I will not hesitate to say now that I had underestimated Microsoft’s words when they claimed to take Halo 3’s marketing to the extreme. Bungie has revealed that the “live-action Halo 3 trailer” is actually the first of a series of Shorts that will be directed by Neill Blomkamp. Blomkamp is also the director for the slowly-progessing Halo movie, expected to be released in 2009.

The thing above, designed by the awesome folks at Weta Workshop is a fully-functional, true-to-scale model of the Warthog. When I mean fully-functional, I mean working like the real deal you play in the games. It’s a mean-driving 4×4, it can should be used off-road and it actually has a machine gun at the back. To quote Bungie representative ‘Frankie’, “Goddamn. It’s a Warthog.”

The Weta Workshop is famous for developing physical and special effects for several high-level movies, including the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, King Kong, the Chronicles of Narnia and of course, the upcoming Halo movie. And you thought Peter Jackson was the only connection between LotR and Halo.

The Weta Workshop is based in New Zealand, meaning that you will most likely not be able to touch this sweet baby. Of course, some of the lucky ones actually get to drive this thing. Without a freaking Xbox. Click on the thumbnail below for a very high-res photo.

[Via Bungie Weekly Update]