Bond takes order from Activision, EA's out
by Christopher Grant 
{ May 4th 2006 at 11:30AM }
As of
yesterday, our favorite secret-agent with a license to kill will be taking orders from somewhere else. Yup,
EA has been chasing the success of Rare's 1997 N64 classic, Goldeneye; having secured the rights to the Bond franchise until 2009, EA has made five Bond titles, none of which achieved Goldeneye's level of success. When Sony bought MGM in 2004, things apparently went south (shades of the messy Never Say Never Again situation). EA has since decided to give up the franchise to "refocus on all-new games" allowing Activision to obtain the exclusive license to the franchise until 2014.
Will Activision reinvigorate the Bond franchise while EA creates attractive, original titles? Never say never.
[Thanks to everyone that sent this one in]
(Update: cleared up some confusing language. It's much better now.)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
007craft @ May 4th 2006 11:39AM
OMFG. I cant believe its true. MY all time favorite bond will finally have a chance at good video games once again. All the EA games where as bad as FPS could get. The only decent one they had was the fist one the made for n64 (TWINE). And even then, it was only cool cause of the night vision and all that.
After that, they made all the bond games glossy coated arcadey crap and completely ruined the series. Then they ruined the goldeneye name by making goldeneye: Rouge agent which had terrible controlls and was another POS.
Im so happy EA FINALLY has lost the bond liscence. I wish Rare had it again, they make quality games (Yes PDZ is still quality, you just suck at aiming and dont enjoy it)
I dont know what EA will do with these Bond games. Perhaps they can buther them even more then EA did? But I dont think that will be the case because Activision seems to be pretty decent in making multiplayer games.
I guess only time will tell if Activision can revive Bond. Either way, I really cant see them putting out anything crappier then all the EA Bonds.
funkonaut @ May 4th 2006 11:47AM
I just played 1/3 of Rare's Star Fox Adventures and man does that game suck big donkey balls.
Nintendo was very wise to let Rare get bought by Microsoft. Rare just doesn't have "it" anymore.
Prof-KOS @ May 4th 2006 11:58AM
Sounds good, let's see what comes of it. Bond games have been lacking with EA.
Brandon @ May 4th 2006 12:05PM
If anyone can do this, it's Activision! Raise the roof!
Ramza24 @ May 4th 2006 12:10PM
I think all of Rare's "quality" personnel left and made Timesplitters, which was damn good.
Martin @ May 4th 2006 12:17PM
Kudos to C. Grant for sticking in that Austin Powers line. That was classic and made my day at work all the better.
jaemz @ May 4th 2006 12:39PM
I didn't mind 'Everything or Nothing', it was alot better than the rest of the EA Bond games.
Here's hoping Activision can bring it.
daniel @ May 4th 2006 12:55PM
the official nintendo magazine is going to be talking to activision about their new wii game maybe its a bond game? i mean a bond title reinvented fps on n64 why not the same on wii
James @ May 4th 2006 1:18PM
Nintendo Power had to have wrapped that issue a month or two ago --- in all liklihood it'll be Tony Hawk Downhill that will be the Activision Wii game, though I'd be Spider-Man has some neat potential too.
The Mole @ May 4th 2006 2:00PM
I can't wait for Treyarch to make James Bond: License to Grind from the Tony Hawk engine. That would be awesome. I mean think about it.... Skateboarding and Killing - it is everything you want in a game from Activision. Webslinging might be too much, but it'd be a cool unlockable minagame. Maybe James Bond could websling and fight bears in the old west and pick up hott Native American women and saloon prostitutes in his efforts to stop the russians from launching a nuclear war.
SuicideNinja @ May 4th 2006 2:25PM
"When Sony bought MGM in 2004, things apparently went south (shades of the messy Never Say Never Again situation)."
Sony? Ruin something? No way! Apparently everything they touch is golden (where consumers get this idea, is beyond me).
ThePrisoner @ May 4th 2006 3:14PM
"Who does number two work for?" That wasn't Bond, that was the prisoner. Sorry to nitpick
benjamin @ May 4th 2006 3:29PM
I enjoyed Agent Under Fire. Granted it may have been because that was one of the first "next gen" (at the time) games I played and was still impressed with the graphics...
If I were to go back and play it again I'm not sure I'd still like it as much as I remember.
I didn't care much for any re-iteration since then, though. It's a shame, too. As a big 007 film buff I'd be the biggest fan if they lived up to my expectations.
I'll be anxious to see what Activision does with it.
SLy @ May 4th 2006 4:36PM
"EA has since decided to GAVE up the franchise"
haha
1up_clock @ May 4th 2006 6:05PM
The Mole, despite your obscene ammount of sarcasm, that actually kinda' sounds like a cool idea, at least in a Snakes On A Plane sort of way.
But, on the subject, I now laugh at EA, but I applaud them. While laughing, I can't help but think, "WOW, for the first time, EA isn't the one eating up franchises and making them horrible", but I applaud them, because they realize that they can never match the original Goldeneye's genius.
For once, I'm glad to hear news involving EA.
Babylonian @ May 4th 2006 6:14PM
I wish I could call it an improvement.
lionzub @ May 5th 2006 1:12AM
You wish Rare would do another Bond game? Umm the original guys who made Goldeneye formed Free Radical, and if you haven't played it, TimeSplitters2 for PS2 is the worthy spawn of Goldeneye... only it has no James Bond. TimeSplitters 2 was released before Free Radical got swallowed up by EA - oddly enough they never were given the go ahead to do a Bond game. They did release Future Perfect... but I guess it's evident that EA can really wreck the development process.
So I would recommend that everyone who was a big fan of Goldeneye for N64 to pick up TimeSplitters 2
Justin @ May 5th 2006 3:34PM
EA's Bond games were just painfully awful. I've never bought another since the GoldenEye. My wife just happened to have the second, blue bastard of a cartridge.