Luke Smith leaves 1UP to be Master Chief's poolboy

No, we don't actually know that 1UP's news editor will be fishing leaves out of the pool at the Spartan's summer home. But we do know, thanks to the most recent 1UP Yours podcast, that Smith, who has wasted no opportunity to express his love for Halo, will soon leave the world of gaming journalism for an unannounced position at Bungie. Smith did hint that he would still be in front of a mic at his new job, and Bungie's Frankie said in recent update that something was in the works that "might make the next official Bungie podcast that much better," so we probably have a pretty good idea of what he'll be doing.

Smith's path may remind readers of that of Che Chou, who left his job as 1UP's managing editor for community management at Microsoft Game Studios or former Gamespot chief Greg Kasavin who left the site to work as an associate producer for EA.
No matter what Smith ends up doing at Bungie, we here at Joystiq have to consider this a loss for video games journalism. He was an honest writer and a fearless interviewer and, though a polarizing figure in many respects, he was a games journalist, and one of the few you could apply that title to without cracking a smile. We can think of no more fitting tribute to Smith than his infamous "Smarmy" interview with David Jaffe. Take care Luke, we hope to hear from you soon.