Gears of War designer reveals very interesting, lesser-known details about development

News by Sherif Saed Contributing Editor

Published on Aug. 26, 2015

Cliff Bleszinski, better known for working on the Gears of War trilogy, has shared a few behind-the-scenes tidbits about the game's development.

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition comes out this week and many fans, including designer Cliff Bleszinski, are feeling some nostalgia for one of the games that defined the Xbox 360, and the third-person shooter genre as a whole.

Having been involved in the development of the entire trilogy, Bleszinski has no end of interesting stories to tell. Which is exactly what he did through his Twitter account. His timeline is full of tweets and replies, but here some of the more interesting ones.

The idea to do cover came from @MrLeePerry showing me Killswitch one day I was like WANT. #GearsFacts

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) August 25, 2015

I never asked for buff characters. Kevin Lanning just made it that way with the AD Jerry. #GearsFacts

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) August 25, 2015

Anya originally had huge boobs but I pushed back on Pete to make her less cartoony. Ironic, considering the guys. #GearsFacts

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) August 25, 2015

I wanted a chainsaw gun in a game I pitched in 97, called "OverFiend." #GearsFacts

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) August 25, 2015

Rod snuck in the SP fatigue meter when I was on a biz trip to fix streaming issues. I was furious. #GearsFacts

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) August 25, 2015

Rod was assigned to us at MS at E3 years ago and wore the Marcus dorag and at that point I could tell he adored the franchise. #GearsFacts

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) August 25, 2015

Pitching Gears 1 was hard. New IP, new camera, new campaign, new MP, new console, etc...On paper it was set to fail. #GearsFacts

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) August 25, 2015

The torture the Locust did in Gears was my thinly veiled statement about Gitmo...through a dudebro shooter with lizardmen. #GearsFacts

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) August 25, 2015

Baird was named after a childhood friend who was a bit of a dick, Mark Baird. #GearsFacts Baird just sounds like a dick. @papiblez rite?

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) August 25, 2015

In SP the last bullet in each magazine is 25% stronger so the chances of "oh s**t" fighting a bad guy are high in the game. #GearsFacts

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) August 25, 2015

The hashtag #GearsFacts has even more probably NDA-breaking details, essential reading for any true Gears fan.