GoldenEye 007: HD remaster for Xbox 360 appears and can be played on PC, 24 years on from the Nintendo 64 classic ↺
Twenty-four years have passed since the release of GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64, which received universal acclaim following its release in 1997. The game's popularity has endured since too, with Activision publishing a remake in 2010. GoldenEye: Source arrived in 2005 too, which, arguably, improved upon the layout of the original's maps in many respects. However, the cancelled remaster from 2007 has finally leaked online, having been uploaded to Microsoft's XePartnerNet service over a decade ago.
Ultimately, the remaster was cancelled because of rights issues and, according to previous suggestions by developers, because executives were unhappy at how Rare had portrayed James Bond in the original game. Nonetheless, the 2007 remaster is here in leaked form and is playable. If you are interested in trying the game yourself, then you can download the build from the Internet Archive. There are instructions for running the game on the Internet Archive post, but you must have the Xenia emulator installed too.
According to the opening frame, the leaked build is a closed beta, so it will contain some bugs and unfinished elements. Despite that, the game runs at 60 FPS, while the Xenia emulator scales to your monitor's native resolution. Additionally, it features a complete single-player campaign and a working local multiplayer mode. You can also switch between HD and N64 graphics, underlining how far graphics came in ten years. The build works with wireless Xbox One and Series X controllers, for reference.
While many people will probably download the game out of curiosity, we imagine that a proper release of this Xbox Live Arcade edition of GoldenEye 007 would still be a hit. Sadly, interviews with Rare employees stop dead any idea that someone will give this remaster, or any one for that matter, a proper release. The leaked build will also probably be the only chance of playing the GoldenEye 007 story on PC.
Editor's note: This article has been corrected (February 6) since it was first published.
Source(s)
