Gears 2: 'Bigger, better, more badass' thing: it was marketing speak, says Bleszinski

Gears of War 2 dev lead Cliff Bleszinski has admitted the unthinkable: that the "bigger, better, more badass" slogan Epic used to push the game at GDC this year was a marketing ploy.

"We were saying that whole, 'bigger, better, more badass' thing: it was marketing speak," he said, speaking at a recent event for the game in London. "It had alliteration and things like that. Ultimately we wanted it to become a bit of a self-parody, which is why we we're reinforcing the fact that the game's epic but more intimate this time round."

The developer said the catchphrase summed up the intention of the sequel.

"We all just got together and went through a process we called, 'new, better more': what would be new in Gears 2, what would be better than the original, what would we have more of," Bleszinski added.

"We came up with a huge list and voted on it as the leads and hashed out what it would be, and we knew the campaign would be longer, and we knew we'd have a better story. We knew that we'd have, of course, new weapons, multiplayer modes, bots in versus; then we set out building it."

Gears of War 2 ships for 360 on November 7. For the rest of our coverage from the event, including play impressions and new shots, click this.