Home Gaming Cliff Bleszinski says Gears 2 MP was his biggest regret

Cliff Bleszinski says Gears 2 MP was his biggest regret

2 min read
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CliffyB

Cliff Bleszinski is a game developer who polarises the public like no other. I know local journalists who actually despise the guy and yet others, like myself, think he is an absolute godsend to an industry full of introverted developers and (lack of) personalities.

While he is currently on a sabbatical from game development he does keep himself relevant to the industry by happily giving his opinion on anything that happens and now he has put up a FAQ section on his personal tumblr which has some interesting insights.

First up is an answer that will get his haters seething

Q. What do you drive?

A. I drive a 2013 Lamborghini Aventador. My wife drives the 2010 Gallardo LP560. We also have a pair of day to day drivers. PROTIP: If you buy a supercar and can’t afford a “daily” driver then you can’t afford a supercar. Growing up the Lambos were my dream cars. We all had the Countach posters and aspired to have them.

So yes he drives around a Lamborghini and his wife also has one… being massively successful has its perks.

However getting back to gaming

Q. HAR HAR YOU’RE THAT GUY THAT MADE THE BUFF GUY GAME WITH CHAINSAWZ FAGET

1. I had nothing to do with how buff the characters were. Epic at that time was very art direction driven as opposed to design driven, and Epic’s art director at the time, while talented, was very strong headed. (We never asked for the Corpser to have the “fingers,” he just put that in, and we had to design around it…not my preferred way to work.)

  3. I did have a hand in the writing of the franchise, but I didn’t write the day to day dialogue. In hindsight having the characters yelling things like “Shit yeah” while in the midst of a life and death situation might not have been the best idea. Still, it’s things like this that were a signature of the game.

I’m not sure Cliff is really helping himself here because while I’m very much against games that throw in swearing just for fun I don’t think Gears would have had the success it did if the marines weren’t so rough. It is interesting to hear how the game was driven by art and not design though…

But the most surprising quote comes from when he is asked what his biggest regret of his career

My biggest regret was the launch of Gears 2’s online play. It was a huge mistake for everyone involved, unfortunately.

Frustratingly he doesn’t clarify exactly why that was. It must be linked to the bugs and bad match-making that the title launched with though. On the positive side he said his greatest accomplishment was launching Gears of War 1, a billion dollar franchise, but really that’s not as exciting as his mistakes is it?

Humans are a weird race

Last Updated: February 11, 2013

9 Comments

  1. Darren Peach

    February 12, 2013 at 15:05

    Gears is still one of the Best !

    Reply

  2. jGLZA

    February 14, 2013 at 11:35

    With the shutdown of the local GOW3 servers back in Sept 2012 we have been able to play against those creatures from across the sea. If you have a decent ADSL connection the experience is excellent, I have a better experience online in GOW3 MP than with Halo4 or BLOPS2.

    Reply

  3. jGLZA

    February 14, 2013 at 11:37

    Dead Chat only fell away in GOW3 but it was sorely missed!

    Reply

  4. jGLZA

    February 14, 2013 at 11:40

    I think I know what he is talking about. GOW1 was initially suppose to launch with no MP at all. But they added it on last minute and it was a surprising success. Then they launched GOW2 with MP planned from the start… and it was a disaster – huge failure on their part!

    Reply

  5. jGLZA

    February 14, 2013 at 11:47

    I’m not sure where you’re getting your information from but all the EPIC owned GOW3 servers (US and EU) are all still up and working since launch. The only ones that have fallen away are the 3rd party servers such the ones in SA and the some in South America and Asian. So there is no host in GOW3 online MP, only private games are p2p.

    Whichever server you connect to depends purely on which is closer to your location, in South Africa’s case that is usually EU servers.

    Reply

    • Mathias

      February 14, 2013 at 15:07

      Dedicated servers are only up for Ranked matches. Play a quick match, wait,and you’ll see the “Host Migration” sign popping up in no time

      Reply

      • jGLZA

        February 14, 2013 at 20:43

        Has never happened to me but will look to confirm.

        Reply

      • Guest

        February 14, 2013 at 21:40

        Right, official statements say that dedicated servers (MS ones) are all still up and have been up 99% of the time. But popular player consensus suggests that dedicated servers are up for both Ranked & Quick matches but only if you have all the DLC.

        Australia & New Zealand are in the same boat as South Africa as they have lost their regional servers but are too far from everyone else to get decent pings on other servers. I did also read a weird post on connection issues in Spain (and surrounding areas) that seem to have their own kind of issue. Does Spain have some kind of issue with MS or something?

        Reply

        • Mathias

          February 15, 2013 at 00:54

          Thing with Spain is that the nearer servers are in France and the UK, so when we’re playing against each other it works great, but whenever a french or italian group get in the match, it’s game over. Connectivity goes to shit.

          And yes, what you say about quick matches with DLC is true, but sadly the more popular playlists (TDM & KOTH) are not in that category. So if you want to play the modes you enjoy the most, you have to be ready to get raped by frenchs and brits. Funny thing is that it doesn’t matter how good your internet speed is, the moment one of these get in the match, the host migrates in no time.

          Worst part is that the beta worked flawlessly, even against people from the US. Dedicated servers were the way to go, and M$ fucked it up because it costs money. Apparently they only care about Halo’s connectivity, while other franchises can go fuck themselves.

          Reply

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