He liked Muffinos. He was a devout Pastafarian. He's a fan of Daniel 'Boobie' Gibson. He also likes to Witness Boobies. These days, he runs around glitching in MW2 as "Chiddy Bang", but, aside from some unprintable epithets, we all know him here as Jackson!
This month, journey with me into the mind of a maniac; our favourite asylum's builder and warden hails from Ohio and, since 2005, has been juggling his time between school, gaming, and keeping this nuthouse running.
Meta: Hail and howdy, Jackson! To begin with, will you give us a brief history of the site, from its origins as Xbox Ohio through its current iteration, and any interesting anecdotes from along the way?
Jackson: Hey Meta. Well, it started a little over four years ago. I didn't have a 360 yet because they were still in short supply, but I badly wanted one. In an obsessed state, I just about lived on the Xbox.com forums and ended up running across a thread exclusively for Ohio gamers. I was looking for excuses to make websites at the time, so I whipped up XboxOhio.com using a forum software called wtcBB. It looked something like this. With a quick post in that Xbox.com thread, Xbox Ohio got a burst of members and its start.
In fall 2006 I got a little ambitious and dropped the name Xbox Ohio and created Xbox America. A couple of years passed with Xbox America relatively unchanged, until December 2008. On Christmas Eve that year, Xbox America moved to its own custom software and its current foundation.
Meta: What was your gaming history like before the 360? What were some of your favourite games and what did you play them on? Once you did finally get your hands on an Xbox 360, what was the first game you really liked for the system?
Jackson: As a kid I played on the NES; I can't remember what games. Then I moved on to N64--Super Smash and Goldeneye mostly. I really got into gaming with computer games like Red Alert and Red Alert 2 (and the expansion pack Yuri's Revenge). There was a period of my life five years ago when I played the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies that I'm not proud of. It dominated an unhealthy portion of my time.
By the time I got my 360 I'd successfully broken my addiction to SWG. With my 360, I mostly played Call of Duty 2. It's the last game I really, really got into.
Meta: It's okay, bro. I'm pretty sure we all had that female Dancer we were so attached to we couldn't bring ourselves to cancel the SWG account. So what is it about Call of Duty 2 that you found so engaging, compared to the others? And why is Gun your least favourite game?
Jackson: Call of Duty 2 wasn't full of complicated intricacies. It was simple and intuitive. I didn't have to worry about perks, kill streaks or any of that jazz. I just picked my favorite sniper and went to work. I loved that.
GUN is on my profile as my least favorite game simply out of spite. I tried to 1k it but got stuck. Eventually I gave up and decided to slander the game for revenge. In a calmer, more collected state I'd swap it out for Kameo, my true least favorite.
Meta: I notice you play Modern Warfare 2 a good bit. What are some things you really like about MW2, and what do you think they could have done better? With Battlefield: Bad Company 2 now upon us, do you think the majority of the community will jump ship and BF:BC2 will topple MW2's domination of online shooters or do you think Modern Warfare is good enough to hold on to most of its population?
Jackson: I like modern shooters and that's really all that attracted me to Modern Warfare 2. I wouldn't mind if the sniper rifles were a bit stronger.
Modern Warfare 2 seems to be pretty entrenched in its dominant position. I'll admit I don't know much about Battlefield Bad Company 2 so can't really speak to its potential success.
Meta: Tell us a little bit about your school situation. What are some things you're currently studying or recently studied that you really enjoyed, and what are subjects or courses you've loathed? How far do you intend to take your schooling, and what are your career plans for the future?
Jackson: Well, I'm a high school senior. My heaviest interests at the moment are computer science, history and economics. I loved studying american history last year, but mostly because of the textbook The American Pageant. It blew my mind with its wit.
This fall I'm shipping off to Brown University. I'm tentatively planning on concentrating in computer science, but I know I'll flirt with some other subjects so who knows what will happen. I'm not sure what's after college. I know I'll consider graduate school, but it's too far away to speculate about now.
Meta: What is your favourite internet meme, and which would you say is the most annoying you've ever encountered?
Jackson: That's a toughie. I'd probably go with the Three Wolf Moon shirt for my favorite… at least for now. I only just discovered it so it's probably the novelty that's attracted me to it.
Most annoying? Maybe rickrolling. Internet memes seem to get tiresome just as fast as they skyrocket into popularity, and rick rolling has just been around too long. After the hundredth time, it doesn't even draw a chuckle.
Meta: What are some games you're looking forward to this year and why?
Jackson: I'm keeping my eye on Crackdown 2. I enjoyed the first one. It's the kind of game you can just pick up and enjoy after a long absence. It's just as enjoyable in small doses as in large doses, which is great because my gaming sessions tend to be a little disjointed.
So there you have it every body, our lovable and disturbingly well-spoken leader. If you have any additional questions for El Jefe, you can post them here!
This month, journey with me into the mind of a maniac; our favourite asylum's builder and warden hails from Ohio and, since 2005, has been juggling his time between school, gaming, and keeping this nuthouse running.
Meta: Hail and howdy, Jackson! To begin with, will you give us a brief history of the site, from its origins as Xbox Ohio through its current iteration, and any interesting anecdotes from along the way?
Jackson: Hey Meta. Well, it started a little over four years ago. I didn't have a 360 yet because they were still in short supply, but I badly wanted one. In an obsessed state, I just about lived on the Xbox.com forums and ended up running across a thread exclusively for Ohio gamers. I was looking for excuses to make websites at the time, so I whipped up XboxOhio.com using a forum software called wtcBB. It looked something like this. With a quick post in that Xbox.com thread, Xbox Ohio got a burst of members and its start.
In fall 2006 I got a little ambitious and dropped the name Xbox Ohio and created Xbox America. A couple of years passed with Xbox America relatively unchanged, until December 2008. On Christmas Eve that year, Xbox America moved to its own custom software and its current foundation.
Meta: What was your gaming history like before the 360? What were some of your favourite games and what did you play them on? Once you did finally get your hands on an Xbox 360, what was the first game you really liked for the system?
Jackson: As a kid I played on the NES; I can't remember what games. Then I moved on to N64--Super Smash and Goldeneye mostly. I really got into gaming with computer games like Red Alert and Red Alert 2 (and the expansion pack Yuri's Revenge). There was a period of my life five years ago when I played the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies that I'm not proud of. It dominated an unhealthy portion of my time.
By the time I got my 360 I'd successfully broken my addiction to SWG. With my 360, I mostly played Call of Duty 2. It's the last game I really, really got into.
Meta: It's okay, bro. I'm pretty sure we all had that female Dancer we were so attached to we couldn't bring ourselves to cancel the SWG account. So what is it about Call of Duty 2 that you found so engaging, compared to the others? And why is Gun your least favourite game?
Jackson: Call of Duty 2 wasn't full of complicated intricacies. It was simple and intuitive. I didn't have to worry about perks, kill streaks or any of that jazz. I just picked my favorite sniper and went to work. I loved that.
GUN is on my profile as my least favorite game simply out of spite. I tried to 1k it but got stuck. Eventually I gave up and decided to slander the game for revenge. In a calmer, more collected state I'd swap it out for Kameo, my true least favorite.
Meta: I notice you play Modern Warfare 2 a good bit. What are some things you really like about MW2, and what do you think they could have done better? With Battlefield: Bad Company 2 now upon us, do you think the majority of the community will jump ship and BF:BC2 will topple MW2's domination of online shooters or do you think Modern Warfare is good enough to hold on to most of its population?
Jackson: I like modern shooters and that's really all that attracted me to Modern Warfare 2. I wouldn't mind if the sniper rifles were a bit stronger.
Modern Warfare 2 seems to be pretty entrenched in its dominant position. I'll admit I don't know much about Battlefield Bad Company 2 so can't really speak to its potential success.
Meta: Tell us a little bit about your school situation. What are some things you're currently studying or recently studied that you really enjoyed, and what are subjects or courses you've loathed? How far do you intend to take your schooling, and what are your career plans for the future?
Jackson: Well, I'm a high school senior. My heaviest interests at the moment are computer science, history and economics. I loved studying american history last year, but mostly because of the textbook The American Pageant. It blew my mind with its wit.
This fall I'm shipping off to Brown University. I'm tentatively planning on concentrating in computer science, but I know I'll flirt with some other subjects so who knows what will happen. I'm not sure what's after college. I know I'll consider graduate school, but it's too far away to speculate about now.
Meta: What is your favourite internet meme, and which would you say is the most annoying you've ever encountered?
Jackson: That's a toughie. I'd probably go with the Three Wolf Moon shirt for my favorite… at least for now. I only just discovered it so it's probably the novelty that's attracted me to it.
Most annoying? Maybe rickrolling. Internet memes seem to get tiresome just as fast as they skyrocket into popularity, and rick rolling has just been around too long. After the hundredth time, it doesn't even draw a chuckle.
Meta: What are some games you're looking forward to this year and why?
Jackson: I'm keeping my eye on Crackdown 2. I enjoyed the first one. It's the kind of game you can just pick up and enjoy after a long absence. It's just as enjoyable in small doses as in large doses, which is great because my gaming sessions tend to be a little disjointed.
So there you have it every body, our lovable and disturbingly well-spoken leader. If you have any additional questions for El Jefe, you can post them here!
