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DAILY MANIFESTO

I'm Still Convinced Cliff Bleszinski Is Working With Kojima

Posted on Wednesday, March 20 @ 16:01:24 Eastern by Daniel Bischoff

Just got pulled into a back room at Comic Con by @hideo_kojima_en and showed some crazy new secret stuff. Wow.
— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) July 14, 2012

This tweet could have started it all. In July 2012 Hideo Kojima showed Cliff Bleszinski "some crazy new stuff" and in October 2012 Bleszinski left Epic Games, a studio he helped put on the map thanks to blockbuster action games and an engine that has largely defined the seventh console generation. I'm sure Kojima and Konami would love for the development community to view the FOX engine in the same way.

I believe Gears of War really sold the Unreal 3 engine in the early running, and a game as wildly intriguing as The Phantom Pain has proven to be, could do the same for the FOX Engine. The bombastic, violent, haunting nature of Gears is certainly present in what little we've seen of The Phantom Pain. So, could it really be so unbelievable that the two developers are working together?

We certainly provided the proof of the burgeoning friendship between the two last week. It's true that the interviewee Joakim Mogren was not Bleszinski, but the idea that it was a model rendered in the FOX Engine leaves room for our guesswork. I believe Kojima would trust Bleszinski to head up the US branch of Kojima Productions, opened recently to work on more Metal Gear projects, but we won't know for sure until possibly next week during a GDC Panel for Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes... possibly, much longer, like this year's E3, where debuting the next Metal Gear or Battlefield is tantamount to securing next-gen console sales.

The smoking gun in my mind is still this exchange between Bleszinski and Joakim Mogren on Twitter (captured by @UghRochester). The former Epic Games developer has always been very active on Twitter, but these and other posts lately seem erratic. These be the deflective words of a man talking to himself on Twitter? And what's with Bleszinski switching his icon to that of his former self?

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think a talented developer like Bleszinski could go much longer without taking on some new challenge. A new engine, a new international venture, a new partner, and a new game? What if that new challenge is with Kojima Productions?

Tags: Cliff Bleszinski, kojima productions, Hideo Kojima, The Phantom Pain, Metal Gear Solid

Comments

213EDD
Joined: Sep 2007

Posted: Mar 20th, 2013 at 7:07 pm
I can't say I really like the shotgun simulator that Cliffy B created and I hope he has nothing to do with his project outside of publicity, but whatever

1 4

daverabbit
Joined: Oct 2008

Posted: Mar 20th, 2013 at 7:09 pm
What's my name? What color is the sky? What of donuts? What?! For the love of God, tell me!

0 2

Lok-Nar
Joined: Feb 2012

Posted: Mar 20th, 2013 at 9:06 pm
Isn't this going to piss people off even more if it turns out that Phantom Pain is really a Metal Gear game.

0 1

Jobin_Wendy
Joined: Mar 2012

Posted: Mar 20th, 2013 at 10:03 pm
...no?

Spam-o-nator 5000!

0 1

Longo_2_guns
Joined: Jun 2003

Posted: Mar 20th, 2013 at 9:37 pm
I still think it's a FOX engine creation. That's why you never see him in the same frame with anyone else.

0 2

UghRochester
Joined: Jun 2006

Posted: Mar 21st, 2013 at 3:16 am
So you believe he's CGI?

0 1

Longo_2_guns
Joined: Jun 2003

Posted: Mar 21st, 2013 at 3:39 am
I think it's a possibility. It would explain why they're building hype about it.

Also, since it's an outlandish possibility, if I'm right I get to rub it in everyone's faces. I expect the front page to have an article titled "Longo was right" if I am.

0 1

Jobin_Wendy
Joined: Mar 2012

Posted: Mar 20th, 2013 at 10:03 pm
...no?

Spam-o-nator 5000!

0 1

UghRochester
Joined: Jun 2006

Posted: Mar 21st, 2013 at 3:14 am
I feel the Kojima anagram means Cliffy B will be using for the FOX engine for his new game and the reason why there is a character looking like Solid Snake in the screenshots is just a teaser of a new Metal Gear game or he's just bragging he's working with Hideo Kojima.

I just want to add I Google'd "Jazz Jackrabbit Series" and came upon the website "MobyGames." Other than the name being a coincidence, it doesn't really connect back to Cliffy B. Also, I talk to myself on Facebook all the time with "Howard's Six-String."

0 1