Ryan Payton Officially Joins Halo Team

You may remember a while back that Metal Gear Solid 4 Producer Ryan Payton left Kojima Productions in an effort to be closer to home. Well, home and Microsoft Game Studios just so happen to be pretty close for Ryan, which must be why he's been announced as the newest member of an all-star team assembled to "develop new and exciting projects within the Halo universe and support existing projects from studios like Bungie and Ensemble."

The cast also includes Bungie veteran Frank O' Connor, Corrine Yu from Gearbox, Kenneth Scott from id Software, and David Wu from Pseudo Interactive. Payton's official role on the team hasn't been disclosed, but you can bet he won't be making the coffee.

MGS4 Assistant Producer Leaving Kojima Productions

After pouring his heart, soul and best translation efforts into Metal Gear Solid 4, Assistant Producer Ryan Payton is leaving Kojima Productions and going into stealth mode for a while. In an interview with Kotaku, Payton explains that his desire to be closer to family in the Pacific Northwest ultimately lead to his decision and that he is thankful for the "life changing experience" he had while working on the game.

You can check out the full interview right here.