Cliff Bleszinski Wants To Make Stuff Again

Cliff Bleszinski wants to create again, whether that means making a new video game or indulging in his passion for writing and drawing. The former design director for Epic Games and co-founder of Boss Key Productions is one of gaming’s biggest and most recognizable names, known for his role in the development of Unreal and Gears of War.

“I need to create,” Bleszinski tweeted. “I miss it. I don’t know what it will be, writing, drawing, maybe a game, but, lord, since I was a kid I loved doing it and I need to do SOMETHING again soon. The itch is back. No promises to those of you who care. But it is soooo freeing to make, well, stuff.

“And no, I’m not going to stream or be a [You]’tuber. I’m friggin 44. C’mon, man.”

Bleszinski departed Epic in 2012 after 20 years at the company, before going on to co-found Boss Key. The studio released Lawbreakers, a multiplayer first-person shooter, in 2017, but the game’s positive critical reception wasn’t enough to help it gain a healthy player base, so the servers were shut down in September 2018. After this, Boss Key launched the battle royale shooter Radical Heights in April 2018, but the company closed its doors soon after, with Bleszinski describing the game as “too little too late.”

Since then, Bleszinski has stepped away from the gaming industry, getting involved in one of his other passions: theatre. He was an investor/producer for the play Hadestown, which won eight Tony awards, including Best Musical, and also co-produced another Broadway play, a new version of Terrence McNally’s “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.” Aside from this, Bleszinski has invested in multiple restaurants and is planning on writing a memoir about his time in the games industry.

If he does make another game, Bleszinski says he doesn’t want to run his own company again. “I’ll tell y’all one thing–I will NEVER be a CEO again. I wasn’t that good at it and it made me miserable. Some creatives can do it, I cannot.”

Don’t expect to hear about a new game from him anytime soon, though. The Gears of War creator later clarified his earlier tweets, saying, “Haha literally just had a call with my agent from the video game space as he was driving to downtown LA for The Game Awards and realized that tweet is going to cause him to be inundated with questions there. To be clear, I’m just loving…writing…right now.”

Now Playing: The Game Awards 2019 Livestream

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Resident Evil 3’s Nemesis Can Be Heard In The New RE2 Demo

Capcom has released a new demo for the remake of Resident Evil 2, titled R.P.D. Demo. It’s available to download now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, and includes a well-timed reference to the upcoming release of Resident Evil 3.

The demo is the same as the one-shot demo released prior to Resident Evil 2’s launch back in January, except the 30-minute time limit has been removed so you can explore Racoon City’s police station at your own pace. However, there is one key difference in the form of a creepy Easter egg.

Players investigating the front entrance of the R.P.D. in the latest demo have reported hearing Nemesis shouting “STARS.” Nemesis is, of course, the popular antagonist of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, which Capcom announced earlier this week is also getting the remake treatment. Resident Evil 3 takes place prior to and during the events of Resident Evil 2, so Nemesis would have been pursuing Jill Valentine at the same time Leon and Claire were both in Racoon City. It’s a very cool Easter egg, especially considering this week’s reveal, and is something Capcom really didn’t have to do–so it’s easy to appreciate that they did.

The remake of Resident Evil 3 is set to launch on April 3, 2020 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. It also comes packaged with Resident Evil Resistance, an asymmetric multiplayer game which, among other things, stars a guy called Martin Sandwich.

Now Playing: Resident Evil 3 Remake – Developer Gameplay Features Walkthrough Trailer

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Epic Is Giving Away 12 Free PC Games During Its Holiday Sale

The Epic Games Store free games program is one of the coolest perks for PC gamers. Since the store’s launch last December, Epic has consistently given away good games, completely free of charge. It started as a bi-weekly program, but Epic ramped it up to weekly giveaways earlier this year. It’s been an awesome ride, but Epic has even bigger plans in store for the holidays.

Starting December 19, Epic will give away one free game per day for 12 days. The promotion coincides with Epic’s holiday sale and runs until January 1. December 19 to January 1 actually spans 14 days. If we had to guess, Christmas and New Year’s Eve will be the “off days” for the giveaway.

Epic hasn’t revealed any of the 12 freebies, but judging by the quality of the games handed out throughout 2019, we expect them to be good.

To take part in Epic’s holiday festivities, all you need to do is sign up for a free Epic account. Once you claim any free game from Epic, it’ll be in your library forever. Epic’s current free games are The Escapists and The Wolf Among Us, which we just learned is finally getting a sequel. You can download both of those games until December 19 at 11 AM ET. It’s safe to say the first free mystery game will go live at that time.

Epic announced earlier this year that the free games program would run until the end of 2019. Epic hasn’t officially confirmed the end of the program, but there’s a chance the big holiday giveaway could be the program’s last hurrah.

The Mandalorian Episode 6: 13 Star Wars Easter Eggs And References You May Have Missed

1. The Mandalorian sure does love hiring comedians

1. The Mandalorian sure does love hiring comedians

We’re seen quite a few comedians have predominant roles on Mandalorian, going all the way back to Episode 1, where we saw Horatio Sanz and Brian Posehn pop up. In this episode, comedian Bill Burr plays Mayfeld, a mercenary who used to be an Imperial sharpshooter.

There’s a fun moment where Mando finds out Mayfeld worked for the Empire and seems unsure about his skills, to which Mayfeld replies, “I wasn’t a Stormtrooper, wiseass.” Because, as we all know, Stormtroopers all has terrible aim…and armor…and everything else.

MacBook Deals: Get an Apple MacBook Air for $699

Laptops are a great way to do what you need to do, wherever you need to do it. From work to gaming to everything in between, they can enable a world of opportunities. If you are looking to grab a new Apple MacBook Air or Pro, there are some solid deals on both on Amazon right now.

Best Deal: Apple MacBook Air 13-inch with 128GB SSD for $699

This 13-inch Apple MacBook Air has a 1.8 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU, an Intel HD Graphics 6000 GPU, 8GB of RAM, two USB ports, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, and a 128 GB SSD for storage. While it normally costs $999, you can get it right now for $699 on Amazon and get free one-day shipping with Prime.

Continue reading…

The 20 Best Netflix Original Movies and TV Shows

Even though Netflix is beset on all sides by competition both old (Hulu, Amazon) and new (Disney+, Apple TV+), it’s still the barely untouchable emperor of all things streaming. Thanks, in large part, to the fact that it out-spends its rivals by more than double – upwards of $15 to $18 billion a year on original content.

Given that massive sum, and the sheer volume of Originals it has (most of which arrive on the site with no advance warning or fanfare), it stands to reason there’s going to be some truly excellent content among the thousands of titles being offered up. But sometimes all the choices can be overwhelming, so let us help you with some suggestions! Here are Netflix’s best Originals – both movies and TV shows.

Continue reading…