BEN has 388 chronicles

1. Interview w/ WCGUG2 Hopeful, Jake "Thirstee321" Pfister
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on May 20 2010

   I had a chance to chat with Jake, who is a fellow GoG members and one of the three GoG friends of ours, who are competing for votes to be the 12th contestant on WCG's Ultimate Gamer 2.
   
   Name: Jake Pfister
   GamerTag: Thirstee321
   Age: 23 years old
   Hometown: Twinsburg, Ohio
   
   BEN: So Jake, thanks for joining me for a conversation today. You're currently in the lead for votes and I'm glad you've chosen to get more involved with this unique video game community. How long have you been gaming?
   Thirstee321: I have been gaming since I can remember. If I had to guess, I would probably have to say somewhere around the age of 3 or 4 is the first time I picked up a controller. NES was my first gaming system and I have had almost every system since! I would probably say I do about 40-50 hours of gaming a week, maybe a little more in the winter months.
   
   BEN: So obviously you've been gaming a long time and it's definitely your passion. With this WCG Ultimate Gamer 2 opportunity, what makes you confident about winning the vote that's happening right now?
   Thirstee321: I love gaming because it is what I’m good at. I’m a good team leader and when you play with me, it definitely shows. I think I'd be a great contestant on this upcoming show, because I push myself to be better than everyone, in any type of game. I like to get to a level that I know I can beat most people I face and then move onto my next challenge!
   
   BEN: So with this diversity in gaming skill, why not focus on a single title and go professional?
   Thirstee321: Being a multi-genre gamer makes it hard to break out into the gaming community and be noticed. I hope that one day, being a well rounded pro in multiple games is somehow able to be more recognized than just being good at one game. Video game tournaments such as Screw Attack’s Iron man of gaming and WCG’s Ultimate Gamer seem to be my spot in the gaming community.
   
   BEN: Well I hope you'll consider joining us at The 2011 Iowa Pro Gaming Challenge. It would be fun to have you at this event. Anyways, back to your NES days, what title do you remember the most?
   Thirstee321: There are so many old school games that make it hard for me to decide. The great titles in my mind are Super Mario Bros, Bad Dudes, Sonic the Hedgehog, Contra, Dream Master, Little Nemo, Blaster Master, Donkey Kong Country, Zombies ate my Neighbors, Bubble Bobble, and Mrs. Pac-Man. I could go on for hours, but my all time favorite old school game would have be Toe Jam and Earl. It features two alien buddies who crash land on earth. It is a game of 30 randomized levels in which you and a friend must work co-operatively to find the pieces of your spaceship so that you can return to your home planet called Funkatron. Being randomized, the game is never the same every time you play it and has a replay value that still gets me to this day. It is my absolute favorite wiiware game and I recommend that anyone should check it out!
   
   BEN: Cool. So many of those titles also solidified gaming as one of my favorite things to do. When you fast forward to today, we had talked about your mult-genre abilities, but if you had to pick just one type of video game that you're the best at, what would it be?
   Thirstee321: The games I excel at most, happen to be shooters. I love sitting back and enjoying a game of Call of Duty or Halo with my friends. It's the best feeling when I find myself rounding a corner, in the heat of battle, facing 3-4 guys, and somehow come out still alive with dead bodies all around me, haha. No other gaming genre can make you feel like that in my opinion. However, in no way does this reflect on me being only good at shooters. I love popping in some Forza 3, Super Street Fighter IV, Halo Wars, or even Tiger Woods as a change of pace!
   
   BEN: For some of our Xbox 360 achievement junkies out there, what is your gamerscore and what achievements stand out to you the most?
   Thirstee321: Currently my gamerscore is sitting at about 47,000, ranging from every type of game you can imagine. One thing that really gets to me is when people tell me “who cares about a useless number that is meaningless in your gaming ability.” Yes I have a high gamerscore, but it’s not the overall number that actually matters. It is when you look in depth, at which ones I have unlocked that make it feel like such an accomplishment! Some of the achievements that I feel took a lot of work on my part are, Attain General Rank on Halo Wars (over 1,000 games played), 10 ranked wins in a row on Super Street Fighter IV, All Full Auto medals on every race in Full Auto, 900 points in Pure (including Triple back flip and two super tricks back to back in one jump), only missing 3 achievements out of Halo 3, Find all 500 agility orbs in Crackdown (took foreverrrrrr), in Battlefield 2 kill 5 enemies with a single mortar strike(extremely hard), and in Chromehounds own one of every part in the entire game in online play (hundreds of hours logged). These are just some of my great achievements. As you can see, it is more about which achievements one is unlocking than the score; but when I have the time and ability to unlock such great achievements while still managing to be amazing in every game I play, it really shows my deep devotion to gaming!
   
   BEN: You're a confident gamer, so I'm interested to hear about a memorable gaming experience you've had?
   Thirstee321: I would have to say my most memorable gaming experience would have to be my 2005 trip to MLG Chicago. The Friday of our trip I had a final exam for the university I am attending, we drove to Chicago that night and slept in the car for a measly 5-6 hours. With it being in the middle of winter, we kept turning the car on and off resulting in us getting very hot then very cold, making it very hard to get any sleep at all. We then woke up and competed against 120 other amazing teams for a chance to win $30,000. After competing that Saturday we returned home on a 6 hour drive to Ohio, still with very little sleep. We didn’t end up winning the competition, but did very well, and given the conditions we had to deal with, makes it my most memorable gaming experience so far.
   
   BEN: Nice. Sleep deprivation is part of so many gaming events, isn't it?! So along with this GoG community, what other gaming organizations are you involved with?
   Thirstee321: I'm glad I met derno and that he shared this place with me. The GoG is a neat community, so along with enjoying GatheringofGamers.com, I am also a part of an organization called Countdown321. We specialize in bringing competitive gaming to the local gamer. A couple key members that are a part of our team are Jamal Nickens (Zophar321) and Mark Smith (mmmApplesauce321). Mark was the winner of Season 1 on WCG’s Ultimate gamer and Jamal is no slacker by any means. Jamal took 3rd place on season 1 and has won several tournaments, including Screw Attack’s Iron Man of Gaming tournament and the hit TV show Life to the Power of X. We are currently in the process of incorporating our VGF (Video Game Festival), that we do twice a year, as a way for us and our fans to raise money for our favorite charity called Child’s Play, which was founded by Penny Arcade. Child’s Play is an organization that takes donations and provides toys for sick children in hospitals. We will be live streaming the event online, everyone will be able to donate to help the cause and we will even except challenges for a donation.
   
   BEN: I like to hear you're interested in gaming for a good cause. I was just at Gamers For Giving in Michigan and saw how video game events can really be enhanced, when the revenue generated goes to a worthy charity. I appreciate the time you've taken for this interview, so I wanted to give you a chance for any last words or shout outs.
   Thirstee321: I just want to let everyone know that I appreciate the support with this WCG Ultimate Gamer 2 vote (http://us.wcg.com/wcgultimategamer). I'm also going to give a shoutout to my Countdown 321 crew and I'm excited to have more information on our Video Game Festival charity event soon. Thanks for all your support BEN and keep making this GoG community so awesome!

   
   

   ---

   Send To A Friend

BEN has 3 comment s on this chronicle.

1. krazy army girl
   Posted On May 24 2010

   Nice interview!!! i was thinking about doing one with Jake as well. but it would be too close to yours. so i think i will hold off. good job though

2. Thirstee321
   Posted On May 21 2010

   thanks ben for posting this up and thanks mary! Ill come back and post a response vid once i get a chance! later gog'ers

3. MacGrandma
   Posted On May 20 2010

   Nice interview! He sounds like a winner! Good job Ben and thirstee!