Ryan Payton left his assistant producer post at Kojima Productions in Japan to be closer to his family in Washington. If a recent post by Kotaku’s Brian Crecente is true, he’ll be doing just that on top of taking charge of a very high profile project.
According to Kotaku’s sources, Payton has been hired by Microsoft [...]

Microsoft confirmed last night that they will close Halo Wars developer Ensemble Studios after the completion of the game, according to reports on Gamesindustry.biz and other multiple sources.
“This was a fiscally-rooted decision that keeps MGS on its growth path. While the decision to dissolve Ensemble was not an easy one, Microsoft is working to place [...]

Organizers of Games Convention Asia announced this morning that Lionhead Studios’ Peter Molyneux will be presenting the keynote speech at this year’s event.
“Pushing the boundaries of interactive entertainment is something I’m very passionate about - it’s been the focus of much of my career,” said Peter Molyneux. “It is an honour to be a part [...]

Microsoft Game Studios and Lionhead Studios jointly announced this afternoon that Fable II will be headed to stores in the U.S. on October 21. The European release of the game will follow three days later on October 24.
In addition, Lionhead also revealed details on a Limited Collector’s Edition of the game that will ship alongside [...]

Physics engine providers Havok announced this morning that they have signed a prepetual licensing agreement with Microsoft Game Studios for use of their Physics, Animation and Behavior products. Under the deal, the tools will be made available for all of Microsoft’s internal studios and development partners, as well as cover future Havok products to come.

“Microsoft [...]

One of the major standouts of Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference without question was the walkthrough for Gears of War 2. In the video (shown above), lead designer Cliff Bleszinski takes control of Marcus and Dom and guides them through a level that had me, and probably a lot of other people, speechless after watching it. [...]

Jeff Bell stepping down from his role as VP of Global Marketing is among the many structural changes announced within Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Division today.
Bell will remain with the company for the duration of the summer to ease the transition for a successor, but says he would like to pursue other opportunities outside of Microsoft.
“The [...]