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Watch and weep at how epic the HD GoldenEye 007 Xbox 360 remake would have been

Previously unreleased gameplay footage of the shelved Xbox 360 HD remake of GoldenEye 007 has made it out into the wild – and it’s 30 depressing minutes of what could have been.

GoldenEye for N64 is pretty much universally recognised as one of the greatest games ever to grace our living rooms, so it seems odd that it never got rebooted for later-generation consoles.

That’s not to say that Microsoft didn’t want to bring it to the Xbox 360 though; in fact, it tried and failed to secure a remake for Xbox Live Arcade back in 2008.

Nintendo ultimately blocked the remaster, however, so the only taste we’ve had of GoldenEye in HD was a scant few screenshots that appeared in the early development phase.

Until now.

https://twitter.com/statuses/768141256207630338

Blogger Rare Thief somehow managed to get hold of more than 30 minutes of gameplay footage from the unfinished game, uploading it all to YouTube for the world to see.

It’s tantalising, infuriating, and heartbreaking all at once to see what very nearly came to be: as well as HD graphics, there were new multi-player levels, character customisation tweaks, and a 60fps frame rate in the works.

Give it a watch if you’re intent on adding some nostalgic gloom to your day.

That’s not to say a GoldenEye remake is impossible, but given the complicated rights situation between Rare (now owned by Microsoft), Nintendo and the James Bond film company, it seems unlikely – it didn’t feature in last year’s excellent Rare Replay collection, after all.

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What do you think of the GoldenEye 007 Xbox 360 remake footage? Let us know in the comments below.

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