Epic Games on Why Baird Should Be a Hero

Epic Games’ Cliff Bleszinksi has explained the team’s reasoning behind making Damon Baird Gears of War: Judgment’s main character.

It seems that Baird is a fan favorite, plus his back story hasn’t been touched on too much so the studio decided it was time for him to take the limelight.

“We actually had decided to use Baird based upon the assumption that he didn’t have his story told in Gears of War 3,” Bleszinski informed GameInformer.

“Paul got to have his moment, Marcus had his moments, Anya – everybody else had their moments But Baird was kind of just left in the back being a sarcastic asshole, so from there we decided to put him the main character.

“But once we actually got data from Microsoft that he was one of the most beloved characters in the entire franchise that it really seemed like a no-brainer.”

The series creator went on to explain why he thinks Baird is a favorite.

“I personally believe that Baird is so beloved by the fans because we live in a world where being cynical and snarky and sarcastic is the norm, especially on the Internet,” he explained. “I think that’s why he resonates with a lot of gamers.”

Gears of War: Judgment is being talked up by Epic as being much harder than GOW3, even in co-op modes. It’s being developed by both Epic and Painkiller/Bulletstorm devs People Can Fly. The title centers on the trial of Damon Baird and August Cole who have been accused of treason after a battle with the Locust in Halvo Bay.

Judgment has no release date so far (though is strangely listed December 31 2013 on Amazon, which seems a little far away).