Don't expect Master Chief to make a cameo in Gears of War 3

Halo's iconic Master Chief character isn't likely to make a multiplayer appearance in Gears of War 3, according to Epic Games' main designer Cliff Bleszinski: Microsoft's too "squeamish," apparently.

In a new interview at the Complex web site, the developer said: "I'll let you in on a secret. I actually approached Microsoft on getting Master Chief into the game, but those guys are kind of squeamish."

While both the Gears of War and Halo franchises are "M" rated shooter titles, "One of Halo’s successes is that it’s a soft M," Bleszinski added.

"Gears pushes it further. I’m creatively comfortable with that, though it can limit what you do. If you had to break it down, I'd say that Gears is like Mortal Kombat and Halo is like Street Fighter."

However, assuming Epic Games ever did get the chance to put Master Chief in one of its Gears games, he'd be in for a rough ride.

"We'd get his model, put him in a COG suit, make it blow up, and do some test animation work. We'd have to see what his head looks like being blown to smithereens or how his arm would look getting sawed off. Then we'd package up the test footage, put it on YouTube, and let the fans get a kick out of it because everything is meta these days."

Gears of War 3 is currently in the middle of its multiplayer beta test and is scheduled for release this September.