Interviews// Gears Creator, Cliffy B

Ace designer, Cliff Bleszinski – the man behind the award-winning, chart-topping, Gears Of War - made his way from Raleigh, North Carolina to the Game Developers’ Conference and spoke with SPOnG’s Joe Chagan. Over the course of this exclusive interview, Cliffy B relaxed into topics as divergent as Grindhouse movies (and making games of the same style), the chances of Gears making its way to PC; what it feels like to beat Zelda and much more… so, without further ado, here’s the interview.

SPOnG: Thank you so very much for taking the time to catch up with us.

Cliffy B: My pleasure.

SPOnG: Congrats on your three awards last night.

Cliffy B: Thank you very much.

SPOnG: Were you surprised when it happened?

Cliffy B: I was fucking astonished! It’s funny because when they were announcing nominees for game of the year there was a different level of excitement for each game, and we really felt like the one that didn’t have a lot of excitement in the room was Gears of War. Then they announced it and people in the room were kind of like "Yeaaah!”. Then they’re like, "Game of the year, Gears Of War", and I'm like “You gotta be kidding me, I don’t have a real speech!” So, I just kind of went up there and thanked as many people as I can remember, so it was cool.

SPOnG: Nice. The thing that everyone I know wanted me to ask you was "How does it feel to beat out a Zelda game?"

Cliffy B: Well I think it’s, ‘Yeah, Gears beat Zelda!' But in my acceptance speech I managed to mention that Shigeru Miyamoto is why I do what I do; from being a boy and saving up my paper route money to be able to purchase Zelda and Mario and all those games. To be in that company and to be in that position is an honourable position and it’s kind of like living the dream, so to speak.

SPOnG: I can only imagine. Well as long as we're on the Gears topic, nothing about a sequel? I'm not gonna get anything out of you?

Cliffy B: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

SPOnG: Not a word?

Cliffy B: What?

SPOnG: Moving right along.

Cliffy B: *laughs*

SPOnG: Since you’re not working on Gears Of War 2, do you actually have any hand in Unreal?

Cliffy B: I’m playing Unreal tournament 3, two to three times a week, and giving Steve Polge some feedback - but by and large he's got a good handle on the project and it’s coming along swimmingly. So, I get to kind of play it and give some feedback that's about it.

SPOnG: So, no Cliffy signature level?

Cliffy B: No. Fortunately not. I don’t want to confirm that I've lost it. *laughs*

SPOnG: Was there anything that got cut from Gears that you had originally really wanted to get in there and just, time constraints or technical issues didn’t allow?

Cliffy B: Well, I really wanted that big Brumak creature that was seen in the original trailer to have a little bit more than a cameo. That would have been nice. So, that was one of the things that could have been a bit more in there. But, you know, maybe he will make an appearance in future products.

SPOnG: Unreal tournament 4?

Cliffy B: We'll see, we'll see.

*laughs*