Jackson Halo project next year?

Microsoft Game Studios boss Shane Kim has hinted that we could see the fruits of Peter Jackson's Halo project as soon as next year.

He was responding to questions about the platform holder's post-Christmas-2007 line-up, and the notable absence of some big names from this year's E3 show - like Alan Wake and Too Human - when he let slip word on the Halo project.

And while he couldn't stamp official confirmation on any dates, he was keen to point out that they weren't too far away - silently suggesting we'll see them in 2008.

"With Alan Wake and Too Human, we're just going to make sure that they're really ready when we show them again. But we wouldn't be talking about them if they were - let me put it this way - way out in the future," Shane Kim told Game Informer.

"We're not showing anything from the Halo project that we're doing with Peter Jackson and Bungie, but I'm talking about it - it's not going to be way out there, either."

It follows on from what Peter Moore told Eurogamer at E3, where he reeled off five exclusive first-party titles Microsoft had in the wings for 2008: Too Human, Alan Wake, Halo Wars, Fable 2 and Banjo Kazooie.

Peter Jackson will be creating a fresh trilogy of episodic Halo games for Microsoft, using his new Wingnut Interactive development team. But actual details on the project are extremely scarce, and any mention of it seems to result in tongue-twisting "cinematic experience" metaphors.

We hope it has a big monkey in it.