Microsoft may start a war--word is they' re making a massively multiplayer online first-person shooter for 360. Hmm, wonder what Bungie is up to?

We already know (thanks to Shane Kim) that Microsoft and Bungie are working together on another non-Peter Jackson related Halo project, believed to be Halo 4.

The thing about this MMO " rumour" is that it' s not new. Game Informer brought it up in April 2006 saying it was called ' Project Orion' . Who knows, ...since so many people have played Halo 3 online in such a short period of time, there' s definitely a large enough audience for an online specific Halo themed game.

From Halopedia:

The ORION project or the SPARTAN-I Program was the phase one of the Spartan Supersoldier program. Initiated in 2491, as an element of the ORION project, not much is known about this first generation of warriors (their training, augmentation, goals, etc.).[1]

The original Spartan Project was created to test genetic enhancements on volunteers from the armed forces.[2]. These enhancements were the precursors to the enhancements used in the Spartan-II program. The mortality rate for those injected was high, a factor which contributed largely to the failure of the program. Those who survived the injection(s) had a greatly increased rate of mental problems later on in life. It is not known at this time how many soldiers participated in this program. However, it is mentioned that there are several offspring, some of which were chosen for the Spartan-II program. Some of the others tried to create their own army to fight the Covenant but just as they were about to bring the fight to the Covenant, the Covenant invaded Earth[3].

However, they were successful enough to garner the necessary consent and funding for a second phase, aptly named SPARTAN II.