It's often the most refreshing thing in the entire world to speak with a game designer who's not completely out there. Sure, those guys have to be "out there" to a point, but as the gaming industry has grown, it's often been my fear that many game designers seem to lose all touch with reality (no names... JOHNROMERO) as well as with what brought them to the dance in the first place: a love for gaming, and a love of everything that has to do with gaming.

What could inspire such craziness? I've often wondered. Is it the money? Because let's face it, if you're the lead designer behind a game that makes it big, money isn't all that much of a problem. How many famous game designers have you heard of that have to take 15-20 minutes every morning to select which sharp sports car they'll be driving to work that morning?

Cliff Bleszinski, or "CliffyB" for short, Epic Games' designer of titles such as Unreal Tournament and the upcoming Gears of War for Xbox 360, is not insane. At least, not in any "normal" way one can be insane. His hype hasn't gone to his head, and according to Cliff himself, it never will. He's got the dream job, the cool look, and a passion for gaming that hasn't yet been diminished by the looming shadow of gaming as big business. Read on to find out CliffyB's feelings on Tetris Attack, his ideas on storytelling in gaming, as well as a few answers on this holiday season's release of Gears of War.

Shack: CliffyB... how the heck are ya?

CliffyB: I'm kind of hungry right now. I could use a body massage too.

Shack: What was the game that made you say, "Yes, this is what I want to do with my life." You know, that one defining experience every gamer, whether player or designer, seems to have had?

CliffyB: I usually say "Space Invaders" since that's the first game I saw but truth be told it was probably the one-two punch of Zelda and Mario. Do you know that when I was a kid I used to actually believe that "secrets" in a game were things that the designers didn't want you to find? Like Miyamoto was putting stuff in the game and thinking "I really hope no one sees this; if anyone uncovers it I'll be so humiliated" like I was digging through his secret Hentai stash or something.

Shack: How do you feel about the downsizing of E3?

CliffyB: Completely torn. E3 was the ultimate "mom" test for a game developer; it helped everyone show their family that yes, this is in fact, a multi billion dollar business. At the same time it was the worst possible venue for evaluating new games. Best way to look at a game is in a darkened, cool room with a handful of people with no outside noise. E3 was the exact opposite of that. That and the fact that LA is simply not built for conventions. The thing should have been in Las Vegas all along.

Shack: Do you think consoles will ever adopt online distribution? For example, allowing me to purchase and download Gears of War via Xbox Live instead of running out to the store?

CliffyB: It's really hard to say. Never underestimate people's desire to go out and buy stuff; America is built on the idea that you spend your week working for money that you then go out and hemorrhage on the weekends on Stuff You Don't Need.

Shack: Many designers are excited about the possibilities for new gameplay the Nintendo Wii will offer. What are your thoughts on Nintendo's upcoming console?

CliffyB: I'll buy one day one if I can get my hands on it.

Shack: Though the Atari 2600 Jr. is what propelled me into the wonderful world of gaming, I've been a PC Gamer since way back. However, in recent years, I've grown frustrated with the PC as a gaming platform. It seems like the better technology gets, the more crap PC gamers have to deal with: more hardware conflicts, more games requiring tons of patches upon release, video cards that cost more than a console.... Many would say that besides near complete customization and better online options (though services such as Xbox Live are just as good, if not better), the PC as a platform is, for the first time, considered inferior to consoles.

What do you feel is the state of PC gaming at the moment? Do you think it still is (and will always be) a viable platform for gaming, or do you think consoles are (or will be) the best option for gaming?

CliffyB: The PC will always be a viable platform for gaming but I'm not going to lie in the fact that I've shared those very same frustrations. There are many forces at work to make sure that the PC gaming market remains a large, viable place to make, buy, and enjoy games, I assure you.

Shack: If you had to pick a top 5 list of your favorite games, what would they be? Any fond (or not so fond) feelings that go with each title?

CliffyB: In no particular order....

Tetris/Tetris Attack: Because both of them still hold up as remarkably engaging versus games to this day. Last Saturday night my girlfriend and I went over to a friend's place and we all threw down. I still have my Tetris Attack skills… my classic Tetris skills have waned a bunch since the days of the Nintendo World Championships.

Resident Evil 4: An exercise in gratification, pacing, and overall fun. Also the only game I've yet to see with an escort mission that's actually fun.

Burnout (series): My kind of driving game. Go fast, drive like an idiot, plow through stuff, generally it's like my commute to work.

Super Mario 1,2,3: For all the wonderful memories. I can still hum so much of the silly music from those titles.

God of War: For showing me how a melee game should feel as well as having excellent pacing.

Shack: Do you find it difficult to sit down and just enjoy a video game, or do you constantly find yourself analyzing the experience from the perspective of a designer?

CliffyB: I have devoted my adult life to making games and I've found that yes, this has in fact ruined a lot of the gaming experience for me. I can't just play and enjoy something, I have to call out what I don't like or try to figure out what the developers did to make a sequence work so well.

Shack: Many feel the gaming industry is stagnating. Concepts being regurgitated endlessly, sequels being churned out at Tomb Raider-esque speeds, et cetera. What are your thoughts on the current state of the industry? Do you see things as picking up, or is some real innovation needed?

CliffyB: I think things are stagnating a bit because it's hard enough to do what's been done before and even do it right. Games that make you play for an extended period of time without auto-checkpointing. Unintuitive controls. Horrible dialogue and voice acting. Crappy cameras. The list goes on. Making a videogame is such a difficult process that quite frankly I'm surprised any ever actually get done and that some of them are fun.

Now, I'm not saying Gears is going to be a perfect game – how much people like it remains to be seen. What I do know is that we as an industry have to perfect what we've got before we continue to try to completely reinvent it.

Shack: During Microsoft's GameFest 2006 in Seattle, the company announced XNA Game Studio Express, which will allow almost anyone to compile and run their own code on Xbox 360 units.

Do you see this as a step in the right direction for the industry? What are your thoughts on homebrew in general?

CliffyB: I think it's awesome. I get emails all the time from people who want to get into the biz; it's trickier now than it was when I was a teenager and every possible venue for these eager gamers to get in is a step in the right direction. It's that young blood that's going to be able to take the design risks that the big guy just can't afford to do. It's the guys at gaming school who do a portal game that Valve then works with to make a new and innovative game like Portal.

Shack: What's your preference for story telling in games: scripted events that still allow you to run around and do stuff, or cinematics, which force you to sit still and watch? Why?

CliffyB: Storytelling in the interactive realm is based on a series of tradeoffs. If one chooses first person the entire time then the player may feel more immersed but that immersion can easily be messed with by shooting other characters or jumping around like an idiot while they're speaking to you. Cutscenes are a more deliberate way of advancing story but when you're playing a game you'd rather actually play rather than watch a movie.

Gears uses a combination of techniques. We had a priority for these; the ideal way was to always tell story when the player was moving in the world (BTW, this is usually the cheapest way to do it.) The next fall back was to use seamless camera moves while you were playing along with points of interest (Basically, hold Y to see cool stuff.) Finally, we use the occasional (brief) cutscene to inform the player of critical data.

Shack: What do you feel is the best way to relay an emotion (anger, sadness, whatever) through video games to the player? Should emotion even be considered when developing a game?

CliffyB: When you're playing a game you have a captive audience for hours on end. It's possible through careful and intended manipulation of the player to get an emotional response. The easiest is empowerment – feeling like a badass. Fear and anxiety are behind that. Sadness and empathy are the hardest emotions to pull out of your average gamer.

Shack: What games have provoked the most emotion from you?

CliffyB: I was rather saddened by oldschool RPG games. Lunar got to me. Phantasy Star 2 saddened me when Nei was killed by Neifirst. But as I grew older and my anime RPG fetish wore off I realized that for your average person it's going to take a hell of a lot more. That's the million dollar question – can a game make you cry? And everyone in the biz is wrestling with it.

Continue on to page two for information on a little game I'm sure you've heard of... Gears of War.