As part of a preview on the hotly anticipated Gears of War 2 (which ships this November exclusively for Xbox 360), Epic Games' lead designer Cliff Bleszinski (who no longer wants to be called 'CliffyB') appears to have taken a shot at the current blockbuster PS3 title from Konami, Metal Gear Solid 4.

When asked about dealing with the pressure of creating a follow-up to a multi-million selling title like Gears, Bleszinski responded, "To be honest, it's fun because in it's own unique way, there's no pressure. We completely ignore it and follow our hearts."

He continued, "We wanted a blockbuster pace, and in doing so, we lost the story a bit. So that's one of the lessons we learned. This time round there's more repetition. Games aren't movies and aren't consumed in a single sitting. So secondary characters will remind you about stuff, which is re-established in plot cues. Metal Gear Solid is our example of the game we're not doing. Passive entertainment is on its way out – you need to hook up with this web 2.0 stuff."

Some reviewers lamented the long cutscenes in MGS4, so we're assuming that's where this "passive" statement comes from. It's one thing to hear it from a critic, but it's quite interesting to read comments like this from another game designer.