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"One astute Joystiq reader found something of great interest buried within the first Nintendo Power issue, which was recently uploaded onto the internet. In the top right corner of page 99, within the \"NES Achievers\" section, Cliff Blezinski from North Andover, MA, tied among a list of players with the best Super Mario Bros. score of 9,999,950.Is this the same CliffyB that is making Gears of War, the game we drooled over at E3? You can see the obvious influence Mario had in the making of Gears of War: just replace \"Locust\" with \"Koopa\" and \"Assault Rifle with mounted chainsaw\" with \"fire flower.\" The resemblance is uncanny.An e-mail to the B-man confirmed that Cliff Blezinski (super-ace butt stomper) is, in fact, Cliff Bleszinski (super-graphic curb stomper) -- the additional 's' makes all the difference. What follows is a rather interesting and hilarious reaction from the man himself about Nintendo, his childhood, and Nintendo Power editor Howard Phillips:Oh yeah, that's me. My nickname in school was Nintendo Boy. Back in theday I was a member of the Nintendo Fun Club - I even managed to acquirethe \"I saved the Princess\" arm patch which I immediately attached to thesleeve of my \"Iron Tank\" shirt. I even had the fucking power glove.I remember reading about Howard and Nestor, hell, everyone does. Yearslater when we had our first sit down with Microsoft over Gears we werein the meeting room when this one boyish looking fella is sitting acrossfrom me. Moments later I shoot up, interrupt everyone, and point at himand go \"HOLY SHIT YOU'RE HOWARD PHILLIPS!\"Turns out Microsoft had hired Howard a while back and he was now mygameplay guru in Seattle. He'd tell me all sorts of crazy stories aboutback in the day... getting harassed in the mall by kids, how one boss inBlaster Master apparently had a giant schlong that he spotted and notedto make sure it was removed for US distribution.Anyways, I couldn't wait for the first issue of Nintendo Power. Iremember going to the end of the driveway that summer every stinking dayand peeking in the mailbox for it. In the meantime I'd steal myneighbor's dad's Playboys out of the box because, hey, black wrapper =jackpot.I can still remember how that issue of Nintendo Power smelled. That andthe Zelda instruction booklet. Hell, I get butterflies when I see thingslike the E3 nominations and Gears is listed right there next to Zelda.I love my job. :)-B[Thanks, Andrew DeMaio]"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/10/cliffyb-the-retro-gaming-god/>