Gamespot

In late December, 343 Industries--the team at Microsoft now responsible for the Halo brand--listed 15 new positions for its next big Halo project. Now, the internal developer is soliciting almost as many in its latest volley of job listings.

343 Industries is actively recruiting for its next project…whatever it may be.

343 Industries recently listed 12 new openings at the Halo studio via its career portal page. According to the listings, the studio is looking for a number of new individuals to fill numerous positions, including technical artist, multiplayer designer, environment artist, animator, and a design director. All positions relate to the new "high profile Halo experience" the team in Bellevue, Washington, is crafting.

Would-be applicants' minds must be bastions of Halo knowledge, as Microsoft is actively soliciting "rabid" Halo fans, who will be asked to "demonstrate that you've played all of the games and thought a lot about the franchise."

It's no secret that Microsoft remains committed to creating titles around the Halo name. Bungie alum and 343 Industries head Frank O'Connor said the sci-fi series will continue through 2015. Since 343 Industries was founded in 2009, it has been busy spinning the franchise into new novels, comic books, and anime.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6286629.html

sounds very cool,hopefully they will show something at e3 this year.  :)

If it was founded in 2009 then at minimum we'll see the first game in 2012 I think. I don't see them getting founded and getting a game out in two years unless of course they are borrowing the Halo: Reach engine off Bungie.

All this announcing of hiring people for a Halo project and no announcement

Don't really see them using that engine.  From an interview with Corrinne Yu, it sounds like she really wants to tap into the unrealized potential of coding for Xenos the way key PS3 devs have focused on the SPA's of the Cell.  She believes the system still has much that hasn't been seen, so I'd imagine that this will be a showpiece for that.

I also had a similar feeling about Codename: Kingdoms, as Crytek, if anything, is known for their engines.  With this being exclusive, they can focus on optimizing whatever engine they are using truly for the 360's architecture.

Microsoft likely wants another good 3 years out of this console, so it'd make sense to invest in tapping out the console's capabilities.

Yeah I'm actually getting tired of all this Halo non-news. Let us know when you got something a little more meatier( I know, I know........ that's what she said ).

Well if its a new engine then unless they had worked on it prior to being formed, they won't be able to release this year. The question of course is whether or not they actually had a working engine to start with. Another thing, im not sure how long before release the big hiring splurge starts. As it stands it sounds like the project is ramping up rather than nearing completion. This is why I wonder about the Halo 2011 rumours...

I can almost guarantee you that people are NOT going to like the next Halo from these guys. 

Point and case number 1: Great software titles are produced by great software makers. 

And they're making the next Halo iteration which is BUNGIE's child. I don't think I need to explain how well of a developer Bungie truly is, all but making their jobs that much harder. If they borrowed the engine, hired former Bungie employees, and got a lot of dough from Microsoft. It, more than likely, won't please the Halo fanbase. Example, lets say that Ubisoft took Assassin's Creed and gave it to another developer to create the next sequel. The new developer won't have the know-how, talent, programming skill, and direction as some of the people over at Ubisoft Montreal do. Thus resulting in a game that will have multiple issues and or may have alienated some of the fan base. Not good. 

Many of the developers at 343 are amongst the who's who of talented software developers.

They were just formed by Microsoft. For all we know, they could tank this one. The only information I know about them is that Frank O' Connor, a former Bungie employee, now works as the Creative Director for them, and I'm pretty sure many other developers like him are working for them. But since they're young and many of the developers working for them are as well, in experience I mean, it may not go well. Plus, all the past titles were produced by Bungie. Stiff competition right there.