So, February was pretty awesome, right? I mean, how could we top that right? An interview with Stallion83, a double Community Spotlight with XbA's resident couple, what else could we come out with? Well, we're going to hit March with guns blazing, so make sure you have plenty of Stimpacks handy. This month, Christa Phillips, better known as TriXie360, was kind enough to give me an interview, due in no small part to the efforts of my friend Crooklyn(Boston)Mayo.
A bit of info beforehand; Mrs. Phillips is the Xbox Live Community Manager. Along with her job duties, she has also co-founder of the GamerchiX clan, founder of the Xbox Ambassadors program, and handles any and all interviews on Xbox.com, whether it be XBL Spotlight on regular players, Celebrity or dev interviews, etc. Lets see what she has to say:
Hektic: Well, first off let me thank you for doing this interview. Now, you are the Xbox Live Community Manager, correct? What kind of responsibilities does that entail?
TriXie360: The easiest way to describe my job is to think of Xbox LIVE as a ship with 17 million passengers….and I’m the Cruise Director. I don’t drive the ship, or swab the decks. It’s my job to make sure everyone has a good time, meets cool people, stays safe and plays nice.
H: Interesting analogy. You have given Live members a great deal of features; GamerchiX, the Xbox Ambassadors program, interviews and spotlights, and a myriad of other community features. I am curious, do these things fall into your day to day affairs, or are they done in your spare time? If the later, just how do you find time for gaming?
T: None of the programs you mentioned are things I was tasked with creating. Over time I have made my job into what I want it to be. Having said that, I do end up taking care of GamerchiX stuff on weekends for the most part. There just isn’t enough time during the week!
H: No, there never seems to be enough time in the week. I think we have all seen the great Gamer Spotlight interviews you do over at xbox.com. Is there a special process to go through in selecting a gamer to interview? And I'm just curious, how did these originally come about?
T: The interviews with gamers was an idea that an Xbox Program Manager and I had back even before Xbox LIVE launched. I named it the Gamer Spotlight and came up with the “TriXie” persona to be the interviewer. I chose TriXie because it had an X in it. The runner-up was JinX, but that was Halle Berry’s character in “Die Another Day” and I didn’t want people to think I was a copycat!
H: Well, that answers the question about your gamertag : p Do any of your family members game with you regularly?
T: My kids and husband are all big gamers, but we mostly like different games. About the only thing we all play together is Rock Band.
H: Well, there's nothing wrong with some Rock Band. What do you like to do in your spare time, aside from gaming? Reading, writing? Any favorite authors or books?
T: Besides gaming, my favorite thing to do is read. I am a huge book nerd…way more than a game nerd. Meeting CliffyB was cool, but didn’t rock my world like getting my books signed by Martin Amis and the late David Foster Wallace. My three favorite books of all time are: The Great Gatsby, Anna Karenina, and The Information. Wait... throw Snow Crash, the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love in there too. Somebody stop me, please.
H: Lol, Alright alright. Well then, please tell me: Trixie360 must have a sweet Hi-Def setup, right?
T: I have a fairly sweet set up. A Samsung 40” HD TV and and Sony surround sound.
H: Well now that is pretty sweet. Tell me, when the Xbox360 was first released, did you have any idea that it would be capable of what it is doing now? How do you feel about the NXE update? Favorite feature?
T: Well, I had a pretty good idea of what it would be capable of…I’ve been here 7 years so I kinda have an inside look. I think the NXE is great. I love the avatars. I’m unhappy with the selection of shoes for girls though…we need the Chuck Taylors that the boys have.
H: Lol, why is it girls are always concerned with their shoes : p Wait, I don't have enough time for you to answer that. Are there any games in particular that you are really looking forward to this year?
T: I’m looking forward to Resident Evil 5, and a couple things that haven’t been announced yet.
H: Any new community features, interviews, or anything you are currently working on that you would be able to give us any incite on?
T: I have a LOT of plans… right now with the economy in bad shape my team has shrunk so I’m dealing with just keeping the wheels turning. Hopefully things will get better soon and I can bring some plans into action.
H: Yes, I think we have all felt the economic crunch. Do you have a website, blog, flickr, etc that I can share with your fans?
T: We DO have a new community team blog which you can find here: It’s just the musings of our team…you won’t get press releases or spin or anything like that.
Well TriXie, thank you once again for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer a few questions. For those of you interested in Mrs. Phelp's current activities, hit up xbox.com, her team's blog found up above, or the old standard: Google.
A bit of info beforehand; Mrs. Phillips is the Xbox Live Community Manager. Along with her job duties, she has also co-founder of the GamerchiX clan, founder of the Xbox Ambassadors program, and handles any and all interviews on Xbox.com, whether it be XBL Spotlight on regular players, Celebrity or dev interviews, etc. Lets see what she has to say:
Hektic: Well, first off let me thank you for doing this interview. Now, you are the Xbox Live Community Manager, correct? What kind of responsibilities does that entail?
TriXie360: The easiest way to describe my job is to think of Xbox LIVE as a ship with 17 million passengers….and I’m the Cruise Director. I don’t drive the ship, or swab the decks. It’s my job to make sure everyone has a good time, meets cool people, stays safe and plays nice.
H: Interesting analogy. You have given Live members a great deal of features; GamerchiX, the Xbox Ambassadors program, interviews and spotlights, and a myriad of other community features. I am curious, do these things fall into your day to day affairs, or are they done in your spare time? If the later, just how do you find time for gaming?
T: None of the programs you mentioned are things I was tasked with creating. Over time I have made my job into what I want it to be. Having said that, I do end up taking care of GamerchiX stuff on weekends for the most part. There just isn’t enough time during the week!
H: No, there never seems to be enough time in the week. I think we have all seen the great Gamer Spotlight interviews you do over at xbox.com. Is there a special process to go through in selecting a gamer to interview? And I'm just curious, how did these originally come about?
T: The interviews with gamers was an idea that an Xbox Program Manager and I had back even before Xbox LIVE launched. I named it the Gamer Spotlight and came up with the “TriXie” persona to be the interviewer. I chose TriXie because it had an X in it. The runner-up was JinX, but that was Halle Berry’s character in “Die Another Day” and I didn’t want people to think I was a copycat!
H: Well, that answers the question about your gamertag : p Do any of your family members game with you regularly?
T: My kids and husband are all big gamers, but we mostly like different games. About the only thing we all play together is Rock Band.
H: Well, there's nothing wrong with some Rock Band. What do you like to do in your spare time, aside from gaming? Reading, writing? Any favorite authors or books?
T: Besides gaming, my favorite thing to do is read. I am a huge book nerd…way more than a game nerd. Meeting CliffyB was cool, but didn’t rock my world like getting my books signed by Martin Amis and the late David Foster Wallace. My three favorite books of all time are: The Great Gatsby, Anna Karenina, and The Information. Wait... throw Snow Crash, the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love in there too. Somebody stop me, please.
H: Lol, Alright alright. Well then, please tell me: Trixie360 must have a sweet Hi-Def setup, right?
T: I have a fairly sweet set up. A Samsung 40” HD TV and and Sony surround sound.
H: Well now that is pretty sweet. Tell me, when the Xbox360 was first released, did you have any idea that it would be capable of what it is doing now? How do you feel about the NXE update? Favorite feature?
T: Well, I had a pretty good idea of what it would be capable of…I’ve been here 7 years so I kinda have an inside look. I think the NXE is great. I love the avatars. I’m unhappy with the selection of shoes for girls though…we need the Chuck Taylors that the boys have.
H: Lol, why is it girls are always concerned with their shoes : p Wait, I don't have enough time for you to answer that. Are there any games in particular that you are really looking forward to this year?
T: I’m looking forward to Resident Evil 5, and a couple things that haven’t been announced yet.
H: Any new community features, interviews, or anything you are currently working on that you would be able to give us any incite on?
T: I have a LOT of plans… right now with the economy in bad shape my team has shrunk so I’m dealing with just keeping the wheels turning. Hopefully things will get better soon and I can bring some plans into action.
H: Yes, I think we have all felt the economic crunch. Do you have a website, blog, flickr, etc that I can share with your fans?
T: We DO have a new community team blog which you can find here: It’s just the musings of our team…you won’t get press releases or spin or anything like that.
Well TriXie, thank you once again for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer a few questions. For those of you interested in Mrs. Phelp's current activities, hit up xbox.com, her team's blog found up above, or the old standard: Google.
