Microsoft is really moving ahead with plans to launch original programming on the XBox video game systems, including the long-awaited Halo series and the Atari landfill documentary that had the Internet buzzing this weekend.
Announced back in December, the Atari documentary comes from Oscar winner Simon Chinn and Emmy winner Jonathan Chinn’s Lightbox. The crew got approval from New Mexico to dig up the notorious copies of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Many were surprised to learn that they actually found the game cartridges buried there.
The documentary is currently titled Atari: Game Over and will focus on the demise of the company, which was a major innovator in the industry until the video game crash of 1983. The film is the first in a six-part series called Signal To Noise that will focus on modern technology’s impact on our lives.
Many of the other projects confirmed by Microsoft today were first reported on earlier this month.
The Halo series still has Steven Spielberg attached as a producer through his Amlin Television, which will be producing with 343 Industries. A feature film was also announced with Ridley Scott among its executive producers.
Every Street United is an eight-episode unscripted series on soccer, with legends Thierry Henry and Edgar Davids trying to find the best players in the world. Humans is a new series being developed with the U.K.’s Channel 4 and Kudos. Production is set for this summer.
Microsoft has also committed to streaming the Bonnaroo Music Festival in June.
The projects in development are Deadlands, based on Shane Lacy Hensley’s game; Extraordinary Beliebers from Robot Chicken’s Stoopid Buddy Stoodios; Fearless, about an Australian Navy bomb clearance diver; Gun Machine, a detective thriller; a JASH comedy show; and Winterworld, based on the graphic novel from IDW.