Top > Webmaster > 2006 > October > 2006-10-02

New Video Games Studio by Microsoft and Peter Jackson

A new video games studio is going to be created by Microsoft and Peter Jackson, the director of the legendary "Lord of the rings" trilogy. Wingnut Interactive, the new studio, will be a joint venture of two Microsoft studios and will work on a new game in their Halo games series. Jackson`s screenwriter, Fran Walsh, will be also joining the work.

Wingnut Interactive, according to Microsoft, will also work on a completely new video game, though no more details were disclosed. The new games will probably be released in 2007, just after the release of "Halo 3". The "Halo" titles will work only on the Xbox 360, not including Sony`s PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. The studio will be based in New Zealand, where Jackson`s "Lord of the Rings" was produced. Since Microsoft had launched its Xbox 360 in November, a lot of effort was put to make the games a success.

However, even though the Xbox 360 was successful, in particularly the games "Project Gotham Racing 3," "Perfect Dark Zero" and "Kameo", the "Halo" and "Halo 2" were much more successful. A few more innovations were announced by Microsoft, such as "Doom" for Xbox Live Arcade. Microsoft also said it has a new deal with Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive Software in order to provide "Grand Theft Auto IV" content for the Xbox Live marketplace.