Video games based on movies tend to suck, but sometimes they turn out okay, and in 1997 Rare went a step further and crafted GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64 into one of the most influential games of all time. Not content to let the game die with the Nintendo 64, though, a group of modders have been keeping it alive for the PC by completely recreating its stellar multiplayer matches using Valve's Source engine (used to make the similarly influential Half-Life 2). Today, they've released their fifth update for the free GoldenEye: Source over its roughly 10-year lifespan, and it's a biggie. Check out the trailer below.In addition to a ton of polish affecting the whole mod, the update introduces new elements such as the "Dam" map from the original game, although altered to include a sewer that connects the front and back halves of the map. It's also stuffed with new designs for weapons like the automatic shotgun, which now resembles the real-life SPAS-12; and the sniper rifle, which now looks like a "fictional [S]oviet winter rifle equipped with a high magnification scope and suppressor."Before you download it, be sure to download the Source SDK Base 2007 first (and have Valve's Steam digital distribution platform installed). It's all great work, and one of the great marvels of the project is that it's still around at all, as the multiple copyright holders have had numerous chances to shut it down for a decade now.Perhaps it's still with us out of sheer goodwill since the mod only focuses on the multiplayer mode—after all, there aren't a lot of people with Nintendo 64s still plugged in these days. Perhaps it's because the mod attempts to step on as few copyright-wielding toes as possible, even to the point of not including the iconic James Bond theme in favor of their own creations. Perhaps it's just because it's hard to enforce these things on such a peer-to-peer project.Whatever the reason, it's a rare case of a game bucking the trend of falling into obscurity once its generation or parent platform passes on. And that should only be celebrated.
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