When we launched streaks over a year ago I never imagined they would be as popular as they are today. One gamer in particular PSonic, has really set the bar for streaks, and I had to get into the mind of someone who could go over a year without missing a single day playing with his beloved Xbox 360. So I wrote up this interview for PSonic who currently holds the record for the longest streak. Also if you want to delve deeper into this mad man's mind, you can read his self told, "Confessions of a Video Game Junkie".
So Psonic before I start grilling you on your streak, I have some basics to get out of the way.
Q. How did you come up with your gamertag?
My gamertag is based on P for my first name, Patrick, and the rest is somewhat obvious - Sonic the Hedgehog. I got the idea several years ago from a friend of mine that managed a GameStop (Babbages at that time). His name is Jim and he used "JMario" as the basis for his e-mail address. I liked the idea so I used it.
Q. What is your favorite Xbox 360 game?
Project Gotham Racing 3, although it has been a long time since I've played it.
Q. What games are you looking forward to coming out?
Project Gotham Racing 4 and Tiger Woods 08
Q. How long have you been a 360voice member and how did you find the site?
I've been a member since May 1, 2006. I found the site thanks to a post on Major Nelson's site. I've been enjoying the site ever since.
Q. Did you think it would take a full year to be the sole streak leader?
I really had no idea how long it was going to take to be the sole streak leader. I was determined to keep it going until it actually happened. The person I thought was going to provide the most "competition"(if you can really call it a competition) was MysticWeirdo. Because of this whole streak thing, he's on my friends list and he's a very good guy and very dedicated gamer. He takes the time to write FAQs for games he plays and is very helpful on the xbox.com forums. Because of a glitch at some point, myself and one other person gained an extra day over Mystic Weirdo and 2 other people. If not for that, I know for a fact that at the very least, Mystic Weirdo would be tied with me to this day and there would be no sole streak leader.
Q. What are some of the extremes you went to keep your streak this past year?
How long do you have? Contrary to what people might think, I DO go on vacations and other sorts of trips. I have 2 small children (ages 5 1/2 and 4) that keep me plenty busy. I don't just sit at home every day waiting to turn on my 360. I just make sure that wherever I go, my 360 comes with me. Since the streak began, I have played in Wisconsin, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina (my home state), North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
One time in Florida, I had to spend around 90 minutes on the phone with the hotel's internet tech support to get the internet connection working. All was finally well and I was able to get on and play. My wife and I didn't realize until later that the air conditioning vents for the hotel were right outside our room. It was not a good night's sleep. My wife wanted to change hotels and I convinced her to stay in the noisy room because of the hassle I went through just to get the internet working for my 360.
My father unexpectedly passed away in Indiana in early February of this year. Although I didn't take my 360 with me on this particular trip, I did take a memory card with my profile on it. I stayed with my sister and they have a 360 at their house. I logged on their 360 during the week or so that I was in Indiana for my father's funeral.
The best example I can give comes from the course of the last 2 1/2 months. I started bar review classes in Columbia, SC on May 14, 2007. This was a 9 week class that lead up to me taking the South Carolina bar exam (I've actually been licensed to practice law in Wisconsin since 1992, but moved to South Carolina in October 2004). I had this great place to stay - it had a 50 inch plasma tv on the wall. One problem: no internet connection and no chance of getting one in the unit in which I was staying.
I managed to find an open wireless signal in the building with my MacBook. I then had to test it out with the 360. The big issue was access.The only way I could access the signal and not get caught was to take my 23inch LCD tv and my 360 up on to the roof of the building and then down about 75 yards to where I could catch the signal. From May 14 to the end of June,I had to repeat this process every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in order to go online and keep the streak. On Thursdays, I would travel 150 miles back home and play there until I drove back on Sundays.
Starting July 1 of this year, I stayed in Columbia straight through to the end of the bar exam with ended on July 25. That meant that I had to climb to the roof every one of those days. At one point, the wireless signal I had been "borrowing" stopped working. I scrambled and found an area in downtown Columbia that provided free wi-fi access. I then found an outdoor outlet and plugged right in. I did get some very confused looks from people as I'm sitting in the middle of a downtown area playing video games... I had to resort to this on about a half dozen occasions.
Q. Are you planning on ending your streak anytime soon? Maybe take a vacation or are you going for two years?
I really don't "plan" on ending the streak any time soon. I may have it taken away from my by Mother Nature. The internet tends to go down where I live whenever there's a major storm. I've been able to work around outages, but you never know when it might prevent me from keeping the streak. Otherwise, I intend to keep it going for as long as possible. I have 2 trips to Milwaukee planned for September of this year and January of next year. I'm sure the 360 will come with me.
Q. What features do you want to see added to 360voice around streaks?
Even though I understand that streak badges are not static, I would certainly be in favor of a static badge for certain lengths of time for the streak. I think a good place to start would be, hmm, I don't know, a static badge for playing 365 days in a row? ;)
Q. What's your next Xbox 360 related goal?
My short term goal is to make it 75,000 in gamerscore. Long term,I'd like to keep the streak and eventually get to 100,000.
Wow sounds great! Thanks for taking the time to respond. Good luck keeping the streak alive!
