According to reports washing onto the shore of gaming following the veritable typhoon that was last week's GDC, some big name titles could be missing from Nintendo's Virtual Console download service scheduled to be deployed for its looming Revolution console.
The relationship between Nintendo and Microsoft, and the possible use of games developed by Rare has inevitably flared up into a bit of an issue, with US sources claiming both Microsoft and Rare staffers debunking recent chatter which led the industry to believe Nintendo 64 monsters such as GoldenEye 007, Conker's Bad Fur Day and Banjo-Kazooie had been agreed for retrospective release.
The nature of the games industry and its endless appetite for buying and selling things, means any possible roll-out of GoldenEye would involve a sub-license clause being agreed between Microsoft, Nintendo and Electronic Arts. Basically, it's unlikely in the extreme that our dreams of Revmote-controlled Facility killing sprees will materialise into anything of substance.
Of course, Nintendo-owned IP, including the sublime Donkey Kong Country series, will be available, though it's fair to say that the Nintendo 64 titles developed by Rare would have been the jewels in the crown of what's shaping up to be an amazing service delivering some of the best game of all time into your living room.
Those limbering up for the race to snag a day one Revolution can console themselves with the news that MegaDrive and PC Engine titles have been confirmed for the Nintendo machine,
full details of which you can read here.