Gearing Up for Sequel, Epic Games' 'Cliffy B' Sees 'Very Long Summer'

SAN FRANCISCO — Minus blood and gore but with hype galore, Cliff Bleszinski chainsawed his way through a paper wall before formally announcing "Gears of War 2."

Using one of the weapons featured in the bloody "Gears of War" original that sold 5.5 million copies, “Cliffy B,” as he is known in the gaming community, showed the panache that has made Epic Games one of the trendsetters in the global video game industry.

One of the top creative minds in gaming, Cliffy B ripped his way onto stage at the Game Developers Conference to formally announce that the "Gears" sequel would be released this November for the Microsoft Xbox 360 platform. Yes, Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad will soon be back to battle the Locust Horde as Epic continues to expand on the "Gears" franchise. A movie, books, action figures and a graphic novel/comic are all in the works.

Later, the lead designer at Cary, N.C.-based Epic, talked with WRAL Local Tech Wire and WRAL.com about the new game as well the growing role of GDC within the game community.

What’s it like for you to finally be able to let the cat out of the bag with "Gears of War 2"?

It’s nice to finally be able to confirm the damn thing. I’m tired of doing interviews where people ask me what I’m working on and I had to say, “I’m working on stuff, taking my dog out, going to Hurricanes games.” We’ve been working on this game for quite some time.

What can you tell us about "Gears of War 2"?

It’s coming in November and it’s going to be a very long summer for us. No trips to the beach.

With regard to the "Halo" game franchise, a lot of people have said it’s basically the same game from 1 to 3. Is there a directive of what you guys are trying to do to make "Gears 2" different from what you’ve already done?

There’s a threshold there where at some point, you have to give people what they want. I think if [the game developer] Bungie had screwed with the formula too much, they ran the risk of potentially alienating their entire fan base. At the same time, you have to find new and creative ways to make the game fresh for those who have played the game for thousands of hours. It remains to be seen what we’re going to be pulling off.

Is GDC a viable way to get into the videogame industry today?

This is a great show because you get the full spectrum, all the way from an intern who wants to get into the business to top-level executives who might be at a giant party together or in the elevator together. That’s what really tickles me and I like to see. When you go to a conference like DICE, it’s all designers, producers, journalists and executives. I never know when somebody comes up to me if it’s an executive producer at a studio or a programmer who has a pet project at the Independent Games Festival. I think this show has accessibility to this industry that you don’t see anywhere else in entertainment, and I think it’s a great thing.

What role do you see the Unreal Engine 3 technology playing in giving people a new avenue of getting into the games business?

If you look at the mod support that we provide, people can make a mod with Unreal Tournament 3 on the PC and then share it with people on the PS3, which is a first for the industry. I get e-mails from people every day asking how to get in the games business. I tell them to pick up a copy of Gears PC or Unreal Tournament 3 and get cracking, man. Half of the staff that we’ve hired at Epic started in the mod community, so it’s the way to go.

What are your thoughts on console versus PC games?

Creativity unhinged isn’t always a great thing because you need some limitations. The fact that we only have so much processing power to make the games that we do on consoles is actually a good thing. We can’t just say, “Let people buy more RAM.” Having an established set of rules helps make a continuous entertaining universe, and we know how to play to that now.

Within the development community, how important is it for game creators to play what’s out there?

I think it’s good to a point, but you have to be careful because sometimes you can end up ripping on too many other established game design paradigms. That might not be a good thing because you could find yourself painted into a corner. I make it my duty to play all of the games that are popular but I don’t play every last obscure title. I’d rather spend that time reading a book, seeing a movie and going out and experiencing life in public, because I think a good work/life balance is (as) important as a creative.

How have you seen the game industry change over the years from the perspective of a creator?

The Wii and the DS are great. For me, it goes back to the conversation in which you tell a girl you make videogames and she says she loves Frogger. What Nintendo’s done is they’ve brought all of those people who used to play games but gave up. ... Now, everybody wants a Wii or a DS and that’s a good thing. If people are playing games at all, maybe some day they’ll try "Gears."

Can you talk about how you’ve seen the Raleigh area expand in the videogame business over the years?

I’ve been in the Raleigh area since 1998 and it was really, really sleepy back then. The growth in the past 10 years — and the last four years alone — watching downtown grow up and the sky line go up. I think it’s great. I’ve grown as a person as the industry has grown as an entity (and) as Raleigh has grown as a city.