Last year was Epic Games Design Director Cliff Bleszinski's very first Comic-Con. This year he's hosting three panels, conducting a multitude of interviews, and still finding time to dive headfirst into the fandom experience and pick up some exclusive Comic-Con schwag. We sat down to talk about his Comic-Con agenda, the upcoming "Gears of War" motion picture, and all things geek.


GameSpy: What are you talking about at Comic-Con this year, Cliff? I know there's a lot of buzz around the upcoming "Gears" movie.
Cliff Bleszinski, Design Director, Epic Games: We're not just talking about the movie, we're also talking about Dark Corners, which is the downloadable content that's coming out the 28th, the comic book is ongoing. We also have the new "Gears of War" novel by Karen Traviss.
GameSpy: I caught her in your panel last year. She has a love affair with chainsaws, which I appreciate.
Cliff Bleszinski: She is amazing. She stole the show last year.

I'm doing three panels at Comic-Con. I'm doing a "How to get into the games industry" panel with the Capcom guys. I'm doing an Xbox shooter panel, and then we're doing the Gears 'verse panel.
GameSpy: For those who don't make it to that panel: How do you get into the games industry?
Cliff Bleszinski: Well, a hell of a lot of hard work, a lot of talent, and a boat-load of luck.
GameSpy: Can you elaborate on what kind of talent will help get you in?
Cliff Bleszinski: You have to be honest about the level of talent that you have. Whether you're a programmer or an artist, you need to get on websites, like CGtalk.com, and you need to start posting some of your images for critiques. You have to be willing to throw away the first thousand images you do. Your portfolio is only as strong as your weakest link. You need to network on the Internet and eventually get to GDC, show up with copies of your work, run into people, like me, Molyneux, whoever. This industry is a lot more open than a lot of other ones, you could come to events like this and see us hanging out and say "hello," and kick and scream and claw your way in. I think it's kind of a self-regulating thing: If you're that determined, and you're that hard-working, you'll get in.
GameSpy: Let's get to the movie. What sort of details are you prepared to spill?
Cliff Bleszinski: Not to spoil too much, but there's always that perception that there will be wrestlers or MMA fighters. There's plenty of them, they're all very charismatic, badass guys, right, but we're big fans of actual actors who are actors. Robert Downey Jr. in "Iron Man," Edward Norton in "The Incredible Hulk," Johnny Depp in "Pirates," that kind of thing.
GameSpy: But wouldn't you agree that their physical nature is a large part of what makes these Gears of War characters who they are? That these characters are defined by their physicality?
Cliff Bleszinski: They are, but in the game, they don't say a lot, there's not a lot of time to go into the characterization in the videogame: You want to get to the shooting. In a movie you have to have that. And so you need actual actors, the physicality can come later. You can take the guy, put him on a "300" workout, in a suit of armor and he'll be good, I assure you. Film him at the right camera angle and he'll look like a 40-foot god, because, you know, Vin Diesel and Tom Cruise are all like five-foot-three.
GameSpy: Can you update us on where you are in the movie development process?
Cliff Bleszinski: The screenplay is fairly close to being final; they are storyboarding and budgeting right now.
GameSpy: Where do you think it's going to be filmed? Has that been set out yet?
Cliff Bleszinski: There is talk about that, but I don't feel ready to reveal it yet. But I can tell you it won't be L.A. and it won't be Toronto.