Halo 4 Creative Director Leaves

by on September 22, 2011

Moving from Metal Gear Solid 4 to Halo 4, ex-EGM freelancer turned game producer Ryan Payton was building a resume of high profile sequels to rest his career on. But before he could help Master Chief finish the next fight, he announced that he was leaving 343 Industries and Microsoft to open his own studio, Camouflaj.

“Some people say I’m crazy, but I want to make a game that one billion people play at once, and it’s something that hits them harder than a great book or film,” Payton says of Camouflaj’s future projects, of which there are currently two in development.

In 2008, Payton helped launched Metal Gear Solid 4 as assistant producer at Kojima Productions in Tokyo, but when his mother in the US was diagnosed with cancer he decided to move closer to home. After interviewing at “several” studios, he decided on Microsoft, where we now know he was working on Halo 4. Unfortunately, it seems that the Halo he wanted to build wasn’t exactly what Microsoft had in mind. “The Halo I wanted to build was fundamentally different and I don’t think I had built enough credibility to see such a crazy endeavor through,” he told Kotaku in an interview.

After seeing friend and Haunted Temple Studios creative lead Jake Kazdal laboring on his own project, Skulls of the Shogun, Payton decided it was time for a change. “I think time is the most valuable thing we have, and I’ve decided that I’m not going to waste one more day working on something that doesn’t speak to my values.”

Update: Microsoft has released a statement regarding Payton’s departure, stating: “343 Industries has assembled an all-star cast of talent working on ‘Halo 4′ under the design leadership of Studio and ‘Halo 4′ Creative Director, Josh Holmes. We’re excited to tell the next story in the ‘Halo’ universe with ‘Halo 4′ as the first game in the Reclaimer Trilogy. Ryan Payton, who left earlier this summer, served as Narrative Designer on ‘Halo 4′ for 15 months. Armando Troisi was hired as the ‘Halo 4′ Narrative Director in March, having formerly served as the Lead Cinematic Designer on ‘Mass Effect 2.’ Ryan has been a great friend and colleague during his tenure at 343 Industries and we appreciate his contributions to the team. We wish Ryan the best in his new game development venture.”

Source: Kotaku

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Halo 4 Goes Back to Halo Roots

by on August 2, 2011

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Is Microsoft taking the Halo series back to its roots with Halo 4? It sure is if recent comments from Microsoft UK’s Xbox entertainment director Stephen McGill are anything to go by.

“One of the key things with Halo 4 is going back to what made it amazing for people playing the first Halo,” McGill told MCV recently, giving one of the few hints as to the nature of the new game since its E3 revelation.

Halo 4, along with the re-release of the first Halo game in the form of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, will serve as a perfect introduction to the series for players who were too young to have experienced the impact of the original, said McGill.

“The people who are 18 years old now were only eight when Halo appeared. They probably didn’t play it. That’s the opportunity the Anniversary pack and then Halo 4 have,” he said.

Earlier in the interview, McGill said, “The tenth anniversary is huge and is a product of great passion. It’s important we celebrate this – the game itself was a huge milestone for us and kickstarted the platform in a lot of ways.

“But the platform has evolved dramatically in that time, so it’s worth going back to show how it still stands up as a product made today.”

Microsoft’s release of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary in November won’t kick off a spate of HD remakes from the platform holder, it has said.

Source: Computer and Videogames

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Halo 4 Launch Trailer E3 2011

by on June 7, 2011

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At the Microsoft’s press conference at E3 2011, they released the first ever trailer for Halo 4.

Excellence would be selling it short.

The teaser for Halo 4 showed Master Chief waking from cryo-sleep to Cortana’s panicked cries for help. The action that followed hinted at jetpack capability for the Chief in the next chapter as well as possible zero-G combat. The ship that bore Chief and Cortana was about to get enveloped by a giant mechanical maw. You’re going to have to wait until next fall to see what awaits in the Halo-verse.

 

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