CliffyB Talks After Finishing Gears

Next Generation is carrying an interview with Epic Designer Cliffy Bleszinksi, where he discusses shooters in the next-gen era, what it's like to work with Microsoft, and how it feels to wrap up Gears of War. From the article: "As a designer I don't know if it's ever possible to be fully satisfied but my gut tells me, 'yes'. I sit down and I play the game and I have a blast with it, whether it be single player versus or co-op. I mean, co-op's especially bad. I feel like I'm seeing the whole experience completely new. It's like, if you ever see a cool movie and you bring a friend to see it who hadn't seen the movie yet, right? It's that shared experience, that makes co-op so great."

Greatly bad.

[Fallingcow]

I mean, co-op's especially bad. I feel like I'm seeing the whole experience completely new. It's like, if you ever see a cool movie and you bring a friend to see it who hadn't seen the movie yet, right? It's that shared experience, that makes co-op so great.

So, is it "great" or is it "bad"? WTF?

Re:

[Dan Slotman]

"I sit down and I play the game and I have a blast with it... co-op's especially bad." He means that co-op is especially good. A typical (ab)use of bad in this way is like the following example: "I like video games. I've been wasting hours on them. Videogame X is especially bad." In this context, it is clear that Videogame X is especially time wasteful and, by implication, is the most-liked of the speaker's videogames.

Re:

[aneurysm36]

"i love the power glove. its so bad."

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-777570098 4720149876 [google.com]

Re:

[hords]

"i love the power glove. its so bad."

But in that case it was actually true! Kind of like saying, "I love E.T. on the Atari 2600. It's so bad."

Re:

[Surt]

That particular misuse of bad dates back to at least:

http://www.google.com/search?q=michael+jackson+'ba d'&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls= org.mozilla:en-US:official [google.com]

And probably predates that by about a year.

Re:

[Fallingcow]

People still use "bad" in this way?

I'm in the midwest, which is notorious for catching on to trends later than the coasts and then hanging on to them longer, and this went out of style here around the same time that "rad" and "gnarly" fell out of use.

Re:

[elrous0]

Dude, you are so TOTALLY right.

-Eric

Re:

[abandonment]

yeah cliffyb is too cool for his own good alot of the time. he is one of the more 'well known' names in game design, but he talks like a 15 year old so often it's embarassing

Co-op...

[__aaclcg7560]

As being independent of each other when running around the level (i.e., Quake) since each user is on a different PC? Or the rubber-band effect because there's only one screen (i.e., Lego Star Wars)?

Either way, my fellow players insist that I be in front. Apparently, they don't like being shot in the back. It's not my fault they're in my way!

Re:

[Mia'cova]

Split screen, system link, or live are your options

"bad" is short for "bad ass"

[Distan]

That is clear from the article.

IE for website...?

[__aaclcg7560]

If you go to the website [gearsofwar.com], you can't enter the date because it's Flash and it crashes Firefox. Do you need IE7 to view the website?

Re:

[__aaclcg7560]

Press TAB to get the cursor to appear in the date box. Awesome website design! It's an XBox 360 game! I'll wait for the Wii version...

Re:

[Aladrin]

Odd, works fine here on FF2.

Oh yeah, I'm SO looking forward to a round of 'which FF does it work on.'

-sigh-

Re:

[__aaclcg7560]

Laddie, I been using the internet since 1995, my first web browser was pine and I started using IE when it was still the number two browser in the market. The website design is horrible and non-intuitive.

Re:

[__aaclcg7560]

It was lynx that I started using as a web browser, but I practically lived out of pine for email (still do on my linux server).

Re:

[DAldredge]

pine is a news and email reader. http://www.washington.edu/pine/ [washington.edu]

Re:

[__aaclcg7560]

Oh, yeah. Over a couple of tin cans and a string no less.

Re:

[Nesetril]

i have the same problem... does anyone know what the deal is with this?

Re:

[kerashi]

It works fine in Firefox 2.0. Make sure if you're using NoScript to allow gearsofwar.com, as it blocks the flash.

Re:

[wolrahnaes]

Working fine here with FF 1.5

Check if your Flash install is fucked.

Re:

[rk]

In Safari 2.0.4 on the Mac, it seems to work, but I closed it because it seems insistent that it, rather than I, am the best judge of the dimensions of my web browser.

Does the same damn thing in Firefox.

This was a game for which I actually considered breaking down and getting a 360 because it looked completely bitchin'. Fuck 'em. I'll wait for Halo 3.

Re:

[__aaclcg7560]

Why not? If the console manufacturer and software developer for the same outfit don't have their crap together to sell their product, would you still buy from them? Priceless is what happens to your wallet if you choose poorly.

Re:

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

last I heard programmers can specialize in different areas, like in graphics shaders or physics engines. They obviously don't have enough that specialize in web design, so maybe they've spent the extra wad on more game programmers/designers. Okay, so I'm hoping that's the case.

Re:

[__aaclcg7560]

CliffyB wants you to be his bitch... doesn't quite ring right. I don't think anyone can top John Romero in the PR department.

Re:

[kinglink]

No one can, and that's why he's John Romero.

Cliify B does talk up a good game, but from the videos I've seen of his game he's hitting the marks. The AI in the game in intense. The cover is well done (something many games seem to screw up... Perfect Dark Zero).

Let's not go sling mud around about how crappy the game is until you actually play the game. Daikatana looked like a great game until we actually played it and saw the frogs of death, the water of doom, and the bees of mildly annoyance.

Re:CliffyB == John Romero

[LukeCage]

I know it's not recommended to feed the trolls, but I can't help myself.

I just wanted to say that your comments about CliffyB are entirely inaccurate. He's the nicest guy I have ever met at any show ever; I met him at E3 (he was dressed in a pimptabulous red suit) and he actually took half an hour of his time to talk to me. Please note that I am a complete dork and had nothing to offer him - I do not work in the games industry and am not a media persion. Cliff just took the time to talk to me as a human being and fellow fan. The man is a gamer's gamer who enjoys just about every genre and is totally enthusiastic about making games. He's worked hard, made his own 2d platformer, been a level designer, and clawed his way up to a lead design position. All without any stupid smack talk or any of the other bombastic crap that "gaming celebrities" engage in.

I think CliffyB is pretty cool and if his game is good (and I don't see why it shouldn't be; the man "gets" games) then I hope it meets with a lot of success.

Re:

[MMaestro]

Another talentless hack looking for self promotion with the lamest nick ever in gaming.Considering he clawed his way up from level designer to game designer, he's got some serious talent seeing as level designer is typically a dead-end career. (Not that its a bad career, you just don't see level designers become game designers/public speaker for the company.

What he should do next...

[Constantine XVI]

remake of tourney '99 on wii
remake of tourney '99 on wii
remake of tourney '99 on wii

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

Re:

[GrumblyStuff]

I concur
I concur
I concur ...well, maybe. I'd still want to try out the wiimote with nunchucku attachment before and even then I'd want more than just what was on the GOTY edition. Other mods, maps.

I mean, if it doesn't have Hall of Giants, screw it.

Like watching a movie again?

[r_jensen11]

It's like, if you ever see a cool movie and you bring a friend to see it who hadn't seen the movie yet, right? It's that shared experience, that makes co-op so great.

I don't know if that's something you want to say.... The first time I watched Pirates of the Carribean 2, my friend (who saw it once before watching it with me) almost fell asleep. A month or two later I saw it again with a friend that never saw the movie and I nearly fell asleep.

Don't get me wrong, Pirates 2 is a great movie, but I would'

Re:

[steveo777]

Good call, I can't make it through Pirates a second time and I've tried a few times, but I sure as Hell can eat sushi any day of the week and be excited about the next time I get to go.

Re:

[twistedsymphony]

You missed the part where he said a cool movie... I don't know about you but I didn't find the Pirates movies very cool at all... Particularly pirates 2 it dragged on for a children's action flick and then it had no ending!

Seriously if someone took me to see one of those movies having already seen it themselves, they've have to do something substantial to reclaim their friendship... friends don't take friends to see Pirates of the Caribbean.

Re:

[elrous0]

I had the exact same experience with the movie "Butt Pirates of the Carribean."

-Eric

server mechanic challenge

[jadebellant1]

It looks like they're giving away an xBox 360 and the Gears of War game every week until 12/15. Pretty cool game. http://www.servermechanic.com/ [servermechanic.com]