Cliff Bleszinski Predicts Next Gen Consoles - Thinks iPad
Lengthy BBC interview has some fascinating stuff.
Cliff Bleszinski has given a lengthy interview to the BBC World Service where he ranges over such subjects as his childhood, Epic's "Moral Compass", how Gears of War '1' came in the wake of 9/11 and more. During the interview he also takes a punt at the Next Gen of games consoles.
He tells interviewer, Carrie Gracie, "The next generation of videogames consoles might just be things that are like the iPad where you take your pad with you and when you're at the pub you can play a simpler version of the game and then when you bring it to the house you plug it into a docking station, then it pops up on your large TV and you take your traditional controller and you play the more traditional game.
And then this connects to people's mobile phones so maybe you have maybe a social element; and you do whatever you can to create what is essentially a second life for users who want to seek out that fantasy world and experience."
It's a half-hour interview - which you should listen to in full and make your own minds up - so Cliff also has plenty of other ground to cover.
Gears of War & 9/11
"Gears 1 was created in the wake of 9/11 in regards to you're dealing with an enemy that's more low-tech, that kicks the higher tech, more civilised communities butts."
Gears vs Modern Warfare 2
"The guys who did Modern Warfare 2 touched up certainly some very political buttons that, actually, we don't want to really get into in regards to how we do it at Epic. We would rather speak with kind of metaphors for these kind of elements rather than have you fighting Afghani soldiers and what not."
Being a gun nut
"I'm not a gun nut... I have a healthy respect for guns. I have a healthy respect for guns. I have fired them on numerous occasions; several different types. And the thing that I realised about it, you know, you're raised in 'Boom Boom Pow!', watching these actions movies and assuming that person can just get shot and just keep fighting on like John McClaine from the Die Hard and what-not and it's an explosion in your hands and it's a scary thing and it should be taken seriously and with a lot of respect.
And the reason why we in videogames generally tend to use guns is it's because it's the cheapest and easiest way to interact with the world. I've said before that you're not necessarily shooting things so much as you're touching them in the world. If you see a bottle that's on a shelf and you reach out and you touch it and you watch it explode into a million shiny pieces that's feedback, that's gratification to prove that you have interacted with the world, and that's why we often will go with gun-play in many instances over very intricate Kung-Fu or melee experiences."
Cliff Leads by Example
"Maybe I'm trying to lead by example a little bit here and say, 'Hey, you know, it's okay to not have translucent skin and it's okay to eat slightly healthier foods and not just live on pizza and soda all day long, which America could afford to do in general, and just live the dream essentially and prove to people that this is not only a job, it's a career and a wonderful adventure."
Cliff to go into film?
"I love games, I love film and I want to be able to drive it all forward."
Cliff on Violence
"We keep an eye on (violence). As I mentioned previously when we talk about big space marines and bulky armour that are beating lizard men to death and things like that, we're not depicting a guy in downtown Los Angeles pulling a truck driver out of his car and beating him over head with a brick, right? That's not who we are. And we have an internal, kind of, moral compass where we'll decide, 'No, that one's probably a bit too much and we need to dial that one back a little bit.' There's still ways of showing violence and dealing with that and affecting the user without going full-bore. There's, of course, ultimately the parents who, one would hope, would take an active interest in what there children are watching and listening to."
As we say, listen to the whole thing at the BBC.
Source: BBC
He tells interviewer, Carrie Gracie, "The next generation of videogames consoles might just be things that are like the iPad where you take your pad with you and when you're at the pub you can play a simpler version of the game and then when you bring it to the house you plug it into a docking station, then it pops up on your large TV and you take your traditional controller and you play the more traditional game.
And then this connects to people's mobile phones so maybe you have maybe a social element; and you do whatever you can to create what is essentially a second life for users who want to seek out that fantasy world and experience."
It's a half-hour interview - which you should listen to in full and make your own minds up - so Cliff also has plenty of other ground to cover.
Gears of War & 9/11
"Gears 1 was created in the wake of 9/11 in regards to you're dealing with an enemy that's more low-tech, that kicks the higher tech, more civilised communities butts."
Gears vs Modern Warfare 2
"The guys who did Modern Warfare 2 touched up certainly some very political buttons that, actually, we don't want to really get into in regards to how we do it at Epic. We would rather speak with kind of metaphors for these kind of elements rather than have you fighting Afghani soldiers and what not."
Being a gun nut
"I'm not a gun nut... I have a healthy respect for guns. I have a healthy respect for guns. I have fired them on numerous occasions; several different types. And the thing that I realised about it, you know, you're raised in 'Boom Boom Pow!', watching these actions movies and assuming that person can just get shot and just keep fighting on like John McClaine from the Die Hard and what-not and it's an explosion in your hands and it's a scary thing and it should be taken seriously and with a lot of respect.
And the reason why we in videogames generally tend to use guns is it's because it's the cheapest and easiest way to interact with the world. I've said before that you're not necessarily shooting things so much as you're touching them in the world. If you see a bottle that's on a shelf and you reach out and you touch it and you watch it explode into a million shiny pieces that's feedback, that's gratification to prove that you have interacted with the world, and that's why we often will go with gun-play in many instances over very intricate Kung-Fu or melee experiences."
Cliff Leads by Example
"Maybe I'm trying to lead by example a little bit here and say, 'Hey, you know, it's okay to not have translucent skin and it's okay to eat slightly healthier foods and not just live on pizza and soda all day long, which America could afford to do in general, and just live the dream essentially and prove to people that this is not only a job, it's a career and a wonderful adventure."
Cliff to go into film?
"I love games, I love film and I want to be able to drive it all forward."
Cliff on Violence
"We keep an eye on (violence). As I mentioned previously when we talk about big space marines and bulky armour that are beating lizard men to death and things like that, we're not depicting a guy in downtown Los Angeles pulling a truck driver out of his car and beating him over head with a brick, right? That's not who we are. And we have an internal, kind of, moral compass where we'll decide, 'No, that one's probably a bit too much and we need to dial that one back a little bit.' There's still ways of showing violence and dealing with that and affecting the user without going full-bore. There's, of course, ultimately the parents who, one would hope, would take an active interest in what there children are watching and listening to."
As we say, listen to the whole thing at the BBC.
Source: BBC
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Cliff Bleszinski
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