Bleszinski: "You have to be a little bit careful about joking"

Epic design boss Cliff Bleszinski has said that he's learned to "be a bit careful about joking" in public to stop ostensibly inflammatory quotes being misused.

He made the remark whilst speaking to Videogamer at a recent Bulletstorm event.

When asked if his public battle with the press over selective quoting is likely to stop soon, the developer said:

"No... I now have the power of Twitter to interrupt them and stop something before it goes viral.

"I've had times when I say more or say less. It's just a matter of being surgical with your words right, and making sure that if you say something it can't be quoted out of context. You have to be a little bit careful about joking.

"I have done nothing but gush about Heavy Rain, but when I make one side joke about the fact I thought the kids were a little creepy, suddenly is becomes 'Bleszinski declares war on France'," he added, referring to a news story written last year by VG247's Joe Anderson.

'Hey, I heard you hate French children.'

"No, I want more games like Heavy Rain because I love them and want to see them."

Bleszinski concluded by saying that his ongoing crusade has been "a fun battle."

"The beauty of Twitter is that if an article like that pops up, one of my followers will alert me to it in minutes and I check it all and I can squash the story before it suddenly become the truth.

"What happens is one website picks up on it, the other website picks up on it, and it says, 'Hey, I heard you hate French children'. So you can kill it and nip it in the bud immediately."

Bulletstorm, developed by People Can Fly, releases next week for PS3, 360 and PC. Bleszinski's main project, Gears of War 3, releases this fall for 360.