There’s still plenty of mystery surrounding the man. We know he was busy making LawBreakers and ranting after his sabbatical from Epic Games but what about his past? What about all the little facts that make up the man? What lies beneath the persona of the man who created some of the greatest shooters of our time? What don’t you know about Dude Huge, including how he got the name Dude Huge? Let’s take a closer look at Cliff Bleszinski himself and find out.

How He Became Dude Huge

For a long time, Cliff Bleszinski went by many names. CliffyB, The Cliffster, etc. However, one day, Kotaku writer Brian Ashcraft accidentally wrote “Dude huge” instead of “Dude hugs” in a post about Bleszinski. From that point onward, the name stuck and Bleszinski only wanted to be referred to as Dude Huge. Yes, that’s really the entire story. Yes, that grammatical mistake was fixed (but not before Bleszinski saw it) and yes, we wish were making this all up. Naturally Bleszinski wanted to be known as something else, namely The B. He finally said people could call him whatever we want but we’re not sure how Clifford would go down with him.

Father Issues and Gears of War

One of the core stories in the Gears of War franchise – and which seems to continue in Gears of War 4 – is the relationship between father and son. Marcus Fenix is at odds with his father’s philosophy, even in the end when the latter decided to sacrifice himself to save the human species. This core storyline was actually inspired by Bleszinski’s own father issues especially when the latter passed away while he was a teen. Bleszinski always tried harnessing his personal feelings in constructive ways and the Fenix family’s blues is only one example of the same. Unfortunate as it may sound, Bleszinski has believed in accepting what life gives you, both the good and the bad, especially when trying to be so public with your image.

Started Developing at Age 17

By his own admission, Cliff Bleszinski isn’t a master programmer or coder. His reputation as a designer is solid but it’s not just because he’s gifted – the man himself has been working on video games since the age of 17. So while most of us were still concerned with exams and part-time jobs, Bleszinski was busy creating video games. Credit is due to the people he worked with who helped with the visuals and overall programming but there weren’t many teens back then – even with the odd John Carmack and John Romero – pursuing a career in the gaming industry.

Jazz the Jackrabbit

Unreal may have been Bleszinski’s first real break in video games – and at Epic – but it wasn’t his first major creation. After a point and click adventure title Dare to Dream in 1993, Bleszinski would use his skills to design the action platformer Jazz the Jackrabbit. It wasn’t just a commercial success – Jazz the Jackrabbit spawned a sequel and spin-offs, pushing Bleszinski’s talents forward and on to bigger things like Unreal, Unreal Tournament and eventually, Gears of War.

The Drama King

Did you ever find it strange that of all the designers in the industry it would be Cliff Bleszinski constantly pushing to get his face out there and being the symbol of development for Gears of War? It turns out he learned quite a bit about being the centre of attention at an early age – Bleszinski used to act in high school plays like Romeo & Juliet and Ten Little Indians. He even worked with actress Courtney Ford who would go on to act in True Blood and Dexter. If it seems like there’s a sense of drama to Bleszinski’s overall demeanour, then it’s probably his inner high school self shining through.

While much rejoicing may be had for Xbox One fans at the thought of a new Gears of War for the console, which will remain exclusive thanks to Microsoft picking up the rights recently, there is a contingent that believes Epic Games no longer has any real franchises left. There’s also the belief that it will stick to developing and licensing Unreal Engine 4 from here on out.

However, as Epic PR Wes Phillips tweeted that, “For people saying Epic isn’t making games anymore, we currently have multiple games in development, including Fortnite.”

PR manager for Epic Dana Cowley also reiterated that, “We’re still making games, don’t worry.”

Fortnite is currently slated to release for PC, and while there may be some titles that Epic has yet to reveal, it still has major IPs like Infinity Blade and Unreal in its pocket. What are your thoughts on the power of Epic after selling Gears of War? Let us know in the comments.

Some fans might be disappointed to hear this, but Epic head, Mike Capps has revealed in an interview with Forbes that they are not working on any Unreal IP project right now. Gears of War 3 just came out and has been subject to amazing reviews, and Capps says they are not done with the game yet. Epic is looking to provide extensive post-release support for the game.

“I’m not quite ready to call Gears of War 3 completed yet. Epic loves supporting our fans with tons of great additional content, and much of the Epic team is still working on new material for the game,” he said.

Coming back to Unreal, fans would have liked a true successor to Unreal Tournament 2004, but unfortunately this is what Capps had to say, “Unreal and Unreal Tournament continue to have a huge influence on the studio here, even though we’re not currently working on an Unreal IP project.”

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Most of you probably don’t care about this at all, but the fact is that you have most likely played a game made from the Unreal Development Kit.  You might have played 20 games using the Unreal Engine and not know it.  The kit is free and no doubt plays a large role in the future technology that games can take advantage of.  It is mostly famous for you being able to click a button to add something rather than spending hours writing code for it (granted you are not using another similar development kit).  The Unreal Engine also runs a most popular franchise, Gears of War and the engine is actually owned by the developers of the franchise; Epic Games, giving them the first dibs on the newest Unreal Technology in their games.

The Unreal Engine continues to be one of the finest engines out there with many game developers taking advantages of its wonderful easy to use aspects, making the creation of a game much less tasking.  The outcome is usually a good one.  As Unreal continues to update their engine, here is a video showing some of the new features.  Gamers might not care but this is what makes the games you play so amazing and detailed, otherwise you would be waiting years to see a games release.

Steam for Mac has started well with a few releases of major games, however prepare yourself for Killing Floor and Red Orchestra to also be ported to the Mac!

Tripwire’s president John Gibson confirmed that both Red Orchestra and Killing Floor would indeed be released for the Mac. As well as the games Mac users will have use of all of the DLC packages available for both titles via Steam, Achievements and cross-platform multiplayer with the PC market, however a release date has not yet been confirmed.