Rare has come within a hair's breadth of announcing a release date for Banjo-Tooie on Xbox Live Arcade. What it has said is that the downloadable remake of the N64 classic will be available this April. SPOnG has the first officially-released screens for your perusal.

There was also an update on the situation with Rare's plans to pick out the seven best player-created vehicles from Nuts & Bolts. Sort of. "We will be sharing more detailed info on how exactly we plan to show off your contraption in February, when... ack! I’ve said too much already", a blog posting tells us.

Back to Banjo-Tooie and there was more rock solid information telling us... No, wait, sorry. There was more teasing. Teasing like the faint whiff of a stripper's crotch. "Without going into too much detail, the Stop ’n’ Swop items collected in Banjo-Kazooie will ‘magically’ appear in Tooie, resulting in... well, you'll just have to find out. What could be cooler than that? Nothing, that’s what – not even Kazooie turning into a dragon", Rare tells us.

If all that leaves you feeling a little unsatisfied... don't blame us. Blame Rare. Now look at the screens!