When Peter Jackson announced Wingnut Interactive, the game development arm of his entertainment empire, a sense of excitement was felt in the games industry (both locally and abroad) on the potential of such a studio. With many anticpating what was in store, imaginations went rampant of a powerhouse studio helmed by the famed Lord of the Rings director, with the creative contributions and guidance from the amazing talents at Weta Digital. The Wikipedia entry had the entry below for the studio and it looked like big things were on the way, particulary for the New Zealand games industry....
Wingnut Interactive is a video game development studio that was formed in 2006 from a partnership between Microsoft Game Studios and director Peter Jackson. The newly formed studio will be based in Wellington, New Zealand and will be working on what Peter Jackson calls "filmic games".
Such a studio would have immediately ramped up on game developers locally and the world over, but not much has been heard since the announcement. So what's been going on at Wingnut Interactive?
Late last year at the Game Connect: Asia Pacific 07 conference, I had a chance to have a quick talk with the CEO of New Zealand's leading game developer, Sidhe Interactive's Mario Wynards, about Wingnut Interactive, and it seemed like there was no studio to speak of. And with the very recent news on Halo Chronicles, a game that Bungie is developing with Peter Jackson's collaboration, as well as game news sites reporting that Microsoft were advertising positions to ramp up the American studio to take on the title, it's sad to come to the conclusion that Wingnut Interactive is just a name and not the powerhouse New Zealand studio that would have done so much for its local industry.
Where...
Its in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand. I could get the studio address.