While it's good to read that Rod is back, we cannot forget that both he and Cliff were involved with Judgment. It's conspicuous that they did leave months before the release of the game, but it's not definitve that it was due to in-house issues (though Rod coming back once a new studio obtains the franchise sure does support that). If you watch the behind the scenes for the games, Rod really involved with the games, even though he's not a designer or programmer. Hopefully it returns to that dark, bleak game we were given in 2006.
That same website Ryu linked to has an article with Cliff stating he's done with the franchise, and is not making a return, not even as a consultant. I know Cliff was the one who really pushed for the dramatic, nightmarish vision, but Rod seemed to be very much in support of Cliff's vision. Plus, Rod did the live streams for Gears of War 2 and 3, so he did have community involvement. Hopefully he'll do those again. He just comes across as professional and personable, though he's not above making money, either (as he explained with the intentional decision to tie so many DLC achievements in Gears of War 3 to needing multiple players, hoping that it would entice people to convince their friends to also buy the DLC).
Hopefully they wait until at least 2016 to release this game. Give gamers a 3 years break, let us forget about any issues we (may have) had with Judgment, let the series seem to begin anew, keep that grand (split-screen) cooperative campaign, and definitely feature a Beta for the game, showing us confidence in the product, while also letting gamers potentially find problems that they can correct well before release (they did this with Gears of War 3 and it worked so well, with both weapons and maps being changed to correct these sorts of issues, yet idiotically did not do this with Judgment; AI Wretches attacking the E-hole before the match started...a simple Beta would have found and addressed this issue).
This is the only thing interesting me in the Xbox One right now, as Halo has lost me. If this is made well, I'd have a reason to buy into next generation. I wonder if we'll see Horde, Beast, Overrun, Survival and/or free for all return?