Halo: Chronicles

Halo: Chronicles is an episodic project that was announced at Microsoft's official Xbox show, X06.

Background
Peter Jackson (director of such movies as 'King Kong' and 'The Lord of the Rings'series), with his recently-formed Wingnut Interactive, is creating a game set in the Halo universe, without any help or partnership with Bungie Studios as stated by Microsoft on April 24th, 2008. The game is to be a "new chapter" and a "new trilogy" in the Halo story and is slated to feature a new way to play games.

In UK Xbox 360 magazine Xbox World 360, it was speculated that the game will be more of an 'interactive movie' where some parts will be semi-playable, and certain decisions will lead to different outcomes that you then have to watch play out. It has also been stated that it will delve into Master Chief's back story, set for a release in winter 2008. Bungie will likely provide supervision.

It was confirmed by Shane Kim at GDC 07 that the project was an episodic title. According to Microsoft,Jackson is planning two episodic series for the Xbox 360. These games appear to be in a downloadable format. Microsoft went on to tell that the game is now in the development phase.

Build-up
As of the 23rd of April, Microsoft has begun dramatically expanding the team working on the project.

"Microsoft Game Studios has been hard at work collaborating with Peter Jackson on the development of (a Peter Jackson-helmed Halo project). At this time, it's necessary to grow the internal team to keep pace with development. Bungie will continue to remain involved in multiple aspects of the Halo Universe with MGS."

- Microsoft spokesperson to MTV Multiplayer

On the same day, Bungie confirmed it in a Weekly Whats Update:

"So what does this all mean? In a nutshell, Microsoft is building a development team to work on future Halo game titles - the first one being collaboration with Peter Jackson. Just like the upcoming Halo Wars from Ensemble, this isn't "our" game. However, having worked with him already, we are possibly more excited than you are to see what someone of Peter Jackson’s imagination, talent and resources can bring to a Halo game experience. Bungie will, however, continue to remain very much involved in multiple aspects the Halo Universe as part of our ongoing relationship with Microsoft. Meanwhile, we're damn busy ourselves with a variety of projects underway within the studio including one that you'll be hearing more about in the very near future. Now that we control our own destiny we also have other longer term, top secret plans afoot. The wait for that may be a tad longer though."

- Frank O'Connor.

IGN Rumor
IGN unveiled a rumor on their site on the 24th of April:

"After shipping last fall's blockbusting Halo 3, revered developer Bungie stunned the world by announcing plans to liberate itself from Microsoft's ownership. Allegedly, that path to freedom requires that they develop a few more titles for Microsoft, and we've heard rumblings that the first one will be a Halo spin-off due in late 2009. Our spies tell us to expect a third-person action/adventure shooter hybrid that takes place before the original Halo, chronicling early skirmishes between the ODST troops and the Covenant. This may or may not be the oft-mentioned "Peter Jackson Halo Project" -- though apparently Microsoft is hiring a separate team for that -- but WETA is definitely involved in some capacity. Look for a massive reveal around the time Gears of War 2 ships this fall..."

- IGN Article by Shane Bettenhaus

Trivia

 * They also stated in the same issue that they believed the game would retail for "Three-Quarters" the cost of a normal Xbox 360 title.
 * In the 20 September 2007 Bungie Podcast, Joseph Staten accidentally confirmed that it is being codenamed "Chronicles".
 * The game has been stated to "focus on the intimate, personal aspect of war..."
 * There is a possible release of Halo: Chronicles in the winter of 2008.
 * It has been rumored that a preview of Halo: Chronicles will ship with Halo Wars.