“I had a great run at Microsoft,” Payton told Kotaku. “I don’t regret one day of it. But after a few years, there came a point where I wasn’t creatively excited about the project anymore.” He went on to say “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.”

Oddly, the article written by Kotaku goes on to explain that Payton has been suffering from depression and that his mother was diagnosed with cancer.

Payton has moved on from working at huge games like Metal Gear Solid & Halo to work on his own studio, Camouflaj, which currently has two titles in development.

“I think time is the most valuable thing we have,” said Payton, “and I’ve decided that I’m not going to waste one more day working on something that doesn’t speak to my values.”

“We kind of lost our way a little bit, I’ll say. And that’s why I wanted to make sure that at the unveiling of Halo 4, you knew you were playing Master Chief, that John was back – because Master Chief is the John Wayne character of that universe, and that’s who you want to play. Fundamentally there are a ton of players on our box right now that didn’t start with Halo 1,” Spencer said.

“If you were new to Xbox 360 – 360 is where you started playing on Xbox – you understood what Halo 3 was. ODST and Reach, maybe you weren’t as centered.”

“The game has a history now,” he added, “and it’s about bringing new customers into the fiction.” A bold comment on the main Halo titles in the 360 roster.

However, with Kinect, Microsoft reckons social gaming will become a whole new beast in the future. It’s a shame they look at Zynga’s FarmVille, but at least they are thinking about the future. They also mention Halo… predictably.

[Source]

All those gamers, playing Halo reach at the launch event

The winning team comprised of Zachary Campbell, Padraig Lalor, Derek Browne and Shane O’Donnell each of whom each received a copy of Halo: Reach, a limited edition Halo: Reach console and a 12 month Xbox LIVE subscription after defeating the celebrity team 74 – 11 in the final. A humiliating defeat!

The Shamrock Kings won the chance to play the Celebrity Halo: Reach Elite Spartan Squad after a nationwide search for Ireland’s best Halo players who would compete in a play-off tournament at the launch event.

Commenting at the launch event, Kieran Penwill, Ireland Country Manager for Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division, said, “This has been a fantastic launch for us, with Halo: Reach proving to be extremely popular with Irish gamers. Copies of the game have been flying off the shelves across Ireland since midnight on Monday when 64 stores opened at midnight to cater for demand. To cap it all off we had a great launch where our celebrity team put up a brave fight, but were no match for Ireland’s best Halo fans, the Shamrock Kings!”

Stay tuned to shoryuken.ie because we’ll be running a number of in-depth reviews of the game, encompassing the story arc and online modes.

52 Xtravision and 12 Gamestop stores will open when the clock strikes twelve to cater for demand by the public as the exclusive Xbox 360 title is set to light tills on fire in a way that only Halo can…

Commenting ahead of the launch, Kieran Penwill, Country Manager, Entertainment and Devices, Microsoft Ireland, said, “Halo: Reach is the latest instalment to the biggest gaming franchise and it’s been called the ‘Star Wars’ for the joypad generation. Halo: Reach, developed exclusively for Xbox 360, is the blockbuster prequel to the franchise – truly Halo 4 in all but name. Halo: Reach breaks the mould for multiplayer games with groundbreaking new ways to play with and against friends over Xbox LIVE.”

“The midnight launches will set off a sequence of events culminating in a special event with Idris Elba, Star of HBO’s The Wire (Stringer Bell) and BBC’s Luther; Irish rugby star Jamie Heaslip; RTE TV presenter Baz Ashmawy; and 98FM DJ Steven Cooper taking on the public to find Ireland’s biggest Halo fans.” An event shoryuken.ie will be in full force at, mind you.

“The latest release is going to set a new milestone for the Halo franchise forward, representing the culmination of Bungie’s ten years of experience crafting groundbreaking Halo games that have raised expectations for what can be achieved in a videogame,” Penwill added.

Eight teams of four gamers have been selected to take part in a competition to face off against the celebrity team at the official launch event. The winners of the knockout competition will receive a limited edition Halo Reach console and a copy of the game each.

Halo: Reach is available in standard edition (€69.99*), Limited Edition (€79.99*) and Legendary Edition (€119.99*).

Enter Randy Pitchford, chief of Gearbox games, who have a close relationship with Microsoft. So close, they’re doing the next Halo. A proper Halo, with master chief… presumably.

Well, PAX is on in America, and rather then show up with Halo teases and updates for Borderlands or Brothers in Arms, they’re showing off magical stuff… so magical it was never meant to happen. That’s right, they’re launching Duke Nukem Forever. For real. They showed a trailer to an audience of undoubtedly shocked fans… but not only that, invited them to take snaps and videos of the 15 minutes of gameplay that followed.

Below we have some footage of people playing the game, due in 2011 for 360, PS3 and PC. It’s shoddy quality footage but nothing official has come out yet.

The first video shows Pinnacle, a remake of the original Ascension map…

Next is Zealot

Finally, Team Slayer on Reflection