Bond is back and reloaded for HD consoles

THUMB-GRABBING Call of Duty creator Activision is applying its first person shooter expertise to a HD release of GoldenEye 007 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 it was announced today.

No doubt borrowing gameplay elements from the number one videogame franchise of all time, the American publisher has announced that GoldenEye 007: Reloaded will incorporate a new engine with upscaled graphics.

Moreover, detail from Team Bond indicate PS3 owners will have the bonus pleasure of motion controller support for the Move and Sharp Shooter peripheral, an addition that seemed to go down pretty well with those who invested in it for Killzone 3.

We're told that, together with the standard but utterly enthralling campaign, there will also be new MI6 Ops Missions - we're hoping for something along the lines of Modern Warfare's Special Ops levels - with online multiplayer hosting for up to 16 gamers and, of course, the groundbreaking four-player split screen mode.

GoldenEye 007 first saw field action back in 1997 on the Nintendo 64 when it's local multiplayer was, for many, the first time they could, rather unhealthily, sit down with friends and play a single game for hours on end without a hint of boredom creeping in.

Last year Activision reactivated its spy adventure for the Wii. Developer Eurocom was handed the responsibility of bringing Bond back for a new audience rather than the original team at Rare. And so that setup remains with Eurocom returning to work on Reloaded.

Whether or not we'll be seeing the tenacious Daniel Craig fronting the HD version as we did on the Wii is still unclear, but all reports suggest this won't be a simple reskin of the Nintendo shooter that received only lukewarm reviews on its release.

Expect GoldenEye 007: Reloaded to land this Autumn. Just in time to bridge the gap between now and the glittery launch of Modern Warfare 3. µ