Bleszinski: Gears 3 multiplayer has to be good, or 'the franchise is dead'

Not only are we excited about the prospect of joining the Gears of War 3 beta next month because, you know, of all the dude-sawing -- we're also hopeful that the tests will prevent a rough start-up for the full game's multiplayer experience. In an interview with IGN, Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski acknowledged (the beta test-less) Gears of War 2's less-than-optimal online offerings at launch, saying the developer "can't afford to make that mistake twice."

The outspoken developer explained, "if we release Gears 3 and it has the same launch as Gears 2 online then the franchise is dead." He later added, "to be fair, over the course of the six title updates, we got Gears 2 in a very good position. And we need to take it to great. And that's what this will help do." We've got another suggestion for making the game "great" -- two chainsaws. One on your gun, and another one on your chainsaw.

Chainsawsaw.