Oh. Oh, my. “Bungie”:http://www.bungie.net has just “announced”:http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?link=bungieatx06 two more reasons why I need an Xbox 360. First, is the announcement of “Halo Wars”:http://www.halowars.com, which is a Halo RTS(Real-time strategy) game that takes place before the events of Halo: CE. The “trailer”:http://halowars.com/trailer.html for the game looks absolutely stunning, and I can’t wait to see how the storyline for this one unfolds.

The second is an as-yet un-named and still-secret project. Bungie has teamed up with film-maker and director Peter Jackson of the Lord of the Rings fame. In addition to working on the upcoming Halo film, Jackson has teamed up with Fran Walsh to create Wingnut Interactive, a new video game studio.

Wingnut Interactive will be working closely with us to create “another chapter in the Halo universe,” which is a phrase you’ll be hearing a lot and of course, we’re sworn to secrecy.

This raises as many questions as it answers — will it be a sequel? A prequel? A side-story? We won’t squeal, but we can tell you it will be a blend of gameplay and storytelling quite unlike anything the games industry has ever seen before. And Wingnut Interactive isn’t stopping at Halo — the newly formed gaming behemoth will also be working closely with Microsoft to introduce a brand-new gaming IP created by Wingnut themselves. (Source: “Bungie”:http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?link=bungieatx06)

I’m super-excited about these announcements and positively drooling over the prospect of seeing the Halo universe expanded like this. Now, I just need to figure out how to afford the pricetag for an Xbox 360.