IGN starts 2010 off with segacon, a long-time FAQ/guide writer. It's been a while since we've spoken with him, and it's always nice to catch up.
IGN: How've things been since we last spoke in 2008?
EastX (segacon): Despite my busy 2009 school and work schedule, I found the time to visit San Antonio, Texas and Madison, Wisconsin. I love traveling but hadn't had the chance in ages. I finally graduated from college last December.
I'm a fully-qualified teacher now, whoo-hoo! Currently I (am a) substitute teacher, but I look forward to having my own class soon. My New Year's resolution is to learn to play the drums - I've always wanted to pick up an instrument.
IGN: And how's your son doing?
EastX (segacon): My son Ethan and I had a blast dressing in Star Trek outfits for Halloween last year. My girlfriend and 2-year old daughter joined us as well. We had a dorky great time firing phaser pistols and hoarding candy. He is doing better than ever in school. We hope to start taking martial arts classes together later in the year.
IGN: How proficient/fluent are you guys in Japanese now?
EastX (segacon): I haven't decided whether to resume Japanese lessons this year or wait until I get my Master's and have more time, but it's a small world -- I met a local guy online who needed work done on his arcade stick. What do you know; he takes lessons at the Japan America Society of Houston just like I did before college! Gotta love meeting people with similar interests.
IGN: You're starting a Star Trek Online clan -- want to tell us about that?
EastX (segacon): Yes, my Star Trek Online clan website is www.cagfleet.com. Leading a group of like-minded fans is an exhilarating challenge for me -- the undiscovered country.
IGN: Which era was your favorite, and how come?
EastX (segacon): As for the shows, I'll always love The Original Series for the new ground it broke in television and the chemistry between the actors. I watched it with my grandparents in my childhood and still enjoy the remastered episodes on Blu-Ray.
I'm also a big fan of Enterprise, which many people didn't give a fair shake. The characters are really likable and the show picked up big-time in its final season.
IGN: How'd you get into writing for Hardcore Gaming 101?
EastX (segacon): I have long enjoyed the site. They cover tons of interesting and obscure games, and the writing is top-notch. Still, I sometimes spotted small errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling. I really believe in Hardcore Gaming 101's mission, and I wanted to help them be even better. So, I started submitting corrections. This eventually led to an official copy editor position, as well as the opportunity to write for the site.
IGN: Recently, the general press remarked that videogame sales have been in decline in 2009 -- what's your thinking on how 2009 went?
EastX (segacon): It was another great year of gaming for me. People are always clamoring for new IPs, and Borderlands was a standout in that department. My son and I had a blast with its co-op. Street Fighter IV was my favorite sequel, despite the terrible theme song. I'm thrilled to see the fighting genre making such a successful comeback.
Yet, 2009 was a terrible year for small studios; so many great developers went out of business. I had really looked forward to the ... Bionic Commando sequel. A few unfortunate design decisions (and repeated delays) resulted in fairly harsh reception for a pretty good game. Bionic Commando's poor sales performance was one nail in the coffin for Grin -- the makers of my all-time favorite downloadable game Bionic Commando Rearmed.
IGN: With your graduate work and schedule, what games are you looking forward to in 2010?
EastX (segacon): Star Trek Online will obviously take up a lot of my time. Thankfully, the lifetime subscription option means I won't have to play it constantly just to get my money's worth.
Super Street Fighter IV is my most anticipated title. The return of several beloved characters plus the absence of "Indestructible" (The game's attract mode music; enjoy the image. -Ed.) means the game will be somewhere between awesome and too awesome. Did I mention I hate that song with all my heart and soul?
I'll also be picking up Final Fantasy XIII, Heavy Rain, Tatsunoko VS. Capcom, and Green Day: Rock Band.
IGN: Speaking of sales, PC game sales have been out-paced by console sales in the past few years; what's your stance on PC gaming now and in the future?
EastX (segacon): The big budget titles are definitely either going console-exclusive or releasing on PC in less-than-optimized form. Consider Borderlands: prior to the game's release, Randy Pitchford claimed the PC version was the lead platform. In reality, Borderlands on PC gets DLC later than the console versions, and many outstanding issues have yet to be patched. But nobody has taken him to task for it -– I wonder whether Gearbox or the publisher is at fault.
Piracy is obviously the reason for PC gaming taking the backseat to console development. But it's not all bad news in PC-land. "Indie" titles have really started to thrive.
Torchlight, for instance, is an awesome game that owes much of its success to digital distribution. Thanks to the extremely aggressive sales of distributors like Steam and Direct2Drive, a PC gamer can build a huge collection of fun games on the cheap and never have to worry about inserting a disc to play them. It's a fine time to own a gaming notebook.
IGN: It's so last year -- but do you tweet?
EastX (segacon): Not on the first date, I don't! Wait, you mean that Twitter thing. It hasn't really caught my interest yet. It seems like Facebook does all the same stuff but better. Plus games are starting to sync with people's Facebook pages, which has tons of possibilities.
Speaking of social networking sites, I've largely given up on MySpace. For reasons I can't understand, people compete to make the ugliest, gaudiest possible MySpace pages.
My artistic side can't tolerate all that noise. Now that Facebook has taken off, I can easily keep up with my friends online and the only real nuisance is the abundance of app invites they send.
IGN: You mentioned your Bionic Commando Rearmed Guide got noticed by the game's developers (GRIN -- now closed). How'd that come about?
EastX (segacon): Let me just say I had a blast writing that guide. I did a ton of research and tried to make it as interesting as possible. The availability of information about the remake prior to its release was just about unparalleled, giving me a lot to work with. When the game launched, I bought the Xbox 360 and PC versions so I'd have more opportunities to play and cover it.
Two factors probably contributed to the developers finding my guide: I wrote it right after covering some other Capcom downloadable tiles, 1942: Joint Strike and WOTB: Commando 3. Maybe somebody at Capcom noticed I was doing my part to promote their games. Mostly I believe it was Grin's outstanding marketing personnel who scoured the net to see how people were reacting to their game. Their company had loads of talented people, but they usually had to work on licensed games like Terminator: Salvation and Wanted.
Because of the problems almost always associated with licensed game development, I imagine Grin's staff probably felt a lot of frustration. I mean, nobody wants to make bad games. They really believed in Bionic Commando Rearmed though, so they promoted it as much as possible. It's a shame they couldn't produce more hits like that before their doors closed.
A few weeks after the first version of my guide went up, they sent a box packed with the finest swag: an art print signed by the development team, pens, stickers, and even Grin socks. I've never gotten such cool rewards for a guide before. That experience, combined with my love for the game, is why I continue to update the Bionic Commando Rearmed guide so long after its release.
IGN: Has it ever crossed your mind to grade some future students by how many achievement points they help you earn?
EastX (segacon): No, but I have considered penalizing them for dressing badly. If I ever bump into one of my kids wearing a baseball cap at a stupid angle, he's in for it!
But seriously, I will likely discover that some of my students play the same games as me. As a teacher, it's a good idea for me to connect lessons with the kids' interests in order to help them learn better. So we'll see.
IGN: Did you like the new Xbox experience (NXE)?
EastX (segacon): I like avatars, and premium themes are usually far prettier than the old themes. It's not always easy to find what you're looking for though. Is the thing I want to see found under "Inside Xbox", "My Community", or "Spotlight?" It's often faster and easier just to hit the Guide button and use the pop-up menu system.
IGN: You're an achievement guy; what's your feeling on Playstation trophies?
EastX (segacon): It's good that the Playstation 3 has an equivalent reward system. Achievements really are great – as a busy adult with too many hobbies, I need all the incentive I can to stick with games to completion and seek out all they have to offer. However, Trophies aren't nearly as appealing to me. I want to know why I'm receiving a trophy when it happens, but I can't just hit "HOME" and check like I would on the Xbox 360.
It's silly that users have to manually sync trophies with their profiles; while you can show other people what you've earned through the console or web pages, it's not nearly as intuitive as Microsoft's system. That's a problem with Steam Achievements too; they would be way more compelling if there were less steps involved in checking them and comparing them with friend's profiles.
Feel free to check out segacon's FAQs here. Strategy guide writing is hard work, so encouragement and thanks are always appreciated.
And if you're into boldly going where no man has gone before, beam over to www.cagfleet.com to lend segacon a hand for an away party.