It’s the spectacular conclusion to one of the most memorable and celebrated sagas in video games. Cliff Bleszinski, Gears Of War Lead Developer and Design Director at Epic Games, spoke exclusively to T3 Middle East on Marcus Fenix’ latest adventure, e​nsuring a touch of the emotional amidst chainsaws and gore, and about respecting an instinct for fun.

 
Interview: Anil George, Support: Edelman PR
 

Questions
 

1. There was a slight delay in releasing the game. Did that benefit the final version in any way, in tying up some loose ends?

It was a huge blessing in disguise for us. Microsoft initially wanted the game to come out in April and then we decided that strategically it would make more sense to come out in September. And once that happened we were actually able to do the Beta, which was enormous for us to make sure the game goes smoothly on September 20th. So absolutely, it was a very good thing for us, to make this the most polished game we’ve ever produced.
 

2. The Gears Of War trilogy is one of those rare games that stayed away from going cross platform. Was there ever a point where you considered a Kinect version.

Yes, we had spoken with Microsoft about it at one point, and briefly considered it, but really found that it would be a cast-on feature for the time-frame for Gears Of War 3. If you play Gears with Kinect and you can move your head and Marcus’s head moves, like really, does anybody really care about that? I think if you’re going to make a Kinect game, make a Kinect game, and I think games like Death Central and Gun Stringer are examples of that.
 

3. One aspect that comes through at the very beginning is the vibrant color palette, was this a conscious decision, to break away from the greyer tones?

I appreciate your noticing that, because that was the desire, to offer a little more color to come through. We didn’t want to go completely saturated in a game that’s as unchartered as this, but at the same time we wanted to get rid of the little bit of perception of the game being Greys Of War. We believe that if you play a game that’s completely desaturated and dark, that it can actually get pretty exhausting, especially if you’re playing in multiplayer for hundreds, if not thousands of hours. So we had a conscious decision …
 

4. With regard to Karen Traviss being signed on as lead writer, what change in focus did she bring in, would you say she was instrumental in stronger female characters like Anya?

Oh absolutely, Karen was very good and very strong about writing not only the female characters but also about having a deep respect for the military, and understanding what our armed forces go through. It’s really a situation that she really nerds out on, things about the navy and the technology behind everything. And she believes in treating soldiers with respect, even those that are Sci-Fi and wearing bulky armour.
 

5. The emotional element seems more prominent in Gears Of Wars 3, how did you find the balance between hard core violence and character insights?

I think emotion is a tricky thing to pull off, in a universe that seems so stylized and masculine at first glance, chainsaws and blood flying everywhere, but if you buy into that and let yourself into enjoy it and experience it for what it is, you can find yourself becoming fairly attached to these characters. You occasionally have a laugh with them, and get attached to them, so that ultimately if any of them die, you might actually have a nice response to them, which is kind of part of the proverbial movie experience that everyone craved, they laughed, they cried, they had all these emotions, that’s sort of what we are going for, a summer blockbuster of an experience.
 

6. You have a brief intro at the game, plus the casual modes seem more accessible. Was this a conscious decision to bring new people into the fold?

It was an absolutely very conscious thing for us, one of the things coming out of the reviews that are hitting Gears Of War 3 is we don’t want anyone to say the line “Well, If you’re a fan of Gears, its like this”!! If you haven’t played Gears Of War, now is the time. There are plenty of games that I didn’t play till the third iteration, Grand Theft Auto and Burnout, games like that… we wanted to make sure that you could jump into this game and have some fun. Casual mode is easier than ever. That said, Insane and Hard are still really hard. We wanted as much as possible to expand the audience, male or female gamers, for more gamers all around the world to become fans of the Gears franchise.
 

7. Given the massive success of the first two parts, what was the pressure to close the trilogy on a successful, respectable end?

There is a tremendous amount of pressure any time you make a sequel, and the flowchart quote that I have been making throughout today has been if in making a sequel, if it’s the same exact game, then people cry foul and say it’s a rehash. Then if you change it too much, then they claim you ruined their franchise. So you’re kind of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. That said, I think we’ve hit a kit of really sweet spot between giving players what they want from their memory of Gears 1, by learning from our experience on Gears 2  and I think we’ve ultimately wrapped the game into a tidy neat little package with a bow on it to give it to them to unwrap and enjoy.
 

8. The cooperative mode is an interesting aspect in GOW3, plus you seem to have done away with some of the randomness of the earlier two games…

We’ve improved the versus, so you can roll up to and shotgun and chainsaw people in the face more easier and more frequently than ever. That said, we were hoping to evolve till the co-op came into the space, because its fun to play a great campaign by yourself but its made exponentially more fun by the more people you can play with all the way to three other fronts for 4 player co-op. Then of course teaming up for Horde 2.0 which can be a whole game in itself.  Also Beast mode is very cooperative with the different class-based creatures that work well together. Though I continue to encourage players to play together and play nice online, those in co-op will always win over those who go as lone gunmen.
 

9. How big was the focus on online gameplay for you when you were designing Gears Of War 3?

The campaign is something that takes up a majority of the effort, but online is something we’ve put a tremendous amount of work into making use it works well this time. We’re in a world where a lot of players buy games used or rent them, and we wanted to make Gears 3 such a large package that at US60 you can’t deny that’s you’re getting an incredible value, between the campaign, the coop and all the multiplayer modes. So online is very very huge for us.
 

10. What is the future of the console? Do you think social networks will play an important part in tomorrows gaming world?

I don’t really know how much level of integration is going on with this current generation of consoles and there’s been a little bit of social networking integration. But I would think in the future, all the consoles will be integrated into my Facebook and Twitter feed and then I can directly send invites and calendar updates and screen shots directly to it. You can’t ignore the fact that this is a connected world, no matter what network you’re on. And people are addicted to that feed. And any game that manages to tap into it is going to be that one that propagates and comes up, and I hope everyone is working on that.
 

11. Who is your gaming idol?

It has to be for the forseeable future Shigeru Miyamoto from Nintendo. I have a tremendous respect for his instincts when it comes to fun.
 

12. One game you would have loved to work on?

I loved Cyber Punk, I am a big fan of things like necromancer and the matrix, and I would have really loved to work on that theme of human evolution, because I really like the universe and the settings.
 

13. The tablet explosion seems to be upon us, do you think games on the tablet are a potential revenue model?

I think if games are done properly they can be a great revenue model. Infinity Blade was done on an iPhone and iPad and what not, and that was very profitable for us as a studio. But that said, you have to be careful how you price your game, how you bill it, how many people work on it. I think free-to-play can actually work as a model, as long as you design your game to be initially fun, then later hook players in with micro transactions. I’m a fan of games where you can play without necessarily having to buy everything in order to play. If I play Tiny Tower, I don’t always have to spend money, I can actually come back.
 
 

Blurbs:

A. Cliff’s first game was 1991’s point-and-click Windows adventure game The Palace of Deceit: Dragon's Plight.

In it you took the role of Nightshade, a dragon held hostage by evil wizard Garth who wants to get rid of all dragons, and you seek to escape with help from friends like Darm the rat and Budo the giant snail.
 
 

B. Gears of War 3 will include a display mode for stereoscopic 3D TVs.

TriOviz for Games Technology is integrated with the Unreal Engine 3, for stereoscopic 3D support, and this extends to split-screen gameplay as well.

C. Story:

In Gears of War 2, COG forces destroyed the Jacinto plateau, the last major city on the planet Sera, in order to slow the spread of the Lambent, Locusts mutated by their exposure to the energic liquid know as Imulsion. COG head of state Chairman Prescott, who led the counterattack, abandoned them unexpectedly. Today, eighteen months later, the human survivors have moved to the island of Vectes to rebuild. But the Lambent have begun to emerge from the underground, so Delta squad sets off on with the remaining humans on the CNV Sovereign carrier. Chairman Prescott too has mysteriously returned, with a disc that implies Marcus’s father, scientist Adam Fenix, is still alive.
 

D. Cliff unveiled a new Gears of War 3 trailer on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, which featured the the song ‘Heron Blue’ by Sun Kil Moon.

E. Oops!

Prior to the official reveal, an advert for the game was accidentally displayed on the Xbox 360 Dashboard.
 

F. Limited Editions

The Limited Edition contains an Octus Award Box with the Octus Service Medal awarded to Dr. Adam Fenix, exclusive Adam Fenix playable character for multiplayer, fabric COG flag, and the personal effects of Dr. Adam Fenix such as his Last Will and Testament, Hammer of Dawn schematics and Fenix family mementos.
The Epic Edition includes everything from the Limited Edition as well as a Marcus Fenix statue, Tom Bissell’s  96 page book The Art and Design of Gears of War and the Infected Omen Weapon Pack that includes skins for the Lancer, Hammerburst, Retro Lancer, Sawed Off Shotgun and Gnasher Shotgun. 
 

Cliff Bleszinski Gameography

Gears of War 3 (2011), Microsoft Game Studios
Bulletstorm (2011), Electronic Arts
Lost Planet 2 (2010), CE Europe Ltd.
Fat Princess (2009), Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc.
Shadow Complex (2009), Microsoft Game Studios
Gears of War 2 (2008), Microsoft Game Studios
Unreal Tournament III (2007), Midway Home Entertainment, Inc.
Gears of War (2006), Microsoft Game Studios
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 (2005), Ubisoft, Inc.
Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict (2005), Midway Home Entertainment, Inc.
Unreal Tournament 2004 (2004), Atari, Inc.
Devastation (2003), HD Interactive B.V.
Unreal II: The Awakening (2003), Infogrames, Inc.
Jazz Jackrabbit (2002), Jaleco Entertainment, Inc.
Unreal Championship (2002), Infogrames, Inc.
Unreal Tournament 2003 (2002), Infogrames, Inc.
Unreal Tournament (Game of the Year Edition) (2000), Infogrames, Inc.
Jazz Jackrabbit 2: The Secret Files (1999), Gathering, Project Two Interactive BV
Tyrian 2000 (1999), XSIV Games
Unreal Tournament (1999), GT Interactive Software Corp.
Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (1998), Gathering, Project Two Interactive BV
Unreal, GT Interactive Software Corp.
Jazz Jackrabbit: Holiday Hare 1995 (1995), Epic MegaGames, Inc.
Tyrian (1995), Epic MegaGames, Inc.
Jazz Jackrabbit (1994), Epic MegaGames, Inc.
Jazz Jackrabbit CD-ROM (1994), Epic MegaGames, Inc.
Jazz Jackrabbit: Holiday Hare 1994 (1994), Epic MegaGames, Inc.
Dare to Dream Volume One: In a Darkened Room (1993), Epic MegaGames, Inc.
The Palace of Deceit: the Dragon's Plight (1992), Game Syndicate Productions