charts all over the world.

"Most interestingly I think from our point of view, it was interesting to see how the marketing budget was split last Christmas, because obviously everyone knew that Microsoft were publishing Gears of War and Viva Piñata," said Thomas, talking to Gamasutra.
"Yet, so much of the money went towards publishing Gears of War, which is going to sell millions anyway.'

Microsoft paid US$375 million for the company-Can you honestly say, they`ve had a sound return from Rare for their money? none of the games Rare has produced for MS have been System sellers or indeed huge hits, so they (MS) are putting a lot of faith in Rare to pull something truly special out of the bag here.

Also what about the stuff rare WAS working on, but has since been Canned so they can Focus on Natal projects?.So much for Innovation there then.

Donkey Kong Country, Graphics wise, outstanding, Gameplay was? Not an innovation, just another platformer.

I bought Jet Force Gemini, Conker on Xbox, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Nuts and Bolts, Perfect Dark-On N64, GB and 360 and i can honestly say, Rare are NOT the innovators i once knew.

The Creative talent has sadly gone, Been watered down.The new blood? Just does`nt seem to be able to conjure up the old Rare magic.

Viva Piñata was a crass attempt by Microsoft, Rare and 4Kids to manufacture a Pokémon-like game/TV/toy phenomenon. The sheer hubris of it! The game itself is a strange cross between Pokémon and Animal Crossing that utterly fails to exceed either of them. Clearly, in spite of heavy marketing, a sequel and the bizarre 'party animals' spin-off, this brand has failed to gain any significant traction with its target audience and can only be considered a abject failure for all involved. I can't even imagine how much money has been wasted on this strange, ill-conceived 'franchise' that nobody cares about.

I played as much Goldeneye as anyone back in the day, but it hasn't aged well. Also, please note that most of the Goldeneye team is (was?) at Free Radical and hasn't been part of Rare for many years.

The Donkey Kong Country games are, obviously, from Rare's golden era with Nintendo and one could easily argue that they haven't made anything as tight or focused since.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was Microsoft and Rare's attempt to cash in on the 'user-generated content' phenomenon by awkwardly shoehorning those elements into what had traditionally been a (second-rate) platforming franchise. Predictably, the game suffered from an identify crisis and to say it was misunderstood and poorly received by the game-buying public would be a massive understatement.

And on and on. Rare is not worthy of such reverence, seriously.