In an interview with Kotaku, Assistant Producer on Metal Gear Solid 4, Ryan Payton, announced that he is leaving Kojima Productions and heading back to North America in order to be closer to his family who lives in Washington.

When asked about what he will miss, Ryan said:

“It’ll be hard not being involved in MGS5, but I’ve got the utmost confidence that Hideo Kojima, Ken Imaizumi, and our amazing team will put together another blockbuster game. I’ll be cheering from the sidelines.”

So while rest and relaxation seem like the current plan for Ryan Payton, it appears that Kojima may be hard at work on another solid sequel.

Having been away from my family for nearly ten years, I can empathize with Ryan, and fully expect to see him resume his role as plaid wearing producer when he feels the time is right. Until then, he has left us all with a nice little nugget to chew on.

Check out the full interview over at Kotaku.

In an interview published today with Eurogamer, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima (who just turned 45) stated that he is tired of people asking him about the PS3/360 hardware, and wishes people would just focus on the game. He went on to say:

“Sometimes I even feel like [Metal Gear Solid 4] should be on a PC so that people don’t ask me about hardware and platforms,”

Kojima added that in the near future he hopes that people stop asking him about formats and instead ask about their company and future projects. Read more…

Word on the street is that a super secret special surprise awaits players that have completed Metal Gear Solid 4.  Rumor has it that something will unlock in the game come this December.  If you’ve beaten the game, you’ll know the relevance of the six-month time frame (no spoilers here, sorry).  Kojima has supposedly said that people who pirate the game will miss out on “something special” which further fuels the idea since pirated copies don’t necessarily sync well with PSN.  So, what’s the surprise?  Read more…

In the not too distant future, videogames have become routine.  The marketplace is controlled by commercial enterprises, publishing the same fast paced action year on year.  FPS game follows FPS game, bald space marines give birth to bald space marines, EA merges with Ubisoft.

Yes, in the not too distant future, videogames haven’t changed at all.  What’s worse? We’re none the wiser.  Feeding off of these adrenaline pumping experiences, we praise them for their apparent innovation, their direct and exciting plot, their “next-gen” graphics. We’ll feel happy with the cards we’ve been dealt, comfortable in our past time, but for all our contentment we’ll never know how it could have been. Never know how it should and would have been if we had taken notice of Solid Snake.

Our only hope to free ourselves from cookie-cutter experiences pumped out by profit driven companies, is to learn the lessons of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and build a safer future for interactive entertainment.
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This is the month we’d see how much of an impact Metal Gear Solid 4 had on actual PS3 hardware sales. The results are promising. Read more…

A new Metal Gear Online mode has made its way onto the game’s servers. Taking inspiration from the existing “Sneaking Mode”, which sees Snake use Octocamo to collect Dog-Tags from warring teams, this mode is a battle of two teams with different gear. Read more…

As I began to play the new Metal Gear Online the other day, I found myself frustrated. I began to write down some things that have changed since Subsistence and that are bugging me. As I played more I found myself adapting and finding options to better handle the frustrating situations, but there are a few things that I think bear discussion. Read more…

I was fortunate enough to attend the Metal Gear Solid 4 launch in New York City on June 12th. I stood in line outside the Virgin Mega Store in Times Square for more than 8 hours to meet one of the most acclaimed videogame directors of this generation, Hideo Kojima, and to purchase a game for a system I don’t currently own. Read more…

In an interview with 1UP.com, Metal Gear Solid 4 assistant producer Ryan Payton mentioned that the next Metal Gear game might just be a prequel. Read more…

If your anything like us, you have no doubt been stuffing your face will all the Solid Snake you can get. It looks like the makers of Battlefield: Bad Company know this too. The new trailer entitled “Snake Eyes” isn’t exactly subtle in its references.
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Remember that Assassin’s Creed/ MGS4 April Fools mash-up? Well, this is nothing like that. Okay, the warning screen is similar, along with the Kojima “Did you like it?” at the end. This trailer may contain minor spoilers, but for what it’s worth, I personally didn’t find it going too far into spoiler territory. I felt it was more of a hype-builder, and boy, did it build some hype. Those that are to remain firm, move along. Nothing fun to see here. Read more…

Pixel counters at the ready!  There’s been some debate over the final rendering resolution of Metal Gear Solid 4.  Screenshot pixel counting has been hazy, so the first sign of a possible resolution is found in the launch of the Metal Gear Online Beta.  The Beta has now begun in Europe (yes it’s up, go and play!) and the results are in. Read more…

In a mega-post today, Konami has revealed further details about the numerous Metal Gear Solid 4 software and hardware packages—including box art for both the standard and limited editions of MGS4 and the standard edition PS3 hardware bundle. Why call it a standard edition hardware bundle? Well, because there’s going to be a not-so-standard one too. Kojima, you torture us. Read more…

It was revealed last month that a Blu-ray disc wasn’t big enough to hold all languages for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4. Since all previous Playstation 3 games have resorted to the more constricted 25GB Disc, it was unclear whether MGS4 was to stray from this trend.

In a Konami retailers meeting yesterday, it was exposed that the game would be produced on a 50GB Blu-ray disc. Read more…

Hideo Kojima may be done with Metal Gear, but he’s not done with video games. Fumiaki Tanaka, president of Konami, revealed that Kojima is in fact working on a new game concept that’s 100% Metal Gear free. Read more…

The wave of MGS4 info comes to a crest today as the official PlayStation Blog posts some clarifying details, Kojima Productions launches teaser sites for MGS4 and MGO and the Kojima Productions Report 81 goes live. I’m here to pull everything together and tie up some loose ends. Read more…

Scans have surfaced via a Portuguese site that reveals the Japanese magazine Dengeki PlayStation running a story on Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots in Vol. 413. Among some other information, the magazine appears to confirm that MGS4’s specific release date for Japan is 6.12.2008. Read more…

Actual MGS4 PS3 bundle box art (what could have been shown below)

After seeing the official box art revealed earlier today, I thought long and hard about comments made regarding its appearance. One in particular stated that it may have been a better idea to make the bundle look more like the infamous box found in the Metal Gear Solid game itself. You know — the one with the words “the orange” plastered on the outside. So I busted out my trusty Photoshop application and went to work. Read more…

“We’ve got you now PSW!”

Naughty PSW. This magazine got it all wrong. Ryan Payton informs us on the latest Kojima Productions Report that there will be no Metal Gear Solid 4 Demo. Read more…

Snake is getting all prettied up for the big release!

Yes we’ve gone a bit top heavy on the Metal Gear Solid 4 news, but it’s just coming in thick and fast. And we’ll take it while we can when we suspect Kojima hibernation is imminent. Today we bring you the exciting news that Kojima doesn’t want to disappoint his fans any longer - there will be no further delay for MGS4, as confirmed in the Kojima Report Podcast. Read more…