Jackson to create 360 titles

With pies now firmly off formerly chubby Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson's menu (well played fella, by the way), he's had to find metaphorical alternatives to stick his fingers in - and the latest is a mammoth collaboration with Microsoft on games.

At X06 tonight he praised the Xbox 360 as new medium for storytelling, and said he and his team at Wingnut Studios, in partnership with Microsoft Game Studios, is set to co-write, co-design and co-produce an original chapter of the Halo franchise with developer Bungie Studios.

The director is also working on a second un-named original title for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, with the intention to "captivate new audiences that have yet to discover the power of interactive entertainment".

"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," said Jackson.

"They have fundamentally changed how people think about games." Well yes, there certainly wasn't this much zealotry before Xbox.

"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," he added.

Jackson is also creating Wingnut Interactive, a new entertainment studio combining the creative talent of Jackson's movie team and the technology and experience from Microsoft's gaming division.