So over at Xbox Evolved they called up Activision on the whole GoldenEye 007 for Xbox Live Arcade deal and apparently Activision let slip some interesting news on Quantum of Solace – the video game currently under development by Treyarch among others.

“We have nothing to do with a Goldeneye 007 game, I would think that is Nintendo and Microsoft’s deal. Our own Bond game however, from Treyarch is powered by the same technology that made Call of Duty 4 and that, along with Treyarch developers Call of Duty 5 is coming along very nicely.”

So, there you go. If true, Quantum of Solace (which is likely the title) is most definitely a first-person shooter. I actually played and beat Call of Duty 4 (PC) last year. One word: Phenomenal. Check out videos and reviews of that title here.

Today, Ian Fleming Publications updated the Centenary website – again! Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the Centenary edition got bumped up to an April 8th release date though Amazon.co.uk still shows as a May 1st release. This edition, which will be published by Puffin, is illustrated by John Burningham. Added to the list of book releases was also Final Fling: The Moneypenny Diaires on May 1st, but we sorta already knew that.

Two new events were also added. The first is a a lecture at the Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre in London which will be given by Daphne Park and will feature readings by Lucy Fleming. The second is a “Goldfinger Golf Tournament”. This actually sounds pretty cool to me. So far it’s only been announced to take place at the Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent on June 25th, but I’m liking the idea.

You like my post title? I am sooo clever…

It seems like we’ve waited forever for this one and it just keeps slipping away. Well, probably to distance itself from the release of Young Bond 5, the SilverFin graphic novel is getting pushed back a month to October 2nd according to the new Ian Fleming Publications site devoted to Fleming’s Centenary.

Also check out the story at:

The Young Bond Dossier
CommanderBond.net

And you may be wondering, “Hey! Why haven’t you posted in a long time”. The answer: It’s complicated and I’m rather burned out. ;)

Over at 007 Magazine Graham Rye expresses his disapproval with the stamps released by Royal Mail not too long ago. His problem is really the use of the 1980 American Jove Books editions, which are pretty bad. I guess they’re not terrible per se, but of all the covers they could have gone with the Jove Books editions aren’t one of them they should have. I agree with him really.

I guess my biggest complaint about the whole stamp deal is really about how Royal Mail has promoted it. Ian Fleming Publications, to my knowledge, has been behind the whole Centenary ‘festivities’. Every single bit. I haven’t seen any involvement from the Broccolis or anyone on the film side, but every story practically features the film incarnation. Going back to the stamps, for instance, they even got Samantha Bond to do a photo shoot with them. What is that about? This is about celebrating the Centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth and his literary accomplishments and yet to promote that they get Samantha Bond (Moneypenny from the Pierce Brosnan Bond films). I like Samantha so this isn’t really a criticism of her, but couldn’t they have done something a little more…Fleming related or at least literary related. I bet Charlie Higson could have come down to the shoot for 10 minutes to do this or maybe even sent for Raymond Benson. I don’t know, I just think Samantha’s inclusion is just an odd thing to do. On top of that they got a lookalike Sean Connery to promote them too and they made an illustration of Fleming holding a cigarette that is based on an iconic promotional image of Sean Connery holding a gun for From Russia with Love.

I even think that Bond 22 is sadly looming a large shadow over the literary world. Don’t get me wrong I love the films, and with Daniel Craig as Bond and Casino Royale being just an overall kick ass film, I’m as excited as ever in my life to see the next Bond movie, but at the same time I just feel kind of sorry that it is overshadowing the upcoming events of the Centenary. Maybe this will all change. I don’t know, May is pretty far away, but haven’t you noticed that a lot of mentions of Devil May Care in the media have been thrown in with talk of the films. It’s a good time to be a Bond fan nonetheless, I just can’t help but think that Ian Fleming Publications wished Fleming was born in 1907. I think it would have worked better for them.

So recently I reported on a rumor that GoldenEye 007 was in the works for Xbox Live Arcade. I didn’t doubt that, but I failed to believe that it was going ahead without Nintendo’s input. Turns out I was correct. In a new post at 1up (the online edition of EGM), GoldenEye 007 was put out of commission because Nintendo and Microsoft couldn’t come to a financial deal. 1up says that the game would have featured the same graphics (though earlier rumors claimed that it would feature higher resolution textures – see picture), would have seen less playable characters due to licensing issues with certain actors, and would have had its multiplayer reworked for online Xbox Live play.

All hope may not be lost as a deal could still be made, though it’s not an easy situation to solve. Nintendo wants it for their Virtual Console, Microsoft wants it for their Arcade, and both regardless of which way the wind blows wants some money out of it.

New rumors posted today indicate that GoldenEye 007 may be in the cards later this year for Xbox Live Arcade. According to Xbox Evolved‘s “reliable sources”, they believe that Microsoft, Rareware, Activision, and MGM Interactive came to an agreement to get this game released “shortly” before Activision’s own Bond 22. Consider me very skeptical because another player, Nintendo, wasn’t even mentioned and they published the game and owned the rights to the Bond license when the game was originally released. Naturally Nintendo is going to want something out of this considering they have a competing “arcade” platform – Virtual Console.

The rumor didn’t end there though. Those same “reliable sources” claim the game will come with new updated graphics and a multiplayer overhaul that will allow for online play over Xbox Live. Additionally, Perfect Dark and the first Banjo-Kazooie game, both developed by Rare are also said to be in the works to be released on Live Arcade too.

Rumors. This isn’t the first time this one has made the rounds. I also seem to recall a similar one, but for Nintendo’s Virtual Console. This probably won’t be the last rumor on the matter either.

Over at The Times Online, they ran a list of the 50 best British authors since 1945. Coming in at #14 is our man Ian Fleming. He was beat out though by Bond continuation novelist Kingsley Amis who ranked #9. Martin Amis, his son also made the list at #19. Roald Dahl who adapted You Only Live Twice for the big screen surprisingly (to me) came in at #16. Awhile back I mentioned a recent survey of best Children’s authors in which Dahl ranked #1 even beating out J.K. Rowling in her prime. And yes, Rowling made the Times’ list too at #42.

So who got #1? Kingsley’s bud, Philip Larkin. Interesting selection.

Read The Times article here and see the list here.

Way back in August we learned that developers Beenox and Vicarious Visions would be porting Treyarch’s adaptation of Bond 22 to other systems. I speculated that Beenox would be doing the PC port – turns out they’re also doing the Wii port according to Beenox Creative Director Thomas Wilson as reported by GameIndustry.biz.

“Right now we’re working on a James Bond Wii title in conjunction with Treyarch and we’re rolling with it because we’re really good at what we’re doing and Activision doesn’t want to send their ports anywhere else.”

“One thing we want to make sure of if we’re making the Wii version is that we absolutely want the controls to be top notch. Although we don’t fully control the original development content because it’s in collaboration with Treyarch, that’s one thing that we can do – make sure we put out a strong Wii title. We’re almost ahead of the title that is being developed with Treyarch at the moment, so we’re saying that we’re ready and waiting for stuff. That’s the Beenox way of doing things, we don’t want to waste time, we want to be productive.”
– Beenox’s Thomas Wilson

Unless things have changed, as I said above, I can confirm that Beenox is also doing the PC port as well.

Thanks to CommanderBond.net for the tip.

Robert Sellers, author of The Battle for Bond wrote up a piece for The Sunday Times. Literary and film fans should give this a read because as the first sentence states: “It’s the most fascinating and controversial episode in the history of James Bond.” Read it here.

Also buy the book (US, UK). Yes, yes. As I stated earlier, which is still the case, I’ve yet to read it, but I’ve only ever heard great things. I’m so behind in my reading. I wanted to get away from spy fiction and Bond in general for the time being so I jumped into Sebastian Faulks’ “French Trilogy”. Great reads. I’m thinking about writing a small review of them, but I’m not really one for reviews of anything – unless I feel compelled to do so. Notice I didn’t even do one for Hurricane Gold. Hell, I’ll do one right now: It was good. There. Happy? :( I also read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. That was really good and I can’t wait to see Marc Forster’s screen adaptation of The Kite Runner. I loved that book too. Currently reading: The Spy Who Came In From the Cold. Yeah. Back to spy fiction. Sue me.

Ian Fleming Publications launched a new website today focusing on all the events that will take place in 2008 associated with Ian Fleming’s big 100 year birthday on May 28th. With the launch comes a few new updates. The first is that the SilverFin graphic novel has been pushed back to a September 4th release date – the same day as Young Bond 5. The second is the announcement of a major new exhibition called “Bond Bound: Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design” which will be on at the Fleming Collection from April 22 to June 28. I’d love to attend this one, but you know….. that whole Atlantic Ocean thing seems to be preventing me. I haven’t been to London since 1998 and my passport is now apparently expired. Perhaps I finally have my reason to return. 2008 would be an awesome year to go, well for me anyway.