Cancelled Xbox 360 Remake of GoldenEye 007 Surfaces on YouTube

Cancelled Xbox 360 Remake of GoldenEye 007 Surfaces on YouTube

Last Updated on February 6, 2021

Leak of GoldenEye 007 for XBLA. This version will run on Xenia or a modded Xbox 360 console. Many video game rumours remain just that. The titles never got off the drawing board or perhaps a few levels were coded before the plug was pulled. Some get stuck in development hell, while others run into issues concerning the rights to he material.

That appears to be what happened to the remake of GoldenEye 007, the seminal Nintendo 64 title closely based on the 1995 Bond comeback starring Pierce Brosnan. Intended for an Xbox 360 style high definition polish, GoldenEye 007 featured a standard HD mode and a Nintendo 64 mode.

Since its original release in 1997, GoldenEye 007 has never been rereleased. While a 2010  version for Nintendo Wii was issued, this replaced Brosnan with incumbent Daniel Craig’s likeness. But two years prior to this, GoldenEye 007 was in development by Rare for release on Xbox Live Arcade. Two months before completion, the game was cancelled following disagreement between Nintendo, MGM, and Microsoft (recent new owners of Rare).

Everything went quiet until January 2021. First the game surfaced in a YouTube video (above) and then appeared online, hosted at a popular web archive. Suitable for running on a modded Xbox 360 or in the Xenia app, GoldenEye 007 looks stunning, and plays really well. While still a closed beta, the leaked version includes whole campaign and full multiplayer mode. The GoldenEye 007 remaster can be run in the Xenia emulator.

But why is it now apparently complete?

It seems that GoldenEye 007 was set for release on Rare’s 30th anniversary compilation Rare Replay, where it was omitted alongside Donkey Kong Country following further legal disagreements.

(Via PCG)

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