I've been watching all the media hype surrounding Cliff from his appearance on Jimmy Fallon and his unveiling of Gears of War 3, and honestly, he seems to have mellowed out some. Maybe it is because he is no longer 'Cliffy B' and is instead Cliff Blezinski, but he had done that a year or so ago. No, no there is something different. 
 
I think that Cliff has finally reached that point where he doesn't need to go out and about, puffing his chest out and being a 'bro'. He can let the games speak for themselves. Most people know Gears is a good (some would call it great) game. And the Unreal Engine is the sexiest gaming tool/catch-phrase since 'bloom lighting'. 
 
Cliff is growing up a bit, and that makes me so damn proud! 
*Watch tiny tear drop roll down face*

I've been watching all the media hype surrounding Cliff from his appearance on Jimmy Fallon and his unveiling of Gears of War 3, and honestly, he seems to have mellowed out some. Maybe it is because he is no longer 'Cliffy B' and is instead Cliff Blezinski, but he had done that a year or so ago. No, no there is something different. 
 
I think that Cliff has finally reached that point where he doesn't need to go out and about, puffing his chest out and being a 'bro'. He can let the games speak for themselves. Most people know Gears is a good (some would call it great) game. And the Unreal Engine is the sexiest gaming tool/catch-phrase since 'bloom lighting'. 
 
Cliff is growing up a bit, and that makes me so damn proud! 
*Watch tiny tear drop roll down face*

I think it's because Gears 2 floundered a bit when it released (particularly the online multiplayer).  Failure is a good way to be humbled.

" I think it's because Gears 2 floundered a bit when it released (particularly the online multiplayer).  Failure is a good way to be humbled. "

I think that the man was on nation wide tv sitting in a chair in front of several loud strangers that may not be interested in games at all. Being the focal point of a talk show is way different than giving a speech about your game because all the attention is on you not the giant screen behind you. Cocky or not, Clifford Bleszinski is an awesome dude.

Going out there and bragging about his game isn't him being cocky? I'm sure he's trying to advertise it, however the trailer was unimpressive and not even gameplay.

I agree with the above sentiments, however I do think that there is a difference between hyping one's game (which is arguably one of his main roles), and him carrying himself with a bit too much swagger. I think Andorski's comment pertaining to the faults of Gears 2 (especially online) humbled him. I'm talking about him as a regular person. I don't disagree with ButtonsMcBoomBoom above, Cliff is an awesome guy, but he is much more approachable and realistic about who he is. 
 
He seems to have come to the realization that he is a Game Designer and a marketer for his games, not a celebrity to the general public; he seemed to believe himself to be the latter before Gears 2 (and even during the release of that game). Thus the transformation I'm talking about.

He should start hanging out with some Naughty Dog people to learn how to be humble. I mean the ND guys are SO HUMBLE it sometims pisses me off!

I never felt as strongly as some people about his "douchebaggery". Even if he was a bit more cocky before, I mean, the dude has kind of earned it. He's been with Epic since nearly the beginning, and has had a hand in developing:
 
1. The Unreal Tournament franchise 

2. The most popular game engines used in the past 10-15 years (Unreal Engine 2 and 3) 

3. The Gears of War franchise, which are great games in their own right, but also revolutionized cover-based mechanics in third person shooters (even if it's commonly forgotten that Winback for N64 did it first).

The days of the "rockstar" game designer are over.  Actually, John Romero killed the image off, but it lingered a slow death thanks to Cliffy and Itagaki.  By the way, he too has dropped a lot of that "too cool for school" attitude since he had his out with Tecmo/Koei.  It also might have something to do with the general malaise in the economy.  Investors get nervous when they have to deal with ego-centric game developers who appear to be more interested in being seen on the red carpet than producing a profitable product.  Epic needs to make sure they stay relevant now that other companies are offering middle-ware game engines to compete with Unreal 3.  One way to do that is to appear professional and less "in yo face!"

 I think he just wanted a change of image, the name thing was some time ago. You can't be 35 with a name like that and expect anyone to take you seriously. "