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Gamer Spotlight:
TriXie Interviews borocouncilman
Published February 28, 2008
He's a gamer, a father, and politician in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He's also got a wife, two daughters, and a baby boy on the way. Say hello to borocouncilman.
TriXie: What's the story behind your Gamertag?
borocouncilman: I am a Borough Councilman serving as an elected official in Doylestown, PA. My election was in 2005, and I currently hold the title of Council President. I am proud to be a public servant. I am an elected gamer!
Doylestown should be proud of its Borough President!
TriXie: What do you do when you're not being Daddy and serving your borough?
borocouncilman: I currently own a small software company called BrickSimple LLC that builds Web-based enterprise applications. I am fortunate to employ a team of really talented people.
TriXie: What's the worst or weirdest job you've ever had?
borocouncilman: I've been lucky as I'm hard-pressed to come up with a "worst" job. Weird is easy. I worked at the Doylestown Airport from 1987 to 1994. It included some of the strangest and surreal days of my working life.
TriXie: How long have you been on Xbox LIVE®?
borocouncilman: Since the 2005 launch of the 360, I've been an Xbox LIVE Gold member.
TriXie: Do you have an archenemy on Xbox LIVE?
borocouncilman: I don't know if I have an enemy per se, but my kid brother, MonstroCromo, could certainly be classified as a rival. Although we are separated by 700 miles, Xbox LIVE bridges the "brotherly" gap and allows us to taunt one another. Our competitiveness goes so far as to include oneupmanship on the Xbox LIVE Arcade leaderboards. Incidentally, his Zuma® top score is absurd.
Nothing causes brotherly rivalry more than an Xbox LIVE Arcade game.
TriXie: You're part of the Xbox Community Developer program, right? Tell us about the cool stuff you've done.
borocouncilman: I started 1337pwn.com as a side project to provide an Xbox LIVE Friends status widget for the MacOS Dashboard. We have since expanded to include a similar application for the iPhone/iPod Touch along with a browser-based widget for other platforms. With well over 20,000 downloads and millions of hits, I am still shocked by the response and support that we have received. I can't say enough nice things about the developer program and the tremendous feedback of the gamer community.
TriXie: What's your Xbox® set-up like?
borocouncilman: Since the holidays, my 360 has been hooked up to a 56-inch 1080p Samsung DLP setup via component cables. A Spherex Xbox system takes care of the surround sound. Prior to the "big screen," I played on a 24-inch Dell Widescreen monitor.
TriXie: What's the best feature of Xbox LIVE?
borocouncilman: It's tough to beat partying up with some friends and starting some multiplayer mayhem. I'm really happy to see more games support co-op play over Xbox LIVE.
TriXie: What do you think is the best game of all time?
borocouncilman: Racing Destruction Set on the Commodore 64/128.
TriXie: What's the funniest thing you've ever heard on Xbox LIVE?
borocouncilman: I have heard trash talk during UNO® games rise to the level of absurdity.
Trash talking in UNO? Say it isn't so.
TriXie: What is your greatest Xbox LIVE moment?
borocouncilman: When Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Vegas came out, my brother and I both picked up Xbox LIVE Vision cameras to use its Digi-Mask feature. It was so cool to see his face in-game for the first time. We had not seen each other in person for almost a year. Yet, there we were, in the game, fighting alongside each other.
TriXie: Who is your inner rock star?
borocouncilman: Trent Reznor, a fellow Pennsylvanian.
TriXie: If they made a movie about your life, who should play you?
borocouncilman: Matthew Broderick with Christopher Mintz-Plasse portraying the "young" me.
TriXie: What superpower would you like to have?
borocouncilman: Time travel would be incredibly useful.
TriXie: If you could trade places with anyone for one day, who would it be?
borocouncilman: I would trade places with the President of the United States and get to work.
TriXie: What celebrity would be the worst roommate?
borocouncilman: If your pool of potential roommates includes celebrities, you need to keep looking. You want someone that is quiet and will be able to pick up their share of the rent each month.
TriXie: Hot celeb you'd like to be stranded on a desert island with?
borocouncilman: That's a tough call. Can Scarlett Johansson build a boat?
TriXie: I don't know, but she looks pretty buoyant … you could probably paddle her to safety. If you could be any videogame character, who would it be?
borocouncilman: Nintendo's Mario has a lifestyle filled with variety. From racing go-karts to space travel, he really has the world on a string.
TriXie: What's the worst food you've ever eaten?
borocouncilman: At Drexel University, I survived eating inexpensive meals from lunch carts and trucks. It was dirty, prepared with borderline hygiene, and made you feel sick. Yeah, those were great days.
TriXie: What's the last book you read?
borocouncilman: Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs, a Parody written by Fake Steve Jobs (Daniel Lyons).
TriXie: If you could go on tour with any band, which would it be?
borocouncilman: Van Halen with David Lee Roth.
TriXie: What do you predict will be the "next big thing" in gaming?
borocouncilman: User-created content is the next big thing. At a basic level, I think that you're going to see more titles incorporate editing features with the ability to share the experience with others. We're already seeing developers experiment with this functionality in major titles like Forza Motorsport™ 2 and Halo® 3. I expect that we'll see more of it. Truth be told, I had more fun designing and selling cars for Forza 2 than the actual mechanics of the racing game.
Creating cars in FM2 is almost as much fun as racing them.
TriXie: What do you think is the best thing about Xbox 360?
borocouncilman: Xbox LIVE defines the 360 user experience. It has turned console gaming from a solitary experience into something social and unique.
TriXie: What is the Xbox 360 achievement that was hardest to get?
borocouncilman: The Crackdown™ "Free Runner" achievement is brutal, because you have to locate all 500 agility orbs. It's a scavenger hunt and I wasted many nights finding that final orb.
TriXie: I wonder if your constituents know you're an Orb Whore. Well, I guess they do now! What would you like to be doing in ten years?
borocouncilman: I'd like to be doing something in public service either as an elected official or in the non-profit sector. Hopefully, I'll be in a position to do so.
Interview by TriXie
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