JAMES BOND BLASTS INTO THEATERS AND ONTO NINTENDO; Nintendo Secures Worldwide Rights to a New James Bond Goldeneye Video Game

Business Wire, Jan 6, 1995

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 1995--The world's leading video game company and the most successful film franchise in history are teaming up to take the video game industry and box office by storm. Nintendo of America Inc. has signed an agreement with EON Productions Limited for the development and worldwide video game license for a new James Bond video game, Goldeneye. The agreement also includes the use of actor Pierce Brosnan's likeness, the new James Bond, as the game's main character.

Nintendo is developing the Goldeneye video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES). The release of the game is anticipated to coincide with the film's Christmas 1995 release.

"James Bond has built unparalleled name recognition over the past 20 years and Nintendo is excited to be aligned with such legendary success," says Nintendo's Peter Main, vice president, marketing. "Over the years, Bond has been the quintessential high-technology spy, and as the video game industry's technology leader, we feel a certain kinship with him."

In "Goldeneye," James Bond is back with a vengeance! The story line of this major motion picture is set firmly in the present day with key sequences being shot in the New Russia. Swiftly changing political patterns make old opponents new best friends, and former friends...deadly enemies. The film begins production mid-January 1995.

U.K.-based Rare, Ltd., creator of Nintendo's 1994 blockbuster video game, Donkey Kong Country, will be developing the Goldeneye video game using Silicon Graphics workstations -- the same supercomputers used by Industrial Light and Magic to bring computer-rendered special effects to movies such as the dinosaurs in "Jurassic Park," the villainous morphing in "Terminator 2," and the historical adventures of "Forrest Gump."

"I've played a lot of interesting characters in my career, but I've never appeared in a video game," laughs Pierce Brosnan, "Goldeneye's" new Bond. "Bond, as Ian Fleming described him, was always a brand leader in the high tech spy game, so teaming up with Nintendo makes great good sense to me."

"Goldeneye" is the 17th James Bond adventure created by legendary film maker Cubby Broccoli. "When we shot Dr. No. in the Caribbean way back in 1962, only H.G. Wells could have envisioned the Brave New World of Video Games that has so captured the imagination of both young and old over the past few years. I salute your vision and like many of my generation remain in awe of your technical achievements in the new entertainment field."

Since 1962, when James Bond made his debut with actor Sean Connery, 16 James Bond films have been made, including: "Licence to Kill," "The Living Daylights," "A View To A Kill," "For Your Eyes Only," "Moonraker," and "The Spy Who Loved Me."

"Goldeneye" is an Albert R. Broccoli presentation of a United Artists film, produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli and directed by Martin Campbell. "Goldeneye" will be released by MGM/UA Distribution Co. in North America and United International Pictures in the rest of the world for Christmas 1995.

Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, is the leader in the worldwide $15 billion retail video game industry. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Washington, serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere, where more than 40 percent of American homes own a Nintendo system.

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