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330°

Cliff Bleszinski: shifting gears

Cliff Bleszinski has revealed his desire to break away from the classic war-torn Gears of War style in future projects.

"Stylistically, I'd love to play in a different field in the near future in regards to what your typical expectation of a Gears of War game actually is," he told Develop in an interview published today.

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GWAVE6191d ago

All in all, Cliffy isn't that great of a designer. He's just so bombastic and the media loves to shower him with attention, so it creates the illusion that he's some sort of gaming god on par with Miyamoto, Kojima, or Will Wright.

Go wiki Cliffy B and look at that list of accomplishments if you think I'm just trolling.

labaronx6191d ago (Edited 6191d ago )

he's still pretty good over all and Gears 1 and 2 are very good starts for someone with a very promising career... he should be warned however that not everyone embraces change or are open to new ideas... this new generation of gamers appear to play the same things over and over again gears, COD etc and whine about change (mirrors edge).

PirateThom6191d ago

Gears of War wasn't his first game though. His first game was in the early 90s. I think Gears of War was something like his sixth game (citation needed). I think he's vastly overrated as a designer, his games are fun (be it Jazz Jackrabbit or Gears of War), but he's hardly one of the video game greats, not yet anyway.

Jockamo6191d ago

Kojima, Miyamoto, Will Wright are dynamic stalwarts in the gaming industry.

I would put Blezinski in the same category as David Jaffe, but only because he hasn't made a decent Twisted Metal in a while...

SevWolf6191d ago

@ piratethom: OMFG, JAZZJACKRABBIT, sorry about spazzing but I havent thought of that game in sooo ling, man so many memories
@jockamo: I would put David J, a bit higher than Cliffy just because, he's created 2 of the most iconic character ever known on gaming(Sweet Tooth, Kratos) eventhough Marcus fenix is a great character, he cant compare with the other two, but Cliffy is still a great developer(overrated) but nonetheless a great one, and still up there with the greats

KingKionic 6191d ago

What did that have to do with the interview?

Jockamo6191d ago

Yes, but you can't forget that Cliffy was also the lead designer for the Unreal Tournament series, one of the most successful FPS franchises of all time.

I say they're equal in that regard.

dachiefsman6191d ago (Edited 6191d ago )

Nothing of course. Then claims not to be trolling. HAHAHAAHHA!

Cliff is a good designer, even Jaffe said this.

GameGambits6190d ago

I thought Cliff was on to something with Gears of War 1, but Gears of War 2 proves he doesn't get how to make a game that works. He didn't beta test it, he didn't shell out for dedicated servers(even though a game like Left 4 Dead on Xbox 360 has it), and he didn't fix any of the bugs from Gears of War 1 + he let slide an onslaught of new ones.

As a game developer you are supposed to learn from your past mistakes not leave them be then scoop up a handful more to ruin your games potential.

To anyone who thinks Gears of War 2 was a success as a "good" game, then you probably only own a Xbox 360 and don't have options to try many online shooting games. I played Gears of War 1 for 6 months day in and day out, and dropped out of Gears 2 before even a month of its release. I was 500 in the world in 3 diff game types in Gears 2, but being good at a bad game was like bragging about coming in first in the special olympics.

Count me out on the Cliff love train, but until he learns how to do things right I don't wanna hear squat from him. You realize at E3 he had to end his stage demo short because it glitched on that spider boss right? He can't even handle a Xbox Live Arcade game that is glitchless let alone a multi million dollar project. He is far from being one of the "great" designers. He proves it time and time again.

Redgehammer6190d ago

Unless of course you belong in the Special Olympics right? I mean, you are not denigrating the good souls that actually compete in the Special Olympics are you?

KingKionic 6190d ago

I think cliffyb proved he is a amazing dev with gears of war 2. Yes the multiplayer had a bad launch. But the single player was amazing in every way. With the new addition to horde mode, the training option,multiplayer,photo option, It really blew gears of war 1 away.

GameGambits6190d ago

I like how I posted substantial non flame bait information about WHY I think he is a poor game developer and I got blasted with disagrees.

Seriously think what Gears of War 2 would've been like if crab walking, kung fu flipping, shield glitching, etc had NEVER existed in it? What if they had added dedicated servers too so you never have to experience a poor connection game? Would you have liked a beta test for Gears 2 to help catch the smoke grenade flaws, the weird bug with the mortar where it just fires a shot at your feet right away, and how the chainsaw on poor connections creates a massive funnel effect?

The things I'm stating are things a game developer who's supposed expertise is ONLINE MULTIPLAYER (Unreal games, Gears), is the crown jewel, yet here he is not upping the anty in anyway.

How big of a success would you have thought Killzone 2 would have been if it hadn't changed at all since Killzone 1 for the multiplayer and then to top it off had even more problems load into it? What if Rainbow Six Vegas 1 had no changes whatsoever to the multiplayer into #2, then to seal the deal threw in more BS to handle?

Think logically here. As a game developer he is NOT learning or taking his job seriously enough. The story for #2 wasn't even as great from an experience aspect as #1, since the final boss was a joke, and Dom's story just felt forced upon the player in every way. The game didn't really prove any answers from #1 either, but simply just added in more questions. Horde was a great thing to touch on for a week, for me it simply wasn't the reason I bought Gears 2 for and keep playing it. Plus, it lacked variety in Horde mode so that it got boring fast.

Please stop me where I'm not making sense, because this isn't flaming this is just stating things that are the way they are.

KingKionic 6190d ago

How can i prove you wrong?

It`s your opinion.

But i will say...the last boss should have been better then ramm. I like stories that add more questions to the franchises story.

It`s all in everyone`s opinion of what they do like and what they dont like. Dedicated servers are in unreal. I keep asking my self why cliffy b didn't put it in gears.

*shakes head*

Well in my opinion cliffy b doing a good job.

But probably because im a fan of the series...

ShabzS6190d ago (Edited 6190d ago )

... more specifically the chainsaw in it... firstly the concept was all blezinskis idea and he pushed for having it in the game pretty hard during the pre gears 1 release...

epic and microsoft did not want it in the first game as it seemed too voilent yet he continuously insisted on having it... its all there in the gear 1 video doc ..so always remember, no blezinski - no lancer ...

Shepherd 2146190d ago

it had nothing to do with it. Gwave is a troll. Cliffy B may not be a landmark developer yet, but then again, no one ever said he was one, did they? He makes fun games and does his job and gets paid, like every other developer. DO you know what a job is Gwave?

pumpkinpunker6190d ago (Edited 6190d ago )

whatever sony haters...he's already heavily influenced your beloved Uncharted series and helped make improvements to 3rd person shooters and cover systems. He helped create the most used game engine of this console generation. Also, Unreal tournament was very influential in it's day. keep hating though.

mastiffchild6190d ago

Gears wasn't even out when Uncharted was being developed(not while it was formative in any case) and the similarities are NON existant between the two series-both of which I really love to bits)and I doubt you think UT was an influence on ND do you?

Cliffy is sometimes his own worst enemy and , I think, says too much when he's tired/drunk etc but this shows he's far more like us than we'd like, in many cases to think. Yeah, his tatoos are tasteless cliche in extremis but the guy plainly loves games-and gives props to whoever he likes be they Sony devs or MS or whatever as long as he likes the game-which is WAY more than some MS/Sonmy fanboys can do anout games on other platforms is it not?

It's also no coincidence that he respects those he's worked with(the guys up top at GG etc)and gets it from the likes of Jaffe(a pretty similar character)who shoots from the hip in a similar way-even if I'd put Kratos above the Gears boys-though TM is a totally US thing and I'm yet to meet many of us in the UK who've even played it let alone liked it much(I couldn't even find a copy way back when!).

Cliffy isn't perfect but compared to a lot of us he's VERY fair minded and not in any way as up himself as many say he is.

+ Show (13) more repliesLast reply 6190d ago
Oztheboss6191d ago

Jesus, even CliffyB is tired of Gears. That's got to mean something.

StanLee6191d ago

Jesus, you're an idiot. Did you even read the article?

6191d ago
GiantEnemyCrab6191d ago (Edited 6191d ago )

No where did he say he is tired of Gears. There has been 2 games! Read that again... 2 GAMES! I'm far from tired of Gears of War and I'm sure many other games feel the same.

Take the name calling to the Open Zone fella.

CobraKai6191d ago

Ironic if he does a Metal Gear style game.

likedamaster6191d ago

What makes Cliff B. great is how he can go from franchise to franchise and still be great. From seamingly insignificant titles like Jazz Jackrabbit to killer titles like Unreal Tourney to Major Blockbusters like Gears of War. He has proved that he and his team can bring it, from sequals to new IPs.

likedamaster6190d ago (Edited 6190d ago )

Edit: All devs watch Cliff/Epic closely on what they'll be working on like they have been this whole time. People like Cliffy and Devs like Epic(and others) are trailblazers, they pave the way for future gaming with their ideas only to be copied sloppily(Quantum) or borrowed from heavily(the games are endless). You'll never know which approach they'll be taking the next time around(Shadow Complex), but all we who have been following these great devs know to expect something spectacular regardless of genre or the naysayers. /end rant

Show all comments (42)
240°

Gears of War 2 Remake was in development “10 years ago” but was scrapped by Xbox

Ayi Sanchez: "Old work. I did this 10 years ago now as part of a material test for a remaster of Gears of War 2 that never happened."

RaidenBlack460d ago

lolz,
hope we're still getting Gears 2 & 3 for PC, as per rumors

Cacabunga460d ago

Xbox always taking the right decisions

XiNatsuDragnel460d ago

Wow... just wow Microsoft sigh at it again 😑

Lightning77460d ago

Weird, in mean they had no studios to make anything really new so there's a part of me thats kinda glad they scrapped it. If they released this back then it would of gotten ridiculed for remakes and remastering stuff. Now they have new and interesting games so the collection is harmless.

CrimsonWing69460d ago

Geez, Xbox, something like that I would’ve bought Day 1. Great business decisions over there.

lucasnooker460d ago

10 years ago it wasn’t such a big deal. The games were only a few years old by that point

CrimsonWing69460d ago

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition came out in 2015 (essentially 10 years ago), having a follow-up to that on the then next-gen console would’ve absolutely been welcomed, in my book.

LoveSpuds460d ago

I can only assume the the Gears of War Remaster flopped so they decided to scrap the other remakes?

Seems short sighted to me as I really enjoyed the 1st remaster. Regardless, I'll snap up some remakes to play on my PS5.

Show all comments (11)
260°

Gears Of War Creator Urges Devs To Make Single-Player Games Amid EA's Live Service Focus

Gears of War's creator has spoken out against the trend of turning established franchises into live services, urging developers to focus on single-player experiences.

Relientk77493d ago

I agree with Cliff for once.

Single player games > GaaS

JEECE492d ago

Too bad he didn't have this opinion when he chased trends with Lawbreakers. Or when he chased trends with Radical Heights.

Popsicle492d ago (Edited 492d ago )

He learned from the mistake or he wouldn’t be advocating for more single player experiences. I find this refreshing in a world where we often see people so stubborn that they tend to double down on a mistake which results in making things even worse. Seriously, good for him!

JEECE492d ago

@Popsicle

Oh for sure, better late than never. And better to somewhat own up to your mistakes, rather than just blaming your release window, or advertising partners, or gamers lol.

anast492d ago

@Popsicle

Of course we will never know his intentions, but it's hard to believe he is just a naive agent that is learning from his mistakes.

-Foxtrot493d ago

He could have done one himself after Gears of War but he did Lawbreakers…look how that turned out.

RaidenBlack493d ago

Not converting Jawbreakers into F2P was the final nail in the CliffyB coffin.

Knushwood Butt492d ago

Jawbreakers would have been a better name! Heck, I might just go and trademark that right now.

BISHOP-BRASIL492d ago

@Knushwood

Aren't those a kind of candy already?

coolbeans493d ago

You're missing the point. His studio's short lifespan is what *inspired* him to make this comment in the first place.

-Foxtrot493d ago

Oh I know the point...I'm just stating the obvious and how stupid he was in the beginning to jump on a trend he had no real experience in. A first person hero shooter with heavy GaaS elements is a lot different than the multiplayer in Gears of War.

He'd have been better creating something like Gears of War again, a great single player story and a good online mode.

coolbeans492d ago

-"A first person hero shooter with heavy GaaS elements is a lot different than the multiplayer in Gears of War."

I mean... you're kinda muddying terms when Gears has always had a strong multiplayer component. Even if I grant you that, Cliffy B started cementing himself at Epic with Unreal Tournament, which was among the earliest shooter series to have "proto-GaaS elements" (downloadable maps, cosmetics, special editions that bundle stuff together). Lawbreakers and Radical Heights (were it finished) weren't major career shifts to him like they would be for, say, Fumito Ueda.

Regardless of that, it's still kinda useless to state the obvious when CliffyB himself made his comments with the benefit of hindsight already.

492d ago
CrimsonWing69492d ago (Edited 492d ago )

Look, these a-hole publishers can do this, in fact I want them to, so they can f*ck around and find out and fail hard scaring away everyone else from doing this live service push.

This industry is run by some of the dumbest corporate pieces of sh*t I’ve ever seen. They spend stupid amount of money with literally nothing that stands out from games from the previous generation (look at Arkham Knight to the $200 mill Suicide Squad comparison vids), you’re overpaying devs, and you focus on games as a service to milk consumers that a lot of them grew up off traditional games. We’re not idiots, we sniff this sh*t out and won’t touch it.

So, what’s your answer to not getting a ROI? Raise game prices and double down on GaaS so you can suck your consumers dry. That model only works for some games and even then how in hell do you expect it to work with multiple games!? They’re ruining the damn hobby with this corporate greed.

Cut back on dev budgets, cut back on how much your staff is getting paid, until sales for games bring in a profit. That’s the answer and make some games that feel like there’s passion behind them, not some cookie cut up game that feels like the entire existence behind it is to offer as little as it can with repetitive bullsh*t and selling off all this content throughout its life. It’s gross.

anast492d ago

I agree with every point here.

Redemption-64492d ago

Games do bring in a profit, it's the greed that is killing the industry. Here is a fact, live service games overall make more, significantly more money than single player games

What you should be asking is executives not wanting continuous growth or firing them. Saying devs should be fired when those who are fitting the bills and setting unrealistic expectations would make things worse. What do y9u think would happen if they released say, 30 single player games and over half of them fail? You are going after the wrong crowd.

DankSinatra492d ago

About time he learned. I guess he finally stopped blaming everyone else and took accountability for his mistakes and realized that people really don't care that much for trends or live service.

Show all comments (24)
850°

Report: Gears of War Trilogy Collection Will Be Multiplatform and Available on PS5 Day One

A new rumor suggests that the Gears of War Trilogy Collection is real, with it launching on the PS5 day one with Xbox and PC.

LG_Fox_Brazil498d ago

Yeah, I can totally see that happening. My only doubt is if they are going to announce that at the same time as the Hallo Collection or if they will try to distance both announcements to try to ease the pain

helicoptergirl498d ago

This same insider was correct about Forza Horizon 5. So this might be true. But I heard rumors are the Halo:MCC is the next big one to be announced. We'll see I guess

DefenderOfDoom2497d ago

I am hoping Halo:MCC comes to PlayStation .

Cacabunga497d ago

Someone check on Obscure Observer please

piroh498d ago

They should announce dedicated showcase for all Playstation ports, it would be less painful for their fanbase.

Anyway thank you Team Xbox and Phil i will support the games.

Profchaos498d ago

Phil should wear a crash t shirt to that

Profchaos498d ago

I see them being in the same year but halo coming alongside ns2 and if e day is early next year gears collection could come at Christmas time

The_Blue498d ago

Ease the pain? You do know these people won't even entertain us irl, ironic 😭

1Victor498d ago

NOOOOOOOOOOOO screamed an obscured observer from across the room the street.
Well I’ll check it out DAY 1 🤣 I hope the do a good job porting it and don’t have issues like MCC did when it first launched on s/x🤷🏿

Mr_cheese498d ago (Edited 498d ago )

This will be cool

TheEroica497d ago (Edited 497d ago )

Ease the pain? Pain for who? Lol. More games on more platforms is a gamer friendly approach. Locking games behind hardware is archaic and lame... Let's not turn into corporate stooges.

TheEroica497d ago

4 corporate suits voted me down. Shame. Pro gamer all the way.

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 497d ago
Lightning77498d ago

I remember talking about this with someone on the forums and they made some good points. Like what exactly are these old games doing at the moment? They pushed the hardware and did everything they needed to do for that platform at the time. Now in MS case even their new games are gonna be day and date but if we're taking about old games. Those games are just sitting their not doing anything anymore. When you port the old stuff to another console, that game has life again and move few more units and a new audience.

As I said Xbox is different because their stuff is inching closer and closer to be day and date. Though both Xbox and PS have old games that are just sitting around when they could have new audiences and breathe new life into the older exclusives.

Terry_B498d ago

Just imagine how well collections of older Nintendo games would sell on pc, xbox and playstation...

NotoriousWhiz498d ago

I honestly don't expect Nintendo to gain much from releasing their games on 3rd party consoles. People are conditioned to buy Nintendo games on Nintendo hardware. Once that changes, Nintendo will probably lose out on revenue as people pass on their underpowered console to wait for their game to release on a superior console. Tons of people only have a Switch for exclusives, and those exclusives sell better than most games on the other platforms and Nintendo is able to pocket the bulk of that revenue since it is their game on their console.

Profchaos497d ago

Not very considering rom packs have been eaily accessible for years now it's only really GameCube and above you need to pick and choose because the game size is fairly large and the Wii IMO didn't emulate well considering the motion controls.

So as incredible as they are I doubt they would sell unless they are overhauling them somehow but then again I wouldn't want to see them overhauled but that's just me I still play the NES version of Mario 3 over the SNES all stars version as a example because I think it looks better.

497d ago
Sonic1881497d ago

All you had to say was Microsoft is a third party publisher now

Lightning77497d ago

Huh? They clearly are what are you trying to get at?

rlow1497d ago

That still makes and releases a console…..which knocks them out of the third party club…..nice try

Sonic1881497d ago

@rlow1

A third-party publisher that still releases a console? Sure, whatever makes you sleep at night. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what they're trying to do.

generic-user-name497d ago

The Series X/S backwards compatibility to their old classics was one of the last few selling points for those consoles.

RaidenBlack498d ago

Finally Gears 2 & 3 coming to PC !

neutralgamer1992498d ago (Edited 498d ago )

Exactly I also hope we get a fable collection since fable 2 never came to Pc

I hope we also get gears of war 4 on Pc too since only gears 5 is on steam along with tactics

ninjabutt13498d ago

Gears 4 is already on pc, maybe not in steam but its in xbox app

497d ago
isarai498d ago

Where's the goalposts gonna go now? 😀🫳🍿

helicoptergirl498d ago

Get an obscure person to bend over and then I'll show you :)

Chevalier498d ago

They're too busy crying in a corner and being served crow again though. Pretty sure everything is going to voicemail.

goken497d ago

@helicoptergirl
Normally with articles like this the person you mentioned is usually obscured from observation 🤣

Profchaos498d ago

Revenue same as always Microsoft don't care about community it's reputation and they've never been worried about losing loyal customers if you recall the Kinect era they abandoned the hardcore entirely to pursue the hardcore gamers grandma

Outside_ofthe_Box498d ago

"Where's the goalposts gonna go now?"

"It's just old games sitting around doing nothing! Might as well get money from it and a new audience you can use to potentially make it exclusive again for next gen for them to be enticed to jump ship!"

~New goalpost

498d ago
Outside_ofthe_Box498d ago (Edited 498d ago )

"Eventually Sony will likely be forced to do the same"

Is that you begging for games that you once bashed in the past? Too funny, things must be dry in your land.

Chevalier498d ago

"aren’t selling as much as Xbox - and the answer will be that they are on less platforms."

No they won't because Xbox doesn't announce sales numbers at all. So how would they compare these sales? What idiotic logic. These shareholders going to pull numbers out their backside?!

thorstein497d ago

Why doesn't he just use the one account. How many N4G tabs does he have open with different accounts?

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 497d ago
neutralgamer1992498d ago

Why do you need goalposts? More gamers will get to play games. Phil said it few days ago again no game has any red line around it. Seriously man it's gaming and your choice of plastic box makes no difference

It's 2025 enjoy gaming on any platform. We should be celebrating how the Biggest gaming publisher is allowing their games to be played on all platforms but how can we get that when some people feel the need to take victory laps

498d ago
Chevalier498d ago

Well hate to say we told you so. But we called this happening as soon as we saw these big purchases and falling sales, but, a whole slew of people said this would NEVER happen. Goalpost keep moving too as if it's some weird flex.

thorstein497d ago (Edited 497d ago )

TBH, Forza, the Indiana Jones game, the next Elder Scrolls, and I hope Fable will make it over. I'm excited about those.

I don't think MS going the Sega route would be a bad thing. Nintendo and Sony are making good hardware. There's no reason to not make profit off of that.

But the goalposts moving is in reference to people who constantly approve and post disingenuous stories that they scream are true.

For instance, "you can build a comparable PC to a PS pro for $700," conveniently leaving off the OS. Or, "Sony delisted HD2 in 170 countries" when in reality, it was 170 regions of which SteamDB lists as having over 3000 regions.

neutralgamer1992497d ago

Chevalier

What is this with we. Yes most of us saw this coming and all I am saying is it's a great thing for gamers on all platforms. We should be celebrating the fact amazing games will be available to all of us instead of taking some victory lap because of a plastic box

Chevalier496d ago

"What is this with we. Yes most of us saw this coming and all I am saying is it's a great thing for gamers on all platforms. We should be celebrating the fact amazing games will be available to all of us instead of taking some victory lap because of a plastic box"

Cool and it should be celebrated. But this idiotic narrative is that it was done for us as consumers needs to die.

Lots of idiots trying to reframe this when they literally argued that this would NEVER happen when we said yes it will because Gamepass isn't profitable and sales losses all round and add in lower hardware sales and it was obvious

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 496d ago
1Victor498d ago

@isarai: “ Where's the goalposts gonna go now? 😀🫳🍿”
.
The goal post is going home crawl into the shower open the flow and start crying while rocking back and forward i obscured by the darkness of the room.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 496d ago
helicoptergirl498d ago

I haven't played any oif these games either. Will buy and go through the campgains for sure. They a co-op correct? Hope so

Yui_Suzumiya497d ago

They're amazing. If you ever played Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine then you already have an idea how they play.

Show all comments (113)