Cliff Bleszinski
| Cliff Bleszinski | |
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 Bleszinski at the Gears of War 2 launch event in Universal City Walk Los Angeles in 2008 |
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| Born | Clifford Michael Bleszinski February 12, 1975 North Andover, Massachusetts, USA |
| Other names | CliffyB, Dude Huge[1] |
| Occupation | Game designer |
Clifford Michael Bleszinski (born February 12, 1975) is a video game designer, and former design director for the game development company Epic Games. He is most famous for his role in the development of the Unreal franchise, especially 1999's Unreal Tournament, and the Gears of War franchise. He cites Shigeru Miyamoto as his biggest influence.[2]
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Personal life [edit]
One of his brothers is Tyler Bleszinski, a sports blogger who founded Athletics Nation and Vox Media. He is now married to Lauren Bleszinski, she is a blogger, a gamer, and an achievement hunter. The nickname "CliffyB" was given to him derogatorily by "some jock kid" when he was a shy teenager; he then took it and developed a tougher persona around it.[3] In 2008, he expressed a desire to retire the CliffyB moniker, saying it's "time to grow up a bit".[4]
Career [edit]
His first commercial game was made at age 17: an independently developed point-and-click adventure game called The Palace of Deceit: Dragon's Plight. Bleszinski created the game while he was a student at Bonita High School in La Verne, California, and released it in 1991 via his own company, Game Syndicate Productions. He also sent a copy of the game to Tim Sweeney, the founder of Epic Games (then known as Epic MegaGames). Sweeney was impressed with the game and brought Bleszinski onboard at Epic.
Epic Games [edit]
After being brought aboard, his next game was Dare to Dream, a point-and-click adventure, released in 1993. One of Epic's first multi-person projects brought Bleszinski's talents to bear on 1994's Jazz Jackrabbit and then 1998's Jazz Jackrabbit 2. He would help develop many of the spin off games such as Jazz Jackrabbit: Holiday Hare. It was with his involvement in designing the first-person shooter Unreal, though, that Bleszinski began the work for which he is best known today. Unreal grew out of an idea by fellow Epic designer James Schmalz, and was by far the most ambitious project Epic had ever undertaken. Bleszinski felt that it was crucial to Epic that Unreal be a success. From the concept in late 1994 to release in May 1998, Epic threw all of its talent and money at Unreal, and it paid off: the result was a successful first-person shooter. Bleszinski served as lead designer on the Xbox 360 shooter Gears of War. The game's sequel, Gears of War 2 was released in November of 2008 for the Xbox 360. Bleszinki's last game for the company was Gears of War 3.
Departure from Epic [edit]
Cliff announced his departure from Epic Games on October 3, 2012. He has worked in Epic Games for 20 years and decided to chart the next stage of his career, giving the reason that he had been making games since he was a teenager, and needed a break.[5][6]
Credits [edit]
Video games [edit]
- Gears of War: Judgment (2013), Microsoft Game Studios
- Gears of War 3 (2011), Microsoft Game Studios[7]
- Bulletstorm (2011), Electronic Arts
- Lost Planet 2 (2010), CE Europe Ltd.[7]
- Fat Princess (2009), Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc.[7]
- Shadow Complex (2009), Microsoft Game Studios[7]
- Gears of War 2 (2008), Microsoft Game Studios[7]
- Unreal Tournament III (2007), Midway Home Entertainment, Inc.[7]
- Gears of War (2006), Microsoft Game Studios[7]
- Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 (2005), Ubisoft, Inc.[7]
- Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict (2005), Midway Home Entertainment, Inc.[7]
- Unreal Tournament 2004 (2004), Atari, Inc.[7]
- Devastation (2003), HD Interactive B.V.[7]
- Jazz Jackrabbit (2002), Jaleco Entertainment, Inc.[7]
- Unreal Championship (2002), Infogrames, Inc.[7]
- Unreal Tournament 2003 (2002), Infogrames, Inc.[7]
- Unreal Tournament (Game of the Year Edition) (2000), Infogrames, Inc.[7]
- Jazz Jackrabbit 2: The Secret Files (1999), Gathering, Project Two Interactive BV[7]
- Tyrian 2000 (1999), XSIV Games[7]
- Unreal Tournament (1999), GT Interactive Software Corp.[7]
- Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (1998), Gathering, Project Two Interactive BV[7]
- Unreal (1998), GT Interactive Software Corp.[7]
- Jazz Jackrabbit: Holiday Hare 1995 (1995), Epic MegaGames, Inc.[7]
- Tyrian (1995), Epic MegaGames, Inc.[7]
- Jazz Jackrabbit: Holiday Hare 1994 (1994), Epic MegaGames, Inc.[7]
- Jazz Jackrabbit CD-ROM (1994), Epic MegaGames, Inc.[7]
- Jazz Jackrabbit (1994), Epic MegaGames, Inc.[7]
- Dare to Dream Volume One: In a Darkened Room (1993), Epic MegaGames, Inc.[7]
- The Palace of Deceit: the Dragon's Plight (1992), Game Syndicate Productions[7]
Filmography [edit]
- Jake and Amir (played himself)
- Stay Alive (consultant)
- Cliff Bleszinski has also been featured in many of Mega64's online skits[8]
References [edit]
- ^ Ashcraft, Brian (8 April 2010). "Why We Call Him Dude Huge". Kotaku. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
- ^ "Cliff Bleszinski". Giant Bomb.
- ^ The Grammar of Fun. New Yorker (2008-11-03). Retrieved on 2012-11-21.
- ^ Blog post on MTV Multiplayer. Multiplayerblog.mtv.com (2008-05-21). Retrieved on 2012-11-21.
- ^ "Cliff Bleszinski out at Epic Games". Gamespot. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ^ Cliff Bleszinski Departs Epic | Epic Games Community. Epicgames.com (2012-10-03). Retrieved on 2012-11-21.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa "Mobygames Developer BIO". mobygames.com. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
- ^ "WARREN SPECTOR TRIBUTE with Cliff Bleszinski". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-08-08.
External links [edit]
- Personal website at the Wayback Machine (archived July 8, 2011)
- Cliff Bleszinski's profile at MobyGames
- Page On 1UP.com
- Everything You Wanted to Know About Gears of War... Article about Bleszinski's GDC2007 presentation "Designing Gears of War: Iteration Wins"
- GameSpot Video Interview with CliffyB
- Gears of War 3 debuts on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
- Cliff Bleszinski Reddit Questionnaire (September 14, 2012)
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