GoldenEye 007 is NOT getting reincarnated on a different game
Mr Pants will not be surfing on XBLA in the near future either
Making up a rumour is much easier than denying it. That’s why some gaming sites have recently had some fun using alleged insider sources to publish the most incredible stuff regarding Rare’s secret titles. That kind of behaviour is nothing new, but right now the information coming from those sources is being extremely inaccurate.
Let’s start with the most dubious piece of news at the moment. Xbox Evolved recently published an amazing tale about GoldenEye 007 getting recycled for Xbox Live Arcade as a completely new game that may use the same basis of the original but possibly without the Bond licence. They even claimed to have seen screenshots of such experiment and pointed out that a picture of Joanna Dark was being used as a temporary icon for the game in the Xbox dashboard. The codename of the project, they said, was “Bean Project”.
It is true, as we have stated before, that GoldenEye 007 existed at some point as a project coming to Xbox Live Arcade. It was going to feature HD graphics, online split-screen multiplayer and the usual option to play it the way it looked in its original version, among other things. However, it got cancelled back in November 2007 due to Nintendo’s lack of friendly cooperation. It is also true that Rare was using a picture of Joanna Dark as an icon for the dashboard, even though the game was not Perfect Dark. However, we do know that the whole story of GoldenEye 007 getting transformed into something else is pure fantasy.
“Bean Project” is nothing else but the codename for the GoldenEye 007 adaptation for XBLA. It was known by that name since the very beginning and it has always been a James Bond game.
There is no doubt that Xbox Evolved has someone providing them with confidential information, but it seems clear as well that it’s not precisely fresh information. Either that or they don’t know how to interpret the news they get. One thing is for sure, they have missed the point completely every single time they have talked about the GoldenEye 007 issue. And the worst thing is that they have totally cooked up theories and additions to their stories in order to make them more fantastic. Otherwise it wouldn’t make any sense to say that they saw new screenshots and then not realize that the game they are looking at is, as it always was, James Bond’s GoldenEye 007.
It’s even understandable that, after all the confusion that these people originate, there are still users that don’t believe in the authenticity of the GoldenEye 007 material that is getting leaked to the Net. Although there are already plenty of reasons to be certain that this media is genuine, we have one of the definitive proofs to make anybody trust our judgement. We know the identity of the soldier who is crouching before Bond in the screenshot that appeared on the Penny Arcade forums in November. The guy is Rare’s Keith Rabbette. No amateur or mod maker would ever use the likeliness of an actual Rare employee for any unofficial game. End of the story.
Xbox Evolved may still be the leading torch for all gossipers and distributors of untrue statements (although it seems that they prefer to use the term “misinformed”). 1Up, the distinguished creators of the name “wallguy”, are the seconds in command when it comes about making stuff up. For them, there was no such thing as an HD version of GoldenEye 007 for Xbox. It was just the N64 game as it used to be. Funny thing to believe, knowing that practically every XBLA title gets a remade version that comes along with the classic one, especially if the game is developed by any company owned or close to Microsoft. We took care of all their blunders back in the day, but now it’s time for Surfer Girl, the self-designated new oracle of the Internet, to get her/his/its well-deserved portion of counter-arguments.
Last month, she/he/it revealed that “Rare has a second 360 title slated for release this year and possibly a small XBLA affair (or two) in addition to this,” adding in a later update that “one of those Rare XBLA titles stars Mr. Pants.” This certainly fits with the current paranoia regarding Rare XBLA upcoming releases, some sites even claimed that the company could revamp its whole N64 catalogue after all.
In a recent Scribes episode, Mr Loveday stated that they “are not brainstorming an exciting sequel to It’s Mr. Pants“. Of course, you could allege that things may have changed in the last months, but we simply know that -according to our own sources- there is no port nor new title of Mr Pants for Xbox Live Arcade in the making. In case you are looking for even a third denial, we can also offer you one. A year ago, when somebody exclaimed how awesome It’s Mr. Pants would be on Live Arcade, a former programmer of the original GBA team replied “What do you mean ‘how awesome it would be’? It IS AWESOME already. I suppose bringing it out in any new format would make it full of even more awesomeness which I suppose would make it awesomer. BTW, if It’s Mr Pants is not awesomely portable enough for you, then maybe you should check it out on the smaller format that are mobile phones! Yes, Pants action is available to download and play on some mobile phone handsets. Fan-tab-an-awesomer.”
Other than that, there was also something about two new Xbox 360 titles on Surfer Girl’s rumour menu. Well, all we can tell you about it at this point is that, despite the apparent calm, 2008 will be a huge year for Rare, but not as big as 2009. Knowing the way Rare’s production schedules work, there could always be some delays; but even considering that, we can assure there is more waiting in the pipeline than what many of you might think.
Somehow related news
- GoldenEye 007 XBLA remains cancelled ()
- ‘Bean’ gives credit to Perfect Dark XBLA rumour ()
- Did Microsoft cancel Goldeneye for XBLA at the last minute? ()
- GoldenEye 007 drama takes the Net ()
- Microsoft willing to launch GoldenEye XBLA ()
8 Comments
It would really help if you didn’t used Surfer Girl as a valid source. She’s been more wrong about rumors than right.
Recently, she got some heat from the Resident Evil fan base when she started saying stuff they had discussed on forums months and months before she ever did. Yet she made it seem like she got “insider” info when in reality, it was info that fans got from their conversations with people from Capcom USA/Europe and that was all over their official forums.
Comment by Angryaztec — 24.Mar.08 @ 5:54 pm
Yep, Angryaztec, we know that Surfer Girl is not a very good source; at least regarding Rare informations, we have indeed found some weak points on his ’scoops’. In spite of it, he has also been somehow more accurate with other news. But it’s always useful to report his comments about Rare titles just to clarify things to our readers with our own sources 
Well yeah, you’re right. But it sounded kinda weird to read how you give 1up.com a jab for being misinformed while in the same article you mention Surfer Girl.
Aaagh, I hit the post button thinking it was a preview button… here’s my complete post:
Well yeah, you’re right. But it sounded kinda weird to read how you give 1up.com a jab for being misinformed while in the same article you mention Surfer Girl as a somewhat valid source to support your news bits.
Oh, but that’s just because in the last three months Surfer Girl has reported some ‘rumours’ that we considered that had some points that could be valid (remember him saying that there would be more than one Xbox title from Rare this year, something that we also support), while 1Up or Xbox Evolved just made things up from nowhere pretending they knew what they were talking about.
Remember that 1up said that GoldenEye XBLA was not a remake with HD graphics, but we have all seen that it truly was.
Comment by Xmooth — 25.Mar.08 @ 3:32 am
Aw, but that remade Goldeneye looks so cool. F Nintendo – they wouldn’t even consider running the remake through the Wii? I am sure the old gamers who own Wii’s would most definately get it and the ones who don’t have a Wii would be willing to spend $$$ on a Wii, especially if there was some sort of James Bond Goldeneye Special Edition.
Simply the best game – either way, I still play Goldeneye and always will
[...] showing the Xbox 360 model from PDZ, which comes along with the title “Bean”. As both Xbox Evolved and MundoRare confirmed through their own sources a year ago, this was the codename for GoldenEye XBLA, ‘Project [...]
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