Tag Archives: Cliff Bleszinski

Train2Game News LawBreakers

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​PlayStation®4 gamers will be able to beat gravity into submission and compete in gravity-defying competition in LawBreakers, the new multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) from renowned game designer Cliff Bleszinski and Boss Key Productions.
LawBreakers will be enhanced for PS4™Pro and promises to challenge even the best players to bring their skills, get off the ground and deliver death from every angle as they experience thrilling fast-paced, omni-directional gunplay with innovative movement systems and combat abilities.

From the mind of Bleszinski, LawBreakers is set in a brand new futuristic world where the laws of gravity have been turned upside down. A war between the Law and the Breakers rages across a variety of iconic locations such as the boiling oceans of the Santa Monica coastline to the gravity-ravaged Grand Canyon and beyond.

Today Nexon also revealed its business model for the game which sees the base game starting at just $29.99. In addition, the company confirmed that there will be no season pass-style program and that all future content updates will be free. Also, there are no “pay-to-win” mechanics in the game, just a robust offering of cosmetics for players to earn via the game’s Stash-Box system.

“With LawBreakers, we wanted to honor the skill-based FPS games of yesteryear, all while embracing the new and pushing the genre in our own unique way,” said Bleszinski. “We found that messing with gravity, and having it mess with the player, adds a dynamic vertical element that will challenge players of all skill levels to go above their limits. Add in a variety of character role play-styles that go beyond the basic ‘tank, sniper and medic,’ a price point that we feel is fair to the player and the fact that it’s just damn fun to play – we’re confident LawBreakers will be one of the best valued and most challenging FPS games on PC or console.”

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Cliff and his team to bring such a unique and challenging combat experience to PS4,” said Owen Mahoney, President and CEO, NEXON Co., Ltd.  “This marks a major milestone for Nexon as we launch onto a home videogame console for the first time in the company’s history.”

The PS4™ version of LawBreakers will make its debut at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, June 13-15, and attendees will be among the first to experience its unique brand of gravity-defying combat. Qualified media and influencers are encouraged to book appointments to play the game on PS4™ and PC game as space will be limited. 

LawBreakers (rated M) will now launch simultaneously on PlayStation®4 Pro and on Steam later this year, but no release date has been announced at this time.

For more information on LawBreakers, please visit: lawbreakers.com

Official LawBreakers on PlayStation®4 reveal cinematic trailer created by Blur Studio: https://youtu.be/6bRK4BQkNmQ

Train2Game News Cliffy B’s new game

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Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski has revealed LawBreakers, the debut game from his new studio Boss Key Productions.

An arena FPS set in 2105, LawBreakers will focus on gravity-defying cops and robbers which takes place after a moon-based experiment threw away the laws of physics.

There will be all manner of jetpacks, grappling hooks and gravity-manipulating devices. Bleszinski likened LawBreakers to the “ground is lava” game.

Bleszinski said the game’s three main pillars will be “gangs, guns and gravity” and there will be plenty of factions within both law enforcements and cartels. Each team will have the same classes and abilities, even if the characters look different depending on whether they’re cops or criminals.

He also noted that “half of our cast is female.”

LawBreakers will be a free-to-play game launching in 2016.

Train2Game News Project BlueStreak using UE4

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During a panel at PAX East, Boss Key Productions, a new game development studio founded by industry veterans Cliff Bleszinski and Arjan Brussee, revealed to fans that Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4 will power the indie developer’s upcoming free-to-play, first-person shooter, currently known as “Project BlueStreak.”

“We considered several options regarding what technology we’d use to build ‘Project BlueStreak’. Ultimately, we found ourselves coming full circle to my friends at Epic Games and the elegant solution for rapid and quality game development that is Unreal Engine 4,” said Cliff Bleszinski, founder and CEO of Boss Key Productions. “We look forward to making a top-tier product through this partnership.”

“Project BlueStreak” is a free-to-play FPS grounded in a recovered apocalyptic sci-fi setting, to be published by Nexon America for future release on the PC. Fans can sign up for ‘first to know’ insider updates at bosskey.com. With a team comprised of experienced developers from across the videogame industry, Boss Key Productions aims to innovate the first-person-shooter genre. Pairing Unreal’s unique set of tools with Boss Key’s industry-leading talent, the studio is poised to create a new IP that redefines the DNA of the arena shooter.

“Cliff is intimately familiar with the Unreal Engine and he and Arjan have put together a highly talented team,” said Joe Kreiner, head of Unreal Engine licensing for the Americas, Epic Games. “With that level of experience and creativity, we’re expecting great things from ‘Project BlueStreak’ and we’re looking forward to playing it.”

“Project BlueStreak” joins an impressive lineup of games powered by Unreal Engine 4, including Street Fighter V, EVE: Valkyrie, Fable Legends and many others. Developed by Epic Games, the award-winning Unreal Engine is known for its cutting-edge graphics technology, world-class toolset and scalability across PC, console and mobile platforms.  Unreal Engine 4 has been evolving at a rapid pace, driven by feedback from the community and numerous updates from Epic’s team of world-class engineers. Best of all, Unreal Engine 4 is now free for anyone to download and begin working with today.

Train2Game News Cliffy B’s new game

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Project_BluestreakBosskey Games plans to partner with Korean online games publisher Nexon to create the title, Bleszinski announced on his Twitter account.

Friends, @BossKey will be working with Nexon to publish a Free2Play Sci-Fi PC arena shooter code named #BlueStreak. #BossKey #UnlockTheFun— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) July 8, 2014

He added that the studio will not release a “fake CG trailer showing ‘Gameplay’ because that’s not how Bosskey does it.”

Guerrilla Games co-founder Arjan Brussee has joined Bosskey as its chief operating officer. Brussee and Bleszinski collaborated on the Jazz Jackrabbit platformer series.

Back in December, Bleszinski told press that he wants to make a “proper” arena shooter. “It will be a PC experience that will harken back to a certain type of game that we cut our teeth on,” he said. “A first-person shooter. It’s in my DNA.

“I want to get funding, I don’t want to do a Kickstarter. I’ve shown [the project] to various parties, and there are nibbles,” he added.

Source: CVG

Train2Game News Boss Key Productions

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Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski has opened a new studio named Boss Key Productions.

Bleszinski recently teased he was coming out of retirement, with the official announcement of the new company and its debut project due to be announced shortly.

As spotted by Polygon, documents filed to the North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State also list Guerrilla Games co-founder Arjan Brussee as the studio’s chief operating officer.

Another document filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office also suggests the developer will focus on online titles, referencing “downloadable multiplayer interactive computer game programs”.

Bleszinski left his former studio Epic Games in October 2012 after 20 years at the company.

Train2Game News: Cliffy B comments on used games

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Cliff Bleszinski Cliff Bleszinski says the public reaction to the Sony and Microsoft press conferences at E3 are premature, arguing that the former was simply playing a PR game.

Many who watched the show claimed that Sony had “won” E3 due to its declaration that the PlayStation 4 would not have any restrictions on used games.

Bleszinski not only doubts that Sony doesn’t have some anti-used tricks tucked away, but says the used game market is undermining the $60 triple-A model.

“I’d bet Sony has some similar stuff up their sleeves they’re just playing on the internet outrage for free PR,” said Bleszinski over Twitter.

“You cannot have game and marketing budgets this high while also having used and rental games existing. The numbers do NOT work people.”

Bleszinski started his career at Epic Games, where he rose through the ranks to become one of the industry’s most recognisable faces and as the creator of Gears of War, Bleszinski knows the cost of modern triple-A games are astronomical.

“The visual fidelity and feature sets we expect from games now come with sky high costs,” he explained.

“Assassin’s Creed games are made by thousands of devs.”

According to Bleszinski, this means consumers should be prepared for more than just the death of used games, but should expect physical media to be replaced by new distribution and business models.

“This is why you’re seeing free-to-play and microtransactions everywhere,” he concluded.

“The disc based day one $60 model is crumbling.”

Train2Game News: Make Something Unreal Live winners game comes to app store

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Warlock of Firetop MountainTrain2Game Student studio and Make Something Unreal Live 2012 winners, Commando Kiwi, have released their first game on to the app store.

The game, Warlock of Firetop Mountain: Lost Chapters, was created by the students in their spare time for last years Make Something Unreal Live contest, held by Epic. The game was created using the UDK software and is based on the very first Fighting Fantasy novel, Warlock of Firetop Mountain which was written by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson.

The studio, which consists of Cat Forsyth, Martyn Whittel, Tom Chipchase, Jonny Robinson, Ashley Taylor, Adam Sherratt, Aaron Reeve, Andrew Smallwood, Tom Constable and Ezekiel Morris, have been working on the game since the beginning of 2012.

The students won the competition after demonstrating their game to a number of industry professionals, including Peter Molyneux, Cliff Bleszinski and Jon Hare. The final descision was that of Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson who decided Commando Kiwi’s game best captured the essence of Fighting Fantasy.

The game is a third person action game which puts you in the shoes of the adventurer who is travelling through the deadly Firetop Mountain in search of the fabled treasure of the all-powerful Warlock. The game features enemies and locations from the classic book with a battle system based on the system from the book its self. The unique combat system based uses skill and luck combinations made famous by the series of novels in an intuitive Active Time Battle System.

The game is available for free to download now from the app store.

You can re-live the Commando Kiwi story in the video below:

Train2Game News: Mid-week round up – 14.11.12

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Cliff Bleszinski, better known as CliffyB, has received a mysterious package in a hotel room he is currently staying at. The package contained a phone with a Ubisoft background and one phone number in it. CliffyB told his twitter fans that he would ring the number saying “I do have a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me an asset for people like you.”

What started off as a breeding ground for indie titles now seems to be the only form of submission to the digital distribution service, Steam. This is a bold move by Valve as it means not only the bedroom developers but also the big hitters will have to submit their game to Greenlight.

Halo 4 earned $220 million on the day it launched. This isn’t quite as much as Halo 3 or reach but it is still an impressive figure. Microsoft reckons its juggernaut franchise is on track to hit its $300 million global sales target within its first week, thrusting lifetime sales for the Halo franchise passed the $3.38 billion mark.

Of course the other big release lately is Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2. The game is Amazon’s most preordered game ever beating last year’s Modern Warfare 3. Amazon said it “shattered” the previous record. The company wouldn’t reveal any further details on the launch or preorders of Black Ops 2.

Valve president Gabe Newell has has revealed Valve is working on a next generation successor to the Source Engine. Newell also confirmed the Source 2 engine would be completely new, instead of just another update for nearly ten year-old tech. Source made its debut in Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2 in 2004.

Mass Effect 4 will run on DICE’s Frostbite engine, the latest version of which was used in Battlefield 3. There also seems to be a lot of interest in being able to play as different alien races, similar to the style of Dragon Age:Origins.

Train2Game News: Mid-week round up

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Five months since its release, Minecraft on the Xbox 360 is still selling 27,000 units daily. That’s an estimated 4 million copies sold, further solidifying the games legacy.

Valve’s Steam distribution service now sells software as well as games. The software is for games development. The products currently available on the store are ArtRage Studio Pro, CameraBag 2, GameMaker: Studio, 3D-Coat, 3DMark Vantage, 3DMark 11 and of course, Source Film-maker.

Halo 4 won’t be getting Kinect controls, says 343 Industries’ Frank O’Connor. His opinion is that while the motion sensor has its uses when it comes to the UI, controlling a core game is not what it’s for. Kinect will be used for Halo Waypoint however, which can be launched from in the game.

Reportedly, Arkane studios’ Dishonored will take over twenty hours to complete playing stealthily with killing no one. A brutal play through, killing anyone in your path, will take between 12 to 14 hours but that’s without exploring every nook and cranny, and knowing the solution to everything beforehand. It should take more thorough or inexperienced players longer than that.

PlayStation Europe is offering a month long internship to who ever can make the best game on LittleBigPlanet for the PS Vita. The best submission, as voted by a PlayStation judging panel, will be rewarded with a month-long internship at Swedish studio Tarsier. Games will be judged on gameplay, originality, and commercial appeal. The winner will eventually help work on official DLC for the game. To register an interest, go here.

A new mod has been developed for Crysis. The mod, StarCry, sees many different hit sci-fi shows making their way into the new user made campaign for the game. Franchises such as Stargate SG1 and Star Wars are featured in the mod.

Chasing Aurora developer, Martin Pichlmair, says that Nintendo is working hard to make the Wii U eShop friendly and open for independent developers. This opens up a whole new market with a new innovative console to work with.

World of Tanks official site, Wargaming.net, say that registration numbers have passed the 40 million mark. Players have been pouring into servers to check out the big 8.0 update, which overhauled WoT’s visuals and added proper physics. World of Tanks is one of the biggest free to play games in the world.

Cliff Bleszinski has announced he is leaving Epic. After two decades with the company he is moving on to expand his career. Whilst with the company he was responsible for games such as Jazzy Jackrabbit and the highly acclaimed Gears Of War series.

Bad Piggies, the Angry Birds spin-off from Rovio, shot to the top spot on the US iTunes App Store within three hours of launch. The firm said the game was the fastest chart-topper in the company’s history. The game is the third from the Finnish studio this year to hit the top spot within it’s first day of release. The other titles were Amazing Alex and of course, Angry Birds Space.

Train2Game News: Games have become easier says Cliff Bleszinski

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Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski believes current generation games have become too easy, with developers more focused on appealing to as many people as possible over a challenge.

“It feels like in this current console generation that we’ve taken a lot of steps to grow the audience and what I think’s happened is that the games have become more linear and easier, so it feels like a lot of quick-time-events,” Bleszinski told X360A.

The Epic Games design director – who helped mentor Train2Game student teams during Train2Game and Epic Games’ Make Something Unreal Live contest at The Gadget Show – pointed to Demon Souls and Dark Souls being what he wants.

“The more I play games like that the more I turned off to them and just want to get back to systems interacting with systems, and get back to a game that, you know, when was the last time a game really challenged you and asked something of you, right? There’s a reason why Demon Souls and Dark Souls have taken off lately. It’s because they really require you actually try.” he said.

Bleszinski says the upcoming Gears of War: Judgement will be challenging and allow freedom.

“Casual mode will still be casual, whatever, if you just want to see graphics and you don’t want to die, but every other mode will be hard in this game and you will die,” he said.

“When I played this in 4-player co-op… I mean, I’ve been playing Gears since the beginning of the course and I really have to hunker down and focus, and if my buddies aren’t reviving me, and we aren’t working as a team, you’re going to die, and it’s okay to die a few times in a game to try some different strategies, the S3 respawn system provides unique challenges.” the Epic Games designer added.

There’s more from Cliff Bleszinski here on The Train2Game Blog, while you can get the latest news from Epic Games here.

What are your thoughts on Bleszinski’s comments? Do you believe game developers have made games easier in order to reach a bigger audience?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.