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Ryan Payton Leaves Kojima Productions to be Closer to Family, Drops Hint at MGS5

Chad Lakkis — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:16:50 +0000

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.

MGS4 Assistant Producers: Sixaxis Motion Sensing “Severely Overhyped”

Chad Lakkis — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 01:16:28 +0000

In the recent EGM, Metal Gear Solid 4 Assistant Producer, Ryan Payton had the following to say about the Sony Playstation 3′s Sixaxis Motion Sensing feature:

“I think the problem with this feature is it was severely overhyped …” He went on to say “It was talked up as Sony’s answer to the Wii Remote. The trick is to use Sixaxis sparingly and have fun with it. I don’t think anybody wants to play a long game while consistently having to tilt the controller around. Rather, it’s fun for the player when they’re given a chance to use it in short bursts– that’s how we’re approaching Sixaxis in MGS4.”

I personally agree with him, however I do believe that as someone who prefers what is now considered by many the “old school” controller approach over the arm-flaring Wiimote, I believe that I may be the minority on this subject. What do you think?

Via: PS3 Forums

Sneak Out: MGS4 Deluge Continues

Geoff Haugan — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:12:26 +0000

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.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Foremost, Ryan Payton solidified June 12, 2008 as the simultaneous, worldwide release date for MGS4 on the most recent session of the KP Report (#81). This marks a first for the series, even though regional release differences have usually been modest with the Metal Gear Solid series in the past (North America and Japan anyway).

Payton also gave some details about the Solid Eye item and the voice track for the game. An equip-able, battery-reliant item, the Solid Eye can provide info on enemies including name and faction allegiance, as well as boss health. Also available is at least one image enhancement, Night Vision. Apparently due to space constraints on the 50 GB Blu ray disc (!), North America will not be getting the Japanese voice track—and likewise the Japanese release will not see the English voice track either.

Updated today, the MGS4 Teaser site shows off the new “Dissolve” image featuring Snake.

On the PlayStation Blog, further details have emerged concerning the pre-order program for MGS4. All major retailers will be taking part and the program will begin in April. If you’ve already pre-ordered, it would be wise to check details with your retailer. Those who pre-order will receive the Metal Gear Saga 2.0 DVD which, aside from many extras, will include instructions and a download code for the MGO beta. This package will only be available while supplies last.

Metal Gear Online

The April 21 planned start date of the MGO beta now includes North America. The beta will run approximately two weeks and will be available in Europe as well. The new MGO Teaser site provides what details there are to be had about the game.

Beginning with the starter pack and continuing with future expansion releases that will provide new characters, gear, maps and features, MGO supports a maximum of 16 players and will include Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture rules along with new modes.

Communication looks like a focus, which is exciting considering how well MGO: Subsistence emphasized teamwork. Aside from the in-game SOP nanomachine-based, team info-synch system, voice and keyboard chat are included. The preset voice commands return as well. Interesting is also the mention of friend registration, mail and SNS for communication outside the game.

To begin you’ll need to configure your in-game soldier, and it sounds like the appearance of MGS characters in MGO is not outside the realm of possibility. Old Snake and the Mk.II look to be in for sure. I, for one, am curious to see if the concept of team leaders returns. Hmm… .

The five maps included with the Starter Pack are:

- Ambush Alley
- Groznyj Grad
- Midtown Maelstrom
- Urban Ultimatum
- Blood Bath

Groznyj Grad will be familiar to MGS3 players, though it wasn’t a multiplayer battlefield. Midtown Maelstrom is reminiscent of the old Brown Town, while Urban Ultimatum looks similar to City Under Siege. Blood Bath seems like the Killhouse variant, most similar perhaps to Killhouse B thanks to the elevated walkways. Ambush Alley is the level where most of the MGO media we’ve seen so far has been set. It invokes a mix of the new with the decrepit structures of Ghost Factory. Here’s hoping we see some of the jungle locales return too.

The starter pack will also include the game types and communication tools that MGO is built on.

No doubt this week has been MGS4′s big emergence, or at least the start. Surely there will be more information to follow, but even though the release is only a few months away it’s going to be a tough wait. For those of you looking for something to do until the beta, scour the “Dissolve” Snake image to see how many MGS elements you can pick out.

I will be lamenting my lack of HDTV and probably any chance of being in on the party when the MGO beta hits and Guns of the Patriots is finally on store shelves. My Metal Gear Saga Vol. 1 DVD is going to be lonely… .

[album=19]

Sources: blog.us.playstation.com, Kojima Productions Websites

Kojima: Three More Projects On The Way

Patrick Steen — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:18:23 +0000

In last week’s Kojima Productions Report, host Ryan Payton, also assistant producer for Metal Gear Solid 4, wagered that if the Packers won the NFC Divisional Playoff game last weekend, he would announce something new in the Kojima world. The Packers won and Payton keeps his end of the bargain in this weeks podcast.

Right at the end of the podcast, Ryan announces a set of announcements that are to come. Announcing announcements is not that exciting, aye? Perhaps not – but he does say that Kojima are working on three other projects to hit the US this summer.

Ryan wanted permission from Konami to announce at least one of three products, but he was turned down. For now the only news we have that there are these three products (interestingly not all digital content) that Metal Gear fans can get excited about.

I thought a Kojima hibernation was about to begin, but it seems that the veils are going to be taken off in the coming weeks. Ryan reveals that a train is about to start chugging along with announcement after announcement, trailers and screenshots, MGS4′s release date and other new information.

The details are coming week on week, so keep your ears and eyes open (well your ears don’t close…but you know what I mean).

Costly MGS4 Must Sell 1 Million on Day One

Cavin Smith — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:10:55 +0000

All of you PS3 hold-outs better be ready to pony up the cash when Metal Gear Solid 4 finally hits shelves next year, because Kojima Productions needs your support to continue working exclusively on Sony’s next-gen platform.

Assistant Producer Ryan Payton told Reuters that they’d need to sell over a million copies on launch day to justify development costs, showing that the Playstation brand isn’t merely suffering from the cost of the new console, but the cost of doing business.

Though it might seem silly to expect as many sales right off the bat, keep in mind that many games sell the majority of their copies during the first few days after release. In other words, a million would trend well enough for the rest of MGS4′s lifetime to justify the amount of money that’s already been poured into its production.

G4TV commentator Adam Sessler was quoted in the article as saying:

“No, ‘Metal Gear Solid 4′ isn’t the killer app. People who already own a PS3 will likely get it. But it doesn’t have that kind of broad-based appeal.”

It begs the question of whether or not gamers really care about such franchises as much as they once did. Looking at sales of such huge platform releases as Ratchet and Clank Future (only 75,000 in October), we might find that a majority of people are trending away from the series that built up the Playstation brand in the first place.

Sure, plenty of core gamers have been waiting for Solid Snake’s latest to hit before jumping on the PS3 bandwagon, but general public perception could be that the franchise is as old and tired as its geriatric hero. The last outing, Metal Gear Solid 3, only moved around 3.7 million copies. Impressive, but only about half that of its predecessor (MGS2, 7 million).

Kojima Productions remains bullish on the Playstation 3′s capabilities, but if their flagship title’s sales don’t live up to expectations, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to see it appear on other platforms down the line and it almost certainly bodes poorly for any future exclusives.

Source: [Reuters]

E for All Interview: Ryan Payton, Assistant Producer on MGS4

Andrew Podolsky — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:10:50 +0000

We sit down with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots’ Assistant Producer, Ryan Payton and pick his brain about his contributions to the long standing series, accessibility to newcomers, enhancements in gameplay, competition, the movie, and more. Have at it after the jump.

Q: What has your involvement been with the Metal Gear series?
A: My involvement in the Metal Gear series started with Portable Ops on PSP, where I helped design part of that game and helped with the script. That was my first title where I was actually involved with the design process, from inception to the time when we hand-carried it to Sony in time for Christmas. So that was a very hectic year… what was that, last year? Hard to believe.

So that’s where I really cut my teeth on game design and integrated a lot of Western game design ideas into the titles. For example, giving people multiple paths to get to their objectives, being able to recruit comrades and equip them with the items you want, create your own unique units, basically giving people more freedom to play it.

So I’m bringing some of that to the MGS4 development, with Metal Gear Online in particular, where we now allow players to equip their own skills, so everyone has their own unique skill set, and you can level up your characters with experience, so that as you get better your character gets better too.

Q: How did Konami take to your ideas?
They’re pretty receptive. Mr. Kojima recognizes that until now they’ve always had a 100% Japanese team. So it’s inherent that their game’s going to be more appealing to the Japanese, or feel better in terms of control and game balance. So that’s one of the reasons he brought me on two and a half years ago, to give the studio and the team a different perspective.

“… Mr. Kojima is receptive to it, so I think I’m going to keep my job.”

I’m lucky that he’s given me so much power and leeway in terms of what I want to do. As far as the control scheme in MGS4, I’ve been telling people that there are no sacred cows. We’ve been reworking the control scheme since the inception of the game. So no more bird’s eye view, the gunplay finally feels good, it’s never felt good in an MGS game. So we’re incorporating a lot of game ideas and I’m really lucky that Mr. Kojima is receptive to it, so I think I’m going to keep my job.

Q: Have you had any involvement with the story?
A: Yeah, I’ve been working on the story since day one, and I’m also in charge of editing the script and also directing the voice overs. We did six months of voice over work in Hollywood. So I helped direct that along with Kris Zimmerman, she’s been there since the beginning, we always hire her to direct our VO work.

That was a huge project, making sure that not only does it sound good, but it reads good. It’s the first Metal Gear, I think, that doesn’t read and sound like an anime. And that’s a good thing in my opinion. So making sure the story makes sense, getting people up to date with the story, because we have literally twenty years of fiction we have to cover.

Q: How are you making MGS4 accessible to newcomers?
A: That’s a tough challenge, because hardcore gamers have these expectations that they want us to fulfill. I get emails every day asking, is there going to be a European Extreme mode, is there going to be this and that. We’re working pretty hard to keep the hardcore happy, we’re including these flashback scenes in the cutscenes.

We’re actually tying up every loose end in the story in MGS4, going back to Portable Ops, and Snake Eater, MGS1 and MGS2. Pretty much everything you’re wondering about and you might have complained before about Mr. Kojima’s script, that this doesn’t make sense. Why doesn’t Vamp die, or why is Raiden like this, or who is Naomi, really, why is she double crossing and triple crossing people. All of that stuff is answered in MGS4.

In that sense it’s going to keep the hardcore happy, but on the other hand I realize that this is a mainstream title, and I’m not interested in just selling 800,000 units to the hardcore, I want this to sell 3-4 million copies worldwide. Which is why we’re giving players the option to explore the backstory, you know we have these flashback scenes, if you want to watch them it’s your choice.

We also have an encyclopedia in the game, if you want you can bring it up and go into the history, if you want to, but it’s not required. You can just watch the story from start to finish. There’s a clear villain-it’s Liquid Ocelot, there’s a clear objective. So even for people who haven’t played any Metal Gears up to this point, I think they’ll get a lot out of it.

Q: Do you think the gameplay is moving more towards Ghost Recon or Rainbow Six gameplay style, or is it still Metal Gear?
A: Not really. We call it “Tactical Espionage Action”, but I don’t think it’s that tactical still. Ghost Recon, they do a great job in that genre, and we’re not looking to intrude on them at all, because they do great at what they do. Our gameplay is not so much that strategic element of moving around your unit. Snake’s solo, he’s on a solo sneaking mission, you don’t have to worry about giving other people commands.

“…with this demo … gameplay feels so good and the aiming feels so fun, that people just kill everything in sight.”

And that’s one thing we’ve run into with this demo, and the demo at TGS, is that the gun gameplay feels so good and the aiming feels so fun, that people just kill everything in sight. And that’s not really a Metal Gear Solid game, because if they keep killing people, obviously we’re going to keep throwing enemies at them until Snake’s dead, or Snake hides, and then it goes back to normal mode.

With that said, we’re also opening up the gameplay to these warzones, these battlefield areas. So how I like to describe it is a waveform gameplay. The beginning is a sneaking section, and obviously you have to get to your point, like rendezvous with Otacon for example, that’s a sneaking part. But then we lead you onto the battlefield, where you can use these cool weapons without worry about being found. So you can unload on the PMCs, you can join with the militia men, you can kind of change the tide of war to how you see fit.

So that’s a cool way of releasing all that tension that you built up during all the sneaking parts. Then we take you back to a sneaking part, then back to a battlefield. It’s a way of keeping the player’s attention. So obviously that’s different from what Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon does.

Q: This is a very cinematic game. How much of the time is spent watching cutscenes?
A: At first, Hideo and I were talking about keeping the cinematics pretty short for MGS4. Because we felt pressure, complaints that the cinematics were too long. But I think that’s only a very vocal minority. I think people actually enjoy the cutscenes, just based on how popular the trailers are. And so what ended up happening was, we kept adding more and more cool scenes til we got to the point where I know we’re going longer than Snake Eater in terms of cinematics, and that game had four hours of cinematics.

I won’t say how many hours of cinematics we have in MGS4, but I will say it’s impressive. If people don’t want to watch they can skip it, so we’re giving people that option. Using our next-gen graphics engine, really incredible sound… I hate to sound cocky, but I think we’re going to win awards for our sound design this time. It’s really incredible. And people are going to be missing out if they skip those cutscenes.

Like I said, the script actually sounds cool. Maybe that was a problem before, is that the story was so convoluted and it sounded like it was coming from Japan, literally translated into English, and this time it feels like a Hollywood movie. It’s entertaining, the dialogue is witty. So yeah, you might be putting down your controller and watching some cinematics, but it’s going to be entertaining, I guarantee it.

Q: You guys have one of the biggest games at E for All. When did you make the decision to attend, and has it paid off in terms of fan reaction?
A: We made this decision without really knowing how many other vendors were going to be here. We like the idea of having a consumer-only event. We always support big shows like this, we’ve visited Leipzig and GDC, TGS, E3, even GO3 in Australia. So we’re very supportive of these consumer and press shows.

But with that said, are we happy we showed up? Of course. We’ve filled every seat we’ve had since we opened the doors on Thursday. We have literally hundreds of people playing the game every day. Some people are giving this show a Doomsday prophecy, like it’s not going to be around next year, that this is the first and last E for All. But I beg to differ, and I’m not just saying this because I’m here at the show and I want people to come.

I would be curious to see a ratio of attendees per booth compared to E3, compared to E for All, because we have people lined up around the booth to play MGS4. Smash Brothers has a huge line, and so does Galaxy. I’m wondering if publishers are regretting the fact that they didn’t show up, like Capcom, Sony, and Microsoft. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ratio of attendees is higher than it was at E3. So I’m hoping this is just the beginning of something really cool.

Q: How do you think you can sell millions of copies of MGS4 with all the competition?
A: I’m not worried about the competition, really. I think we’re the leading title coming out on PS3 next year. We’re not looking for a big bang, to sell a couple million copies in two weeks and then just trickle out throughout the year. I think we’re going to sell consistently, we’re going to own the majority of 2008 I think.

“I’m not worried about the competition … we’re going to own the majority of 2008…”

Especially with the online mode we’re including is going to keep people coming back. And we’re just going to keep updating Metal Gear Online. So I’m thinking we’re going to have steady sales all the way through to Christmas 2008. And maybe you think I’m being too bullish, or too cocky, but I have a lot of confidence that this game is going to be the system seller, that people have been looking forward to for the last year and a half.

Q: One last question, how about the Metal Gear movie?
A: The movie is still in pre-production. We’re having meetings next week. It’s still really early. I’m not as interested in the movie, I’m more interested in making games. I didn’t join this industry to make a Metal Gear movie, even though I know a lot of people are excited about it.

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Check out our hands-on preview of the game here.