The Jackson project had been announced in September 2006 but never a screenshot nor gameplay detail was released in the three years since. The proposed Halo movie which Jackson was set to produce ran afoul of financing complications, as Jackson told Kotaku.

Last week, Jackson confirmed the game was dead, saying that it “sort of collapsed when the movie didn’t end up happening.”

In 2006, Jackson had expressed high hopes for the project, stating:

“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.”

We asked Microsoft for an update about Jackson’s scuttled Halo game and whether the project may live on without the filmmaker. This is what they had to say:

Microsoft Game Studios is deeply committed to supporting and strategically growing the Halo franchise, and our relationship with Peter and his team is something that we greatly value. Given the bandwidth of both of our companies we’ve decided to put this joint effort on hold and prioritize resources against other projects like “Halo 3: ODST,” “Halo: Reach” and “Halo Legends.”

Peter Jackson tells Joystiq about the Halo movie, video game project [Joystiq]

The buzz grew as fans, and Hollywood, questioned Jackson’s choice of first-time director Neill Blomkamp to helm the big-budget project. But that ultimately became a moot point. As the movie budget escalated and the demands by Microsoft increased, not even a pair of giant Hollywood studios could afford to foot the bill for the big screen version of Halo. But fate stepped in and Jackson ended up creating an original sci-fi film with District 9.

Gamers will get to see a sci-fi collaboration between producer Jackson and co-writer/director Blomkamp this summer with Tristar Pictures’ District 9. Rather than basing the film on a hit game, the duo created an original alien story and filmed it documentary-style. Jackson was on hand at Comic-Con to screen the film and talk about how Halo begat District 9.

Jackson and Blomkamp were going to bring Microsoft’s Halo videogame franchise to the big screen, but when Hollywood bailed on Microsoft’s demands, the duo ended up creating District 9, which opens August 14.

“Well, I believe in fate. And a lot of times in my career I’ve just let fate decide what happens,” said Jackson. “I don’t try to influence things too much. ‘Cause I kind of believe in some weird force that’s out there, sort of deciding what happens in your life. And I just look back on it and think, well fate made a decision that it wasn’t gonna be Halo that we made, it was gonna be District 9. ‘Cause it literally happened within 24 hours. I mean, we woke up one morning thinking we were making Halo. That day we got the news that the studios, Fox and Universal, didn’t want to make the film anymore.”

When asked exactly what happened with the Halo film, Jackson replied, “It wasn’t like the studios didn’t want to make it with us, they just didn’t want to make Halo anymore because they were arguing amongst themselves and with Microsoft and the rights and the deals and everything else. It was all these little politics that were kicking in.”

District 9 is set in South Africa and focuses on a quarantined area where aliens have been kept for 30 years. The film literally took shape the same day that Jackson’s Halo was scrapped.

“During the course of that day, ’cause we were all in New Zealand together… Neill had been working on Halo for five or six months, we decided to take control of our own lives a little bit and we thought, ‘Well, let’s make an original movie. Let’s keep it low budget. Let’s try to finance it independently so we don’t have to get involved with studio politics,’” explained Jackson. “It’s sort of, do something that we can control without putting ourselves into a Halo situation again. And that’s what happened. And so by the end of that day, we had lost Halo but we had started District 9.”

Jackson is best known to fans for adapting the Lord of the Rings trilogy to films. He’s currently producing Guillermo del Toro’s Hobbit film adaptations. Jackson, who is an avid gamer, equates books and videogame adaptations on the same level.

“If it’s a book or a videogame, even though you’ve had the experience of reading or playing that story, it’s affected you, and now you can imagine it as a film,” said Jackson. “I also see the role of video games as one that will continue to command respect and attention due to the improved graphics, forms of narrative, interactive capabilities, and ways of immersion.”

Jackson, who has worked with Ubisoft on the King Kong videogame and currently has a deal with Microsoft to create original games through WETA Interactive, believes that intrinsically, most videogames, and virtually all movies, do one basic thing: tell stories.

As game technology improves, Jackson believes games will become even more cinematic experiences. One result of HD graphics and advances in sound will be the sharing of digital assets between game developers and filmmakers, which will create more authentic representations of movie-based games.

One of the big themes at Comic-Con this year was the explosion of 3-D films, including the new TRON Avatar movie. Jackson is interested in embarking in the third dimension with future projects.

“I personally love 3-D,” said Jackson. “I love the fact that it’s become a much more gentle experience than it used to be. It always had this kind of eye strain and lack of quality associated with it. It was sort of gimmicky and difficult. But now it’s technically become easier and it’s also much more…it doesn’t give you bad headaches anymore. And I think 3-D is just another really great tool to help an audience step into the movie.”

“When I’m a filmmaker, I try to make movies that invite the audience to step into the film and to become part of the world of the film, if I can,” added Jackson. “Rather than be an audience, I try to take that barrier away so you’re not just sitting watching something like a sports event on a TV screen. You’re actually participating. I try to shoot my scenes in a way and move the camera around in a way that sort of invites you into the movie to some degree. And 3-D is just a tool that makes that easier. It makes it more vibrant. I haven’t shot a feature in 3-D yet, but I’m certainly looking forward to doing that.”

Fans can see Jackson’s latest directing venture, The Lovely Bones starring Mark Wahlberg, on the big screen December 11.

The movie is slated for 2012, which isn’t enough time to tackle the game version as well del Toro explains. According to the director:

It’s too ambitious to try and tackle that along with The Hobbit. We have such tight release dates.

Del Toro says that he and his team will be involved in The Hobbit game, but adds that he won’t be as involved as he’d liked to be. Understandable, we hear he has a day job. Something about being a big time Hollywood director? Dunno.

Del Toro: New ‘Hobbit’ Game Will Have to Wait [Multiplayer via VG247]

We first mentioned Jackson’s other, other movie back in 2007. Now you get a chance to check out the trailer, which sort of makes it look like an indie college movie.

District 9 [Apple, thanks Nathaniel]

Hit the jump for the full art. It’s purply.

This isn’t the first concept art we’ve seen for this project. More here and here and here.

Exclusive: 5th Halo Fall Of Reach Concept Art! [Latino Review]

We’ve been told by several industry sources that Yu was part of a package deal. She, and her husband, Kenneth Scott are both joining Microsoft Game Studios. Scott is an art director at id Software, most recently working on Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.

But why does it matter that Corrinne Yu is headed for Microsoft Game Studios? Let’s look at the tech Gearbox is using and deduce from that. Brothers in Arms, Aliens: Colonial Marines and Borderlands all use Unreal Engine 3 — with Borderlands using a heavily modded version of the Unreal Engine 3. Sources tell us that Yu has been staffed to work on the Peter Jackson Halo game, which Microsoft is still in the planning stages of. The company is ready to kick that project into full gear. (Remember this job ad?)

And since Microsoft Game Studios is doing the Peter Jackson Halo game, that means the chances of Microsoft using Bungie’s proprietary, in-house “Halo 3 Engine” are slim at best. Though, if she’s not bringing her Unreal Engine 3 expertise to Microsoft’s internal studio, she could very well be working on a new in-house engine specifically for the Peter Jackson game.

[Pic]

Direct the tone and timber of the project with an eye towards compelling character development, visionary narrative progression, and addictive gameplay
Partner with key Hollywood talent to collaboratively craft a masterful game experience
Bridge the gap between storytelling and the interactive experience while delivering on the Halo soul.
Collaborate with game play designers, story writers, game writers, and said external luminary to deliver on a unique game in the Halo universe…

So that might be Peter Jackson — unless Microsoft has roped in other “key Hollywood talent” and not told anyone. Microsoft’s been pretty bad about not telling us what’s going on with the new Halo games.

Job Listing [Gamasutra via 1Up]

New Halo game for E3 [CVG]

Bungie is said to “continue to remain very much involved in multiple aspects the Halo Universe as part of our ongoing relationship with Microsoft”, teasing that one of their in-progress projects will be revealed “in the very near future.” Perhaps it’s that Halo prequel that EGM taunted us with? Is it the future yet?!?

Bungie Weekly Update 04/25/08 [Bungie]

The job listings, all of which are linked to at the MTV Multiplayer report, are light on concrete details. They look to be intentionally vague, deemed “Not Product Specific” and only mentioning that they take place in the Halo universe. See if you can decipher them with your Master Chief decoder rings!

Is Microsoft Hiring A ‘Halo’ Team For Peter Jackson This Week? [MTV Multiplayer]