200w ago - Gears of War 2 designer Cliff Bleszinski has shed some light on the single-player/co-op campaign element of the upcoming Dark Corners expansion, revealing that it's a 90-minute section that sees Marcus and Dom play dress-up.

To quote: "It's a 90-minute section that was actually snipped out of Gears of War 2, where Marcus and Dom are actually going to the Locust homeworld and they're basically suited up in Locust armour and have a choice - because they knocked out a couple of Therons - they can go in guns-blazing as they always do, Rambo-style, or they can go with a more stealth approach, so it's a little bit of stealth in the Gears universe," Bleszinski told Major Nelson's podcast.

"You get Achievements for playing the mode either way and it kind of plugs right into the main game. It's actually the first time we've done any sort of single-player DLC. It's kind of a test to see whether people dig it."

Bleszinski also clarified his recent comments on Project Natal, in which he suggested Epic would stick with traditional controls but might consider merging the two interfaces if something compelling game to mind.

"If there's any future Gears products [coughs elaborately],...

239w ago - This man wants you to know his name. He is the face of Gears of War and its creator Epic Games and is clearly the most gregarious of the new breed of developers that are taking video gaming to the masses.

Call him Cliffy B, call him Dude Huge, or call him Mr. Bleszinski, he has something to say and he want you to hear it. So read on as we discuss everything from the secrets of great game design to the Gears of War movie, chat about the Xbox 720, the PS3, Gears of War 3, Marcus Fenix starring in a platform game and even discover what weapon he uses to pick up chicks!

Chris Stead: We've played the first Act of Gears of War 2 - everything is bigger, meaner and prettier. Does it all come down to the middleware?

Cliff Bleszinski: I think it comes down to having an extraordinary team. It is a combination of that and having the best tools in the business that enable our designers to rapidly prototype. Lee Perry, our senior gameplay designer, had a rough of the shield mauler boomer in like a day and he had the shield swinging around and he just passed that concept straight to the programmers and they just code it up.

So it is a combination of that and thinking quick on our feet and being well managed, as well as having what I believe are the best artists in entertainment....

249w ago - EA executive producer Glen Schofield says that Cliff Bleszinski told him Dead Space "looks great" on the Unreal Engine. One problem, the game uses EA's own graphical engine. It's one highlight in a very revealing video interview that Planet Xbox 360 had with Schofield at EA's Redwood Shores location about Dead Space.

The entire video (.mpg) is on Planet Xbox 360's site. Camera work's a little shaky, but all you need is the audio. Schofield, with little prompting, talks very candidly about the game's design, how it compares with other familiar titles, and how it all came to be.

Schofield himself visited with horror directors Wes Craven and Eli Roth, and writer Warren Ellis, to inform EA's perspective on horror and how it will translate into the gameplay. Craven had a "really deep philosophy" about horror, getting downright creepy because it involves a family aspect. Roth "was little more about torture porn than the horror," Schofield says with a laugh.

But what really gets my hopes up about this game is when he talks about the reason it exists: "We wanted to make a game for us," he said. A game the small-but-passionate dev team wanted to play itself. Every gamer wishes he or she had that kind of creative outlet, and the resources to fill it, and if we had that kind of access we...