Evidently, Microsoft's new console is pretty TV heavy, with a new version of Kinect allowing for voice controls for navigation, switching between games and live TV, providing updates, and everything else. So in conjunction with that, during Microsoft's Xbox One unveiling on Tuesday, Nancy Tellem, head of Xbox Entertainment Studios brought out new Halo developer 343 Studios chief, Bonnie Ross, to make a rather unexpected announcement.
It seems that 343 is able to keep things under wrap a lot better than government agents. 343 has been working with none other than Steven Spielberg himself set to direct a live action Halo series. Great news for fans of the Xbox exclusive FPS, but unfortunate were the amount of details. Essentially, none.
After making the announcement, Ross briefly introduced a cutaway to a pre-recorded message from Spielberg, who spoke of his excitment in being able to work on the franchise, saying, "For me, the Halo universe is an amazing opportunity for the intersection of mythmaking and technology."
Fair enough, the SPARTAN-II commando John-117 as Master Chief is more of a legend than an actual soldier, and with his own suit of MJOLNIR Power Armor while battling alien hostiles on space age terrain with a rather extensive arsenal, you certainly can't deny the technology.
I wonder if he'll include anything about teabagging...
Halo has forayed into the live-action world before, and with significantly better results than most games. A good portion of Halo 4's David Fincher-produced launch trailer, Scanned, was live-action, and there was an entire Halo series that was live action, Forward Unto Dawn, to help provide some story before Halo 4's launch. All five episodes premiered online, and were eventually released as a full feature film. A movie was under consideration with Peter Jackson, Neil Blomkamp, and Guillermo del Toro all under consideration to direct, but the movie was eventually killed, after being considered too expensive to make.
What remains unknown is if Spielberg's show will follow the plots of the recent game, the original trilogy, some kind of mash up, or if he has an original idea up his sleeve. We'll keep you posted as more information becomes available, as well as ideas for potential cast members, plots, and more.
