“Today Dean Nelson, from Midlands business advisory firm Smith Cooper, was appointed Administrator of Eurocom Developments Limited, who have been experiencing financial difficulties due to expected contracts being delayed, which has resulted in a severe cash flow shortage,” read a statement from Eurocom earlier today.

“Since 2008, there has been a steep decline in the sales of Console and PC games, which has led to a severe contraction in the number of new games being commissioned from global publishers of entertainment software. The company has also faced intense competition from developers in countries with lower costs or those subsidised with generous games tax credits.

GoldenEye 007- Wii Gameplay

“As a result of pressure from HMRC, the directors of Eurocom filed a Notice of Intention to Appoint an Administrator at Court in order to allow time for attempts to save the Eurocom business. The Administrator and the company’s directors have been negotiating with customers surrounding new contracts to develop console games, however these contracts could not be secured in time and due to insufficient funds to pay outstanding wages, Eurocom today entered Administration.

“As a result, the remaining 42 employees have been made redundant today and the business has ceased to trade after some 25 years, having grown organically to become one of the largest and most prolific independent console games developers worldwide.

“The Directors of Eurocom would like to offer their heartfelt thanks to all their staff that have been made redundant at this difficult time, and show their appreciation of all of their hard work in consistently delivering exceptional games.”

“Whilst this is unfortunately the end of the established Eurocom business, efforts are continuing behind the scenes to attract interested parties to Derby in order to help fill the void left by Eurocom,” said Administrator Dean Nelson. “We are still hopeful that there will in the future be a specialist software business operating in Derby in place of Eurocom, but the focus will be completely different and therefore this is sadly the end of the console games development business.”

Eurocom has developed several notable titles over the years, most of them being James Bond titles. Some of their best games over the years have been 007: Nightfire, The World Is Not Enough, the Wii remake of GoldenEye 007, and the Xbox 360 and PS3 port of that, GoldenEye 007: Reloaded.

It’s a shame to see another studio go down like this. Thanks for all the great games, Eurocom.

[Eurogamer]

Eurocom, the developer of recent titles such as GoldenEye 007: Reloaded and 007 Legends, is facing heavy restructuring, and more than 150 members of the currently 200 strong staff will be left jobless.

GameIndustry International reports that the developer will be reporting a lot of layoffs soon. Eurocom suffered a heavy blow recently, due to the negative reception of 007 Legends, which holds a score of 43 on Metacritic (it also received a pretty negative review from us). The low score was partly due to the pressure of meeting publisher’s dates and rushing the game’s development.

However, other recent games like GoldenEye 007: Reloaded, GoldenEye 007 on the Wii and old timers lik 007: Nightfire have been very well received by critics and fans alike.

Eurocom’s studio Director Hugh Binns has released a management statement about the restructuring too.

“Eurocom are undertaking a restructuring which I regret to say has meant we’ve made the majority of our workforce redundant today,” he says. “

This includes many very experienced, talented and highly skilled employees, and we’d like to thank them all for your hard work and efforts.

“We’ve fought to try and save as many jobs as possible, but the steep decline in demand for console games, culminating in a number of console projects falling through in the last week, left us with no option. Eurocom has retained a core staff of just under 50 employees and will be focusing mainly on mobile opportunities moving forward.”

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.

***Please note this walkthrough was not uploaded by GamingBolt.com.

Special thanks to Youtube user PanjnoTutorials for uploading this walkthrough.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions in the comments section below.

Without further delay, lets get started!

With barely functional combat, 007 Legends has the feel, look and rotten stench of a mediocre Call of Duty 4 mod, with vast segments which would’ve looked spectacularly bland back in 2007. Guns have absolutely no weight at all, with no clear distinction between one another, most scenarios can be handled with the stock Walther P99, rendering many of the allegedly more powerful weapons useless. Shotguns cause enemies to flop straight into ragdoll mode in a way so unconvincing it would make a game like Unreal Tournament 2003 red with embarrassment. Bond just doesn’t feel like the razor-sharp killing machine you’d expect, enemies take far too many bullets, resulting in combat feeling more Johnny English than James Bond.

Stealth elements feel similarly ham-handed and largely superfluous, especially when left in the wakes of combat masterclasses from the likes of Dishonored. Upon alerting an enemy of your presence, each instinctively know Bond’s position, haphazardly attempting to shoot through walls, a mere footnote in 007 Legend’s inherently abysmal AI.

With so many opportunities to recreate iconic Bond moments, with appropriate theme music and delicious combat, 007 Legends regularly yanks control away from the player to display lukewarm buckets of cinematic slop, far inferior to those of the films, negating the very purpose 007 Legends is meant to serve in an interactive medium and no amount of sporadically-placed quite-time events will change this.

Gadgets are at best redundant and at worst an irritating means of shattering immersion. Hacking keypads requires flitting back and forth between Bond’s anachronistic deus ex machina smartphone and pad itself, creating frustration and adding to the growing desire to put the game down and do anything else.

The solitary piece of care and attention put into the game itself, aside from the fantastic opening credits, are the likenesses of the Legends themselves, Blofeld is clearly Blofeld, Goldfinger is Goldfinger and Craig is Bond but poor lip-synching makes faces look like the cheap silicon masks bank robbers wear. Combine this with Timothy Watson’s best Tesco Store Manager impression as if Daniel Craig only did it out of cold-calculated contractual obligation and you’ve got yourself a lifeless mess.

Hand-to-hand combat is equally half-hearted, thumbsticks for the appropriate high and low, left and right-sided attacks but it fails to achieve any sort of fluidity; a tedious exercise in waiting for the thoroughly patronising quick-time button icons to appear. 007 Legends is consistently both overly patronising and completely baffling in its mission markers, blurting out “shoot here” in the most obvious of situations then not affording a single clue when advice is sorely necessary.

The competitive multiplayer is but another good idea on paper, with Legends mode allowing player control of Bond villains, each with unique abilities, but the limp combat combined with the heinous crime of recycling identical segments from the single player really is the final nail in 007’s coffin. So many elements of 007 Bond are systemic indications of a short development cycle: segments of Blofeld’s lair are “night vision” with the sole intention of covering up beige level design and textures, running doesn’t decrease shooting accuracy and a myriad of elements are simply recycled from aged Call of Duty titles.

Not only is 007 Legends a terrible game, it goes one step further and is quite possibly one of the worst Bond iterations to date. Especially in this, its 50^th glorious Anniversary, 007 Legends is nothing short of an insult the good name of Bond. A game which feels more like shopping in Lidl than playing the part of Bond, chock full of bland, lifeless environments and an overwhelming sense of vapidity saps the very soul, personality or charm from a potentially brilliant game. Created without the slightest attention to detail, Bond’s Aston Martin Vanquish is a left-hand drive and Blofeld seems to have an iPad atop his desk, 007 Legends is as jaded and desensitised to the action and explosions as Bond himself. A joyless exposition of a criminally short development cycle, it’s high time the Bond name was afforded a proper developer, given an appropriate budget and given the tribute it sorely deserves.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360. 

The game spans the storyline of the entire movie saga, and several memorable scenes from the movie are shown in the trailer, like the duel between Harry and Malfoy in Chamber of Secrets, or the battle in front of the Veil, or the troll attack in Sorcerer’s Stone.

Have a look above.

Step into the world of Harry Potter in a game that spans the entire film saga. Learn and master spell, take part in Quidditch games and battle Death Eaters alongside Harry, Ron and Hermione. Test your magical skills in competitive mini-games with your friends and family, or join up for co-op gameplay.

Game Overview:
Based on all eight Harry Potter films, Harry Potter for Kinect allows players to join Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger as they embark on an unforgettable journey through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and beyond. Set in the wizarding world, Harry Potter for Kinect lets kids and parents use the simple Kinect body and voice controls to cast spells, interact with professors and students, play Quidditch, battle Death Eaters and more. Players who master their magical skills can take on their opponents in competitive mini-games, or join forces with family and friends in co-op gameplay.

Publisher : Warner Bros

Developer : Eurocom

Platforms : X360

Release Date : 12/10/2012

Stay tuned to Gamingbolt.com for more news and updates.

Have a look above.

007 Legends releases on October 1 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. A Wii U release date is also planned.

A first-of-its-kind Bond gaming experience, 007 Legends ties together five classic Bond movie-inspired missions, plus a sixth mission based on this year’s highly-anticipated movie, Skyfall. 

Combining state-of-the-art spy gadgets, an arsenal of weapons, sleek vehicles and exotic locations, players can experience what it’s like to be Daniel Craig’s James Bond and relive the world famous spy’s most iconic and intense undercover missions from 50 years of the Bond film franchise.

About James Bond: 007 Legends :

Game Overview:

A first-of-its-kind Bond gaming experience, 007 Legends features an original, overarching storyline that explores the undercover operative’s journey from a newly-minted secret agent to the most beloved, or hated, spy legend there ever was. By tying together five classic Bond movie-inspired missions, plus a sixth mission based on this year’s highly-anticipated movie – SKYFALL – which will be available post launch as downloadable content, players will experience the conscience and gritty evolution of James Bond like never before! As the most diverse Bond video game yet, each of the 007 Legends movie-inspired missions include multiple levels based on a re-imaginings of some of the most popular Bond films, showcasing state-of-the-art spy gadgets, an arsenal of weapons and sleek vehicles, exotic locations, and intense situations that require Bond’s quick wits to take down notorious villains and their brutal henchmen.

Publisher : Activision

Developer : Eurocom

Platforms : PC, PS3, X360 and WiiU

Release Date : 19/10/2012 (PC PS3 X360)
TBA (WiiU)

Stay tuned to Gamingbolt.com for more news and updates.

Activision announced in Nintendo’s Wii U preview event that they will be releasing 007 Legends on the Wii U as well, as a launch window title for the system.

It will be joining the already announced Xbox 360, PS3 and PC versions of the game.

007 Legends takes 5 classic Bond movies, including Moonraker, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, License to Kill and Die Another Dayand gives you a memorable mission from each. A sixth mission from the upcoming Skyfall will also be included in the game as post-launch DLC. What’s more, original Bond actors will be reprising their roles in the game.

It’s like a wet dream for all Bond fans, and now it’s going to be on the Wii U too.

Skyfall joins other third party heavyweight titles like Assassin’s Creed III, ZombiU, Rayman Legends, Black Ops 2, Darksiders 2, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Monster Hunter 3 and many more in the Wii U’s lineup.

Oh, also Bayonetta 2, which will be exclusive to the Wii U. Yeah.

Stay tuned for more info.

About Harry Potter for Kinect:

Game Overview :

Based on all eight Harry Potter films, Harry Potter for Kinect allows players to join Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger as they embark on an unforgettable journey through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and beyond. Set in the wizarding world, Harry Potter for Kinect lets kids and parents use the simple Kinect body and voice controls to cast spells, interact with professors and students, play Quidditch, battle Death Eaters and more. Players who master their magical skills can take on their opponents in competitive mini-games, or join forces with family and friends in co-op gameplay

Publisher : Warner Bros.

Developer : Eurocom

Platforms : X360

Release Date : 12/10/2012

Stay tuned to Gamingbolt.com for more news and updates.