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Goldeneye on Wii’s Virtual Console? I Hope Not.

November 30th, 2006 by Mike

You may have seen the news about Reggie’s Interview on MTV during which he talked about many Wii related things, the most important being that Nintendo is actively looking into getting Goldeneye on the Wii Virtual Console.

This of course would require large sums of money, as Microsoft owns Rare and thus the code, and Activision owns the Bond rights to the videogame license. Reggie said it could be a situation where “The pain is worth the gain.” I have no doubts that getting Goldeneye on the Virtual Console could be a huge plus for Nintendo, but there are several reasons why I’m hoping they don’t actually follow through with it. They are as follows:

[”all bonds,” go!]

• Xbox Live’s online setup will likely remain superior when it comes to matchmaking, online gaming, and usability. Granted, Nintendo has yet to roll out their full online plans, but the friend code system alone makes it more difficult to get something going online and meeting new friends. We also have yet to see what Nintendo plans to do for voice chat, as the social aspect of the game in splitscreen is one of the biggest reasons why it was so popular, and it needs to be carried over online. No smack talk = no fun.

• Nintendo seems content to just port most titles onto the console as they were originally. On the other hand, Microsoft has been pressuring people to update their games with better graphics, online co-op and competitive play, new modes, and achievements. For the most part, this has resulted in games with increased value over straight ports. Of course, whether or not they’d push for any upgrade in Goldeneye’s resolution or display modes is questionable, but I think they’d be more likely to do it than the Big N.

• Microsoft has people on staff who worked on the title. If Nintendo picked it up, they’d likely have a team of people working on the title that have no experience with Rare’s engines, decreasing the likelihood of any real improvements or new modes.

• Xbox Live has leaderboards and an achievements system firmly in place. Nintendo could add this functionality, but again, until I see them do something like that with another title, I seriously doubt they’ll pull it out for Goldeneye.

• Playing Goldeneye multiplayer splitscreen on a Wii would require more nunchuck controllers. Yes, you could have the classic controller functionality, but I for one much prefer a trigger of some sort in Goldeneye, and there will be no special controller needs for 360 (Beyond making sure at least 2 of your controllers are wireless if you want 4-player splitscreen).

Now, there are a few things that would make me reconsider my opinion. If Nintendo integrated great nunchuck controls, provided a leaderboard system and a player match setup, additional modes or WiiConnect24 material, and cleaned up the alpha blending and framerate, then by all means Nintendo, go for it. I’m glad that Nintendo realizes what gamers want and is willing to go after it, but the bottom line is that I love Goldeneye, and all I really want is the best experience possible. Right now it seems like Xbox Live is more capable of delivering it.

Entry Filed under: Gaming