
Control Freak
My Epic Adventure Making Video Games
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Narrated by:
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Kurt Kanazawa
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By:
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Cliff Bleszinski
About this listen
The designer of Unreal and Gears of War offers an eye-opening personal account of the video-game industry as it grew from niche hobby to hundred-billion-dollar enterprise.
Video games are dominating the planet. In 2020, they brought in $180 billion dollars globally—nearly $34 billion in the United States alone. So who are the brilliant designers who create these stunning virtual worlds? Cliff Bleszinski—or CliffyB as he is known to gamers—is one of the few who’ve reached mythical, rock-star status. In Control Freak, he gives an unvarnished, all-access tour of the business.
Toiling away in his bedroom, Bleszinski created and shipped his first game before graduating high school and at just 17 joined a fledgling company called Epic Games. He describes the grueling hours, obscene amounts of Mountain Dew, and obsessive focus necessary to achieve his singular creative visions. He details Epic’s rise to industry leader, thanks largely to his work on best-selling franchises Unreal and Gears of War (and, later, his input on a little game called Fortnite), as well as his own awkward ascent from shy, acne-riddled introvert to sports-car-driving celebrity rubbing shoulders with Bill Gates. As he writes, “No one is weirder than a nerd with money.” While the book is laced with such self-deprecating humor, Bleszinski also bluntly addresses the challenges that have long-faced the gaming community, including sexism and a lack of representation among both designers and the characters they create.
Control Freak is a hilarious, thoughtful, and inspiring memoir. Even if you don’t play games, you’ll walk away from this book recognizing them as a true art form and appreciating the genius of their creators.
©2022 Huge Tank, Inc. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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- By: Tristan Donovan, Richard Garriott
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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A riveting account of the birth and remarkable evolution of the most important development in entertainment since television, Replay is the ultimate history of video games. From its origins in the research labs of the 1940s to the groundbreaking success of the Wii, Replay sheds new light on gaming's past.
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Excellent Book
- By Devin on 01-17-18
By: Tristan Donovan, and others
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Yes: The Tormato Story
- By: Kevin Mulryne
- Narrated by: Kevin Mulryne
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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The music of Yes indelibly shaped the original sound of progressive rock. But the true tale of this landmark band goes well beyond headline-making albums like Fragile and Close to the Edge. In this book, Kevin Mulryne tells the absorbing story of the final Yes album of the 1970s, Tormato, uncovering myriad fascinating twists and turns for the first time.
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A fascinating read.
- By Preston M. Frazier on 10-20-23
By: Kevin Mulryne
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Split Decision
- Life Stories
- By: Ice-T, Spike, Douglas Century
- Narrated by: Ice-T, Spike, Douglas Century
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Ice-T rose to fame in the late 1980s, earning acclaim for his music before going on to enthrall television audiences as Odafin “Fin” Tutuola in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. But it could have gone much differently. In this “poignant and powerful” (Library Journal, starred review) memoir, Ice-T and Spike, his former crime partner—collaborating with New York Times bestselling author Douglas Century—relate the shocking stories of their shared pasts, and how just a handful of decisions led to their incredibly different lives.
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An awesome book
- By Cornelius DeMarcus on 11-30-22
By: Ice-T, and others
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Carrie Fisher
- A Life on the Edge
- By: Sheila Weller
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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A remarkably candid biography of the remarkably candid - and brilliant - Carrie Fisher. Sourced by friends, colleagues, and witnesses to all stages of Fisher’s life, Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge is an empathic and even-handed portrayal of a woman who - as Princess Leia, but mostly as herself - was a feminist heroine, one who died at a time when we need her blazing, healing honesty more than ever.
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Need a different narrator or director?
- By Brad on 12-24-19
By: Sheila Weller
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At Any Cost
- A Father's Betrayal, a Wife's Murder, and a Ten-Year War for Justice
- By: Rebecca Rosenberg, Selim Algar
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Wealthy, beautiful, and brilliant, Shele Danishefsky had fulfillment at her fingertips. Having conquered Wall Street, she was eager to build a family with her much younger husband, promising Ivy League graduate Rod Covlin. But when his hidden vices surfaced, marital harmony gave way to a merciless divorce. Rod had long depended on Shele's income to fund his tastes for high stakes backgammon and infidelity - and she finally vowed to sever him from her will. In late December 2009, Shele made an appointment with her lawyer. She would never make it to that meeting.
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Tightly-written true crime; excellent narration.
- By Janean Laidlaw on 06-27-21
By: Rebecca Rosenberg, and others
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Beneath the Surface
- Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish
- By: John Hargrove, Howard Chua-Eoan
- Narrated by: John Hargrove
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Over the course of two decades, John Hargrove worked with 20 different whales on two continents and at two of SeaWorld's U.S. facilities. For Hargrove, becoming an orca trainer fulfilled a childhood dream. However, as his experience with the whales deepened, Hargrove came to doubt that their needs could ever be met in captivity.
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Tragic, Brutal
- By Gillian on 04-16-15
By: John Hargrove, and others
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Masters of Doom
- How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
- By: David Kushner
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to produce the most notoriously successful game franchises in history - Doom and Quake - until the games they made tore them apart. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry.
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How it was
- By Ryan on 08-27-13
By: David Kushner
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Confessions
- A Life of Failed Promises
- By: A. N. Wilson
- Narrated by: A. N. Wilson
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Known for his journalism, biographies and novels, A. N. Wilson turns a merciless searchlight on his own early life, his experience of sexual abuse, his catastrophic mistakes in love (sacred and profane) and his life in Grub Street—as a prolific writer. The audiobook begins with his heart-torn present-day visits to Katherine, now for decades his ex-wife, who has slithered into the torments of dementia. At every turn of this reminiscence, Wilson is baffled by his earlier self—whether he is flirting with unsuitable lovers or with the idea of the priesthood.
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Atomic bomb and other gems
- By Charles on 11-27-23
By: A. N. Wilson
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Press Reset
- Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry
- By: Jason Schreier
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Jason Schreier's groundbreaking reporting has earned him a place among the preeminent investigative journalists covering the world of video games. In his eagerly anticipated, deeply researched new book, Schreier trains his investigative eye on the volatility of the video game industry and the resilience of the people who work in it.
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Audio Quality is Inconsistent
- By Amazon Customer on 09-14-21
By: Jason Schreier
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From the Moment They Met It Was Murder
- Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir
- By: Alain Silver, James Ursini
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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The behind-the-scenes story of the quintessential film noir and cult classic, Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity—its true crime origins and crucial impact on film history—is told for the first time in this riveting narrative published for the film's 80th anniversary. Authors Alain Silver and James Ursini tell the complete history of Double Indemnity in their latest and most provocative work on film noir: From the Moment They Met It Was Murder.
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Great history, INCREDIBLY annoying affection
- By WriteStuff on 10-23-24
By: Alain Silver, and others
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Lou Reed
- The King of New York
- By: Will Hermes
- Narrated by: Will Hermes
- Length: 20 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Since his death ten years ago, Lou Reed’s living presence has only grown. The great rock-poet presided over the marriage of Brill Building pop and the European avant-garde, and left American culture transfigured. In Lou Reed: The King of New York, Will Hermes offers the definitive narrative of Reed’s life and legacy, dramatizing his long, brilliant, and contentious dialogue with fans, critics, fellow artists, and assorted habitués of the demimonde.
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Best Biography I’ve Ever Read
- By Sammy Criscitello on 11-21-24
By: Will Hermes
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Prepare to Meet Thy Doom
- And More True Gaming Stories
- By: David Kushner
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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From Masters of Doom author David Kushner comes Prepare to Meet Thy Doom, a compilation of true gaming stories covering many facets of America's biggest entertainment business: the video game industry. In addition to more than a dozen fascinating tales of game creation, play, business, and controversy, Prepare to Meet Thy Doom follows up on Kushner's previous best seller, Masters of Doom, with a long-awaited update.
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An interesting and unsorted collection
- By Greg on 11-05-15
By: David Kushner
What listeners say about Control Freak
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- Tsouth2
- 11-11-22
Loved it!
This brought back so many memories from my younger years. I grew up on Unreal Tournament 2003/2004 and always held CliffyB in high regard. Loved learning about the origins of Gears of War and everything else Epic worked on. CliffyB is a legend!
The book has me wanting to fire up the ole gamespy browser and load up a CTF-Face3 low gravity instagib server. Those were the days…
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- C.Reeder
- 11-14-22
excellent look into Cliffs life
I loved every moment of this book! Well written, Cliff has earned every bit of cred he's gotten.
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- Kristofer Gallardo
- 12-12-23
Openess
Nothing, I felt personally connected to Cliffy B throughout the entire book. A real gamer the man has shown me the stories that can be told through video games and ultimately is why I fell in love with them in the first place. Brothers Til’ the End 💜
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- Trey J
- 06-17-23
Forget what you know
Browsing the internet, you’ll likely come across this famed video game designer. You might have even rallied against him even though you don’t have the slightest clue what he had to go to go through to become the icon he is today. What I learned from Cliff’s book is that we are often blind to this side of the industry, the people who work in it and we let knee jerk reactions get the best of us. What I learned from this book was nothing that the internet told me about him.
Some of the stories in Cliff’s life had me in tears because I too lost my father at a young age. I also survived the toxic zone that is the internet as a young teen. The book shows a glimpse at what you never see and it’s an interesting story if you’re interested. The book also had me weeping for a kid who had no control over his life and little to no support climbing to his current status. I urge those who hold some unjust opinion about this designer, to give this book a chance. It might change your thoughts on the industry and the man who made the video games we hold dear to our hearts.
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1 person found this helpful
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- J. Beard
- 06-17-23
CliffyB is a Legend as is his Tome
Cliff Bleszinski tells a fantastic story in this autobiography about his growing up as a young gamer, the personal struggles he had, and how he went from making no budget computer games to becoming the head designer for huge game franchises like Gears of War and Unreal Tournament. I would have absolutely loved if he narrated the story himself, but Kurt does a very fine job in nailing the style and mannerisms of Cliff and offers an engaging performance. Unreal Tournament in particular was a very important game in my life as it introduced me to competitive online shooters in a big way, that led to numerous other games for me such as Counter Strike, Halo, Call of Duty, Starsiege Tribes, MAG, etc.
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- Rodney
- 06-10-23
5 star book, but obnoxious
First, this book is extremely well written, the guy has quite the talent for writing if he did this all himself.
Now, with that said, I had no idea who this guy was, and Gears of War always ran poorly that it physically made me sick. So I didn’t come into this as a fan - and I won’t leave as a fan as the Cliffy is truly an obnoxious attention wh—- who just needs to make everything about himself and who just constantly plays the role of victim. Then on top of that he just inserts his simpleton woke politics as if it’s edgy - as edgy as thinking it’s cool to wear a Soviet Union shirt (only 100-million dead from communism in the last 100-years, but hey, you get free healthcare - but sadly not matching him and gets Lambos).
With that said, I did mostly enjoy the story when he wasn’t just whining or being a SJW. It’s an interesting story and, again extremely well written. The reader does a good professional job.
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- Ryan Boddy
- 01-08-24
An inspiring story for those who want to design games
Cliffy B may not be everyone’s cup of tea personally, but he’s a legend in the game industry and knows a thing or two about what makes a game awesome. I decided to listen as a budding game developer to see what insight I could glean about the biz, but was pleasantly surprised by the autobiographical nature.
Like many of us, Cliff is a nerd to his core. While it may have taken him more time to find his nerd home than others, the story of his accomplishments AND failures was refreshing.
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- Zack b.
- 11-07-22
Super informative and interesting
Cliff is blunt and honest about his life failures and successes, this book provides a very interesting view into the industry.
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- FamousAspect
- 12-07-22
Epic!
I loved hearing this amazing story firsthand. We do seldom get this deep, behind the scenes look at making some of the biggest games in the world. That plus Cliff’s personal journey and soul searching make this book well worth reading or listening to!
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- Sergio
- 01-23-23
Great, engaging book
CliffyB has lots of interesting stories to tell that show who he is behind his public persona. The book also takes you through the history of Epic Games almost from inception to Fortnite.
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