What is your Gamertag and the reason for choosing it?
ASleepingMonkey, when I was younger I thought it would be funny for people to kill me or me to kill them in a game and see “ASleepingMonkey killed you!” Looking back at it, that was a very bad, dumb joke…but I still like my name!
What is your favourite genre/s of game and why?
I like all kinds! But I like open world games and FPS the most because developers tend to do creative things with those genres, like MGS V, take a game that has always been linear and make it open world and completely change the way the game plays! It opens up endless possibilities for gameplay!
What is your favourite game so far? (Doesn’t need to be an Xbox title!)
Max Payne 3 or L.A. Noire! I’m a bit of a Rockstar fanboy. They always tell brilliant stories mixed with some fantastic gameplay and set pieces!
What is your most memorable gaming moment?
Going to Gamestop on Black Friday in 2013 and buying the last Xbox One available in my state. I will always remember the angry look on the parents faces behind me in line and having a fear of getting murdered when I left the store!
Which achievement has been the most frustrating to obtain? How long did it take you?
The achievement for beating Dead Space 2 on Zealot difficulty. You’re only allowed 3 save points throughout the game and you can’t overwrite any of them. So if you died you may get set back 4 hours and if anyone knows how hard Dead Space can be on the higher difficulties you know this can be a pain in the ass! It took me probably 3 maybe 4 months to complete. I broke two controllers in the process.
What is your gaming guilty pleasure?
Nicktoons MLB on Xbox 360, the game was aimed at children so it’s insanely easy and I just love the satisfaction of hitting constant home runs with characters from some of the best 90s cartoons like Invader Zim! Plus, easy Gamerscore is always a bonus!
If you could pick a video game character, who would you be and why?
Marcus Fenix, who doesn’t want biceps like that guy?!
If you could pick a location, from any game, to visit, where would it be and why?
Literally any location in The Witcher 3, that game is incredibly beautiful and I’d love to see it in person, even if it means getting murdered by a water hag!
Finally, where do you see gaming heading in the next decade?
I’m not sure…lots of people thought motion controlled gaming would be the future but that sort of failed, the next big thing is VR and from the sounds of it, it’s pretty awesome but I’m not sure how long people will play a game with a headset strapped around their head. Only time will tell because the games industry is incredibly unpredictable.
Special thanks to ASleepingMonkey for taking the time to answer our questions. Keep an eye on the website for information about 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.