^Check out our discussion of the Goldeneye remake, with tons of 4K footage!
Of course, there are plenty of grown-up reasons Goldeneye 007The ill-fated remake—almost complete, but abandoned sometime in 2008—never officially came out. At the time, it was the victim of a licensing standoff that was never resolved, as it required sign-offs from Microsoft and Nintendo (it would take them at least a decade to form the somewhat awkward friendship they currently enjoy), as well as MGM, and presumably There was Electronic Arts, which at the time had a Bond gaming license.
When the news came that this ancient knot had finally been untied, some of us dared to dream that maybe, just maybe, it meant that the original Xbox 360 remake project could form the basis of a new one, at least on Xbox. so. Logically speaking, right? Xbox still owns Rare, the source code has to be kept somewhere, and with most of the work done over a decade ago (full multiplayer), it’s certainly worth dusting it off and giving it the finishing touches it deserves.
However, as with most plausible things, this is not the case. Who knows why this is – it’s entirely possible that the new licensing agreement dictates that the N64 originals must be released as-is. This makes sense, since it wouldn’t saddle Nintendo with an obviously inferior version. As Alex speculates in the video above, it’s also possible that EON Productions might be interested in remaking something that doesn’t necessarily relate to the Bond franchise as it’s currently conveying. Their nod to IO Interactive’s upcoming 007 project, which could lead to a Bond game closer to The Killer than Doom, suggests Alex might be making money here.
But whatever the reason, it’s a shame because let’s face it: the uprezzed N64 rom looks like rubbish. Texture is Vaseline smudged. The original geometry of the characters and environments literally fell apart at the seams. Let’s be honest, N64 games even seemed a bit out of place in the past, but when they’re running at 240p on your little brother’s 14-inch CRT, they get away with it.
Game saves are a big topic right now. As technology has advanced, countless games have become unplayable because the hardware they were designed for became rare and obsolete, their license agreements expired at will, or they were simply removed from the digital storefront and ended up as (frankly many) abuse) the used game market. So it certainly isn’t a bad thing that Goldeneye is finally being re-released in a form similar to its original, but with a modern twist that makes the experience accessible to audiences today. It could have been more.