Microsoft has confirmed that the Director of Technology at Geabrox, Corrine Yu, will be joining the platform holder's Halo team as its Principle Engine Architect. This follows yesterday's leaked e-mail in which Yu told fellow Gearbox employees of her move to the Halo team.

All of this comes after a week of hearsay surrounding Gearbox's self proclaimed "big" unannounced project, which many believe to be Halo 4. While Yu's move certainly adds kindling to this particular fire, it's by no means confirmation of a working relationship between the two companies.

Microsoft's official line regarding Yu's recruitment was typically ambiguous:

"As the Halo franchise continues to flourish, Microsoft Game Studios is growing its internal team to develop future Halo projects," the Redmond giant told Kotaku.

The blog also cited "industry sources" who have suggested that Yu will be put to work on the Peter Jackson Halo game and that she is part of a package deal bringing her husband, id Software's Kenneth Scott, over to Microsoft Game Studios as well.

In related news, Gearbox President Randy Pitchford spoke to MTV's Multiplayer blog about Yu's departure:

"We are really excited about Corrinne joining Microsoft!" Pitchford said. "I expect her to bring a lot of passion and inventiveness on that side. I think there is a lot of value for everyone for this transition."

Yu has said that she "will continue to help Gearbox" following her move, which certainly arouses our suspicions when placed next to Pitchford's comments above, although his suggestion that Gearbox's "big-ticket" game will be on multiple platforms does cast doubt on it being a Halo title:

"Gearbox is really excited about the changes we've made to our Platform department in-line with finishing Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway in order for our platform engineers to support the multi-platform launches of Aliens: Colonial Marines, Borderlands and an un-announced big-ticket game."

Pitchford also confirmed that the project is a shooter, which is kind of a no brainer.