March 17th 2010 1:00 pm PT

OK, so now I’m confused. Is this new Arcade title called Perfect Dark, or Perfect Dark Zero ?

SWEEEEET

I am very surprised that to only takes up 250mb of space.

Loving the game and also the fact it has avatar awards.

I’ve just had a look and answered my own question. It’s just Perfect Dark. Major, you’ve got the posting title incorrect, you need to knock off the “Zero” !!!

Misprint, but maybe it could have been titled “Perfect Dark One”.
I still have the N64, and this game. Downloaded the XBLA version this morning, and played through first level before going to work. Visuals do look greatly improved, and felt great playing with the 360 controller. Looking forward to more game time!

I never played the orignal so im new to it but it kinda good

I’ll have to check out the demo…my understanding is that they did not update it to use 2 sticks . Not sure I can go back in time that far without the Goldeneye single player to back me up .

An excerpt from IGN’s review… “How in the hell did we ever play this game with the N64 controller? Perfect Dark plays like a dream now with two analog sticks and you have three button configurations to choose from: “Classic Style,” “Spartan” for you Halo fans, and “Duty Calls” for the Call of Duty kids.”

How can there be an update for it the second its released
thats just lazy

Go figure the avatarprop code is “invalid” when I enter my code..

Wait.. there’s an update for it already and you call it lazy?

So someone missed something, I exactly wouldn’t call it lazy for them to address the issue the momement it’s released. I’d call that spot on, if only others followed in their stead.

The controls are so much better than I thought they’d be. Hooray!!

@Shonk jr
you have a weird definition of the word lazy. lazy would be if they completely ignored the problem (assuming this update is related to some sort of glitch or problem in the game) and fixed it somewhere down the line. now THAT would be lazy. way to complain about something that doesn’t even need whining about.

Offtopic but I just noticed my region says united states, WTF? I’m Canadian

Im not not saying it was lazy to fix it ofc
it was lazy not to add it into the main package

I have added Perfect Dark to my download queue. Will download it once I am home this evening.
For 800 MS Points this is a steal and a must get!

The update was most likely for the avatar awards now, both of you stop your bickering

Bought for L8rs.
Major, the more think about the myriad of dash themes, the more I would appreciate a “Hide Dash UI” button assigned to the controller. Seeing this art for more than half a second at a time in some menus would really justify the price, and make the free ones more enjoyable too.

“Add the free Perfect Dark Zero to your Xbox 360 download queue”

ORLY?

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

@ Twisk
Thanks for the heads up, I guess I heard wrong, but it didn’t surprise me if they wanted to keep the feel the same…I’m much more interested now!! Will be dowloading it tonight or tomorrow along with the Splinter Cell demo.

Sweet! I love this game.
Perfect Dark had dual-thumb controls even before we had dual analog controls. I could move in four directions with the yellow buttons and aim with the thumbstick. The game was ahead of the curve in so many ways.

@Metallic Inc

Quote:
Go figure the avatarprop code is “invalid” when I enter my code..

If your talking about the Block Party avatar prop, you are going to need part 4 of the code which will come from the free Game Room download next week.

Ah, old childhood favorite. Actually, I never beat the game on my 64. Got all the way to the last boss and just couldn’t beat him. Hear’s hoping I pull it off this time.

Oh I didn’t know their was a part 4 ty lol

If it’s an actual Marketplace code, you’ll need five parts total because Marketplace codes are 5 blocks of 5 characters each.

Fix the title Major. Slacker! LOL.

I think Major started drinking pretty early this morning when he typed this.

@DualCoreSTEVE

It is the same Perfect Dark from the Nintendo 64, which was released almost 10 years ago (May 22, 2000 in North America / June 30, 2000 in Europe). Perfect Dark Zero was released as a prequel to Perfect Dark (the events that took place before the Nintendo 64 video game). As such, Perfect Dark is actually a re-release.

You can also say that the Xbox Live Arcade game is actually the sequel to Perfect Dark Zero, if you were to consider that the Nintendo 64 game never existed.

The events of the Perfect Dark series are as follows:
2020 – Perfect Dark Zero (Xbox 360)
2020 – Perfect Dark: Initial Vector (novel)
2021 – Perfect Dark: Janus’ Tears (comic series)
2021 – Perfect Dark: Second Front (novel)
2022 – Perfect Dark (Game Boy Color)
2023 – Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64 / Xbox Live Arcade)

@Metallic Inc

Mcmax300 is right, marketplace codes are 5 blocks. The 4th will come with game room download. I wonder if the 5th will do too. Anyway is hella easy to fogure out the next two parts of the code following the progression but it wont work till the content subject to download is in the servers

—

PERFECT DARK

Excellent arcade, xbox controller (and the little autoaim helping hand) renders almost useless the aiming trigger function wich have to admit I remember smoother from the goldeneye days. Maybe it was just it was above its time back then and felt great but now aint so flashy. Anyways I was way better at headshots then than with this one. Maybe its the sensibility I have to adjust.

IMO the game was finished with no avatar awards so they prepared a relase day fix to avoind an avalanch of complies

Too much new stuff to play, I’ll buy this arround next week since most likely I won’t be taking game room arcades, just the app.

@DualCoreSTEVE

Correction to my last post. I didn’t realize that Major Nelson’s post is titled wrong. It should say “Arcade: Perfect Dark”. Guess he got used to typing “Zero” because of the Xbox 360 retail game. I’m pretty sure that is what you got confused with.

Anyway, there is a demo/trial of both games:

Perfect Dark (Xbox Live Arcade) trial game: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/offers/00000000-0000-4000-8000-0000584109c2?cid=SLink

Perfect Dark Zero demo (free): http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/offers/0dd00000-0000-4000-8000-00004d5307d3?cid=SLink

And if you’ve never played Perfect Dark Zero, I’d play the demo first before even wasting your time on renting it. It isn’t worth it when compared to the arcade game. If I were you, I’d spend more time looking into the arcade game.

@lightsup55
Thanks for the clarity. I guess Major will correct the heading at some point today. I’ll give Perfect Dark Zero a miss and jump right into Perfect Dark (this arcade title) seeing as so many people here seem to rate it.

Many thanks.

Fixed. Was flying or I would have fixed it earlier. Also, having no hot water at my hotel this morning got things off to a rough start

Enjoy the game.

What are the chances of Xbox bringing back the game that started it all for Multiplayer 1st Person shooters……..GOLDENEYE!

yeah, doom…i know, but GOLDENEYE is what brought it to the console.

“Wait.. there’s an update for it already and you call it lazy?”

That guy obviously has no clue…..LOL….It takes all kinds.

Thanks Major Nelson we will.:)

@ The Peck: I think the reason it is not being re-released is because Activision hold the licence for 007 games or Just licence with the 007 name itself.

Bought it, got the head-shot T-Shirt. This is an awesome deal of a game.
One question though, the piece-together avatar codes coming out, should they be all the same? 2 Gold accounts on 1 console so-far says yes.

IIRC the game was almost complete and they got all the licensing, Activision just needed Nintendo to approve of the game. They did not.
Think they used a lot of code from Goldeneye for this?

great game…really enjoting it

It would be nice if MS sold points in $5 intervals, you know like how they price their downloadable content. Seriously, $12.50? WTF! None of this making us have a balance crap so they can profit off of it.

This is awesome!!! To have a classic like Perfect Dark on XLA is just insane! besides I’m amazed that such a great game only takes up about 250 Mg of space.

@Everyone who was curious about Goldeneye. In a recent interview with Ken Lobb who was involved in with Goldeneye and Perfect Dark back in the N64 days as well as other games, and is now the General Manager for Live and Creative Director for Microsoft Game Studios, he stated that they were originally going to try and launch Goldeneye on Live Arcade. They had used Goldeneye as a prototype for the arcade just to see what it would play like, and when they went to do the business portion of it there are just too many license holders for the name that they just decided to scrap the Goldeneye idea and just move onto Perfect Dark where they knew they wouldn’t have the issues with licensing. Also, just a little side note fun fact, if any of you remember the gun in Goldeneye called the Klobb, it was originally going to be called the Spider but the name was changed to honor Ken Lobb. So unfortunatly we will never see Goldeneye on the Live Arcade, at least it’s “spiritual sequel” was able to make it.

Great to see such an outstanding game get a HD facelift. PD is absolutely worth the 800 MSP.

Hey Major you missed another Zero in the sentence: Add the free Perfect Dark Zero to your Xbox 360 download queue

It is practically just how I remember it. The PvP gets a little choppy and there is no button mapping, which is inexcusable. Sorry southpaws, you have been ignored… again. I just wanted it for the SP which is still a good time.

Dowloaded the demo and very letdown they did not include “Legacy” thumbstick controls condsidering that is how the game was played in the classic version. This control option was included in Perfect Dark Zero so very disappointing it was left out here. I’ll pick this up later if they release a patch.

“According to Kotaku, Microsoft’s Ken Lobb has confirmed at DICE that the unlockable GoldenEye weapons and maps featured in the N64 version of Perfect Dark will be included in the upcoming XBLA version as well.” http://xbox.joystiq.com/2010/02/19/perfect-dark-xbla-will-keep-goldeneye-maps/
“Speaking to Videogamer.com, Rare senior software engineer Nick Burton said that the bid to bring GoldenEye 007 to either the Virtual Console or Xbox Live Arcade was “locked in this no man’s land,” and that it was up to the separate license holders to play nice before the greatest Bond game of all time could be made available for download on any service. “The ball’s not in anybody at Rare’s court really,” sighed Burton. “It’s squarely in the license holders’ courts. It’s a shame. There’s nothing on LIVE Arcade, there’s nothing on Wii.”
It’s not solely about Microsoft or Nintendo reaching an agreement, either — the revival of GoldenEye also hinges on those who own the license to the game rights now, the parties that have the licence to Bond as an IP, and “umpteen licensees.” http://nintendo.joystiq.com/2008/08/06/red-tape-preventing-goldeneye-revival/
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So while we probably won’t be getting a new version of Goldeneye anytime soon, at least we have the next best thing to it in this game.

@ Quaranj: Correct, it’s NOT a unique code. http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/24801/t1494560-get-your-free-download-code-for-an-xbox-live-block-party-avatar-prop/

One of my favourite games on the N64, and it’s been translated well onto the Xbox. There were a few things that they could have done to bring the franchise into “modern times” – assigning a dedicated melee button (you can do that with the Duty Calls control set, but only with the pistol and Magnum), and the crazy aiming mechanics when using the L trigger that will give you RSI (you have to hold the stick in the exact spot to keep the aim still otherwise it snaps back to centre) can easily be changed to modern FPS aiming down the sight mechanics.

Am I missing something here? This was supposed to be the same game that hit the Nintendo 64 console. One of the things that made this game great on the 64 was the amount of options and choices you had in the combat simulator. If I recall correctly, you could have 8 or 10 simulants in the 64 game, on the Xbox Live Arcade version you can only have four!?!? Why?!?! This is a superior console, why should it have LESS than what the original had? Also, on the 64 you could pick what sims to put on which teams, now you have to leave it to the computer to pick for you, and hope it is possible to get things the way you want them. Again, why should the Xbox Live Arcade version be lacking something that made this game so unique and great on the 64? It is possible that these settings are something that needs to be unlocked through game-play, but I find that to be highly unlikely. If that is the way things are, can someone please confirm it for me? If that is not the way things are, Major, can we look forward an update that will give us access to these things? You have said you read every post left on here, I hope I might get a response, unlike my question on the Scrap Metal page, that was left unanswered.

(edit) I just noticed that you can fully edit teams in a local game, the restrictions mentioned only apply to xbox live games, unfortunately, even private ones. I don’t know why, but they are there. I checked the number of simulant slots and it is the same on both live and local games.(/edit)

I spent many many hours in my high-school years playing this game with my best friend, and we’ve both been looking forward to being able to recreate those times with superior graphics, I hope that, in the end, we will not be left disappointed.

Im very happy with this version of Perfect Dark

Just played the demo, it doesn’t do anything for me. Mind you, I didn’t bother with the original version so I lack the nostalgia which seems rampant about it.

So far it’s pretty good. I pulled out my N64 and played the original to compare them. Where are my cheat codes for local multiplayer?

THIS IS DELICIOUS!

I’m really loving… blast from the past. Had been waiting to get it for ages, am hoping a good number of my friends will get it. Still, on-line multi player just won’t feel the same as 4 player split screen! Those were the days!! lol

Well was going to wait on it because have too much to play at the moment then found out about the Avatar awards so went ahead and purchased it. Forgot how much fun it can be.

It’s not the same without the N64 joypad. Neither was Banjo. Signle Stick frustration was part of the fun.

Who would rather buy this than the COD Map Pack, at least you get a full game here

I played the original once (I was a mega Goldeneye fan) DLed this day 1, and absolutely love it! So many options when playing bot matches, its crazy! My XBLA game of forever! Still wishing for Goldeneye though…

Even the demo is fun! I played about five games with the bots, then I played the single mission. Brings back great memories and controls SO MUCH better than the banana controller!

It is pretty good, still would have preferred Goldeneye but I did read about those licensing issues preventing that.

I had to pick this up for the Golden Eye MP maps and classic weapons alone. Never played Perfect Dark back in the day, but really loved Golden Eye.

In addition to there being no button mapping, I just wanted to play a quick match offline with some bots before work today and lo and behold NO PERFECT SIMS and a 4 sim limit. I mean really? Normal is the highest difficulty they go to? I am very displeased.

@I DLord I

Last I checked, you have to unlock those.

Yeah you have to unlock the tougher bots. Just play some challenges

That is good news. Very, very good news. Thank you. No button mapping is still a drastic oversight though, and the control options they do provide are extremely limited. 1 step forward for having perfect sims still, but 2 steps back for no button mapping. I guess people just hate left handed folk.

That is good news. Very, very good news. Thank you. No button mapping is still a drastic oversight though, and the control options they do provide are extremely limited. 1 step forward for having perfect sims still, but 2 steps back for no button mapping. I guess people just hate left handed folk.

Mhm, no probmlem man!

@aStrangeDisease – Turok Dinosaur Hunter did the whole move with the C-Buttons and aim with the Joystick in 1996. So it wasn’t Perfect Dark that revolutionized that.

Major, I just wanted to thank you, Microsoft, Rare, RJ Studios and anyone else that was part of bringing Perfect Dark to XBLA and giving it the HD treatment. I mean I would of still bought it even if you didn’t give it an HD make over, but the fact you guys did is just awesome. Major, I also wanted to thank you for doing an Inside Xbox feature for the release of Perfect Dark. I would have loved an interview with Ken Lobb seeing as how he works at Microsoft Game Studios, but maybe next time. Hopefully that Inside Xbox feature brings in audience to the Perfect Dark universe. I hope Perfect Dark XBLA sells really well enough for a full fledged sequel on Xbox 360.

Still the Best FPS out there!

there is no better arsenal of weapons in any fps, pd is still the king in this department.

over 40 weapons with secondary options.

laptop gun that transforms and doubles as a sentry device planted on a wall? awesome as it ever was.

single player, multiplayer, challenges, (in-game achievements, besides regular achievemevents) as well as bonuses (PD Theme, Gamer Pictures, Avatar items you unlock) -

there is simply no better shooter out there in terms of value proposition.

4J/Rare even said that if this release sells well, PD2 is inevitable.

You need to buy this game.