Question about the Rare publishing situation

[Guest prez]

I have a question about the publishing situation with certain N64 games. Certain games by Rare (Diddy Kong Racing, Jet Force Gemini, etc.) say "Published by Rare" on them. However, on the back, they carry a line that says "Distributed exclusively by Nintendo". Keep in mind that most places with information on these games list Nintendo as the publisher. This also appears on certain Star Wars games (Rogue Squadron, Episode I Racer) which claim to be published by LucasArts, but also carry the "Distributed by Nintendo" line. Now, this is not the case with all Nintendo-published games developed by an outside developer (such as Bomberman 64, the box of which says it was developed by Hudson Soft but makes it very clear that the game is being published by Nintendo). So my question is: What is the difference between "publisher" and "distributor"? What is the difference between Donkey Kong 64, a Rare-developed game published by Nintendo, and Diddy Kong Racing, a Rare-published game distributed by Nintendo? Does it make any more money for Rare to be named as publisher, and do they have any different involvement with the release of the game? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

[Guest razazteca]

I think the Publisher gets the profits if the game appears on more than one system or console, also for the present and future profits to be made.

 

The Distributer just gets a share of the money for only the system(s) it is contracted for.

[Guest crandamaniac]

I believe a publisher is the company responsible for actually making the game, while the distributor is the one responsible for advertising and making the game available