Bleszinski Defends Use Of Violence In Gears Of War As 'Slapstick'

Epic Games lead designer Cliff Bleszinski has defended the use of violence in the Gears Of War series, describing it as "slapstick" and saying players are "morally inclined to smile and giggle rather than be revolted." Speaking with the BBC, Bleszinski said: “When we create our games we use a slapstick type of violence, we poke each other in the eyes and hit each other with frying pans like the old Warner Brothers cartoons.” “It’s funny because the industry sometimes comes under fire from watchdog groups with regard to this sort of violence," he continued. "But we always believe that when we first see this muscular space marine beating down a lizard man and heads explode with water melon guts spewing out of them, you’re morally inclined to smile and giggle rather than be revolted." When asked how much violence is too much violence, Bleszinski claimed the developer relies on its “moral compass” when deciding how much violence in a game is “too much”. “We have an internal moral compass where we will decide, ‘No that’s a little bit too much,’ or we need to cut the violence back a little bit," he said. "So there [are] still ways of showing violence to an affecting user without showing too much." "The majority of what we implement into the game we do for feedback and interactivity, not because we’re strange sadistic people who want to see how much blood we can put on the screen when you shoot one of the lizard creatures." "We do it to let the player know you did in fact succeed, that you are hitting a target and you need that kind of feedback in order to create what is a successful interactive experience.” Bleszinski's comments follow a recent Supreme Court hearing over the California violent game bill. The final entry to the Gears of War trilogy is slated for release in April 2011.