Awhile back Penguin decided to hold a contest for fans to come up with their own Devil May Care theme tune. A panel has since selected the 5 best they received and posted the results on the official Devil May Care myspace page for fans to vote on their favorite. I gotta go with “SAL”. What about you?

EntertainmentWeekly scooped us all today when it unveiled the US artwork for the upcoming James Bond novel Devil May Care. I can tell you Zencat over at the Young Bond Dossier loves it, but my reaction is more mixed. As cliche as it perhaps is or is becoming, I gotta say I like the UK hardcover better. I do like the pulp feel of this cover. Still, I’ll probably be getting both because… I’m a huge nerd. That’s right. Still, I do think it’s cool. It’s not as bad as some of the past covers. Notice, no skull.

Yesterday, CommanderBond.net reported that The Battle For Bond by Robert Sellers was having it’s sales suspended by Tomahawk Press due to a conflict with the Ian Fleming Will Trust. This is not a surprise, really. In fact according to Robert Sellers in a September 2007 interview with CBn, a lot of publishers actually turned down the opportunity to publish the book for fear of legal action by Eon Productions and/or the Fleming trustees.

Details are rather sketchy at the moment so it is unknown if The Battle For Bond will somehow pull through in one form or another. It’s not the first book to be slapped by the Thunderball curse (™). John Pearson’s The Life of Ian Fleming was hit by Kevin McClory for alleged parts of the biography that were untrue that involved Thunderball. Future editions were said to have been altered because of which. The same could occur here in a possible second edition (and this is very much speculation) with the offending material removed – if that’s at all possible.

Coming off their victory over HD DVD, Sony is releasing a new PlayStation 3 bundle in Europe with three Blu-ray movies packed-in; the very awesome James Bond film Casino Royale, the very awesome Spartan-kick-ass film 300 and the terrible Spider-Man 3 (face it, it sucked). This bundle includes the 40GB PS3 and will retail for €399 on March 19th. In my opinion, if you’ve got an HDTV and you want a Blu-ray player (keeping in mind they aren’t very cheap), the only way to go in my humble opinion is to just get a PS3. Why not? First off, it’s your best bet considering it’s futureproof for when the Blu-ray Association finally releases Profile 2.0 later this year and you get a PlayStation 3. I’m not even really a Sony fan, in fact it’s the only current-gen system I don’t have, but this is what I’d do. Later on March 29th Sony will release another 40GB PS3 bundle, this time with Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.

In the good ol’ US of A, we’ll be getting an 80GB PS3 bundle with the new DualShock 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots for $499.

In Secret Service by Mitch Silver is getting released in paperback on April 29th this year according to a new listing at Amazon.com. I previously reported on the hardcover’s release back in May last year (see here). In June I reviewed it. The book features a fictional Ian Fleming manuscript called “Providence” that sheds light on King Edward VIII and his relationship with Hitler. Read the review, read the book, and judge for yourself. Let me know what you think if you read it too.

According to a recent posting at the Young Bond Dossier, Charlie Higson and Ian Fleming Publications have already chosen the title to the fifth and final Eton Young Bond novel due for release later this year on September 4th. Previously, the working title was said to be “The Shadow War” though Charlie has confirmed it won’t be this or any other working titles such as “Diamond Rain” or “Dynamite Kiss”. It’s currently unknown when the title will be announced. I suspect they may wait till Devil May Care is out the door. Though maybe not. May could be good month too or perhaps even earlier.

For more on Young Bond 5’s progress and some hints on the plot including the introduction of Bond’s climbing and skiing instructor Hannes Oberhauser (the focus of the short story “Octopussy”), check out the Young Bond Dossier. While you’re there take some time to read A visit to Highgate Cemetery, one of the main locations of Double or Die which is due out for a US release on April 22nd.

Game Over. For now. Microsoft today came out and definitively told Eurogamer that GoldenEye 007 is not happening for Xbox Live Arcade any time soon due to rights issues. At the very least I’m glad I can stop reporting on this back and forth nonsense. In response to the latest issue of Xbox World 360, which I recently wrote about, Microsoft had this to say:

“Unfortunately, we were never contacted by the publication to confirm information or participate in the story in any way, as we would have confirmed that we do not have the necessary rights to release GoldenEye on Xbox Live Arcade.” – Microsoft Game Studios

There you go folks. Maybe Microsoft should just port Perfect Dark to Xbox Live Arcade instead. Don’t kill me, but as much as I love GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark pretty much had a superior, albeit obviously similar multiplayer experience, it just came later in the Nintendo 64’s lifetime and didn’t get the love that it should have. Perfect Dark Zero didn’t do it any favors either.

Prediction: Next week rumors start up again.

GoldenEye 007! They’re re-making it for Xbox 360 Live Arcade! No they’re not! Yes they are! It was canceled! It was never canceled!

Well, here we go again folks. It would appear that the magazine “Xbox World 360″ has landed an “exclusive” for their next issue in which they’ll reveal an Xbox 360 title and have hands-on impressions. The issue gets released next Wednesday. Just look for a frenzy of rumors to kick up about the game being GoldenEye. Why? The magazine’s website has been releasing pieces of a screenshot to tease their readers and when you jigsaw them around, it’s clearly a screenshot of GoldenEye on the Dam level, but with prettier graphics. Or so we would think. The picture on the right is what one user has thus far put together.

No one doubts the game was in the works. I have screenshots myself to prove that and have shown one to readers of this blog. It’s a question if it will ever see the light of day. I imagine it will. A deal will be made, the question is when… if it hasn’t already. “I think your odds are improving, Mr. Bond.”

Last year 7/7/07 marked the 30th anniversary of The Spy Who Loved Me. Almost 31 years later, the Swiss company Rinspeed has built a Lotus Elise that is fully submersible dubbed the sQuba.

From Autoblog:

The sQuba is an all-electric vehicle with three motors, one to drive the car on land and two to power a pair of screw drives for underwater movement. These are aided by two Seabob jet drives that “breathe” through rotating louvers mounted on the car’s fenders and appear to give the car its maneuverability underwater.

I just have two questions. 1) Why use a convertible? That’s just cheating since you gotta actually use scuba gear to keep yourself from drowning. 2) Where’s the surface-to-air missiles and the depth charges? Weak. ;)

Read more including more images and a video here.

Let me tell you, there are a ton of terrible satire websites out there, and with the recent announcement that Bond 22 is Quantum of Solace it’s like they’ve all decided bring out their F material, though I question if they have any A material. But before I get to that, I came across this Bond-related entry over at NewsBiscuit.

British secret agent James Bond is reported to be ‘privately a little disappointed’ that official recognition of his services to his country apparently amounts to only to an MBE.

Okay on the surface this is a decent premise, however, what really kills it for me is the fact that James Bond never wants recognition for his services to his country. This is sad – no no, for me. It’s one of those jokes that a fan can’t find all that funny because it doesn’t make sense in the universe in which the joke is being made. For this joke, the first thing I thought of when I read the headline was how in Ian Fleming’s The Man with the Golden Gun Bond turns down knighthood, though he does have a CMG.

“He had never been a public figure and he did not wish to become one. He had no prejudice against letters after one’s name, or before it. But there was one thing above all he treasured. His privacy. His anonymity. To become a public person, a person, in the snobbish world of England, of any country, who would be called upon to open things, lay foundation stones, make after-dinner speeches, brought the sweat to his armpits. ‘James Bond’! No middle name. No hyphen. A quiet, dull, anonymous name.” – The Man with the Golden Gun

Whatever, it’s a joke. …. Sort of. I suppose you can argue Film Bond v Literary Bond, but even the film incarnation enjoys a certain amount of anonymity. Anyway, ready for some really bad ones? Seriously, don’t even read these. They’re terrible.

New James Bond Film ‘A Quantity Of Shoelaces’ Set For December Release
Sean Connery to appear in new Bond film (Chubby Cauliflower – really? You guys are so clever.)
James Bond to have gay lover in new film
ABBA to reform to record James Bond theme tune
New James Bond Movie Title revealed (I don’t think these guys know Cubby Broccoli died in 1996)

And that’s all I’m going to link. These are atrocious. This one site, The Spoof, has published practically one a day. Stick to The Onion. At least they’re occasionally funny.