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Activision's plan to annualize the Bond franchise -- regardless of the status of a movie to tie into -- has already come unraveled, with the decision to pull Mr. Bond out of Modern Warfare 2's line of sight this holiday. So, Bizarre Creations' "racing and driving focused" crack at Bond is now due in 2010, unattached to the Daniel Craig-powered, as-yet-untitled 2011 Bond movie. This poses an obvious question: With no theatrical attachment, will confessed gamer Daniel Craig reprise the interactive Bond role or will Bizarre's seemingly unique take on the license also have a unique actor in the role of 007?

According to Adam Croasdell, the EastEnders star (it's a long-running BBC soap opera, for the non-British amongst us) has wrapped up voice work on the game. "Oddly enough I have just played James Bond in the new James Bond video game -- how weird is that?" Croasdell told BBC Asian Network, as reported by the Press Association. "I think video games and the making of that type of technology, being in a funny one-piece suit and being shot with 60 cameras, I think that's sort of the future."

We're right there with you, Croasdell! Oh, and you better get used to that one-piece suit ... Activision has plans to milk that Bond license before it expires in 2014.

[Via Digital Spy]

Shortly before being pulled from the internet's intimidating view, an animator's online resume may have let out a secret -- concerning an iconic secret agent. According to the eagle-eyed Superannuation, Craig Peck listed work on a game dubbed "GoldenEye 2010 (Wii)," created in association with British developer Eurocom.

Eurocom previously worked on the PlayStation 2 version of Activision's Quantum of Solace tie-in. Assuming "GoldenEye 2010" isn't merely a nostalgic codename, it seems the publisher could be looking to a well-regarded classic for inspiration on a new James Bond game. Alas, Hollywood can't keep up with Activision's annual aspirations.

The publisher won't divulge any of its plans this early, leaving us to wait for further information or for our time-traveling correspondent to confirm the game's existence. He's really more of a GoldenEye 2020 fan -- looking back, that really was the best of the remakes.

On this afternoon's earnings call, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith dropped some details on what we can expect out of Activision in 2010. Of course, there's "a strong lineup behind the Guitar Hero franchise" and some Call of Duty "new releases" as well as "online monetization" of the franchise (not this again!) and strong Modern Warfare 2 sales, but that's not all it has in store for 2010.

"We'll launch also new games based on James Bond, Tony Hawk, and Spider-Man, along with games supporting the theatrical releases for Dreamworks' Shrek 4 and How to Train Your Dragon," Griffith said. "In addition, as previously announced, we're planning to release an innovative property in the $4b action genre." Here's Activision CEO Bobby Kotick discussing the aforementioned $4b opportunity; could this be what former Dead Space producer Glen Schofield dumped EA and went to Activision for?

Regardless, it's been nearly half a year since we got an update on Activision's first stab at the Bond franchise, after acquiring the rights from EA over three years ago. So it looks we'll be seeing more of Bond in '10 ... two-thousand and ten.

Activision, as the bastion of original IP development, announced a number of megaton titles in development for 2010. Names dropped at its investor's call include new additions to its venerable lineup of franchises: 007, Tony Hawk, Spider-man, Transformers and Shrek.

Those hungry for innovation will be able to look forward to a new original action IP from the company. In addition, Activision plans on expanding the Call of Duty franchise to new genres. Call of Duty Kart? Call of Duty Party? Call of Duty Hero: Metallica? We're psyched.

We all miss Freddy Mercury, but he lives on in each and every drunken karaoke performance the world over. Now fans can trade in their public embarrassment and enjoy this activity in the comfort of their own homes, with the release of the new Queen track pack in Guitar Hero: World Tour, available for download across all platforms. The pack features the songs, "C-lebrity," "Fat Bottomed Girls," and "We are the Champions," and is priced at 440 on Xbox Live (each track will set you back 160 individually) and $5.49 on PSN. Fret not, Wii owners, for this DLC is also available to you, with each track setting you back 200 Wii Points.

The new songs don't stop there, as a new recording of the classic James Bond theme song is also available on the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii, for 160, $1.99, or 200 Wii Points, respectively. Head past the break to sample each of these tracks.

Bobby Kotick and co. got together for the Activision Blizzard earnings report this afternoon and dropped a few numbers on their investors, aside from confirming a mess of games that still haven't officially been announced yet. After reconfirming what we told you a few weeks ago regarding the $1 billion in sales of Guitar Hero III, Kotick went on to note, "In North America, Activision Blizzard was the #1 third-party console and handheld software publisher in dollars for the calendar year, according to The NPD Group."

And how did the company fare during the holiday season? As you might expect, due to releases like Call of Duty: World at War, Guitar Hero: World Tour (which outsold Rock Band 2 at 2:1 in 2008) and a little expansion you may have heard of called Wrath of the Lich King, "Activision Blizzard was the #1 console, handheld and PC publisher in the U.S. and Europe, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and Gfk." Unfortunately, during a recession like this, even being "the #1 console, handheld and PC publisher in the U.S. and Europe" wasn't enough, with the company losing $72 million in Q4, or 5 cents a share, and announcing a 2009 outlook that falls shy of Wall Street's expectations. Sometimes it's tough being the king.

Someone must have stirred Bond's martini, because he's livid and won't make his appointment with retail shelves this year, Activision confirmed during its recent financial earnings report. The PP7-wielding British spy will instead arrive in "calendar 2010," CFO Thomas Tippl said, "to avoid head to head competition" with 2009's soon-to-be-blockbuster Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Many of you may think this is the same James Bond racing game that Bizarre has said it's working on, and we're right there, wondering with you. Activision is unlikely to push back a racing game because of its FPS franchise, so this suggests a different, action-based Bond game altogether.

James Bond is traveling to Japan this March when Quantum of Solace finally releases on the PS3, 360, PS2 and Wii in the region. Activision Blizzard has handed the publishing rights to Square Enix for the game's eastern release, where it will be named 007: Nagusame no Houshuu. Quantum of Solace's March 26th release date means it will be arriving a bit late when compared to the movie itself, despite it only just reaching Japan within the last week.

We're not sure how well Quantum of Solace is likely to sell in the far east, but we can presume that Square Enix thinks there's some money to be made from it. Since Activision has shut up shop in the region, handing the publishing rights over to Japanese publishers looks to become a regular occurrence. We weren't expecting Square Enix to be the first to take advantage, but perhaps sticking its name on the box will actually help increase sales.

Following reports taken directly from an upfront with Massive Inc. that sequels were on the way for Tony Hawk, Call of Duty -- specifically, a follow-up to Modern Warfare -- and Guitar Hero, and that a new Bond game is in the works, Activision informed VideoGamer.com that such reports are "speculative." In other words, Activision declined to confirm the projects it confirmed only yesterday. In other news, when asked whether or not it intended to poop in the woods, a bear told us that such reports were "speculative." The Pope also declined to confirm whether or not he wears a funny hat.

[Via Joystiq]

As part of Activision's Massive upfront (the same one that announced Modern Warfare 2), we learn that Bizarre is hard at word on an original James Bond game as well as an original racer IP that's being described as a "Mario Kart meets Forza." As is the norm, release details and game specifics were not given.

All said, we're glad to see Bizarre hard at work on new projects, but would like to see some fresh Geometry in 2009. We're proud Geometry addicts.

At a summit held by Massive for in-game advertising, Activision confirmed that Bizarre Creations is working on a new third-person Bond title for release in 2009. According to the Twitter feed of Newsweek's N'Gai Croal (trust us, he's legit), the game is being touted as "racing and driving focused." The executive also mentioned Bizarre's new racing IP, describing it as "Mario Kart meets Forza." It's not much (in fact, it's somewhat paradoxical), but it does hint at a departure from Project Gotham Racing's realism -- relative to Mario Kart!

The executive also reportedly said the next Call of Duty Modern Warfare is due out Fall 2009. We're uncertain if that's confirmation of the next COD's setting or just a glib way of saying "Infinity Ward's COD series." We're reaching out to Activision for clarification on all these statements.

Are people getting less excited about midnight launches? Or does it just depend on the game, or even the event itself? We'll have a chance to test that theory this week with what looks to be yin and yang launches. Last night we went to the midnight launch of Activision's James Bond game Quantum of Solace, and at the other end you've got Gears of War 2 launching on Friday. We'll have to see how they compare, because last night's Quantum of Solace launch was a big Dr. No.

If you need a game, this week's for you. While we can't vouch for the quality of all the releases (or even, uh, half), but we can say one thing: there's a lot of 'em. And by a lot, we mean dozens. Well, if you add up all the regions, anyway. Look, don't get technical. It's a lot. See for yourself.

As an aside, after seeing this week's releases, we should stop crying about not having any more Professor Layton -- the first title is only just now being released in Europe! And what's up with Korg DS-10? It's been turning up on releases for a while. Maybe we'll actually see it this week.

• Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune
• Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess
• Dragonball: Origins
• Exit DS
• futureU: The Prep Game for SAT
• Goosebumps HorrorLand
• Guitar Rock Tour
• Hello Kitty Daily
• Imagine: Interior Designer
• Imagine: Wedding Designer
• James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace
• Korg DS-10
• Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ
• Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
• Monster Lab
• My Baby Boy
• My Baby Girl
• Petz Dogz Pack
• Pony Friends: Mini Breeds Edition
• Princess on Ice
• Real Soccer 2009
• Theresia
• Tom Clancy's EndWar
• Winx Club: Mission Enchantix
• Zoo Vet: Endangered Animals