Goldeneye may have a special place in the hearts of millions of gamers, and it may also consistently place high in ‘Top X Games of All Time’ lists, but it’s looking increasingly unlikely that a port to Xbox Live Arcade or Wii’s Virtual Arcade will ever happen. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard such rumours, but Rare – developer of the classic FPS – has seemingly given up on the port ever seeing the light of day.

In response to a readers question in a recent Rare Scribes update the developer all but signed the execution warrant on a port of the game;

“That was some time ago, my friend. Fate was against us that day. Destiny conspired to raise the hurdles even as we attempted to clear them, resulting in unpleasant groinal injury. I suspect we’re long past the stage where an agreement was on the cards, but you never know. Stranger things have happened… somewhere… probably.” - Source

The blame lies at the feet of Microsoft and Nintendo, who are apparently unable to reach an agreement on the financial terms of such a release. It all comes down to licensing laws, with Microsoft now owning Rare but Activision ultimately owning the rights to produce games in the James Bond franchise. However, Activision places the blame in Nintendo’s court, which published the game on its original N64 release. Whatever the case it seems that gamers won’t get a port until the money side of things is sorted out and it doesn’t look like that will be happening anytime soon.

I never actually owned an N64 myself, but a friend use to bring his round to my house and we used to have hours of fun playing four player split-screen. Most of the time we got trounced by my friend, but he pretty much always played as Odd Job so I still, to this day, say he had the advantage. The graphics may not be anywhere near today’s standards, but I’d still relish the opportunity to play the game through my Xbox 360; largely because there are so few split-screen games out there today and nothing can beat having three friends playing in the same room as you.

Fear not though, as Perfect Dark – which in some ways had a more enjoyable multiplayer than Goldeneye – will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade this winter, which is at least some consolation.