The secret project in the works at - the Microsoft-owned studio that will close after the release of Wars - was none other than an game based on the Halo Universe. Oh yes.

Business site Gamasutra.com (more news and images within) purport to have unearthed a prototype user-interface and even a level screenshot from Ensemble; although it sounds very much as if the project is now dead in the water following the announcement of Ensemble's closure.

Prototype artwork, accidentally made available via an artist's portfolio website, also looks very much like a potential Halo MMO.

More on this sizable news as we get it.

By Luke Guttridge