Brian Ekberg is the community manager for Turn 10 Studios, the makers of the critically acclaimed Xbox exclusive racing franchise Forza Motorsport. Before working with Turn 10, he spent the previous decade covering the videogame industry, serving as a senior editor with GameSpot, and contributing content to CNET, National Public Radio, and more.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Ekberg’s love of both communications and video games goes back to the Atari 2600 days, where he spent hours recording himself performing play-by-play and color commentary while playing the original Atari Baseball. A graduate of Auburn University and a former newspaper editor, he eventually turned his passion for sports games into a job, writing for independent video game sites before being hired as sports editor for GameSpot in 2004. Over the years, Ekberg has traveled the world, interviewing the biggest names in the video game industry and sharing his love for games of all genres. In 2010, he joined Turn 10 to lead community efforts for the Forza franchise, his all-time favorite game series.
Ekberg is an avid reader, as well as a CrossFit fan and an ardent follower of Auburn Tiger football. He lives in Redmond, WA with his wife, two kids, and a dog named Walt. You can read his Meet The Gamer interview below.
What is your Gamertag and the reason for choosing it?
My Gamertag is Mechberg, because it rhymes with my last name and brings to mind gigantic robots. Simple, right? I actually didn’t choose it; it was chosen for me, rather by accident. In my former life, I was an editor with GameSpot and, once, while recording a podcast, the show’s host Vinny Caravella (now of Giant Bomb fame) accidentally said “Mechberg” instead of my last name when introducing me. I immediately fell in love with the name and tried for months to claim the GT from someone who was squatting on it on Xbox Live. Eventually this person let it lapse and it’s been my online handle ever since.
What is your favorite genre/s of game and why?
Perhaps this won’t be a surprise, considering where I work, but my first love is racing. From the earliest days in dingy arcades (playing Night Driver) to formative experiences on PC (Grand Prix Legends, Geoff Crammond’s F1 series, and Mobil 1 Rally Championship, the best rally game of all time) and up to modern games like Forza Motorsport, I’ve always been attracted to the racing genre. I think part of the reason is that they are relatable–we know what it’s like to drive and we know what it’s like to watch a race on television. To me, playing a great racing game feels like taking the next logical step into a world that is at once fantastical (through its sheer speed and thrills), yet still very grounded in reality. The best racing games give me a sense of exhilaration that I can’t get from anything else.
I also love sports games (RIP NCAA Football!) and role-playing games like my latest obsession: Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines on Vita.
What is your favorite game so far? (Doesn’t need to be an Xbox title!)
Apart from whatever is the latest Forza game, the game I’ve played more than any other over the past few years is Destiny. As someone who puts shooters pretty far down his genre list, that’s remarkable to me.
What is your most memorable gaming moment?
An online race in Grand Prix Legends. This would have been around 1999 or so. We’re on Monza. Myself and another driver are battling for fifth place like two rabid animals. His car has better top speed than mine, which suits Monza’s long straights, but my feisty ’67 Coventry has enough grunt to stay close, and is much better in the corners. For the final three laps of the race, every turn is the same–I out-brake him and pull ahead, our cars centimeters apart, keeping the lead through the apex and corner exit, only to have him eventually overtake me during the drag race to the next turn. On the last lap, we pull around the final corner–the Parabolica–and I inch my Coventry across the finish line just ahead of my opponent. In the post-race chat, the drivers ahead of us, who were watching intently after their race was over, called it some of the greatest racing they’d ever seen. Even though it was only for fifth place, I had to agree.
A close second: the ending of Final Fantasy X.
What is your Gamerscore and how long has it taken you to get it?
I’ve been collecting Gamerscore since the beginning of the Xbox 360 and I‘m currently sitting at a reasonable 47,312.
Which achievement has been the most frustrating to obtain? How long did it take you?
I remember struggling with the Pacifist achievement in the original Mirror’s Edge. The idea is to complete a chapter without firing a gun. Of course, that achievement is in keeping with the general “dodge/leap/kick first, shoot later” approach of the entire game. But I found myself struggling to resist the temptation each time I had Faith disarm a guard, especially when things got hairy. What, you want me to leave that perfectly functional weapon on the ground and continue running in circles while heavily armored baddies chase me down, guns a ’blazing? No thank you, have a bullet or eight.
What is your gaming guilty pleasure?
Playing Disney Infinity games with my kids and wondering who is having more fun, them or me.
If you could pick a video game character, who would you be and why?
Cloud Strife. Big dumb hair, big dumb sword, big dumb motorcycle. Aeris and Tifa. What’s not to like?
If you could pick a location, from any game, to visit, where would it be and why?
The Tower in Destiny, which is like the greatest nightclub ever. Everyone is dressed really cool, but it’s still pretty quiet and there’s lots of room to move around. One person just jumped on the roof of a building. Another just started dancing for no reason. Those two are running up those stairs at top speed. Everyone is waving all the time. It’s generally a pretty chill place.
Finally, where do you see gaming heading in the next decade?
I still haven’t tried out modern VR (I know, I know!), but I’m curious as to where this technology will take us, especially as the hardware gets more streamlined and affordable and content creators continue to wrap their heads around it.
Special thanks to Brian Ekberg 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.