Halo: Chronicles

Developer(s)

Wingnut Interactive

Publisher

Microsoft Game Studios

US Date Released

UK Date Released

Genre:

Game modes:

ESRB rating:

Rating Pending

Platform(s):

Xbox 360

Designer(s):

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Writer(s):

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Composer(s):

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Media:

DVD

Website:

Halo: Chronicles^[1] was an episodic project that was announced at Microsoft's official Xbox show, X06. As of 2009, the game has been canceled.

BackgroundEdit

Halo: Chronicles was to be an episodic interactive story telling^[2] set in the Halo universe, as confirmed by Microsoft on April 24, 2008. The game was to be a "new chapter" and a "new series"^{[citation needed]} in the Halo story, was stated to feature a new way to play games, and was described by Jackson as the "filmiest game."

Not much is known why the project was shutdown, but it was said to 'collapse when the Movie did'.

Production NotesEdit

Very little was revealed about the story line, plot, etc.

In the UK-version Xbox 360 magazine Xbox World 360, it was speculated that the game would be more of an 'interactive movie' where some parts would be semi-playable, and certain decisions would lead to different outcomes that you would then have to watch play out. It had also been stated that it would delve into John-117's back story.^{[citation needed]}

"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 elaborating on the nature of the episodic content of Halo: Chronicles, and on the relationship between Peter Jackson and Microsoft^[3]

It was confirmed by Shane Kim at GDC 07 that the project was an episodic title. According to Microsoft, Jackson was planning two episodic series for the Xbox 360. These games appeared to be in a downloadable format. Microsoft went on to tell that the game was now in the development phase.^[4]

Originally, Bungie had created a small internal team to cooperate with the New Zealand developers. When the movie and Chronicles fell through, the team was retained and tasked with the creation of Halo 3: ODST instead.^[5]

CancellationEdit

"That Halo project is no longer happening, it sort of collapsed when the movie didn't end up happening."

— Peter Jackson response in an interview^[6]

On the 24th of July 2009, Jackson told in an interview that the Chronicles project was no longer in development.^[6]

TriviaEdit

• In the September 20, 2007 Bungie Podcast, Joseph Staten confirmed that it was being codenamed "Chronicles".
• The game was stated to "focus on the intimate, personal aspect of real war..."^[7]

SourcesEdit