Interview | January 27, 2009 10:39 am

By Hektic Juggalo

Well now, the craziness of Christmas has past, and we are left with the harsh, bitter grasp of Winter here in the Bay State. With a new month, however, comes a new interview! This month we have a chance to learn more about our staff as I get to have a chat with Minioger, one of XbA's newest Staff Writers. Hailing from O-H-ten, I am sure he is no doubt feeling the winter chill as well. Lets jump in!

Hektic: Hello Minioger, and thanks for taking the time to sit down with me. First off, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself: What do you do for work? Family? What do you do for fun besides gaming?

Minioger: Lets see: I have more than one job. My main job is as a Purchasing Manager/IT Manager/Assistant General Manager at a machine shop, as well as working out of the shop on the side. Secondarily, I help my friend with his videotography business (mostly weddings). We just got done with a wedding show a few weeks ago, actually. I used to help with the editing as well, but we upgraded the software last year and my Mac wasn't powerful enough to handle all the awesomeness of Final Cut Studio Pro.

I have a wife and a son (who turns 8 this month) from my first marriage (I have full custody of my son). My wife is a reverend, and both her and my son have XBL accounts, though both gamerscores are no where near mine.

There is fun outside of video gaming? Seriously though, between work and family, I really only have time for one hobby and that is most definitely video gaming.

H: Yes, I certainly hear what you are saying about one hobby. Does your wife game with you?

M: My wife does game with me a bit. I have the tendency of being extremely competitive and I don't "let people win". So she will usually only play games with me that she is good at, or are more "casual" type games. I can, however, get her to play Halo 3 with my son and I. Frequently when my brother-in-laws come over we have a Halo 3 fest and she will usually join in the fun. Although, she has been busy since I got her the Wii Fit for an early Christmas present - she has mostly been playing that since the beginning of November.

H: Ha ha, I love the Wii Fit; such a simple invention, yet so much fun. Are there any games you are really looking forward to in '09?

M: Well, as to games I am looking forward to, I am a bit backwards in the fact that I pretty much won't spend 60 bucks for a game. CoD:W@W was on sale for $35 the day after Christmas, and with my 25 dollar gift card from Christmas....it was a no brainer. I am really looking forward to Gears 2 being on sale or dropping in price. I also am very very naive, but I hope Final Fantasy XIII will actually come out this year; I've played them all the way back to FFI on the NES. Aside from that Halo 3: ODST - weak name - really excited for the game. On a side note with that fact - I am not a Halo fanboy - I have only played Halo 3 and it is still one of my favorite games.

H: Ah, so you usually do what I do with sports games; stay a year behind and pick up the previous one on the cheap. Hm, I don't think I could agree with you as far as ODST goes, but I have been proved wrong before...Well, what do you think was the best game you played back in '08?

M: The best game I played this past year probably had to be Assassin's Creed: I got it for Christmas in 07, but mainly played it in 08. It was all around awesome. The story was great, the cities were incredible, the gameplay did get a little repetitive towards the end, but overall I couldn't really find anything to complain about. I really hope they come out with an Assassin's Creed 2.

H: Assassin's Creed, eh? I still have to go back and collect all those damned flags. So what was the most disappointing game you think that you have played; one you really looked forward to and turned out to be a bit of a let down?

M: I kinda ripped into it severely with a thread on the site, but Star Wars: The Force Unleashed had to be the biggest letdown for me. All this talk about the awesome physics engine in it, blah blah blah, with the numerous glitches and the fact that only certain parts of each level were coded for those cool physics, it was a big ol' letdown. Although picking up a stormtrooper and having him grab his buddy to prevent being thrown off the edge of a bridge was still pretty cool.

H: Lol, I cannot argue with you there. Do you have an all-time favorite system? One that is especially close to your heart, maybe?

M: I have played every system since the first Atari - including the Turbographix 16, the Virtual Boy and almost every random sega system from the genesis to the Dreamcast - and seriously the 360 is hands down my favorite. The achievement system was sheer brilliance, and it has furthered my video game addiction into more of a frenzy. I have the PS3 and a Wii, and I still play the 360 literally at least 10 times as much as the other two combined. To me this says something because as an IT guy I don't like Microsoft all that much. Vista = massive fail!

H: Come on now, Vista isn't all bad....Ha ha ha, I couldn't even type that with a straight face! Anyways, as the newest addition to XbA's staff, have you always held an interest in writing? Or has gaming kind of spurred you on to share your experiences with others?

M: Honestly, my interest in writing came from the teacher who taught 12th grade English class at my high school. She was one who NEVER gave out an A for the first time writing a paper. I happened to get an A minus the first time, but all over my paper were these wonderful "RO" markings (for a run on) and a whole bunch of commas taken out. She reviewed the whole classes papers and said anyone who had "RO" and problems with commas needed to go back to Kindergarden and learn to write correctly. Although I still make plenty of mistakes, it encouraged me to know I could write well and to further be a better writer. I frequently proof the reports for a couple of people who attend college, and they rarely have any grammatical errors. Now if I could only proof my own writing as well as I proof for others.....

Frankly I also enjoy writing about games because I've noticed a lot of the writers out there don't have the same opinions as I do. There also aren't too many websites that will write an article taking into consideration the difficulty of the achievements. On the couple game reviews I have done so far, I hope it has been helpful in that aspect for at least a few people.

H: Yes, achievements certainly play an important role in games. So I assume that you are hooked on achievements?

M: Thats a funny question, have you seen my "Achievement Unlocked" sig?
Yes I am very addicted, whether it was a gimmick or not it was brilliantly evil. I mean I buy games now that I would have never played before, just so I can have points which get me nothing really, and yet I have to have more of them just so I can say I have more than other people. Evil and brilliant.

H: Yes, those two words actually describe Microsoft quite nicely, as well. Do you have a favorite 360 game to date? One that you would play aside from the achievements?

M: I'm going to have to say Halo 3. I never played the first two and it is still to date the only 360 game that I pick back up and will play for hours at a time. I'm not the best, but I can hold my own on multiplayer. I think I'm slowly turning into a Halo fanboy.

H: Well, thank you very much for your time Mini. Before we go, is there anything else in particular you would like to say about yourself?

M: I guess I don't really have much to say about myself; I work (sometimes a lot) to pay the bills and my only real bad habit is playing video games way too much, sometimes 18 hours straight. I've got a great family and I really have enjoyed my time on this site, everyone has been great.

Thank you again Mini for taking the time to chat; we can all look forward to more articles from you in the coming months. For those of you with questions for him, please ask them below and I'm sure he will be happy to answer them, as soon as he can put his controller down...

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