When Ryan Payton talks, we listen. He's the guy that helped keep Metal Gear Solid 4's controls simple, tight and user friendly. In short, sorta like Gears of War. The new control scheme works, and MGS4 is a breath of fresh air in the Metal Gear Solid series. Just how did Payton create a receptive audience for these changes? In a recently published Gamasutra interview from TGS, Payton explains:

Obviously, we have about 99% Japanese men and women in our team, and sometimes it feels like 99 against one — since there are two control schemes. The whole process has been about re-looking at the game, and deciding what needs to stay, what needs to be revised. So, really there were no "sacred cows" as far as the control scheme was concerned.

One thing that I did was put an Xbox 360 in an area of the studio where there's a lot of foot traffic, and I also have a PS3 there, and I'll bring in western-developed games. I'll be playing them, or I'll just have it on and running through the intro, to be repeating on the title menu. People will pick it up and play it, and so now we have a lot of Gears fans, and people are playing BioShock. So people are checking out games that they wouldn't normally check out, and they're getting ideas and inspiration as far as, "OK, this is how things can work for us; this is what we like."

This sounds like a very, very healthy way to approach game making.
Payton Interview [Gamasutra]