Cliff Bleszinski: Avatars are Miis

It might not be the party line, but Gears of War 2 design director Cliff Bleszinski said what everyone was thinking at E3 yesterday when he told us Microsoft's new avatars are basically just Miis for Xbox 360.

"They're Miis, but that's fine," Bleszinski told Eurogamer. "They look like they have a lot more functionality, and it's bringing the console full circle from a hardcore gaming box to an entertainment-friendly family box and it's cool."

Bleszinski is also a fan of the new dashboard interface, admitting that he finds the current one a bit confusing. "Between you, me and wall frankly I can't find s*** in the current interface," he said. "The blades come up and my frame-rate goes to a crawl and I'm like 'Argh! Argh!'"

We also asked if Microsoft had approached him about doing downloadable premium avatar skins - perhaps a Locust or some COG armour - since it's easy to see that stuff heading down a path like that. "We've talked a little bit about it," he confirmed, "but we're at a point where Gears 2 is coming in with however many days left, and while we think it's cool we don't have a lot of time to fit it with Gears."

Finally, since Bleszinski's had the ability to play with the new dashboard for a while, we asked about his avatar. "I haven't had the chance to build one yet," he told us, "but he'd have larger biceps."

"A little more chiselled jaw too."

Check out our Gears of War 2 hands-on preview today to see what Bleszinski has been up to.