“Isn’t this basically fan art?”

“if I recreate those levels out of mashed potatoes on my dining table and show it to my neighbors, MGM will come after me too?”

I was explaining the situation, not making a value statement about whether or not I like it.

Obligated by whom?

Developers tend to be work-for-hire. The people who make the maps are paid to complete the job. It’s the publisher that continues to make money off of the games, if the games continue to make money.

Games don’t share sentiments because they don’t have sentiments. Humans have sentiments.

No, the claimant would be whoever holds the rights to those game properties, which would be MGM. Rare was the developer, not the publisher. Rare developed Donkey Kong 64, that doesn’t mean Rare holds the rights to Donkey Kong, obviously.

It can be both homage and copyright infringement. Homage isn’t a legal exception.

They can’t tease a Goldeneye remake for the exact same reason they can’t host these levels.

It’s literally not fair use. The level design isn’t being used as academic material to supplement a lecture on good game design. It’s being used as a level in a first person shooter for people to play.

The IP relates to designs, not names. The issue isn’t that a name was used. It’s that a design was copied.

Copyright doesn’t guarantee you make money off something. It just protects your IP. 

Even if they were sued and managed to win the case, they would still have to pay up legal fees to endure the lawsuit. Why would they want to risk paying a greater-than-$0 amount than simply removing the content?

“a 20 year old game is a museum piece. it belongs to everyone.”

“By law you are allowed to recreate art and even sell it”

FC5 is a decent game on its own. I don’t know why you wouldn’t bother with it at all now.

In addition to what jvook said, the assets in the FC5 editor are pieces with which to create the maps. The issue here is not the use of assets, but the recreation of maps.

In addition to what jvook said, what distinguishes those levels isn’t the explicit references to the Bond property, but the design of the levels. If you as a gamer would be able to recognize those levels regardless of the textures, logos, and effects, then you recognize what makes them artistically distinct.

“Didn’t the user create those levels”

I wonder if that argument would work in court when getting slapped with a lawsuit for millions based on IP infringement.