GoldenEye 007 videogame remake confirmed as Wii-exclusive

GoldenEye 007 Wii remake screenshot. Announced at E3 2010 from Activision
GoldenEye 007 game remake for Wii was announced by Nintendo and confirmed by Activision. Developed by Eurocom, it is a literal remake of Rare’s Nintendo 64 masterpiece that lit the videogame world on fire way back in 1997.

Those who were gaming back then, will remember how GoldenEye literally revolutionized the first-person shooter genre and the FPS console market. It marked the debut or population of a number of FPS console standards like four-player split-screen deathmatch, a deep single-player campaign with multiple difficulties, popularized the term “objective” to finish your missions, shed the console FPS industry of the term “Doom-clone” (since GoldenEye was so different the comparison to Doom was just silly) and marked the beginning of “dual-wielding” way before Master Chief stepped on the scene.

Of course, none of that matters in 2010, and GoldenEye 007 is not a game that has necessarily aged well. Then again, part of the reason for that is due to it being an N64-exclusive, where muddy, blurry textures and framerate issues marred the experience. The game has never been re-released or properly updated.

Until now.

“GoldenEye for the N64 was one of the most acclaimed games and fans regularly cite it as one of the most influential and important titles in history,” said David Pokress, Head of Marketing for Licensed Properties, Activision Publishing. “We’re thrilled to bring the new GoldenEye 007 to gamers around the world as an all-new adventure that seamlessly integrates nostalgic GoldenEye movie moments with innovative FPS gameplay and unique multiplayer action that is unrivaled on the platform.”

Replacing Pierce Brosnan with Daniel Craig, updating the graphics to more modern degree (though this is a Wii game so don’t Xbox Gears of War) and updating how the game itself plays, Activision is hoping to recapture the magic for a whole new generation of gamers.

GoldenEye 007 features an unprecedented lineup of four-player split-screen multiplayer options that encourage social gaming, including 40 total characters to play as during multiplayer (8 classic Bond characters), 5 maps, 3 standard modes and 16 special modifiers that allow gamers to create hundreds of available combination’s. GoldenEye 007 also features online multiplayer for up to 8 players designed for seasoned FPS online gamers with unique modes and a robust XP experience system for earning unlockables and online Achievements.

Other updates or changes include:

* Health now regenerates. You will no longer need to pick up health packs. This falls in line with the typical modern standard of health regeneration in a lot of FPS games.
* The player can now vault over ledges or banisters.
* The player can perform melee attacks to take out enemies.
* The storyline has been rewritten but will hit all the of big moments that people remember from the Rare-developed N64 original.
* All of the classic GoldenEye 007 guns and weapons that players remember so fondly will return. However the Klobb (named after Nintendo’s Ken Lobb back in the day) has been changed to the “Klebb”, which they explain away as being based on the name of “From Russia With Love” villain Rosa Klebb.

GoldenEye 007 Wii also supports the Classic Controller Pro for gamers who want to play with standard FPS controls and the Wii Zapper for “point and shoot” gamers; players will have several control scheme options as well that will allow them to experience GoldenEye 007 on Wii any way they want to play.

No word on if the game will support the GameCube controller or not. There also is not a release date. But it’s possible the game could hit this year.

Hopefully the game does well and can help the First-Person Shooter market for the Wii, a genre that has been scarce on the platform. I also hope strong sales will support the idea of Rare, Activision and Microsoft being able to negotiate a deal to release an upgraded version of the original game on Xbox Live Arcade just like Rare did with Perfect Dark. A project that has been often-rumored but fell through when the parties couldn’t agree on monetary terms and the like. And/or I also hope that they can re-release the original version, in none-upgraded form, for the Wii Virtual Console.

Here is the game’s debut trailer.