It’s still currently a rumour, but coming from sources that always pan out. EGM’s one of the best. Check it out:

According to US mag EGM, Bungie’s already prepping a Halo spin-off for release in late 2009.

Apparently, according to the mag, it’s a third-person “action/adventure shooter hybrid”, that takes place before the original Halo, and chronicles early skirmishes between the ODST and the Covenant.

EGM notes that the project may or may not be one of the Peter Jackson Halo Projects, but either way WETA is “definitely involved” in this Bungie project in “some capacity”. Maybe it’s doing the box art.

We already know that Bungie’s making more games for Microsoft, and to be honest we’d be pretty stupid not to assume that at least one of them has something to do with Halo.

Here’s a link to the article http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=187670

To clear up confusion until the official announcement I’ll add in “rumored” for now.

Cheers