Bleszinski explains "bald space marines"

Gears of War's dad, Cliff Bleszinski, has thrown some light onto one of the most intriguing questions of this generation: why are all our modern videogame heroes bald space marines running around in rubble-strewn post-apocalyptic cities?

"I just think that the technology of this generation just happens to be very good at rendering metals and stones and dramatic lighting, which is why you see a lot of pillars and girders and destroyed blown-out areas because that's what the bump-mapping happens to do very well," Bleszinski told Develop.

"At the same time, in this generation the translucent effects are very hard to pull off. That's why everybody sees a lot of these bald characters and wonder why games feature so many f***ing space marines. Well, the tech is good at showing off armour and it's not that good at doing hair. That's why we have bald space marines. There's your answer people."

Bleszinski also drew attention to Unreal Engine 3 games like Wolverine and Borderlands as examples of something besides grungy shooters. "If you look at Borderlands, okay it is a shooter, but it has a beautiful cel-shaded look to it," he pointed out.

Sadly though he didn't drop too many hints about future instalments in the Gears series or what Marcus's dad is really up to or anything like that - the most he would say was, "Stylistically though, I'd love to play in a different field in the near future in regards to what your typical expectation of a Gears of War game actually is."