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Those of you who were excited to learn Goldeneye would be making a triumphant return via the Xbox Live Arcade are going to be severely disappointed: while the project was set and ready to go, it was sadly canceled late last year "at the behest of Nintendo."

According to a recent post over at the NeoGAF forums, Nintendo America's Reggie Fils-Aime was "completely behind the idea," but the whole thing was nixed by Nintendo Japanese boss Satoru Iwata. He basically said that "under absolutely no circumstances would Nintendo allow the game to release on another platform." Of course, Nintendo doesn't really have the rights to the code, nor does it hold any legal sway to block such a release. However, it's now rumored that the threat such a move could have to Activision's relationship with Nintendo was enough to block the project. So at this point, Goldeneye for XBLA really isn't happening, unless something radical changes in Nintendo's company policy.

Unfortunately for Xbox 360 owners, if they want to experience the old-school greatness that was Goldeneye, they had best pick up a Nintendo 64. Otherwise, you might be waiting a very long time for this classic to arrive on Microsoft's next-gen platform.