We’re very excited to bring you this week’s Meet The Gamer. None other than Microsoft’s Jeff Rubenstein will be talking about his love of gaming. Jeff talks about his gaming memories and his quest for overtaking Major Nelson’s gamerscore. Jeff leads the blogs, video, and influencers effort across Xbox, Windows, and Devices. He works with Xbox Wire, the Windows Blogs, the team that creates This Week on Xbox and other videos, and work with YouTubers and Twitch broadcasters.
What is your Gamertag and the reason for choosing it?
My Gamertag is “Rubes”, which is a nickname I’ve repeatedly picked up since high school. I’ve actually changed Gamertags several times through the years, starting with “Tobias Funke” (David Cross’ character in Arrested Development) back in 2004. I switched to “Prof PlayStation” during the years I was working at SCEA, as one website jokingly referred to me as a foil to Major Nelson. When I came to Microsoft in 2013 I selected “JEF United”, paying homage to a Japanese soccer team whose name I (kinda) share, until I was able to secure “Rubes”.
What is your favourite genre/s of game and why?
No hesitation, I play every Strategy RPG (SRPG) I can get a hold of. The genre got its hooks into me with the Shining Force titles on Sega Genesis, and I’ve played through Final Fantasy Tactics several times on both PS1 and Game Boy Advance. Last generation brought us Valkyria Chronicles and XCOM Enemy Unknown, two of my favourite games of all time. Recently, I’ve been enjoying ID@Xbox title The Banner Saga, and am counting down the days til XCOM 2 comes out.
What is your favourite game so far? (Doesn’t need to be an Xbox title!)
In addition to the SRPGs I mentioned, the Elder Scrolls games (specifically Oblivion and Skyrim) are my faves – there’s so much to do, and I love how lived in the world seems. I poured in over a hundred hours into each to get that gamerscore!
What is your most memorable gaming moment?
My most memorable gaming moment came away from the controller. In 2007, I finally convinced my boss at the newspaper I was working at to let me cover E3 – if I could do it cheaply. That meant sleeping on a friend’s sofa and taking the bus to events, but it was well worth it.
My very first professional event was the Xbox E3 2007 media briefing, which actually took place outside in a high school amphitheatre (it was a very nice high school). This was the E3 where Peter Moore infamously paused the song during Rock Band’s debut, and I remember being quite star struck to see Major Nelson in the flesh. I got to experience the first Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Uncharted, and Super Mario Galaxy titles, and I met people I still talk to. While a lot of E3 veterans didn’t love the Santa Monica E3, I have nothing but great memories of it.
Which achievement has been the most frustrating to obtain? How long did it take you?
I remember playing Earth Defense Force 2017 on Xbox 360, and wondering where the achievements were. I played that game for hours, before finally unlocking a single, 100 gs achievement, when I beat the game on Normal. I didn’t even pop the achievement for beating the game on Easy! That’s got to be one of the most time consuming games to 1K out there. Still fun though!
What is your gamerscore and how long has it taken you to get it?
I’m currently at about 56K, which isn’t all that high, but there’s a good reason for it. From launch through October of 2007, I scored a somewhat respectable 15K. However, from 2007-2012 I was working at Sony, so my achievement hunting understandably suffered (though I did make time for Shadow Complex, Mass Effect, and other exclusives). From the time I started working at Xbox about two years ago until now, I’ve accumulated another 40K. My ultimate goal is to eventually catch up to Major Nelson – One day!
What is your gaming guilty pleasure?
Now that a lot of the casual games on Windows 10 have achievements, I’m playing a lot of things like Solitaire, Mahjong and Jigsaw whilst I’m watching TV. I’m serious about catching Larry!
If you could pick a video game character, who would you be and why?
I’ve become quite fond of my created MyPlayer from NBA 2K16. I wish I could dunk, and start for the Atlanta Hawks!
If you could pick a location, from any game, to visit, where would it be and why?
I really love the setting of Columbia from Bioshock Infinite. I’d love to be able to tour around there, now that all of the evil George Washington robots have been dispatched with.
Finally, where do you see gaming heading in the next decade?
From my perspective, we’re really in a golden age for gaming – we’ve got more games to play than ever before, and quality and price has never been better. I’m currently playing Rise of the Tomb Raider (and unlocking Achievements) on my laptop, which seems incredible to me. I’ve also had some great VR experiences at conferences, so I’m interested in seeing how that develops.
I think we’re rapidly getting to a place in society where pretty much everyone in society plays games, and that will continue to lead to a plethora of choices no matter what kind of gaming experience you’re into. I’m hoping we can finally get to a place as a society where we enjoy what we enjoy, and not deride others for their gaming choices. Games are fun, that’s why we play.
Special thanks to Jeff Rubenstein for taking the time to answer our questions. Keep an eye on the website and Twitter for information on how you can feature in the next Meet The Gamer.
Mike is a games journalist, host of 1080Players Gaming Radio. They contributed 62 articles to ICXM between 2015–2016, focused on opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: operates 1080Players Gaming Radio on the Boost Radio Network; ICXM published cross-content from his outlet.