(On original topic)
This confirms what I suspected. Rare said about 2 months ago I believe that the game was more than half way completed which led me to believe that Microsoft would attempt to get this game read for their holiday lineup.
I for one am looking forward to it. While many may have found Rare's previous 360 titles to be a bit disappointing I've heard their Banjo team is relatively intact from the N64 days (it seems someone else pointed this out already) and it seems to be getting a good, full development cycle. A high quality platformer would be a fine addition to the 360s library. If this and Fable both release around the same time it looks as if I'll have plenty to keep me busy later this year, and as a gamer that's what I'm looking for.
