James Bond in video games

Over the past twenty years there have been numerous James Bond games featuring Ian Fleming's British secret service agent, Commander James Bond.

Video games

History

File:N64 GoldenEye.jpg

Screenshot from GoldenEye 007's Dam level

Since 1983, there have been numerous video games based on the official films, Ian Fleming's novels, and even original scripts created by the developer or publisher of the game.

The video games were somewhat prosperous in the 1980s and early 1990s, featuring a mixture of styles including side-scrolling action and text adventure. The popularity of the James Bond video game didn't really take off, however, until 1997's GoldenEye 007 by Rare for the Nintendo 64. GoldenEye 007 was a first-person shooter that expanded on the film and added a multiplayer component to the game that was well-liked among gamers. Subsequently, virtually every Bond video game has attempted to copy GoldenEye 007's accomplishment and features with varying degrees of success.

The next Bond game, based on the film Tomorrow Never Dies, was not developed by Rare, and featured a third-person viewpoint in contrast to GoldenEye 007's first-person perspective. When the game met muted success, the next title, The World Is Not Enough, returned to first-person. However, publisher Electronic Arts, which owned the rights to publish video games based on the Bond franchise, chose different developers for different systems - Eurocom for the Nintendo 64 and Black Ops for the PlayStation, with drastically different results. Eurocom's N64 title was released to good reviews, while Black Ops' PlayStation version was pounded by critics. Nevertheless, neither game garnered the success or achieved as much as GoldenEye 007, and EA finally decided to detach the games from the films.

In 2002, EA released Agent Under Fire for Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube, featuring an original storyline and lacking the likeness of then-Bond Pierce Brosnan (although the appearance of Bond was very similar to that of Brosnan). In addition to breaking from the official film continuity, the game took risks by adding the new elements of "rail" shooting and driving segments to a first-person shooter; the results were mixed. EA refined the gameplay and released Nightfire in 2002, again featuring an original story line but now fully sporting Pierce Brosnan's likeness. The game received better critical success, although the PC version failed to garner similar reviews.

In the Fall of 2004, EA Games released GoldenEye: Rogue Agent for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube and later the Nintendo DS. This is the first game based on the 007 franchise in which the player does not take on the role of James Bond himself, but rather an aspiring 00 Agent recruited by Auric Goldfinger, the villain from the film and novel Goldfinger. The game has little to do with GoldenEye the film or the video game, and was released to mediocre reviews.

The poster for Everything or Nothing

Everything or Nothing, released in 2004, is notable for being the first successful game to break away from the mold laid out by GoldenEye 007. It was also the first Bond game to use an entirely original story, unrelated to the Fleming books, or MGM movies. Everything or Nothing featured a third-person perspective and it removed the multiplayer portion of the game and in its stead replaced it with a cooperative element. It was also the first game to cast well known actors in the roles of its characters including Willem Dafoe, Shannon Elizabeth, John Cleese, and Judi Dench among others, not to mention Pierce Brosnan himself providing the voice and likeness of Bond, and Bond screenwriter Bruce Feirstein providing the story and dialogue. While Nightfire was the first James Bond video game to have its own original theme song, Everything or Nothing was the first to have its theme song performed by a noted singer, in this case Mya Harrison who also provided the voice and likeness of one of the game's characters. Some reviewers referred to this game as 2004's James Bond film, and with Brosnan's subsequent departure from the role, the game is considered by some to be his swan song as 007.

Until the release of the video game From Russia with Love in 2005, every James Bond game produced since GoldenEye 007, (with the exception of 007 Racing) used Pierce Brosnan's likeness or one very similar as James Bond, even though Everything or Nothing was the first game to which he contributed his actual voice to. In 2005's video game adaptation of the 1963 film From Russia with Love, the player controlled agent 007 with the likeness of Sean Connery. This was the second game based on a Connery Bond film (the first was a 1986 text adventure based upon Goldfinger) and the first to use his likeness and voice, as agent 007.

Since 1999, Electronic Arts has held the exclusive rights to develop games based on the official James Bond films. In 2003, MGM Interactive extended their deal with EA till 2010, however, this deal will end in September 2007 due to EA's commitment to move away from movie franchise games and focus more on internal IPs. Additionally, at least one source claims that EA's inability to develop and have a game ready to tie-into Casino Royale (2006), led to the two companies terminating their deal; MGM standing to lose millions in licence fees [1]. In May 2006 Activision acquired non-exclusive rights to develop and publish James Bond games; an exclusive deal with Activision takes effect in September 2007 [2].

Weapons in video games

Although James Bond is known for his use of the Walther PPK and Walther P99 pistols in the books and films, the video games often change the name of the guns to avoid possible copyright problems. For the games, the name of the Walther PPK usually is changed to "PP7." In more recent games, Bond uses a "Wolfram PP7," however in GoldenEye 007 and later From Russia with Love, it was referred to as just "PP7", although the model in both games had a number of differing variations such a silenced model. The Walther P99 is also changed, once being referred to as the "Wolfram P2K" and once in Everything or Nothing as its original name, "P99."

List of video games

Title	Year	Publisher	Developer	Platforms
James Bond 007	1983	Parker Brothers	Parker Brothers	Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Commodore 64, Colecovision
James Bond 007: A View to a Kill	1985	Mindscape	Angelsoft, Inc.	Apple II, DOS
A View to a Kill	1985	Domark	Domark	Commodore 64, MSX, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC
James Bond 007: Goldfinger	1986	Mindscape Inc.	Angelsoft, Inc.	Apple II, PC Booter
The Living Daylights	1986	Domark	Sculptured Software	Commodore 64, MSX, ZX Spectrum
Live and Let Die	1988	Mindscape	Elite Systems	Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum
007: Licence to Kill	1989	Domark	Quixel	Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, MSX, ZX Spectrum
The Spy Who Loved Me	1990	Domark	Domark	Amiga, Commodore 64, DOS, ZX Spectrum
James Bond: The Stealth Affair	1990	Interplay	Delphine Software	Amiga, Atari ST, DOS
James Bond Jr.	1992	THQ	Gray Matter	Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, NES, SNES, ZX Spectrum
James Bond: The Duel	1993	Domark	Domark	Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis
GoldenEye 007	1997	Nintendo	Rare	Nintendo 64
James Bond 007	1998	Nintendo	Saffire Inc.	Game Boy
Tomorrow Never Dies	1999	Electronic Arts	Black Ops	PlayStation
The World Is Not Enough	2000	Electronic Arts	Eurocom	Nintendo 64, PlayStation
007 Racing	2000	Electronic Arts	Eutechnyx	PlayStation
Agent Under Fire	2001	Electronic Arts	Electronic Arts	GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Nightfire	2002	Electronic Arts	Eurocom	GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, Windows
Everything or Nothing	2004	Electronic Arts	Electronic Arts	GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance
GoldenEye: Rogue Agent	2004	Electronic Arts	Electronic Arts	GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo DS
From Russia with Love	2005	Electronic Arts	Electronic Arts	GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PSP
Untitled Bond game	2007	Activision	Treyarch	Next-generation consoles

Role-playing games

A role-playing game, James Bond 007, Role-Playing in Her Majesty's Secret Service was released in 1983, by Victory Games, a branch of Avalon Hill.

External links

• James Bond universe (GameSpot)
• James Bond licensees at MobyGames
• Treyarch to Develop Next James Bond Game