Halo: Chronicles

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

Background
Halo: Chronicles is an episodic interactive story telling set in the Halo universe, as confirmed by Microsoft on April 24th, 2008. The game is to be a "new chapter" and a "new series" in the Halo story, is stated to feature a new way to play games, and is described by Jackson as the "filmiest game."

Gameplay
Very little is known yet about the story line, plot, etc.

In the UK (United Kingdom) the Xbox 360 magazine X box 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 of 2009.

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.

In an interview, Shane Kim elaborated on the nature of the episodic content of Halo: Chronicles, and on the relationship between Peter Jackson and Microsoft :

"But our deal with Peter is not about a movie person making a game. What we've talked about - and he agrees with this - is how we can use Live as a medium to introduce episodic interactive storytelling. There's some people in our industry who can tell stories - but they're not Peter Jackson."

- Shane Kim, interview



Build-up
As of April 23rd, 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 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.

In a January 2008 Bungie.net weekly update, it was mentioned that one of the Bungie employees "Managed to crash a Warthog", in a current build of the game, thus almost eliminating the prediction that the game would be an "Interactive Movie".

This piece of information has been strangely overlooked and unconsidered; surprisingly considering this is the only piece of game play info that has been released to date. [July 11, 2008]

However, the crashing of the warthog could also refer to their visit to WETA workshop, where an employee managed to crash the Warthog into a wall.

Trivia

 * In the September 20, 2007 Bungie Podcast, Joseph Staten confirmed that it is being codenamed "Chronicles".
 * The game has been stated to "focus on the intimate, personal aspect of real war..."
 * Other than sporadic quotes by officials, little to no information is known about the game, exemplifying the mystery entirely.
 * Peter Jackson has said that the game will blur the line between movies and games.
 * It is unconfirmed whether or not Halo: Chronicles will be DLC on the Xbox Live Marketplace, or be released on a disc.
 * In late 2008, Microsoft Game Studios hired Ryan Payton, the producer of Metal Gear Solid 4, to become the creative director for a Halo project, possibly Chronicles.