Clear up the confusion on the Goldeneye 007 game rights

[johnlucas]

OK, this is confuxion junction, what's my function.

I know that N64's Goldeneye 007 was developed by Rare and published by Nintendo released in 1997.

I know that Rare was once a Nintendo 2nd party, a status that ended when Nintendo released control of Rare to Microsoft in 2002 as Rare then became a Microsoft 2nd party.

I know that Rare has control of its intellectual properties that weren't Nintendo characters like Donkey Kong and such.

I know that Nintendo got Diddy Kong & Dixie Kong from Rare in the deal to set them free which is why Nintendo is still allowed to use those originally Rare-made characters (even though they were made in Rare's imagining of a Donkey Kong universe).

I know that the James Bond videogame license was taken over by EA in 1999, co-controlled by Activision & EA in 2006, & exclusively controlled by Activision in September 2007.

I know that Activision is now Activision-Blizzard, a monster merging which gives them much power.

I know that Activision-Blizzard must be consulted before any game within the James Bond universe is made.

I know that actors from the movies must be consulted when using their likenesses.

I know Goldeneye 007 on XBox Live Arcade is the source-faithful N64 version only with an added online multiplayer feature to make it special for XBLA for the 360, a Microsoft-owned system which Rare has contributed to.

 

What I don't understand is the confusion over Goldeneye 007's game rights.

If Rare is the developer and is owned by Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard is the James Bond game rights owner, then the XBox Live Arcade version of Goldeneye 007 should have no snags.

But then I keep hearing that Nintendo owns the coding rights to Goldeneye 007 meaning that to use the programming to emulate for the XBLA that you have to go through them first.

Also I hear word of co-development between Rare & Nintendo on Goldeneye 007 meaning that unless Nintendo ceded these rights to Rare in the trade to Microsoft that they still have say so over reproduction of the game with the blessing of Activision-Blizzard.

Then again I hear that Nintendo has publishing rights to the game if not development rights meaning they still have to be consulted.

Then I hear that Nintendo has no official say so but are influencing with persuasion to Activision-Blizzard to keep the game on their Virtual Console instead. And that A-B is receptive to Nintendo due to positive working conditions and the rising return to full dominance of Nintendo in the field.

I wonder if Microsoft could persuasively moneyflood a deal for Activlizzard to bring it to XBLA.

And then I hear this game goes to both VC & XBLA as Blactivizzion works with both.

 

Can anybody spell out conclusively what the deal is so I can understand what soured the GE007 on XBLA deal? And can anyone correct me on any wrong conclusions I made if any?

John Lucas