Jackson to become lord of the Xbox 360

Stan Beer
Thursday, 28 September 2006 06:30

Your IT - Home IT

Lord of the Rings director and screenwriter duo, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, have signed a deal with Microsoft to create two new video games, including a new chapter of the Halo series. Microsoft has also announced US and EU pricing for its HD DVD player.

• Announcements

Unfortunately for US and European consumers, they will have to pay a bit more than their Japanese counterparts for the new Xbox HD DVD player. However, the prices will still be comparatively cheap compared to standalone players.

While the Japanese will be able to get their high definition players for around US$170, US consumers will pay US$200 and European residents will pay 200 euros (US$254 at today's exchange rate).

The combination of Xbox 360 with 20GB hard drive and the HD DVD player will be about the same price as the Sony PS3 with 20GB hard drive and integrated Blu-ray player.

The sounds coming out of Microsoft indicate that the company is intent on upping its output of consumer attracting games, including making an all out effort to capture the elusive games hungry Japanese market by upping the amount of content available for the Xbox 360 platform.

In addition to working with the famous New Zealand based movie making pair of Jackson and Walsh through its own studios, Microsoft has been working frantically to stitch up deals with games studios around the world.