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MI6 investigates the controversial circumstances
behind the cancellation of EA's "The World Is
Not Enough" videogame for PC and PS2 back in
2001...
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The World Was Not Enough
6th January 2007
The world was not enough for Electronic Arts
back in 2001. In February of that year many a fear had been confirmed
- the
first FPS James Bond game for the PC had been dropped, despite
"The World Is Not Enough" showing significant progress and potential.
The circumstances surrounding
the eventual canning are controversial and widely debated. Was
the game simply a victim of the gaming industry downturn? MI6
gets to the bottom of this nuclear issue...
Think "Bond" and "PC" and
you are likely to recall 2002's lacklustre "NightFire"
by Gearbox Studios. Ironically, TWINE PC was based on the Quake
III engine - arguably somewhat more advanced than the
terribly aging and heavily modified Half Life engine that "NightFire"
was running on a year later. Moreover, the denied promise of
a public NightFire SDK to allow the creation of custom content
had left
a sour taste
in fans mouths. From the few screenshots released, fans can only
imagine how colossal TWINE could have been for the Bond game
movement on PC.
Above: Actual in-game screenshot
of the bunker from The World Is Not Enough running on PC |
Several sources at the time cited the eventual
canning of the game as a result of a large number of development
staff being laid off from the EA Bond team. An official statement
made by Jeff Brown (EA's Vice President, Corporate Communications)
to the Eurogamer website in February of 2001 stated, "The
reorganisation at EA's studio is a routine adjustment that reflects
movement of projects and game franchises between studios … staffing
reductions are balanced by increases at Tiburon and other EA studios
... no particular division or department was targeted and
this will have no impact on development of the Bond franchise".
Above: Actual in-game screenshots of
the Elektra's palace and the caviar factory from The
World Is Not Enough running on PC |
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Mysterious Cut Backs
One would not expect EA to reduce staff
on its largest franchise and studio to enrol new staff
on other, smaller projects. In addition, official press
releases for the game were mysteriously missing from the
EA archive on inspection by MI6 a couple of years ago,
and the touted release date of Friday 6th April 2001 was
stripped from the year's schedule when news of the layoffs
broke.
Was the game axed as a result of a gaming
industry downturn? No, if some of those who worked on the
project
are to be believed. After several lines of investigation,
a likelier theory has been alleged. On further inspection,
staff at the studio were undoubtedly sacked - but the official
word was never fully justified according to sources.
Information
made exclusive to MI6 suggests that certain sacked developers "stole
code and other assets from the team" in an attempt
to use the engine to produce an independent product of
their own. In the rigmarole that followed, it is alleged
that EA caught the individuals out and pursued legal action
against them, explaining their low-key dismissal, and avoiding
embarrassment for both EA and those involved. |
Pheonix Rising
What became of "The World Is Not Enough" for
PC and PS2 - which reverted to "TBC" in the schedules
during the chaos? It seems amongst the confusion EA had lost
track of development according to those who were involved with
the licence. Too much time had passed since the movie release
in 1999 and talk of the next Bond movie ("Die
Another Day")
had already begun, invoking worry that fans had lost interest
and the game would not sell. The PC game was scrapped and TWINE
for PS2 ultimately became "Agent
Under Fire" - EA" s
first next-gen Bond game featuring a generic 007 character and
original story.
It was arguably time for
change anyway. The movie-game genre had become saturated
with poorly executed titles and EA could not escape constant
comparison and scrutiny with "GoldenEye 64" as
a benchmark. Doing so also meant EA was untied from the
movie release schedule, allowing them to maximise revenue
by offering new stories and features in their games, more
attractive to a younger and wider gaming audience.
Despite many years passing, gaming fans
still wait in anticipation of a great James Bond game for
PC. There is certainly the want - but is there the need?
A PC version of 2004's "Everything
or Nothing" was
planned but never made it past the drawing board. With
the emergence of next generation consoles offering superior
graphics and online play, will the role of the PC in the
multi-platform line up be one that developers are no longer
interested in? |
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What Was Promised (Originally)
- Players will encounter villains and
other characters featured in the movie
- Cut-scenes will use real-time 3-D
cinematics and exciting clips from the movie
- The game's plot will unfold over
ten missions in several different locales
- Q's trademark gadgets will feature
as well as a full arsenal of more than twenty weapons
- Playing styles will involve stealth
and espionage action as well as all-out gunplay
- New "precision zones" aiming
system
- Full Internet and LAN multiplayer
support
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One thing is for sure... In the dark corner
of an EA archive lie fragments of the best PC Bond game to date,
and like everything else in a good action movie, blown to bits.
Looking Forwards
Electronic Arts have since given
up the 007 licence after their last movie tie-in "From
Russia With Love" suffered from lacklustre sales. Activision
now hold the licence, which will become exclusive in September
2007, and are about to start
developing a new James Bond game to be released in Q4 2008.
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