(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.

007 Legends now available!

007 Legends is now available in North America on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. These versions of the game will go on sale throughout Europe on the 19th of October and be followed by the Australian release on the 31st of October.

The title will be released on Valve’s Steam platform on the 1st of November (North America) and follow up with a retail PC release on the 2nd (Europe).

The Wii U version of 007 Legends is currently slated for release on the 30th of November in North America and the 11th of December thoughout Europe.

Full release schedule:

PlayStation 3 & Xbox 360

North America: 16 October 2012
Europe: 19 October 2012
Australia: 31 October 2012

Microsoft Windows & Steam:

North America: 1 November 2012 (Steam)
Europe: 2 November 2012 (Retail)

Wii U

Europe: 30 November 2012
North American: 11 December 2012

The RRP for 007 Legends will vary based on region and platform of choice.

GoldenEye: Source v4.2 Now Available

 

If you haven’t already heard, version 4.2 of GoldenEye: Source is now available. To be perfectly honest though, it’s been available for a month or so now.

Just after the announcement of its delay towards the end of July, I decided to hold off on any news posts about it. Rather than add fuel to the fire and emphasise the delay of the long-awaited update, I made the decision to quietly cover the unfortunate mishap through the 007_Gamer Twitter account waiting until everything was sorted out (mainly the Steam Server Browser technical difficulties) and then cover its release later on with a news post on 007 Gamer.

I intended on posting the news of version 4.2 going live much sooner, but as with all things in life, stuff happened, and certain things got in the way. This lead me to delaying the post, and so here I am now announcing the release of GoldenEye: Source version 4.2. Better late than never, right?

Moving along, GoldenEye: Source version 4.2 is finally available. Yes, you can actually go and download it right now from here. The most notable aspect of this update is probably the addition of bots. For me, it actually rivals the same excitement of the announcement of simulants in the classic Nintendo 64 title, Perfect Dark (which was also made by the team behind GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64). It also nails my lifelong question “what would GoldenEye 007 be like with bots?” on the head. Previously the closest and most satisfying answer I had were the bots featured in Perfect Dark.

Back on track, bots aren’t the only thing players can now enjoy in GoldenEye: Source. There are now also 50 music tracks from 3 talented artists, a number of improvements to team-based gameplay, and much polish to load menus, character selection screens and weaponset selections.

The full list of improvements in version 4.2 of GoldenEye: Source are listed below:

• BOTS – full featured running on Python AI
• Team radar colors and standardized blip colors
• Loading screen images with tips
• Overhead Team icons
• Full-screen help display for advanced scenarios
• Brand new character selection screen
• Recoded Capture The Key focusing on teamplay
• New Ourumov model
• Gamemode customizable weaponset selections
• Create server menu for easier LAN and single play
• Python enhanced for custom scripting
• Over 50 music tracks from 3 talented artists
• Overhauled Runway, Caverns, Facility, Backzone and classic maps

The GE:S team has also released a nice trailer of the action players can expect in version 4.2.

I’ve been playing 4.2 since it was released and intend on doing a review, or at least an opinion piece in the coming weeks. Admittedly I have very little experience with the technical side of GE:S, so I will mainly be analysing the introduction of bots and how they perform, along with worthiness of new gameplay elements such as team icons, and refined menus, load screens and character selection.

Until then, look forward to regular gaming, and also non-gaming related, James Bond posts. And also make sure you download GoldenEye: Source v4.2 if you haven't given it a go yet.