Cliffy B puts his development focus on consoles

by Dustin Burg { Feb 14th 2008 at 12:30PM }

Chatting it up with the MTV Multiplayer crew during DICE, the ever entertaining and somewhat outspoken Cliff Bleszinski talks about life, video game design and where he thinks the industry is headed. From their brief interview we learn that the Cliffster has been taking it easy lately, stepping back from his intense development schedule and is gathering inspiration from different media and experiences all from a different perspective. It's easy to see that MTV Multiplayer is talking to a a newly refreshed yet same old same old Cliffy B.

But after all the life talk, we quickly learn that Cliffy B fully supports and is entirely focused on console gaming saying that "PC [gaming] is just in disarray" and that "the PC is kind of the secondary part of what we're doing". Cliffy goes on to fully embrace the direction console gaming is taking and that "right now making AAA games on consoles is where we're at". Which AAA game exactly? He wouldn't say, but we have a hunch that the title rhymes with "tears of bore boo" and includes lots of blood. You aren't fooling anyone Cliffy, bring on the Gears 2 already.

Tags: cliffy-b, epic, epic-games, gears-of-war, gow

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ccc @ Feb 14th 2008 12:38PM

Thats great, now focus on consoles and throw us the extra content the pc got for Gears.

Josh @ Feb 14th 2008 3:02PM

This.

Matt @ Feb 14th 2008 1:18PM

I agree with all of his comments regarding PC gaming. I'm actually surprised developers waste their time with PC games.

cranium @ Feb 14th 2008 1:22PM

Anyone know if Microsoft owns the rights to Gears of War? I don't think it'll end up on PS3, regardless. Microsoft would not allow it. They would rather lose money on Gears 2 exclusivity than let Sony make money on their prime new ip. and clearly, as Cliffy B makes it obvious, making money is important to Epic.
but im wondering how much it could cost Microsoft to keep Gears.

Amber @ Feb 14th 2008 1:29PM

Yes, Microsoft owns the rights to Gears (it's a "first party game")

Matt @ Feb 14th 2008 1:47PM

I think amber is right, but regardless, Gears of War has been huge for both MS and Epic. It solidified their relationship and future and I'm confident MS will do and/or pay anything to assure Gears of War stays as an Xbox exclusive property. This holiday it will be Gears of War 2 for Xbox 360 vs Resistance 2 for PS3.

Tony @ Feb 14th 2008 1:58PM

Don't forget Killzone 2. I would be surprised if that didn't hit this year.

Who knows if it'll turn out or not (I know it was early, but the actual gameplay they showed in the videos was pretty generic), but they definitely will be marketing the hell out of it either way.

ccc @ Feb 14th 2008 1:28PM

I'm not positive and I'll probably get shot down fast but, I believe MS owns the rights to Mass Effect, Halo and Gow.....Oh yeah and Bio Shock.

David W. @ Feb 14th 2008 1:53PM

Halo, yes
GoW, yes
Mass Effect, I'm not so sure on this one
Bioshock, I don't think so...

mattclarkie @ Feb 14th 2008 1:57PM

I think I heard that they own a percentage of the IP Bioshock, so it can go to another platform, but MS get 5% or so of the profits. But I am not sure where I heard this so it could be rubbish.

mattclarkie @ Feb 14th 2008 1:54PM

Console gaming is what PC gaming used to be. With games consoles able to go online, allowing you to play with friends, and whilst producing almost identical visuals/physics, consoles are no longer the gimped cousin of the PCs.

With the technical requirements meaning that PC gaming is very expensive, I know many former PC gamers who buy the games on 360 because it is basically the same, gives them exclusives not even available on the PC, and is much cheaper, you can get a whole console for the cost of a graphics card which is obsolete within a year.
Plus you can play on a huge TV without all the hassle of connecting up a PC and finding somewhere for the KBoard and Mouse to rest yet still give you full control, and if you use a gamepad for a PC to simplify this, why not just use a console?

Tony @ Feb 14th 2008 1:59PM

There's this bit of info that keeps popping up on other sites... that Epic has a two game contract with Microsoft, obviously for the Gears of War titles.

So the concept is that after GoW2, GoW3 can go anywhere... but considering MS is clearly involved in owning the franchise, I really don't even understand how that's possible. It doesn't seem to stop people from saying it though. I just saw it in several comments on Gamespot the other day.

ccc @ Feb 14th 2008 2:35PM

@mattclarkie

I've been loving online gamming since the Sega Saturn and Netlink with Duke Nuk'em 3d.Then onto the Dreamcast with Quake 3 Arena and PSO oh yeah and Alien Front online was hella fun and would make a great arcade game in my opinion.

Supino @ Feb 14th 2008 2:46PM

Well..

The PC is good for Strategy, MMOs and mouse heavy RPGs. Oh - and everything on Steam.

Barbie Fu @ Feb 14th 2008 2:49PM

c'mon yall, look at ut3 which is on the ps3 now while us 360 owners are sh*t out of luck for months......anyway gears sucked outside the graphics so let the ps3 have it, it will go nice next to MGS4....I like my shooters a little deeper like Orange box an Bioshock........I'm no fanboy of consoles, just good games.............

Supino @ Feb 14th 2008 2:53PM

good point! I think a lot of people love the confort of consoles. ease of use, has a lot of value. it's lifequality.

ccc @ Feb 14th 2008 3:19PM

@Barbie Fu

Have you gone mad?
What kind of depth in an fps game are you talking about? Bio Shock is easly the best fps game ever made in the history of gamming. On a single player scale that is. And in all honesty Half Life 2 is probably the second best.
As far as mulitplayer fps games go, the only one that matters to me and many that takes true skill to master is Quake 3 arena. Unreal has always been cool but compared next to Quake is laughable in terms of skill.
As for GOW, it is not an fps but is an amazing multiplayer game. Having different skill levels involved within the movement of your character like straff jumping, diving or running for example are the qualitys that make a shooter game stand above the others that are little more than point and shoot.
Please tell me what shooter you do consider "deep" and please dont tell me Halo or Call of duty.

ccc @ Feb 14th 2008 3:21PM

@barbie fu
Correction, I just reread your comment and see you like Bio shock and Orange box, so ignore what I said about that, but still, GOW is a lot more than graphics=p

360 rules @ Feb 14th 2008 5:27PM

gears 2 is gonna be the best game ever in my opinion im still playing gears and i always will now the person who brought up about 360 gears of war 2 vs resistance 2 for ps3 you never know insomniac is an independent company and you never know if insomniac could go multi with ratchet and clank and resistance you never know!!!