MEET THE GAMER: UE Realist

What is your Gamertag and the reason for choosing it?

Good question, my Gamertag has evolved and matured as the years have come and gone. Before we started Upper Echelon, a team of competitive gamers, my Gamertag was Th3Realist, it was my latest namesake in a slew of tags I used in my Halo LAN days. Once we started UE I decided to keep that history and bring it along with me to the team. That’s why I chose UE Realist!

What is your favourite genre/s of game and why?

Racing games are my natural calling. I am a gear head. Went to DuPont Paint School in Atlanta, Georgia, worked in the automotive paint industry and even had my own tuner shop once. I love all things racing and playing racing games gives me the opportunity to drive the worlds most exclusive vehicles at illegal speeds. You’ve gotta love it!

What is your favourite game so far? (Doesn’t need to be an Xbox title!)

This is an excellent question and it’s kind of tricky so I will give you a tricky answer. The original Gran Turismo on PS1 was a game that opened my eyes to what simulation racing games could be, it was my first real love when it came to driving games and it opened the doors to modern racers we see today. One of those games that branched from the tree of Gran Turismo was Forza and the original Forza Motorsport. The tuning and customization options drew me in as a lifetime fan of the series and I have owned and will own every iteration. Finally, I have to mention the original Halo on Xbox. The story captivated me from the start and the multiplayer is world class, giving me a lifetime of memories and lifetime friends through competitions.

What is your most memorable gaming moment?

My most memorable gaming experience has to be our custom LAN tournaments we used to host. Imagine a basement filled with 15 of your closest friends, each with their own Xbox and blowing out fuses left and right attempting to find the right combination of power distribution. It was our own personal E3. Bring all your games and spend all night playing each other in fierce gaming competitions until we pass out! Those are memories I will never forget.

Which achievement has been the most frustrating to obtain? How long did it take you?

Achievements are an amazing feature to have in gaming, it gives you a task to do even if in some instances it’s not something you would normally do. With that being said, I have never spent too much time trying to obtain the hard to get ones. I can say however, that trying to beat Halo 2 on Legendary almost made me throw my Xbox out of the window!

What is your gaming guilty pleasure?

I am a late night gamer and I love it! I normally stay up way past comfort hours just to squeeze out a few more minutes of playing before having to go to the work in a few hours. It’s something that comes back to bite me far too often but I do not intend to stop anytime soon.

If you could pick a video game character, who would you be and why?

I have to say Sonic the Hedgehog and I’ll tell you why! The Sega Genesis was my very first personal console I received from my parents and Sonic the Hedgehog game was the only game I had for quite some time. I idolized Sonic, spent countless hours attempting to draw him and get any type of toy he had his name. That love of Sonic has stayed with me and if I could be any character for a day it would be my first gaming idol, Sonic.

If you could pick a location, from any game, to visit, where would it be and why?

Easy question, the Nürburgring. Ok, so its not a fictional location but it’s one place I have always wanted to visit and I really hope to be able to do that some day.

Finally, where do you see gaming heading in the next decade?

Hardware and software are finally catching up to what developers and tech giants can dream up. Virtual and augmented reality gaming did not seem commercially plausible a decade ago and now we are seeing this tech being released and developed for like never before. Cloud computing is something even now people are hesitant to truly believe in, but it’s something that is coming and the possibilities are truly mind-blowing. Gaming as a whole is a wonderful arrangement for us all to escape from our daily lives and live in a totally immersive experience that we likely will never truly do in real life. I hope as the years go on, gamers learn to embrace each others commonality in this instance and not focus so much on how each one chooses to experience their gaming escape.

Special thanks to UE Realist 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.