Jackson Putting On His Game Face

Renowned New Zealand based film director Peter Jackson and Microsoft have gone into business together to advance their little gaming enterprise known as Wingnut Interactive.

A gaming enthusiast himself, Jackson has had input into “HALO” and the soon-to-be-released “King Kong” and “Rings” projects for Xbox 360.

All of this became public knowledge at this year’s Microsoft Videogame CON X06 held in Barcelona, Spain yesterday. Jackson, Bill Gates and Microsoft’s Game Studio GM, Shane Kim participated in the big event.

It now appears that Microscoft will be depending very heavily on Jackson’s creative talents for many of its future gaming ventures. “We’re looking for Peter to help us to create interactive entertainment that will expand our audience into the mainstream,” commented Kim at X06.

Gamers should be on the lookout for a new real-time strategy game called “HALO Wars,” which is only now in the mind-to-computing stage and won’t be available until after the “HALO 3” release sometime in 2007.

In another game related announcement, Microsoft has confirmed that the HD DVD drive attachment for its Xbox 360 console will run consumers a $199 (US) price tag. It is due out before the Christmas holiday buying spree.