Month: April 2012

With the James Bond film franchise celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, there is a lot of buzz about the next Bond film Skyfall.  What has remained a mystery, however, is whether Activision will release a new Bond game in 2012.  But given all the hoopla, it makes perfect sense that a new Bond game will be released to mark the milestone.

If Activision is set to launch the next Bond game, it looks like we might have a very appropriate title:  007 Legends.

You might be wondering where this information came from.  Well, it came from the Whois record for 007Legends.com.

In late March, Danjaq LLC (the holding company for James Bond copyright and trademarks), acquired the domain name 007Legends.com.  The domain appears to have expired and Danjaq registered the name through Network Solutions.  While this may not seem significant, it’s not the whole picture.

This week, I also discovered the domain 007Legends.com changed name servers to Att-dsa.net, the home of many of Activision’s biggest names like CallofDuty.com (Whois) and Skylanders.com (Whois).

Though Mary Tuck, Activision’s legal counsel, typically registers domain names on behalf of the game publisher, when it comes to the best 007 domain of all, it’s Danjaq that owns the name.  According to Whois records, Danjaq is the owner of 007.com.

This may end up being nothing more than speculation on my part, but with all the Bond surprises expected this year don’t be too surprised to see a new Bond game released.

And what better title than, “007: Legends”?

At the time of this story, Activision has made no official announcement about “007: Legends” nor does the domain name resolve to a web page.

Here’s a look at the Whois record for 007Legends.com.

Updated April 18, 2012:.  Activision has officially announced 007 Legends.

To celebrate the James Bond franchise’s 50th anniversary, Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), will launch gamers back through time to relive a selection of Bond’s most iconic and intense undercover missions from the popular Bond film franchise with 007™ Legends.

A first-of-its-kind Bond video game, 007 Legends features an original, overarching storyline tying together six classic Bond movies, concluding with this year’s highly-anticipated 23rd installment — SKYFALL — to offer the most diverse Bond gaming experience yet!  As with the feature films, 007 Legends equips players with state-of-the-art spy gadgets, an arsenal of weapons, including Bond’s signature Walther PPK, and sleek vehicles as they jet off to exotic locations and utilize Bond’s quick wits, class and style to take down notorious villains and their brutal henchmen, perform impressive stunts, and of course…mingle with gorgeous Bond women.

“To honor 50 years of the world’s top secret agent, 007 Legends offers a collection of his most famed moments in the smartest and most treacherous Bond game yet,” said David Oxford, Executive Vice President at Activision Publishing, Inc.  “Creating a video game storyline that ties together six popular, yet very different, Bond movie narratives can be challenging, but together with EON Productions, our developer Eurocom, has pulled it off to create an homage that we think will be a unique and highly entertaining Bond video game.”

In addition to 007 Legends‘ main story, the game will feature the return of fan-favorite single-player Mi6 Ops Missions, which debuted in GoldenEye 007: Reloaded and challenges players to complete extra missions ranging from all-out action to stealth and gadget-based gameplay and compete for the highest online leader board scores.  For the first time ever, players will be able to participate as one of Bond’s cohorts or villainous foes, reliving the missions through their eyes, as well as 007’s.  The robust James Bond multiplayer experience includes local four-player split-screen game modes and online competitive gameplay with new maps, weapons and characters derived from Bond’s 50 year legacy.  With more gadgets, deeper stealth and spy investigation gameplay, gamers will have every opportunity to truly feel like the world’s favorite spy.

Planned to launch this fall, 007 Legends is being developed by Eurocom, under license from EON Productions Ltd. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. (MGM) for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system.  Stay tuned for more information on the game’s official Web site and Facebook page.

Full press release.

(Image of Jame Bond silhouette in Istanbul via Bloodstonegame.com)