343 Industries and Aria Group collaborate to build a real-life Warthog

343 Industries, developers of Halo 4, commissioned Aria Group to build a real-life Warthog using "gigabytes and gigabytes" of data provided by the developer, according to a recent report in the L.A. Times.

Built on the frame of a Hummer H1 and about 12 percent smaller than its in-game inspiration, Aria's Warthog took about six months to build. The project cost "hundreds of thousands of dollars," according to Pat Devereux, CEO of Antenna USA, a marketing firm that works with 343.

"The first time people set eyes on it in real life, that's when you see where the value is," said Halo franchise director Frank O'Connor. "When somebody is standing next to the tire, and it's coming up to their shoulders, they're getting a sense for this thing they've grown up with."

Aria has created concept cars for companies like Kia, Hyundai, General Motors and Honda and it designed and built the NASCAR vehicles in Transformers 3. Its Warthog will make appearances this year at E3 and Comic Con.

Amateur film director Peter Cooper built his own Warthog, which he put up for sale last year.