Silicon Knights has always been getting flack. I worked for Xengamers in 2002 and wrote a preview for ED after playing it at E3. If anyone remembers, the E3 build was horrible. Simply awful. I said it sucked and got tons of hate mail from people telling me Dyack held stuff out so other developers wouldn't copy his idea.
Anyway, I ended up reviewing the final build a few weeks later, gave it a good score, and got even more hate mail from people because they said the game sucked and I didn't know what I was talking about. So, um, I think people have always had it out for SK. They promise more than they deliver. Nintendo fans were willing to defend their honor before a title was released, but were ultimately disapointed when the final game came out.
Rare, on the other hand, still baffles me. I don't understand the hate...