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Cliffy B...stand up comic?

Crazy to think that this guy was responsible for one of the best trilogies of all time.
yep. as is the case most recently with rocksteady, we're discovering it's not so much about the studio as it is the particular synergy among a group of individuals that can just sorta explode into existence, & then slowly fade. which's why it's always best to treasure the results, & temper further expectations...
 

Drew1440

Member
I miss the old Cliffy, the decline of him is a perfect example of what kind of energy has been lost in gaming in the western sphere, replaced by low energy, boring people who at best lack the same cocky talent and at worst, actively hate gamers and are mainly here out of a parasitical carpetbagger mentality.

Basically, Cliffy was the ultimate "bro" figure in gaming, there's been a desperate, desperate bid to "unbro" gaming has much as possible, Cliffy decided to bow to it than lean against it and here we are.
I think he just mellowed out as he got older, he's a lot different on his Joe Rogan episode than the G4 interviews



I kinda want him to return to Epic and finish off Unreal Tournament, I hate how they just abandoned it whilst it was still in alpha.
 

bender

What time is it?
Frustrated World Cup GIF
Oof. This would have been terrible as drunken best man wedding speech.

Haha dicks and beavers. That's my wife. Her ass has dingleberries. Japanese toilets make you gay. More dicks. I watch a lot of gay porn btw. I wiped my face with a shit stained towel.

Why would you do this?
Forget Stand Up, this is Sit Down comedy.

Props for making it that far in. I nope'd out at the K-Y Jelly bit.
 

Goalus

Member
I can't hate Cliff because he did Gears after all. I mean the good ones.
Indeed, but not all of the good ones.
Then unfortunately he turned his back on Xbox - not cool.
He still has my full respect. There is nothing like the Gears series.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
He has enough money from his time at Epic that he can do whatever he want. I think he's annoying but whatever, stand up is one of those things that I give props to whoever is willing to go up on the stage.
 
This guy balanced the fuck out of Gears of War, but he seemed to drop the ball when he was managing his own projects, from what little I remember of his solo projects, it seemed he drank all the David Jaffe Kool-aid and fell into the trap of trying too hard to make stuff edgy and cool, only for it to come across about as cringe as a 12 year old kid who thinks The Joker is the best character ever created.
 
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deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
It's a honest thing to do, so I'm fine. And I guess he has the money he wants, so why the hell not?!

Still, the guy with Unreal and Gears of War on the resume is doing this now... Yeah, it's kinda sad
 
Can I get a quick rundown on why Cliff is hated here? I genuinely don't know the main reasons why. Only one I can think of is some old forum post where he hints at lolita type stuff? Yea that's gross but that was probably pre-gears, whatever happened at after Epic are things I'm not aware of.

He always struck me as the Dane Cook of videogames.
 
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Dude has made some damn good games, and I consider him a legend in gaming, but good god, this shit sucks.

Nothing wrong with trying something new, but Cliff, if you're reading this, maybe try painting?

He always struck me as the Dane Cook of videogames.
I don't think that's the compliment you think it is lol
 

Edder1

Member
yep. as is the case most recently with rocksteady, we're discovering it's not so much about the studio as it is the particular synergy among a group of individuals that can just sorta explode into existence, & then slowly fade. which's why it's always best to treasure the results, & temper further expectations...
The thing about Cliffy is that he is as legit as they come. The guy was a huge part of team that made Unreal and Unreal Tournament, went on to design Gears 1-3 and then was also the main designer on Bulletstorm. That's a crazy impressive list of games. Obviously the guy wasn't able to lead his own team and for whatever reason never got back into gaming, but whatever people think of him, he made or was part of teams that made some of the most impressive and popular games of all time.
 
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TheMan

Member
Can I get a quick rundown on why Cliff is hated here? I genuinely don't know the main reasons why. Only one I can think of is some old forum post where he hints at lolita type stuff? Yea that's gross but that was probably pre-gears, whatever happened at after Epic are things I'm not aware of.

He always struck me as the Dane Cook of videogames.
I’m the OP but to be clear I don’t hate Cliffy. What I can say is that there was a time when he would post on this forum. In those days we had a couple of big names on GAF and somehow they often ended up taking a lot of shit. Cliffy in particular talked about how much he and many of his developer friends hated GAF.
 
I don't think that's the compliment you think it is lol
I know what you mean. That's why I said it though. Total superstar and then kind of faded into irrelevancy.

Me personally, I don't have any disdain for either. I only played the first Gears, great game. My experience with Cliffy was playing Jazz Jackrabbit and other Epic Megagames on my first PC. It was so bizarre to see Epic Megagames and Cliff Bleszinski (bizarre names from my childhood) turn into Cliffy B/EPIC and become absolute powerhouses. It's still bizarre to me. Those PC games were fucking awesome though, EPIC Pinball is so damn good.

I say props to him, dude managed to get outrageously rich and retire at a young age. He's too irrelevant for me to really feel anything negative about him.
 

Humdinger

Member
This popped up in my Youtube feed last week. I'm not endorsing the video or agreeing with it, just sharing it as a different perspective. Maybe Cliffy B. fans will appreciate it, I dunno.

I haven't paid enough attention to Cliffy's career to have much of an opinion on him. I knew of him as a gaming personality, but little else. The types of games Cliffy developed -- the fast-paced, bro-type multiplayer shooters -- never interested me, so I didn't pay attention.

 

yurinka

Member
Well, if it's what he wants to do I wish him good luck. Both in stand up comedy and eating asses.

I shared some drinks with him and his wife at an event and they seem to be cool nice people. His wife is georgeus btw, or at least she was back then several years ago.
 

AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
Best of luck to whatever he does. Gamers should just let him enjoy what he wants and leave him alone. Sometimes he is his own worst enemy.
 

Reaseru

Gold Member
I think the pressure to make every Gears game successful got to Cliffy... and he finally cracked with the failure of LawBreakers and Boss Key Productions.

This may be a stupid take, but I think that Cliff should return to Gears as an consultant advisor, and that may be good for both him and Gears franchise. (The dude created the IP and its most successful games, and still may have some ideas that could help the franchise moving foward, as it clearly looks stagnant right now.)
 
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Brave to do it, but it is absolutely unwatchably wretched, and if I was there I'd have been plugging my ears, hiding under the table and wishing it would end. The cringe is unbearable.
 
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Damn the gut on that dude. Doesn't like like his hulk dudebro characters in anyway anymore, he used to be pretty in shape.

This was also the worst standup I've ever seen. Saying "fuck" and "buttplug" a lot isn't funny sorry broooo
 
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Lawbreakers was a legitimately good game coming out at the worst possible time. It was setup to fail by every games journo and overwatch cosplaying lover.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Indeed, but not all of the good ones.
Then unfortunately he turned his back on Xbox - not cool.
He still has my full respect. There is nothing like the Gears series.
To be fair to him, I remember when a lot of that drama went down.

Epic at the time was very PC centric. They gave away map packs and skins, like candy to the community. All PC games and shooters did this outside of $30 expansions, but Epic was notorious for that from UT.

They wanted to give away the map packs to Xbox gamers just like they did for UT on the PC (and consoles, PS2). He went public saying MS wanted to monetize them and he was very outspoken about it.

There was lots of tension internally and publicly since then.
 
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A lot of people are giving this guy credit for the big games he was associated with, but are we sure he actually did the work on these? He strikes me as a Tommy Tallarico type, quick to take credit for other people's work as long as it is well received. Maybe it's possible to be a total douche bro and also be toiling in the trenches, but doesn't it seem more likely that his job was to tell somebody else to "make it more good" then slap his name on it at the end?
 

SkylineRKR

Member
What strikes me about him is that he is always looking for confirmation, always mentions his wife and attacks others by showing off his wealth. Its kind of sad really, considering the guy is like 50 now. What point is he trying to make? That he has a miniature cock or something? Just enjoy your life dude.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
A lot of people are giving this guy credit for the big games he was associated with, but are we sure he actually did the work on these? He strikes me as a Tommy Tallarico type, quick to take credit for other people's work as long as it is well received. Maybe it's possible to be a total douche bro and also be toiling in the trenches, but doesn't it seem more likely that his job was to tell somebody else to "make it more good" then slap his name on it at the end?
Ya. Who knows, but every time I hear someone associated with Unreal or Gears, it's him. Someone is plugging him or he is plugging himself as if each game was singlehandedly made by him.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Crazy to think that this guy was responsible for one of the best trilogies of all time.

Wasn't he also responsible for Unreal and Unreal Tournament?

I think his biggest mistake was leaving Epic.
 

Edder1

Member
Wasn't he also responsible for Unreal and Unreal Tournament?

I think his biggest mistake was leaving Epic.
He was one of the lead designers on those games as well. The guy has one of the most impressive resumes in gaming. I think there was no way for him to stay at Epic because of the direction they were going in and he probably didn't wanna work on Fortnite. Not sure why nobody hired him in all these years, maybe due to him having notoriously difficult personality. Gaming space is full of very sensitive people now and someone like Cliff may seem toxic to a lot of them. The guy was known to have major issues with ego, but he seems more chill nowadays.
 
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Edder1

Member
Ya. Who knows, but every time I hear someone associated with Unreal or Gears, it's him. Someone is plugging him or he is plugging himself as if each game was singlehandedly made by him.
It obviously took a team to make those quality games, but you can't downplay someone who was the lead designer on Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Gears 1-3 and Bulletstorm.
 
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IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
He was one of the lead designers on those games as well. The guy has one of the most impressive resumes in gaming. I think there was no way for him to stay at Epic because of the direction they were going in and he probably didn't wanna work on Fortnite. Not sure why nobody hired him in all these years, maybe due to him having notoriously difficult personality. Gaming space is full of very sensitive people now and someone like Cliff may seem toxic to a lot of them. The guy was known to have major issues with ego, but he seems more chill nowadays.

I heard he asked Tim Sweeney for more money and Tim declined, but don't quote me on that.

Maybe he just wanted to try it alone rather than going to another company. Going it alone and starting Boss Key gave him ultimate creative control, but the problem is he chased trends and it failed. If he had stuck to what he knew best then he could have remained very successful.
 

Outlier

Member
I hear a lot of Comedians started, because they were depressed/disillusioned with life, so they therapy/COPE by making fun of existence.
Cliffy might be going through it.
 
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