Sometimes the first official image from a movie can drastically change the public’s perspective of an upcoming film. It can show you an exciting new look from a main character, or it can give you hints to the story or plot. Then some times the first official still is just a man sitting by a pool in the dark.

Empire has debuted the first official image from Skyfall. A lonely and sullen looking Bond playing footsie with a swimming pool after hours. Maybe that watch is a new Q gadget, or perhaps there are sharks with laser beam head gear just out of frame!

Yeah, not exactly the most exciting first still in the history of movies, but it is still notable for a few reasons. One, it is James Bond, and with the recent strife with MGM, seeing him officially in Skyfall is nice to see. There was real concern that the movie would never get made, but it is really happening.

Also this is the 5oth anniversary of James Bond, which is a huge deal. The Golden Anniversary for a cinematic icon is important to recognize, and any opportunity this year to talk about Britain’s most dashing spy will be used. Hopefully they will be more meaty in the future.

The James Bond films are one of the longest and most storied film franchises in the history of cinema. Despite over twenty films and nearly five decades of action, the series has been rather consistent in the score department. For well over three fourths of the James Bond films music dudties have been held by two men, the late great John Barry and excellent David Arnold.

It was assumed that Arnold would be returning for his sixth Bond film with Skyfall, but it seems the delays caused by MGM have actually caused Arnold’s schedule to be too full, he will be spending much of the next six months being the musical director for the summer Olympics. MI6 is reporting that in Arnold’s absence, director Sam Mendes is calling on a long time collaborator to fill his shoes.

American composer Thomas Newman will be scoring the new James Bond film, “Skyfall”, due out later this year. It will be his first 007 adventure.

Newman has been a long time collaborator with “Skyfall” helmer Sam Mendes, having scored four of the directors other films: “American Beauty” (1999), “Road to Perdition” (2002) [which also starred Daniel Craig], “Jarhead” (2005) and “Revolutionary Road” (2008).

Newman is an interesting choice for a big budget action film, but in many respects so is director Sam Mendes. One thing is for certain, Newman always brings his A game, so you can expect to hear an exceptional Bond score once Skyfall hits theaters later this year.

The most recent James Bonds films have had a significantly more serious tone than usual for the spy series. The first casualties of a heavier Bond film were the lighter, side characters that have been a fixture of the franchise for the last half a century. Well the most beloved of these characters has just been granted a reprieve, as Ben Whishaw, who has already been announced as part of the cast, will be playing  Q in the new 007 adventure, Skyfall.

BBC reported over the holiday weekend that the character of Q will be returning to the big screen in the next Bond film.

At the age of 31, Whishaw is 12 years younger than Bond actor Daniel Craig, a first for the Q character. Whishaw recently starred in the BBC’s 1950s news drama The Hour.”

“The role of 007′s gadget designer was played by Desmond Llewelyn in From Russia With Love and most recently by John Cleese, opposite Pierce Brosnan, in 2002′s Die Another Day.

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Two summers ago, Activision announced the rerelease of one of the most popular first person shooters ever with Goldeneye 007 for the Nintendo Wii. With updated graphics (for the Wii…) and control, there was still something missing from the experience: players.

While the Wii has been a focus of the casual gaming market, the hardcore fanbase who would care most about the Goldeneye name had grown up and moved away from the Nintendo systems and their waggle controls and instead found their way to the XBox 360 or PlayStation 3. Enter San Diego Comic Con 2011 and Activision lets us take a peek at actual gameplay of the revamped Goldeneye 007: Reloaded. Business is about to pick up.

Gameplay:

It’s hard to review a reimagining of a title without looking at the original inspiration at the same time. The most noticeable difference is gameplay. In the early days, people didn’t really know what a shooter should play like on a console and the gameplay compensated for the limited control scheme with the Nintendo 64′s single analog controller. Now, Goldeneye 007: Reloaded feels and plays like a standard twin stick shooter.

New to the series is the disappearance of health packs since the emergence of regenerating health which has become the industry standard in shooters since the initial release. What is nice though for the Goldeneye “purist” (if those even still exist) is that players can opt for the Classic difficulty setting which takes away regenerating health to give the game a more old school feel.

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New York Comic Con was a huge showcase for the folks at Activision. In addition to the Spider-Man photo booth where people could green screen themselves webslinging through the city, the other side of the Activision booth had part of a full size helicopter people could pose next to. Why a helicopter you ask? Well, remember that question asked about “What is cooler than drop kicking a helicopter?” that was posed for a little game called Prototype? One of the showcase pieces given its first hands on to the public was Prototype 2 on the XBox 360.

During our playthrough we played both a story mission and a challenge mission of the game. Much like the original Prototype, Prototype 2 has impressive visuals and fantastic animation. One thing that quickly stood out though is the change in the field of view.

The player model for James Heller is smaller on the screen which allows players to see furher into the distance, more of what is in front of him and more importantly, more of what is on the side and behind him. This quickly changes up the gameplay as a player can relax a little more without the constant fear from the original of a rocket launcher off screen delivering a killing blow from out of nowhere.

The combat of Prototype 2 seems fairly consistent to the first meaning it is both brutal and fun. This game gives new meaning to collateral damage as players may be aiming at the Blackwatch soldiers but end up tearing through hordes of innocent New Yorkers in the process. Some of the classic powers return as well as updates on the tendrils which in effect turns a target into a magnet for every destructible item close by to come flying at it as seen in the game’s most recent trailer.

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At Comic Con, we got our first look at the gameplay of the next-gen console upgrade of the Goldeneye franchise with Goldeneye 007: Reloaded. At PAX, Activision has released the first official trailer for the game’s Mi6 mode which we were only able to see in person in San Diego and were unfortunately unable to share with you until now.

From everything we have seen, Goldeneye 007: Reloaded does an awesome job of capturing the feel of the classic Goldeneye experience and updating it to the modern era. The question remains however if the game has evolved with the times to capture the interest of those who loved it so many years ago.

In addition to the game’s classic story (that is often forgotten because of the heavy nostalgia for the game’s multiplayer) will be the Mi6 mode. Almost in the way that Special Ops mode was added to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Mi6 will be a series of missions for players to tackle outside of the standard story. It will add more play time to the single player experience as well as increase the value for people who had already experienced the classic story years ago, giving them something all new.

Take a look at the trailer and gallery below and make sure to let us know your thoughts on Goldeneye 007: Reloaded coming this fall for the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 from Activision and Eurocom.

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Great news for Jams Bond fans everywhere. Deadline is reporting that a deal has been made and beleaguered studio MGM has announced a new Bond film, dubbed Bond 23, is set to go into production later this year with an eye to a November 9th, 2012 release.

In more good news, Daniel Craig will be returning as the legendary British secret agent, with Sam Mendes directing a screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan. That script is being kept under wraps, of course, but we do know the story begins after the events of Quantum Of Solace.

In addition, there’s no word on who might play the next Bond villain or, in more important news, who will be the next “Bond Girl.” While those are being hashed out I would also like to recommend to Sam Mendes that he give Felix Leiter a bit more to do this time around as I would like to see Jeffrey Wright keep getting work. Also, I would not mind if Olga Kurylenko came back for this one either. She’s always welcome.

Of course, given Daniel Craig’s “friendship” with Rachel Weisz, there’s always a chance she might make an appearance. That would be ok with me as well. We probably won’t see Kate Winslet in this one though, for obvious reasons.

As for other villains or Bond Girls, who would you like to see make an appearance in Bond 23?

At this weekend’s New York Comic Con, I was lucky enough to spend some time with the much-anticipated sequel to Goldeneye 007 for the Nintendo 64. Goldeneye 007 for Wii very much lives up to

Firstly, the new Classic Controller Plus is pretty great to use. While it doesn’t quite replicate the feel of a N64 controller, it feels much easier to manuver than the original Classic Controller, which really helps for Goldeneye 007. Obviously, you won’t want to be fumbling with a controller while you’re trying to come out on top in online multiplayer.

But the control scheme for the game is incredibly intuitive, so if you’re a native of shooting games you’ll pick it up very fast.

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While players think of 007 as a first person franchise when fondly remembering Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64, most forget the lack of success that subsequent releases on the PlayStation 2 garnered. Hoping to reinvent the wheel, Bizarre creations is releasing a new third-person action adventure featuring the British super spy.

Coming to the XBox 360, PC, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo DS, James Bond 007: Blood Stone will be an original Bond experience coming from screenwriter Bruce Feirstein (Tomorrow Never Dies and Goldeneye).

In addition to Daniel Craig (Bond) and Judi Dench (M), Grammy and BRIT award winning artist Joss Stone will be featured in a leading role in the game. Stone, as seen in the screen shots below, will also be creating new original music for the game as well.

“James Bond 007: Blood Stone captures the cinematic intensity of a Bond film by immersing players in an intriguing conspiracy that will require them to think and act like James Bond,” said David Pokress, Head of Marketing for Licensed Properties, Activision Publishing.  “In addition, the game will feature a diverse array of multi-player modes and debut strategic objective-based gameplay that will allow Xbox 360, PS3 and PC players to battle as teams of spies and mercenaries through authentic Bond locales.”

Check out the trailer and screens of Craig and Stone in James Bond 007: Blood Stone.

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