Canceled Ensemble project was Halo MMO

<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/pc/" rel="tag">PC</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/xbox360/" rel="tag">Microsoft Xbox 360</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/firstpersonshooters/" rel="tag">First Person Shooters</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/online/" rel="tag">Online</a>, <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/mmo/" rel="tag">MMO</a></p><div align="center"><a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20153"><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="0" src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/09/hallo-mmo-2.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
With <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/10/microsoft-exec-sends-breakup-letter-to-ensemble/">Ensemble now disbanded</a>, <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20153">Gamasutra</a> reveals one of its big projects that never saw the light of day: a <em>Halo </em>MMO. According to various reports, it appears that the game was in development for some time during 2006 and 2007 before being canceled. Seen above, a shot of the UI and an action pose of a Spartan duel-wielding. The design, from what little we can see of it, borrows a lot from <em>World of Warcraft's </em>simplicity and (judging by the dual-wield screenshot) <em>hokeyness</em>.<br /><br />We understand there are reasons for cancellations, but this seems like a money printer on par with <em>Pok&eacute;mon</em> and Blizzard's aforementioned MMO, regardless of quality. As Microsoft's Phil Spencer recently mentioned to <a href="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/phil-spencer-part-one">GamesIndustry.biz</a>, there are "more than two or three teams" working on <em>Halo </em>projects at the moment, so the MMO concept might not be entirely dead.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20153>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/23/canceled-ensemble-project-was-halo-mmo/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/1322027/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/23/canceled-ensemble-project-was-halo-mmo/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/23/canceled-ensemble-project-was-halo-mmo/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p><div class="feedflare">
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