(Update) James Bond games pulled from Activision and Valve’s online stores

Update via MI6-HQ 04 Jan 2013  - The 007 titles have been removed from Sony's online PlayStation Store and are no longer available to purchase and download.

The Xbox 360 Games on Demand service has also removed "007 Legends".

Original Post 02 Jan 2013 - 007 Legends, Blood Stone and Quantum of Solace have been unexpectedly removed from Activision and Valve’s online stores today.

The three titles were developed by Eurocom, Bizarre Creations and Treyarch, and published by Activision.

The removal of certain titles from online stores is often linked to license expiry. Incidents similar to this have occurred in the past with series such as OutRun.

Published by Sega and developed by Sumo Digital, the OutRun series made use of the Ferrari license brand. Once Sega’s rights to the license expired, OutRun 2006: Coast to Coast was pulled from several online stores (including Steam) in 2010.

Following this, Sega announced the removal of Outrun Online Arcade from the PlayStation Network in 2010 and Xbox Live in 2011 due to their contract expiry with Ferrari.

OutRun 2006: Coast to Coast and OutRun Online Arcade are still able to be downloaded by gamers who bought the titles before they were pulled.

The same is likely to apply to 007 Legends, Blood Stone and Quantum of Solace across the platforms they have been removed from.

Eurocom shuts down

 

British developer Eurocom has closed its doors after being in the video game industry for close-to 25 years.

Over its lifetime Eurocom was known as the primary developer of the James Bond video games.

In a statement issued to website Eurogamer, the developer said it was unable to secure a new contract or pay outstanding wages. 

“The Administrator and the company's directors have been negotiating with customers surrounding new contracts to develop console games, however these contracts could not be secured in time and due to insufficient funds to pay outstanding wages, Eurocom today entered Administration.”

The Directors of Eurocom also released a message thanking staff for their hard work over the years.

"The Directors of Eurocom would like to offer their heartfelt thanks to all their staff that have been made redundant at this difficult time, and show their appreciation of all of their hard work in consistently delivering exceptional games."

Eurocom was founded in 1988 to develop games for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and was responsible for seven James Bond video games over its lifetime.

James Bond Jr. (NES & SNES, 1991), The World Is Not Enough (N64, 2004), James Bond 007: Nightfire (GCN, PS2, XBOX, 2002), Quantum of Solace (PS2, 2008), GoldenEye 007 (Wii, 2010), GoldenEye 007: Reloaded (XBOX 360, PS3, 2011) and 007 Legends (XBOX 360, PS3, PC, Wii U 2012).  

Their most recent release 007 Legends was poorly received by critics and failed to gain sales momentum.

007 Gamer wishes all the people at Eurocom the very best.

007 Heaven – Skyfall Teaser Trailer Released

I now present to you the very first teaser trailer of the new James Bond movie - Skyfall. I’ll save my impressions for a separate post, so for now pull up a comfy chair, increase your YouTube video settings to full screen 1080p HD, and sit back and enjoy... for exactly 1 minute and  24 seconds. 

As the teaser trailer states, Skyfall is due out in cinemas this November.

Source: YouTube

GoldenEye game to debut this month

Activision will unveil the new 007 game based on the 1995 film GoldenEye at the annual Comic-Con expo in San Diego this month.

The announcement will take place on July 20 with Activision also showing upcoming games in the Spider-Man and X-Men series.

GoldenEye was neither the highest grossing or most memorable Bond film of all time, but the original GoldenEye game on the Nintendo 64 remains as one of the greatest video games of all time.

For now, industry watchers believe the new GoldenEye game will be released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Treyarch the makers of the Quantum of Solace video game and Eurocom the makers of the recently released GoldenEye 007 have not been linked with the new Bond game.

Raven Software are still rumoured as being the developers of the new title.