Gearheads of War

In an interview with 1Up (for example), you [Cliff] talked about something you called the "X-factor", a term that by your use and description is something more than just a philosophy of making games fun for all, it is actually a tweak in the code.  

   1.  To what extent was this "X-factor" responsible for the shenanigans in Gears 1?  

   2.  Are you going to be including it in Gears 2?  

   3.  What is it exactly - simply a line in the code that changes the location/size of the hit box, or makes the gamer shoot blanks?

    http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=2&cId=3157032

    EGM: Did you deliberately design Gears' multiplayer to favor chance or chaos in order to make the game more accessible to a broader base? Like when two chain saws go head-to-head--it's a coin toss as to who's going to win that fight. Why not make the game more tactical, so a player knows exactly who's supposed to win in that situation?

    CB: For me a lot of those scenarios ultimately boil down to the X-factor. When you're playing a real-time strategy game, and you have two evenly matched players, the one thing that can push it away from a stalemate is that random crate that appears on the battlefield and gives one player an advantage. I think it's good for players who are generally better to be able to defeat other players, but if there's a little bit of a random factor in there to allow the shitty guy to occasionally beat the guy who's really good, I think that, in the name of fun, it's an occasional trade-off that's OK to make.

    EGM: Epic Games has a history of making competitive shooters like Unreal Tournament. Gears is fun to play with friends, but it probably won't see major action with the pro leagues....

    CB: The game was never designed to be Unreal Tournament. It was always designed as one-third singleplayer game, one-third co-op, and one-third versus multiplayer. The fact that versus has taken off as such a success is a pleasant surprise for us, but it was never something that we had planned to be CPL- [Cyberathlete Professional League] or World Cyber Games--worthy in that regard. It's always been just a "jump in, kick around, and have fun with friends" game. It's not really the kind of versus that we designed for people to play for six figures. That's why we do Unreal Tournament.

    EGM: Still, can't you make a game that appeals to the casual audience and is precise enough for tournament-level play?

    CB: I think that's something we could potentially iterate on [for a sequel] and nail everything perfectly for extremely high-level competitive play, with high yield for players.

    There are always ways around it. The superweapon in your classic shooter is that X-factor of chaos that allows the s***tiest of players to occasionally kill the best players. And what do they do for tournament play? They just disable the superweapon. You can always make small changes--this is the rule set for the hardcore, and this is the rule set for casual players...something that'll maintain the hardcore but invite the more casual to play. But we try to keep them in separate pens whenever possible....

• What do you prefer, first or third-person games?

• Do you think the success of Gears has contributed to the rise of the third-person shooter?

• If you had to guess, how much does input from the community actually affect the way you guys develop games?

• To quote Harry Carey, "If you were a hot dog, and you were starving, would you eat yourself?" If so, what condiments would you use?

Who is your favorite character in the Gears Universe?

What is your favorite drink?