Sometimes it feels like there are two Cliff Bleszinskis.

On the one hand, there's Cliffy B--the brash promoter that relishes the spotlight, existing on internet forums, in video interviews and wacky photographs.

And then there's Cliff Bleszinski, intelligent, renowned game designer, responsible for leading a team of dozens to create one of the most successful, critically-acclaimed video game franchises in history.

It's that same balance between over-the-top presentation and understated design that makes Gears of War what it is, and the traits are so strongly related to Bleszinski's personality that you can't help but acknowledge how key he was to its design.

I caught up with both Bleszinskis at a review event for Gears of War 2, where we had a chance to talk about Gears 2 in a post-release light.

Shack: In your role as creative designer on Gears 2, were you more in charge of the over-arching design, or did you also dig into the minutiae of development?

Cliff Bleszinski: It's a mix. There's times where, working with Josh [Ortega] and Rod [Ferguson] on the high-level story elements, the themes and things like that, as well as, "Would this character say that? What would be a cool moment to add here?"

As well as also coming off the playtesting and bumping up the flamethrower damage by five percent because it wasn't quite effective enough, or whatever. So I like getting somewhat hands-on with those kinds of numbers and getting my hands dirty. But it's really a mix of very broad strokes, and also knowing when to pick your battles and drilling deep in regards to nitty-gritty hands-on.

Shack: This is something I was talking about with Peter Molyneux recently. Does it frustrate you that some people don't think of you as a developer in the trenches? That they only see the promotion side?

Cliff Bleszinski: There was one quote, where--it was the photo of me with the chainsaw gun, with the red shirt, where somebody on a forum was like, "Oh, he needs to be working with his team instead of sitting outside all day long doing photo shoots." They don't know that that was me grabbing Aaron Smith, who was one of the artists, for literally ten minutes outside and taking three shots because we didn't have a chance to set up a proper photo shoot, and then getting right back to work.

People assume because you do the public work that you don't actually work on the game. I know for a fact Jade Raymond is one of the hardest working people you'll ever meet, but then they love knocking her because she's intelligent, well-spoken and pretty, and she therefore is very good at being a spokesperson for the product.

So I mean, whatever, there's always going to be haters and things like that, but I'd go crazy if I wasn't able to significantly affect the product on a day-to-day process. If I was just doing interviews all day long I'd put a gun to my head.

Shack: Do you ever get tired of being in the spotlight?

Cliff Bleszinski: Oh I like that, I have fun with it. I'm a masochist for reading message board comments. I'm like, "Ooh, there's a quote from me that's been taken out of context that makes me look like a smug asshole, let's read the comments."

And you know, half of them are like, "Ahhh I hate that guy," and half are like "Ahhh I love him." Like I said recently, you can call me whatever the hell you want as long as you give Gears 2 a fair shake. Call me a fucking douche.

Shack: Speaking of Jade Raymond, one of the things people were saying about her was the idea that she might somehow distract or overshadow the other designers working on the game--

Cliff Bleszinski: Anybody who looks at a videogame and assumes--unless of course it's an indie project--anybody who looks at a game like Assassin's Creed or a game like Gears 2 and assumes that it's built by one person is a fucking idiot.

There's a team here, and I have a personal responsibility when I evangelize this product to throw essentially shout-outs to Ray the lead programmer, Rod the producer, and Lee the lead game designer, because ultimately this is a sport, and when push comes to shove I need them to pass me the ball so we can score in the end-zone. And if I don't acknowledge them, then they're not going to continue to make the great products that I'm able to go out there and look like a smug asshole for.

Shack: I thought the credits in Gears 2 were a nice touch. [The credits feature a personalized message and photograph for each team member.]

Cliff Bleszinski: Yeah. Not a lot of companies do that.