Just so you guys and gals don't get stressed, here is the April edition of the Community Spotlight. My original awesome plan was to have a double spotlight featuring Stake and Crooklyn since they both had so much to do with the Community Playdate back in December. Unfortunately due to some issues on mine and Crooklyn's end it became a single interview. This bad boy got wrapped up back in February but since we were actually on top of the CS for a bit and had March wrapped up I decided to wait until April here to post this interview. So if some questions/responses seem a little out of date I apologize, but I didn't want to change up the interview too much. Big thanks to Crooklyn for finishing it up with me and being patient on the release!
Mini: First off, tell us a bit about yourself:
Crooklyn: My name is Kelvin, but most of my friends call me Mayo. I'm originally from Brooklyn, NY (Big up to my Yankees) but I now resided in Dorchester, MA. I work in Tuffs Medical Center in the Call Center as the evening shift supervisor. I have two beautiful kids my son is 2 yrs old & my daughter is 9 months with my wife of 5 years. Right now I'm majoring in Game Development & Simulation & minor in Website design. I hope one day to have a position working in the gaming industry
Mini: I love school right now <insert heavy sarcasm>. Though its cool you are in college in the gaming field. Any particular position you are looking to get in the gaming industry?
Crooklyn: Actually the position I'm looking for is to be the Video Game Development Manager. From my knowledge what that position is, I would oversee the development of a video game or other simulation projects through the development cycle.
Mini: Wow, that sounds like fun. I would love to see how the video games go through all the processes of becoming a released game. So its the start of 2010, any games you are looking forward to that are coming out this year?
Crooklyn: Hmm that's loaded question for me. See since I'm looking to break into the business I have to check out everything & not just be a "fan-boy". This year I bought a PS3 (OMG THE HORROR!!!), So my list is all over the video universe spectrum. Some the games I'm looking forward to are:
Aliens: Colonial Marines
Alan Wake
Fallout 3: New Vegas (D/C)
God Of War 3 (PS3)
Halo Reach
I am Alive (been delayed till 2011)
Mass Effect 2
Medal of Honor
Max Payne 3
Metal Gear Solid: Rising (yes it's coming to the 360)
Mini: I'm excited about Halo Reach myself. So how did you find out about Xbox America?:
Crooklyn: Back in 2007 I met a guy at my job that was into gaming just like I was. Naturally we started hanging out & he told me about the site. I joined up to check it out, & well the rest is history!! Funny thing is I don't talk much to the cat who turned me on to the site, go figure?
Mini: Ha, yeah I couldn't begin to tell you who turned me on to the site, not to mention I don't really talk to anyone on the site (j/k everyone!). Speaking of jokes I'm sure you're used to being hated as a Yankee's fan, but what's it like being a fan living in Mass now?
Crooklyn: Well I use to the heat from Red Sox fans but it seems to me that here in Boston it's almost like a religious movement to hate the Yankees. Even during the off season, it seems to me that EVERY news station (sports or otherwise) seems to want to dump on the team. I tell ya I can't even find a championship t-shirt or cap in the stores that are geared to selling sport apparel. It's not the same in New York. At least there u can find a Red Sox cap if you really wanted one
Mini: Ha well I guess they have a lot more diversity in NY than in Mass. I hear those Bostonians like to cry a lot about their teams, its kind of what defines them, right Hektic? Anyhow...it looks like the Community Playdate was a big success, any idea of how many non-site members you had the opportunity to play with?
Crooklyn: I actually had a ton of requests from people outside of the forum who wanted to play with me. It got so crazy that at one point I couldn't even get into any of the rooms that were created. The CP was a good & bad thing for the site. Good side: We garnered a lot of attention for the site as a whole from new gamers to other professional gamers that decided to come on board. Bad side: I noticed that there was a lot more flaming & in fighting on the forum afterwards
Mini: Well anytime you have an influx of new members there will always be personality conflicts, not to mention a ton of threads in regards to the game that got people to come visit. Hopefully the drama with that is nice and calm by now. Any particular moment you want to share that went on during the CP? Like maybe some owning of noobs or just a funny moment during the games?:
Crooklyn: Well I really don't have one shining moment that stands out because I enjoyed the whole experience. I learned a lot from getting this off the ground and I want to thank Stake for getting the ball rolling on the whole idea. This was his baby to begin with & I'm glad he allowed me to help make this thing a reality. I also have to thanks Trixie360 from Microsoft for being so understanding with all the changes that happened all the way up to the actual event.
Mini: What are the odds that we might see XBA back in the Community Playdate in the future?
Crooklyn: Well the odds are really good that XBA will have another Community Playdate down the road. I'm actually looking forward to making one happen around May June with a completely new game. Right now I'm in school so it kind of helps that I'm doing this side project. I would love to be XBA's Public relations person or at least part of a team of people interested in the same goal.
Sorry this so late getting back to you guys & gals but I had a tragedy early on in Jan where my brother-in-law was murdered. They caught the killer, & we buried my brother-in-law all in the same month. Now its a new month & I promise to be more active!!
Mini: Well I know I said this to you before Crook but my heart goes out to you and your family. Thank you so much for taking the time to wrap up this interview with me and thank you so much for your support of the site!
Just a reminder to everyone else, check out this thread to see how you can nominate someone for next month!
Mini: First off, tell us a bit about yourself:
Crooklyn: My name is Kelvin, but most of my friends call me Mayo. I'm originally from Brooklyn, NY (Big up to my Yankees) but I now resided in Dorchester, MA. I work in Tuffs Medical Center in the Call Center as the evening shift supervisor. I have two beautiful kids my son is 2 yrs old & my daughter is 9 months with my wife of 5 years. Right now I'm majoring in Game Development & Simulation & minor in Website design. I hope one day to have a position working in the gaming industry
Mini: I love school right now <insert heavy sarcasm>. Though its cool you are in college in the gaming field. Any particular position you are looking to get in the gaming industry?
Crooklyn: Actually the position I'm looking for is to be the Video Game Development Manager. From my knowledge what that position is, I would oversee the development of a video game or other simulation projects through the development cycle.
Mini: Wow, that sounds like fun. I would love to see how the video games go through all the processes of becoming a released game. So its the start of 2010, any games you are looking forward to that are coming out this year?
Crooklyn: Hmm that's loaded question for me. See since I'm looking to break into the business I have to check out everything & not just be a "fan-boy". This year I bought a PS3 (OMG THE HORROR!!!), So my list is all over the video universe spectrum. Some the games I'm looking forward to are:
Aliens: Colonial Marines
Alan Wake
Fallout 3: New Vegas (D/C)
God Of War 3 (PS3)
Halo Reach
I am Alive (been delayed till 2011)
Mass Effect 2
Medal of Honor
Max Payne 3
Metal Gear Solid: Rising (yes it's coming to the 360)
Mini: I'm excited about Halo Reach myself. So how did you find out about Xbox America?:
Crooklyn: Back in 2007 I met a guy at my job that was into gaming just like I was. Naturally we started hanging out & he told me about the site. I joined up to check it out, & well the rest is history!! Funny thing is I don't talk much to the cat who turned me on to the site, go figure?
Mini: Ha, yeah I couldn't begin to tell you who turned me on to the site, not to mention I don't really talk to anyone on the site (j/k everyone!). Speaking of jokes I'm sure you're used to being hated as a Yankee's fan, but what's it like being a fan living in Mass now?
Crooklyn: Well I use to the heat from Red Sox fans but it seems to me that here in Boston it's almost like a religious movement to hate the Yankees. Even during the off season, it seems to me that EVERY news station (sports or otherwise) seems to want to dump on the team. I tell ya I can't even find a championship t-shirt or cap in the stores that are geared to selling sport apparel. It's not the same in New York. At least there u can find a Red Sox cap if you really wanted one
Mini: Ha well I guess they have a lot more diversity in NY than in Mass. I hear those Bostonians like to cry a lot about their teams, its kind of what defines them, right Hektic? Anyhow...it looks like the Community Playdate was a big success, any idea of how many non-site members you had the opportunity to play with?
Crooklyn: I actually had a ton of requests from people outside of the forum who wanted to play with me. It got so crazy that at one point I couldn't even get into any of the rooms that were created. The CP was a good & bad thing for the site. Good side: We garnered a lot of attention for the site as a whole from new gamers to other professional gamers that decided to come on board. Bad side: I noticed that there was a lot more flaming & in fighting on the forum afterwards
Mini: Well anytime you have an influx of new members there will always be personality conflicts, not to mention a ton of threads in regards to the game that got people to come visit. Hopefully the drama with that is nice and calm by now. Any particular moment you want to share that went on during the CP? Like maybe some owning of noobs or just a funny moment during the games?:
Crooklyn: Well I really don't have one shining moment that stands out because I enjoyed the whole experience. I learned a lot from getting this off the ground and I want to thank Stake for getting the ball rolling on the whole idea. This was his baby to begin with & I'm glad he allowed me to help make this thing a reality. I also have to thanks Trixie360 from Microsoft for being so understanding with all the changes that happened all the way up to the actual event.
Mini: What are the odds that we might see XBA back in the Community Playdate in the future?
Crooklyn: Well the odds are really good that XBA will have another Community Playdate down the road. I'm actually looking forward to making one happen around May June with a completely new game. Right now I'm in school so it kind of helps that I'm doing this side project. I would love to be XBA's Public relations person or at least part of a team of people interested in the same goal.
Sorry this so late getting back to you guys & gals but I had a tragedy early on in Jan where my brother-in-law was murdered. They caught the killer, & we buried my brother-in-law all in the same month. Now its a new month & I promise to be more active!!
Mini: Well I know I said this to you before Crook but my heart goes out to you and your family. Thank you so much for taking the time to wrap up this interview with me and thank you so much for your support of the site!
Just a reminder to everyone else, check out this thread to see how you can nominate someone for next month!
Without you, the Community Playdate couldn't have been possible and I greatly appreciate it. Thanks for all you and Mini continue to do for us at XBA.
