Member of the Month October 2015 (pTartTX)

Here again it's the 1st and here again is another new spotlight on one epic member, but first, can I let you in on a not so secret, secret? I'm not so good with asking the "questions" sometimes and I like to get to know our esteemed members, with some it comes easy with others well not so much, so I start with a base set of questions and encourage new interviewees to write their own questions, after all this is all it's about getting to know you our community This time the gamer in the spotlight has come thru with some very interesting and often over looked question that I think will soon be come very familiar. This lady is no gaming slouch, from epic jam sessions to epic rivalries she has achieved quite a bit. she comes from a land not so far and is steeped in the gaming community, it's also rumored she has an achievement named after her catch phrase. If you don't know her then you'll certainly get to know her a little bit more now. Welcome to the epic story of a gaming girl with a true heart of a gamer.


Name:
Sarah

Where do you live?
Holland, MI (not Texas) - the best city ever! I live about 4 miles from Lake Michigan and its super pretty!!! And yes, there are a lot of tulips and Dutch people, and if you are really into that, people travel far and wide to observe both the flowers and the natives annually for the Tulip Time Festival


What do you do for a living?
I am an Accounts Payable Specialist for a large automotive company that primarily makes auto dimming mirrors. If you have an auto dimming mirror in your vehicle, it was most likely made by my employer. They also make smoke detectors, signaling devices, and auto dimming airplane windows. I absolutely love my job, it’s always fun spending money that is not my own. My primary responsibility is entering the numerous invoices we receive. I am also responsible for employee expense reports, tuition reimbursements, and any other miscellaneous money that needs to leave the company.

Tell me about your Gamertag?
Yes, originally pTartTX was a shared gamertag between my husband and I, so we wanted a gamertag that reflected both of us. He nicknamed me "poptart" when we started dating, but it got shortened to "pTart". My husband is a Star Wars fanatic and is an official stormtrooper and "TX" is part of his call number. And so "pTartTX " was born.

When did you start playing?
When I was 5 years old and my cousins got an original Nintendo. They lived 3 houses down from me at the time and I spent a lot of time on their system. Then my dad got me the Super Nintendo when I was 6 years old for Christmas and my love for gaming has grown since.

What's your play style? Ex: booster? Completionist? How often and long do you play?
I am very much a completionist. My ultimate goal is to reach 95% I am on the cusp of a solid 93%. I will not start a game if I cannot complete it. I also only like to work on a few games at a time, so I have quite the massive backlog. I used to play every day, but now that I am out of the swing of competitions, my gaming has sadly become scarce.

What’s your gaming setup like?
Currently, we have two TVs in our living room with a 360 hooked up to each. I use the primary one on the entertainment center with the sexy Star Wars console and the Kinect and Mr pTart uses the TV in the corner with our hand-me-down 360. I also keep my Surface nearby. The living room is also home to 5 wireless controllers, 1 wired controller, 1 turbo remote, 2 Rock Band guitars, 1 mic, and 1 drum set. Oh yeah, and 3 Windows Phones, lol. Most of the games and equipment are housed in our very large entertainment center. The entertainment center also contains an NES, SNES, and an N64. We also have a bookshelf that holds our overflow of games and a lot DVDs.

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.
Epic wins –
Boosting Guitar Hero World Tour and getting 100% on hard on all instruments within the first few tries, mastering the "Final Countdown" on LegoRock Band*
completing Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce.

Epic fails –
Boosting Catan what should have only taken 4 hours at the most turned into 8+ hours, one of the worst boosting sessions ever
playing through half of Superman Returns and King Kong only to shut off the xbox and realize there was no autosave - playing those two games 1 1/2 times really sucked.

Gaming convention
I went to Achievement Fest the first two years. For those not familiar with Achievement Fest, it started as meet up for 360 voice community members. They meet annually at an amazing LAN center called eBash owned by BoZack in Terre Haute, IN. It is one whirlwind of a weekend full of gaming and hanging out with fellow community members. It was really awesome meeting people in real life that I have been gaming with for years. I plan to attend the 5th annual Achievement Fest, so if you are in the midwest, you really should be there.

Do you have a special shout out to anyone in particular in the gaming community?
Yes, everyone from 360voice that migrated over to GTN, especially those I have met at Achievement Fest – Buck, hotdog, futiles, and dacoto. A special shoutout to Fshguy who has been my bitter rival for quite some time, although it’s because my blog was always more popular than his on 360v :P And of course to Mr pTart, although he is quiet here, he is my husband and the current Guinness World record holder for the most Gamerscore earned in 24 hours Most Xbox 360 Gamerpoints Achieved in 24 hours Individual.

The Epic Challenge? Tell me how this started and what it really represents?
For those who are not familiar with the Epic Challenge, it is a challenge where the winner is the one with the highest "Epic Score" (duh!) You earn "Epic Score" by fully completing a game and the "Epic Score" is then calculated based on whether it is a retail title or an arcade title and then based on the highest TA ratio it took to complete the game - the harder the game, the higher the score earned. Pretty simple.

This Epic Challenge was started by mighty mango and general tynster over at 360v. The premise of the challenge was a just a friendly competition between a handful of members that really enjoyed completing games. I was not involved with the challenge at its conception, but I joined a couple years after its start. General tynster was looking for somebody to take over the challenge, so I volunteered and I have been running the Epic Challenge the last few years. I love this casual challenge and I love to complete games so I brought the tradition to GTN.

What's your favorite game genre?
Hack and Slash!!!!!!!!

What’s your favorite game on 360? ONE? Of all time (any system)
Xbone – none (I don’t have one – I have been holding out of a Star Wars special edition to match my 360)
360 - Viva Pinata
N64 – Mario Kart 64
SNES – Super Mario World
NES – Bubble Bobble
Gameboy – Pokemon Trading Card Game
PC – The Sims

Rumor has it, you like Dynasty Warriors games, what are your favorites?
My top 5 Dynasty Warriors games: Warriors Orochi, Dynasty Warriors 7, Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce, Samurai Warriors Empires, and Dynasty Warriors Empires 6.

What is your worst game and Why?
Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts – I loved the N64 games and thought Nuts and Bolts was going to be a fun little action/adventure game, but nope!! It was an abortion of the original games. I played it as much as I could take and never touched it again.

If you were a Video Game or game character who and why?
I would be Kirby, not because I am pink, round, and eat everything in sight, lol. Kirby has a quirky personality and I do as well, and is not the typical video game hero.

Are you looking forward to any new releases?
No, sadly I have never purchased a new release game. The only one I have gotten is Kinect Star Wars and that’s because it came with the console, lol.

What do you like to do besides gaming?
I actually love to go camping. Real camping, as in a tent with no electricity, not sissy RV camping. I also enjoy going downhill skiing. I am super competitive but lack athletic skills, so I also play a lot of Magic the Gathering with friends as well as local competitions.

What's your favorite feature on GTN?
Badges!! I am a badge addict, which I know you would never guess from my lack of badgescore, lol. I have not gotten hard core into it at GTN yet, mostly because I have not gotten back into my gaming groove.

What would you tell people about GTN if you were trying to get them to join?
GTN has a great community with active forums and of course there are badges and competitions.

Is there anything you would like added to the site?
Yes, as I have expressed before on the forums, I think there should be a badge team and an events team. I think the site could greatly benefit from having a group of people to make the badges more consistent and develop more badges, and a group of people to propose challenges, flesh them out, and promote the challenge. I think these two teams would help the site grow and make it more fun

Edit: Removed extra title line.

Great interview. I learned some new stuff about you. Bummer you had to replay Supermans Returns. That game sucks big time!

I am glad my wife and I are not the only couple with 2 TV's in the living room.
Are people also always looking weird when the come into your living room and see 2 big TV's?

Just out of curiosity: Do you speak some Dutch? I did not even know there was a place called "Holland" in the States and that there is an annual Tulip Festival, so typical Dutch.

Excellent read! Congrats pTartTX!

I know her!

Good read, as always!

Love the interview!

Good read!

Congrats pTartTX!

Great read, Sarah!

Great interview. I learned some new stuff about you. Bummer you had to replay Supermans Returns. That game sucks big time!

I am glad my wife and I are not the only couple with 2 TV's in the living room.
Are people also always looking weird when the come into your living room and see 2 big TV's?

Just out of curiosity: Do you speak some Dutch? I did not even know there was a place called "Holland" in the States and that there is an annual Tulip Festival, so typical Dutch.

Originally Posted by Musquito

Yes, people (always non gamers) give my living room an odd look. Especially since Mr. pTart's TV is perched on top of a cat condo, lol. Most of my friends already know were heavy gamers so they didn't think anything of our set up.

I do not speak any Dutch, though there is a very small segment of the population that does. I did not grow up in Holland, I moved here when I started dating Mr. pTart almost 7 years ago. The city of Holland is quite Dutch, I wonder how accurately it resembles the country, lol.

EDIT: You can see the gaming set up at the beginning of my VINGO fitness video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=3&v=c5De0ho_Kag

EDIT: You can see the gaming set up at the beginning of my VINGO fitness video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=3&v=c5De0ho_Kag

Originally Posted by pTartTX

Yours are even closer together than ours. (picture)