A month ago, an anonymous user of the Penny Arcade forums who claimed to be a Rare employee disclosed an overwhelming amount of information regarding an special tenth anniversary edition of GoldenEye 007 set to be released for Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade.
This special edition supposedly included, among others, the following features:
* Flawless recreation of the original gameplay. The game used the original code, running on an Xbox 360.
* Solid 60 frames a second.
* High definition graphics with the option to switch back to the original N64 graphics any time.
* Four-way online split-screen multiplayer, with the option to see what the other three players can see, even over Live.
* New multiplayer maps, including the single player Dam, Depot or Frigate levels as multiplayer arenas.
According to the same source, this amazing edition never got the green light because Nintendo put pressure on Activision so they wouldn’t let Microsoft use the Bond licence.
Technically speaking, Activision doesn’t need Nintendo’s permission to do anything with Bond, but given the original release of the game and their good relationship with the Nintendo, they decided to play fair and ask first. Apparently, Nintendo’s CEO Satoru Iwata simply said “no” to any form of GoldenEye in any console but their own.
Activision then denied the use of the licence to keep their good terms with Nintendo.
The funny thing about it is that during the bilateral negotiations between Microsoft and Nintendo, the Japanese were offered the possibility of getting the rights to release the original GoldenEye 007 for their Virtual Console in exchange of their blessing for a special edition on Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade. Rumour has it they didn’t like the deal, which was, in any case, beneficial for everybody. Including their users.
So basically Nintendo wants GoldenEye. Microsoft wants GoldenEye. Rare wants GoldenEye. Activision wants GoldenEye. And players yearn for GoldenEye. But thanks to the first ones, nobody gets GoldenEye, unless Microsoft or any company without strong commercial ties with Nintendo obtains the Bond licence someday.
This wouldn’t have been the first time an insider published something as important on Penny Arcade, but there isn’t any way to prove its authenticity except for two reasons. The first is that all their information matches perfectly with the logic behind Nintendo’s announcement back in 2006 and recent comments on the cancellation of GoldenEye 007’s remake as published in the latest EGM magazine.
And the second reason is a picture that the guy uploaded.
http://mundorare.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/goldeneye-xbox-live-remake.jpg
Yes, there is a picture allegedly taken from GoldenEye 007 for the Xbox 360 online. And if anyone is already considering the possibility, no, it’s not from the Half Life mod currently in the making by fans. Whatever that picture really is, it’s something else.
Judge for yourselves.
http://forum.gamesradar.com/viewtopic.php?t=113826