Peter Jackson to play games with Microsoft

By M&C News Sep 28, 2006, 7:05 GMT

Activities at the annual X06 games convention in Barcelona are generating news.

Academy Award winning director Peter Jackson and his screenwriting partner Fran Walsh have packed up with Microsoft Game Studios to create interactive entertainment series for the Xbox 360 and the online game Xbox Live.

Jackson and Walsh will set up Wingnut Interactive (their production company is Wingnut productions) which will create interactive titles.

"Microsoft has built an amazing living canvas with Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, which allows the storytellers of our time to express themselves in a new medium," Jackson said.

"They have fundamentally changed how people think about games. My vision, together with Microsoft Game Studios, is to push the boundaries of game development and the future of interactive entertainment.

From a movie-maker's point of view, it is clear to me that the Xbox 360 platform is the stage where storytellers can work their craft in the same way they do today with movies and books but taking it further with interactivity."

Jackson and Walsh have been allied with Microsoft since they agreed to serve as executive producers on Universal and Fox's adaptation of Microsoft's game Halo, which is being directed by South African director Neill Blomkamp and scheduled for release in 2008.

Not surprising, the first gaming title will be a collaborative effort with Bungie Studio to create the next chapter in the Halo franchise.

Copyright 2006 by Monsters and Critics