Hello, My Name Is Cliff

Cliff Bleszinski has it pretty good. He drives an exotic car. He has a cute girlfriend. He has a 17-year history of making hit games for Epic, including Unreal Tournament and Gears of War. Gamers everywhere know his name — or at least his nickname, CliffyB, which is arguably easier to spell.

And yet, based on internet posts about him, “egomaniacal douchebag” seems easier still. Poke around and you’ll see gamers compare Bleszinski to everyone from a couch-hopping Tom Cruise to action director Michael Bay to… Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi. Usually, though, it’s the “all sizzle, no substance” tag that follows him around. One gaming website called Bleszinski “the gaming industry’s version of Paris Hilton, minus the sex tapes.” “He’s not a game developer,” sniffed another commenter. “He’s a model.”

Ouch. What did the inventor of the chainsaw bayonet do to deserve this?

In an industry unfairly plagued by anti-social stereotypes, Cliff is one of the few developers who seems to enjoy the spotlight. Now 34 years old, Bleszinski is a little less outrageous than his younger self, but no less excited about building gameworlds — both established and forthcoming. It’s clear from our face-to-face discussion that he’s cooking up something brand-new to follow Gears of War, but until then, he’s very happy playing with his Delta Squad action figures. “I don’t think Gears is anywhere near burnedout,” he says. “It’s not like we’re on Gears 12.”

But even as his MySpace page smolders with “an ongoing flame war between people who love Gears, people who hate Gears, people who like me, [and] people who think I should be shot,” Cliff was willing to sit down with us and talk about the state of Gears, the weird price of nerd fame, and the internet’s obsession with his douchebaggery.

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