Member of the Month July 2017 (Tandar1)

Community Interviews

Found 25 posts - Go to Last Post


In the immortal words of John Lennon: "Well, Well, Well" well, if you know the song then you may get the meaning hear, maybe.. Look....I know I'm late, give me a break here, but better late then never write? So today is the second and I'm supposed to post this on the first, but you know things.. and life and well, er ok I really have know excuse....but let me tell you about being idependent, because this month is about independence or is more bout shooting deadly fire works at your friends??? This next gamer is like an old high school friend, someone who you see and remember all the good times, and eve though he may not be around as much he's always a welcome site. If you don't know him, you certainly will now, its my distinct pleasure to give you the eliusive but always great Tandar1.


Name:
Name: Ryan Strouse aka: (Tandar1)

Where do you live?:
Used to live in Evansville, IN but recently moved to Westfield, IN

What do you do for a living?
I'm a QA Engineer, I test code made by developers at my company (Healthx) and check to see if they messed up the platform and need to correct anything. I also make sure no PHI (Protected Health Information) is released unknowingly to the outside world.

Tell me about your Gamertag?
(Tandar1)
It's a funny story, which only a few people know about. It all started back in the day when my family finally purchased dial-up. It seemed like everyone I knew at school had AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), and I knew that was the first thing I would download and get running. I was a big fan of Blizzard games too, since we never had internet until then I would always play the single-player campaigns. Well, Starcraft was one of my favorites and recent releases. When it came time to pick out a screenname I had been thinking about it for a week or so and decided I would pick it after my favorite character in Starcraft. But wait, there is no "Tandar" in the Starcraft universe right? Yup, that is correct, I mistakenly thought "Tassadar" was "Tandar". Well, it just stuck with me and was pretty unique and I've had that as my alias on pretty much everything ever since.

Family?
I married my wife (Stephanie) on 12-13-14 who helped get my life straightened out and finish school and finally achieve my goal of moving to Indianapolis with all our friends. Have two dogs, most recent one named Hoosier (5 months) who is a Labradoodle and another named Wicket (3 years) who is a shih-tzu terrier mix. Stephanie and I are expecting our first child this September, a baby girl, and we are so excited!

When did you start playing?
I remember way back when there used to be arcades in the local malls and pizza shops was probably my first interaction with the medium. But it wasn't until I received my first console, the SNES, that I can completely recall the first game I played, Super Mario World.

What's your play style? Ex: booster? Completionist? How often and long do you play?
I was a hardcore Completionist, for quite some time. After moving and getting married and starting a new career, that's toned down a lot. I pretty much just play Steam games on the PC with friends these days. Every now and then I'll boot up the Xbox and play something and start thinking I need to complete it, but I have no where near as much free time as I did back in the day.

What is your current gaming set up like?
My main setup would be a new PC I built last year, Intel Core i7 6700K 4GHZ 8MB and a recently purchased MSI GeForce GTX 1070 DirectX 12 GTX 1070 GAMING X 8G 8GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16. My wife got me a 4k computer monitor for Christmas which is still pretty insane to look at. The upstairs has a Xbox One hooked up to a 5.1 surround sound system by Yamaha connected to a LG 65" OLED 4K Ultra HD TV with High Dynamic Range.

Tell me a good gaming story or experience? ex: Epic win/fail, marathon, accomplishment, a time you visited a game convention or met someone...or anything?
I had a good time at the couple of AchievementFests I went to at Bozack's gaming stores. Some other good moments were probably boosting Gears of War 2 with Buckswana, Bomber37, Elemental80, Dacoto, Hotdogmcgee, futiles, griffey95, and I'm sure there were many others. Another great moment was the all-nighter I pulled to finish up Fracture multiplayer along with Bomber37 and Elemental80 and some others, that was something I never want to do again (or could even physically do anymore).

Do you have a special shout out to anyone in particular in the gaming community?
I've been away from the community for awhile, it all started at 360Voice so definitely a shout-out to the creators ChangeAgent and Fafhrdd. I do miss all the times playing games with a bunch of people, for fun or boosting. Buckswana, Bomber37, Elemental80, Dacoto, Hotdogmcgee, Ichya Paradise, JB330, Bozack, Badson42, Streak Leader, B8TINGU , griffey95, Lausdomini, Essence of Evil, High Knight, Dog of Thunder, MyFryHole, StingX2, Ubertoast, ThrR4nMyWolfpak, and Zero Desolation. So many people helped me enjoy my youth and kept me out of trouble, thank you all so much.

What's your favorite game genre?
I've always been a JRPG person (Final Fantasy series), but lately I've been really enjoying the Racing games (Forza Horizon specifically). I play a lot of Shooters on the PC (Battlefield, Overwatch, Player Unknown Battlegrounds).

What’s your favorite game on 360? ONE? Of all time (any system)?
One of my favorite games is Super Mario: Legend of the Seven Stars. I saved up a lot of chore money to buy that game and played a lot of it. Final Fantasy 7 is up there as well, it was the first Playstation game I owned. I bought an Xbox 360 for Halo, and Halo 3 was a pretty good experience for Xbox Live, lots of late nights. Xbox One I have not played too much of, favorite game currently would be Rocket League or Forza Horizon 2.

What is your worst game and Why?
I would have to say World of Warcraft. It single-handedly caused me to take another year and a half to graduate college. :/

Are you looking forward to any new releases?
I think Destiny 2 will be pretty good, especially if I can get it on PC and play with other people on Xbox. Several of my PC friends said they would be interested in it as well.

What else do you do besides gaming?
I go golfing every now and then. Since we moved into our new home I've helped my wife turn our 3-car garage into a Crossfit gym. I mess around with a Linux server and a couple raspberry pi's I've got laying around running Plex (pretty amazing app if you have a lot of media) and other applications.

Do you collect or not so much?
I never really collected games or bundles, I get some odds and ends here and there to fill out my work cube or home office desk.

Favorite thing about GTN?
I really enjoy the badges, it's that extra touch that makes you want to maybe go out of your way and play something you usually wouldn't to try and get more bling for your profile.


GTN on Facebook
BTW Thank you very much for helping me take a BIG bite out of Fracture! Stay Classy my friend and maybe one day, just maybe we'll get a B8TINGU v. Tandar 3...
Grats on becoming member of MotM club and parenthood.
Awesome read I always enjoy reading these Smile

Congrats on the MotM Smile
Thanks everyone, and thanks for the opportunity!

Oh yeah, I remember those challenges B8TINGU, LOL!
You should come back to AF, again. We still have all the fun.
Do you have a special shout out to anyone in particular in the gaming community?
I've been away from the community for awhile, it all started at 360Voice so definitely a shout-out to the creators ChangeAgent and Fafhrdd Fatty Chubs. I do miss all the times playing games with a bunch of people, for fun or boosting.
Originally Posted by B8TINGU
Throwing a minor correction there...
Throwing a minor correction there...
Originally Posted by Fshguy
Fafhrrd did have his own site up and going tracking things. He could be referencing that.
Awesome write up!!! Too bad Tandar can't join us this year at Achievement Fest....... but I do enjoy clean chairs at eBash.
Awesome write up!!! Too bad Tandar can't join us this year at Achievement Fest....... but I do enjoy clean chairs at eBash.
Originally Posted by pTartTX
I'd like to know what this is all about?
I'd like to know what this is all about?
Originally Posted by B8TINGU
Pretty simple, Tandar soils himself, and the chairs he sits in, at eBash. Basically, he's like a puppy, and gets so excited that he just cannot contain himself.
Pretty simple, Tandar soils himself, and the chairs he sits in, at eBash. Basically, he's like a puppy, and gets so excited that he just cannot contain himself.
Originally Posted by futiles
Well, considering Furball's intent to not bring fresh underwear, we might have a replacement.
Pretty simple, Tandar soils himself, and the chairs he sits in, at eBash. Basically, he's like a puppy, and gets so excited that he just cannot contain himself.
Originally Posted by futiles
Now I wish I wouldn't have asked.
Now I wish I wouldn't have asked.
Originally Posted by B8TINGU
Well, the good news is that once Tandar stopped going to AF, BoZack bought us new chairs.

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