Of course, we've heard this before.

After Halo 2 was released in 2004, there were rumblings and vague remarks about Bungie wanting to do something else, non-Halo-related, for a change.

Which is entirely understandable.

Now, Pro-G is quoting Bungie's Joe Tung as saying Bungie wants to work on something else for a change, and is not working on Halo 4.

When quizzed on the subject last night, Joe Tung, multiplayer producer at Bungie Studios, said that the team was "figuring out right now what we're working on next".

He added: "We really don't know what that is yet but as soon as we know, everyone else will know. Halo 4 is not in development."

I, for one, am hoping this is true. Halo is great, and between Ensemble's Halo Wars and Wingnut Interactive's Halo Chronicles, it seems there will be plenty of Halo content for the foreseeable future. However, Bungie's strong suit has been original (as in, not licensed rather than non-derivative) intellectual property, and it'll be nice to see something from them that's not a sequel.

Also worth a note: Halo is the first trilogy out of Bungie where all three episodes were done in house; Marathon Infinity was done by spinoff Double Aught, and Myth 3 was done by Mumbo Jumbo after Myth was sold to Take Two in the Microsoft buyout.