I didn't read any of this. I'm pissed off that my wedding picture was uploaded to the internet.
April CS- Beware Falling Mines
Interview | April 8, 2014 10:41 pm
By Moo Lissa
So as awesome as the April 1st cs was, it was not the actual community spotlight. AJ conducted the community spotlight for this month with Grenade Rising, and... Well- here it is.
AJ: Hmm, one of my first arch-enemies. This should be fun-ish. Why did/do I hate you so much? Is it because you were terrible at Modern Warfare 2 and I had to literally play the Spec-Ops missions alone? Maybe... Maybe...
You better be at least remotely interesting, otherwise I'm shutting this shit down and interviewing a turd.
Grenade: Ahh yes, we meet again AJ. I've been expecting you. I smelled your foul stench as soon as I was brought on board. Alas, I do not deny your claims of sucking ass at each and every breach and clear segment thrown at us, and I simply chalk it up as a testament to your patience that we ever got through that shit at all.
I'm expecting this to be unpleasant if not downright scary, so don't pull any punches. I'm one of your arch enemies for a reason.
AJ: My recollection of the Spec-Ops is hazy at best. I blame the alcohol, but that was the only thing keeping me sane after hundreds if not thousands of breaches through the same door only to beat the section then watch you get knifed in the face by an enemy standing directly in front of you.
So tell us a little about yourself and how you got mixed into this community of degenerates. Besides getting terrible tattoos and thinking you can do parkour - what else do you do during your free time when you're not looking at shoddy Cadillacs?
Grenade: My priority was the well-being of the hostages. I would gladly take the knife to the face over and over again, just to make sure they got off that oil rig with their faces intact. That's just the kinda guy I am.
I joined the site in April 2009, not even a month after you yourself joined our happy little family. My parkour career took off with all the blaze and glory of a defunct sparkler on an inner city sidewalk. Needless to say, my free running days are behind me, although I still enjoy a little hand-to-rail action now and again
I got my first and only tattoo that you mentioned in 2011 right before I turned 17. I don't hate it, (you guys reading at home can judge for yourselves on my profile page) but I did probably overpay for it and I haven't been in a rush to get any since then.
This chick also doesn't hate his tattoo... :/
When I'm not looking for my first POS car, I like to play my 360 (obviously) or my beloved PS2, Gamecube, or N64. I also enjoy my Gameboy Advance emulator on my Kindle Fire. I work at a shitty seafood restaurant at present, and when I'm not doing that I enjoy listening to old 90's hip-hop (Rap as we know it today is dead), reading old Stephen King novels and buying tee shirts with wolves on them on the internet.
Grenade: I forgot I removed that picture, I'll try to upload it again. If I can't find it just remove that part where I said they can see it on my page.
Grenade: Found it. Now everyone can see how shitty it is.
AJ: I'm sure will love seeing that picture. Well, maybe.
Why don't you go ahead and tell us what you like about gamerscore, what game is your guilty pleasure, and what genre of game do you tend to stick with above all others?
Grenade: The thing I love most about gamerscore is that, apart from those achievements that are discontinued or unobtainable, the achievements in a game will always be there. They are a part of the game and the game experience. You can always go back and work on a games achievements after years of not playing it, which I find prolongs a games lifespan after it would normally become a dust collector on the shelf.
My guilty pleasure would have to be NBA Street Homecourt. I'm not one to play sports game of any nature, they just don't do it for me. But when I played this game through the old waffle order, I found myself loving every minute of it. Something about doing the most absurd dunks and cross ups channeled my inner Larry Bird.
My genres are all over the place, but at the end of the day I have to choose survival horror. I've played a decent amount, and they always keep me coming back for more.
AJ: NBA Street Homecourt, huh? I'm right there with you, I despise sports games, mainly because I don't find watching actual sports games all that interesting either. But NFL Blitz and Mario Golf were my shit. I could still probably play them both for a long time before getting tired of either one.
I'm currently in a slump of not wanting to play anything even though I have a ton of stuff to play. I dunno if it's the Japanese games that caused it or if I'm just burnt out again, but I'm still trying to chip away at my backlog game by game.
Survival horror is good though, I enjoyed the L4D games (not enough to complete them), Dead Island was fun with a group, etc. etc.... You ever play any Trials? I do love me some Trials...
What were we talking about again?
Grenade: I was one of those kids who, when other kids were out playing soccer and the like, I would prefer to be playing N64. So sports were never something that got much of my attention. I love the skate games but those are more a sub-branch of the sports genre.
Ever since I got my 250 GB Xbox, I've been downloading games left and right, and my backlog has kept getting longer and longer, so I sort of know your pain. I haven't had the misfortune of playing those Japanese visual novels though, hear they are pretttty shitty.
Trials held my attention for maybe 5 minutes. Not my style of game.
By all accounts, this is more his style of game...
*Looks around*
I don't even remember how we got here. Where did we park the van?
AJ: So, how's Eragon? By the time people read this you should have it completed. I honestly could not get through the first few levels of the first playthrough. I hated every second.
Grenade: Well as I'm sure you can attest the game is utter shit. I got it back on the PS2 cause I love the books it's "based" on so naturally I wanted to try the game. Haven't been let down so hard since Meta refused to take me to junior prom.
Don't feel bad for him, his cousin took him instead.
AJ: Yea, I literally couldn't do it. My body would get uncontrollable diarrhea to make me leave the room and not play.
Let's try something new. You can't use more than 7 words to answer any of these following questions:
1) Why do you smell like a homeless man's crusty sock?
2) Why do you think people (mainly me) hate you do hard?
3) You suck.
4) I realize 3 wasn't a question, I just wanted to make sure you were aware. How do you feel about that?
5) When this spotlight is over can I nuke New Jersey? I just feel like the U.S. would be better off.
6) You suck.
I think that about covers it.
Grenade: Something tells me you are no stranger to uncontrollable diarrhea.
Okay, I'll bite.
1-6) Your insults lack heat. I expected more.
AJ: Definitely not a stranger to it because most of the time CS answers are usually just that...
Need an example? See your last answer.
Boom.
Boom.
Grenade: Now that's more like it! Really though, feel free to ask some real questions. If you wanted to roast me all you had to do was ask.
Probably would have made for a better read tbh.
AJ: It's not about roasting you, yet. That's what the roasts are for!
So, I just got done watching Stallion's stream for a couple hours and I saw him hit the million on the head. I know you were watching too because you were the first to comment on the TA milestone. Didn't you beg me to invite you to my party when Stallion, Rand al Thor, Deez Apples and I were trying (and succeeded) to beat Crawmerax legit in Borderlands?
What are your thoughts on his million?
Grenade: As I recall, you invited me out of the blue when I was playing Fable, and when I joined the party out of curiosity (why would AJ want to talk to me?) I nearly shat a brick. I just switched my mic off and listened. As the community here probably knows I'm a supporter of the guy so I was pretty stoked to be in the party.
I knew he was gonna hit a million eventually; it was only a matter of time. Watching the live stream was pretty cool, when he popped the last achievement he had over ten thousand viewers which is somewhat of an accomplishment in and of itself.
AJ: I'm pretty sure we were supposed to do something because you messaged me about playing something. So I sent you that invite. Either way, that was a fun couple days. It took us a few different strategies to finally get that done. I was lucky enough to get the kill since everyone else was hiding on the edge of the of the plateau.
It was interesting watching him run into EA server problems, achievements not popping when they should have, and him going 4-22 in Titanfall. I'm definitely jealous of that white Xbox One he got. That controller looked nice.
Moving on, you've been hitting the gamerscore train pretty hard recently, you making a mad dash for 100k? Do you have an ultimate goal you'd like to reach someday?
For me, 100k was awesome and I was done. Then I wanted 100 completions and I was done. Now I'm nearing 250k and 200 completions. I've always tried to keep my arcade/retail completions close (99 arcade/93 retail), so I'll be fortunate enough to hit 100 completions of each someday, then I'll be "done" again. I don't think we're every truly done.
Grenade: I was probably trying to coerce you into helping me get some achievements, or something like that.
My goal ever since I started hunting for achievements, about 5 years ago, was always 100k. Compared to the rate you and some of the other guys on here pop achievements this probably seems like chump points, but to me it's always been something I strived for.
Getting closer to the 90k mark, I caught the achievement bug in a bad way and I am indeed making a mad dash to reach my goal. I'm buckling down to play some real shitty games in the coming weeks so that should be cool/terrible.
After 100k, I'm not sure. I go back and forth between playing strictly for fun and strictly for points, which is part of the reason it's taken me so long to get this close. It really comes down to how lazy I feel at a given time.
AJ: Yea, I hear that. I've been "playing for fun" for the last year or so, then I had the opportunity to play about 30 Japanese games. So now I'm back on the completion/gamerscore prowl. I feel refreshed this time though.
So, if you could take Kat on your ideal first date, what would you have planned for her? Remember, Evol will be skulking around in the shadows wherever you two go. I think this date would be a great way to discuss how you both feel about Stallion83. *wink wink*
A photo of the last guy who tried to date Kat...
Grenade: Hmm, well rather than exclude Evol I think I'd prefer if he came along and make us a trio. To set the mood right, I'd probably arrange for us to see a movie, with me sitting between the two of course.
Right as I'm mustering up the courage to casually put my arm around Evol, I see Meta stroll down the aisle courting none other than Snapple. The date would end with me interrogating Meta about his infidelities and me getting picked up by my mom in her mini-van.
AJ: So you'd leave Kat high and dry? I dunno how she's going to take be ignored... She seems like the kind of chick to kill your dog and burn your house down... I hope you didn't set yourself up for disaster, my friend.
Meta is no good either, that's for true.
Grenade: The game of love is a dangerous one. I doubt I'm Kat's type anyway, and it turns out I was just one of Meta's numerous concubines.
*sigh*
AJ: Well, I can't really think of anything else. You can ramble on a while if you want, give some shout outs, or just cry silently in a corner because it's over.
I really don't care.
Grenade: I guess I'd like to give a shout out to all the unwavering members of XBA who have been here since before I joined in 2009, and have contributed to my overall experiences here in a positive way. I'd also like to give a shout out to the members who aren't around anymore but are missed nonetheless
*pours out beer on the ground*
A special shout out to the staff members here who keep the place running and deal with all the bullshit on a regular basis, and thank you AJ for picking me for the spotlight this month.
To wrap it up, everyone on the site, be they old members or new; you make XBA worth coming back to everyday.
Yes, even you, Heath.
Enjoy these transition lenses, grenade...
Keywords: None
