I will admit, I am one of the ones who said it would never happen. And why should it have? Bungie was paid assloads of money to make a game that was destined to make assloads of money. Anything they asked for was theirs and in turn they have created one of the best selling games of all time. Either way the rumor that was discredited hundreds of times over has come to a head: Bungie is no longer owned by Microsoft. On their official site, Bungie stated the following before posting the convoluted and wordy press release:

Bungie Branches Off As you have no doubt read on the web today, Microsoft Corp. and Bungie Studios, have reached an unprecedented and exciting agreement – starting immediately, Bungie will become an independent company and will retain a long-term publishing agreement with Microsoft Game Studios for “Halo” titles. The new structure became effective on Oct. 1, 2007. The official blurb follows, but since you’re a valuable part of our community, we thought we’d sum it up simply and concisely. Bungie has long been built on creativity, originality and the freedom to pursue ideas. Microsoft agreed, and rather than stifle our imagination, they decided it was in both our best interests to unleash it. We’ll continue to make Xbox 360 games, and we’ll continue to make amazing games for MGS. In that regard, nothing has changed. All that has changed is that now Bungie Studios is once again, the property of the folks of Bungie Studios. Microsoft is and will continue to be, a brilliant, inventive and creatively collaborative publishing partner. Practically speaking, nothing has changed and you guys won’t see much, if any difference, for a while

So what do I think we will see? I can't imagine that we will see any Bungie exclusives seeing their way to the Playstation 3 anytime soon, but handhelds and the Nintendo Wii wouldn't be out of the question. I also can't imagine us seeing or hearing anything anytime soon about this other than more rumors and speculation. Either way this is proof that nothing is impossible: Bungie now owns itself. The full press release can be found here as well as the rest of the information involving the split.