This week’s “Gamer of the Week” is actually supposed to read “Gamers of the Week”, because we don’t have one, but two gamers for you. It’s gaming couple Aaron and Bryleigh who some of you might know from The Deal Breaker. Others might know Bryleigh as FireFlyZA from Call of Duty. We just know them as an awesome gaming couple and proof that a happy marriage can exist in the same dimension as gaming.
Answers by Aaron are in blue and Bryleigh has answered in red.
Go ahead. Introduce yourselves. Don’t be shy.
Hi. I’m Aaron and I like video games … except for sports games … like FIFA and those rugby ones.
Hi. I’m Bryleigh and thanks to my husband Aaron, I love FPS games and anything co-op.
How long have you been a “gaming” couple?
Probably for the last 5 years or so. Once Bryleigh got the hang of dual stick controls, we burnt through games like Gears of War, Halo 3 and Army of Two and haven’t really stopped since.
What is your platform of choice? Why?
If I had to choose, it would be the Xbox 360 and the reason is actually quite trivial … achievements. It’s the only system where I have an attachment to my “gamerscore”. Also, I prefer the Xbox 360 controller to all others, including mouse and keyboard.
I agree with Aaron. I love my Xbox and I love getting achievements. I’m extremely proud of my gamerscore and not sure what I would do if I had to lose it.
Can you remember the first time you ‘gamed’?
If you’re talking about the very first time, not really – I started very young. However, I do remember having one of those old, orange Donkey Kong Game and Watch handhelds (the one that looks like the DS). I played the crap out of that thing. I still have it today but unfortunately, it no longer works.
My first time was playing Mario Bros…. You know when you couldn’t switch off the game otherwise you would lose your progress. But I was not huge into games until I met Aaron. I never understood how people could sit for hours and hours playing games. Who would have thought that only a few years later, we would be spending most of our time playing games.
How long have you been gaming?
For the last 26 years I’d say. I’ll have to double check with my mom as to when she got me my first gaming device thus resulting in her creating a video gaming monster.
I have been playing for probably the last 5 years. I think I got hooked after spending hours watching Aaron play COD and then one day I picked up the controller and I haven’t looked back.
When do you think you’ll stop gaming?
Probably never! No wait, “never” is a really long time. Let me rephrase that. Probably until the day I die.
I agree with Aaron. Gaming is too much apart of our lives. I have met too many amazing people through gaming online and that is something that I don’t want to lose.
Are you a serious gamer? Or do you enjoy a laugh?
A bit of both but I think I fall more into the serious gamer category.
I’m also a bit of both. I mean I enjoy relaxing and having fun with silly games like Dance Central and stuff like that. But I take my gaming seriously, especially since I am a senior member of the clan OmCd. When you’re in a clan, you have fun but then it all boils down to knowing when to be serious.
Singleplayer or multiplayer?
Definitely single-player. Multiplayer is a great distraction, especially when you find a game that you lose yourself in but, I’ll always go back to single-player for the immersive stories and the focused solo experience.
This is where Aaron and I differ in opinion. I love multiplayer.
Is playing online important to you?
Yes. Partly for competitive gaming but primarily for co-operative gaming. It’s an awesome way to stay in contact with friends in different cities (or countries for that matter) and I like what developers are starting to do with asynchronous online gaming.
I’m such a girl when it comes to talking and I love talking and meeting new people through multiplayer games. As I said before I have met amazing people through playing multiplayer games and I can call many of them friends. I guess playing games with someone is far more interesting to me than just playing it by myself.
How often do you co-op or play together?
Whenever we can get our hands on a great game that supports co-op. Our last game was Rayman Origins, which was a while ago, but we haven’t found anything worth playing since, except for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier but then we found out that couch campaign co-op wasn’t part of the package like we originally thought. Although, we still bust of Rock Band or Dance Central every now and then.
Are there ever “lovers” squabbles over who is the better gamer?
I’ll just let her answer this one to avoid any further squabbles
Hmmmm…. I remember when Aaron and I first got together we used to fight constantly while playing co-op games, but not because of who is the better gamer – more through frustration than anything else. Aaron knows I’m the better gamer, so we don’t argue about that.
Just to clear one thing up, the frustration set in with Bryleigh still getting used to shooter controls. Orientation was a big problem … imagine how often you get shot when you’re trying to look at anything by the floor or the ceiling. We pushed through and it taught us both patience and tolerance which is great. She got better though, much better – so much so that we beat games like Gears of War 1 and 2 on Insane difficulty.
Favourite game currently?
Diablo 3, without a doubt. I’ve put in over 30 hours currently and I can’t really say no when it comes to playing with friends.
Modern Warfare 3 – I mean come on…. I wake at 3am on a Saturday morning just to take part in Clan Operations….. If I didn’t love the game I wouldn’t be up that early. Plus I can’t pass up an opportunity to talk absolute rubbish with my fellow OmCd members.
Do you have any hobbies outside of gaming? What?
I used to be a big comic book and Magic: The Gathering nerd a few years ago but quit those partly because I didn’t have the time for them and because they became too expensive. Right now though, I don’t really have anything else besides gaming and deal-blogging.
When you are a gamer, is there really any other hobby?
You’re stranded on a desert island and a genie grants you five items. Name them:
A game: Any of the three Mass Effect games. I’ll go with ME3 because I still have to do my Insanity playthough. Modern Warfare 3.
A CD: Technically, it’s not available but if it were, the sound tracks to DJ Hero & DJ Hero 2. Love those mixes. hmmmm people are going to judge me but I would have to say any James Blunt CD.
A movie or TV series: Too many to choose but let’s go with “The Office”. 8 seasons worth will keep me busy for a while and it will keep me in good spirits. Seen Aaron is taking “The Office” I will have to go with “The Walking Dead” series.
An organic life form: My wife, although maybe not because then she wouldn’t be put her in this awful situation.
Something edible or drinkable: A boat load worth of Jelly Tots. They’ll be good for energy and once I’ve run out, I’ll have a boat to get me home. I would say chocolate
What’s the most embarrassing or worst game you’ve ever bought or received as a gift? Especially from your partner…
I bought Viva Pinata for Bryleigh some time back. I played it more and enjoyed it much more than she did. I also got a full 1000/1000 GS for it. That’s about the most embarrassing I’ve got.
Aaron has a real talent for buying awesome games…. and I never buy him a game without getting his opinion first.
If you were a game designer, describe your ultimate game design.
I’ve always wanted to make a multi-player focused, turn-based strategy RPG if I got the chance. With the initial idea, I envisioned it as fantasy themed. What can I say, I’m a huge fan of Final Fantasy Tactics and games like that. But then, fantasy settings seemed commonplace so I toyed with the idea of a Sci-Fi setting … then XCOM: Enemy Unknown gets announced. Either way, if anyway has the know-how and wants to make something like that, hit me up.
The zombie apocalypse has happened. You’re facing down a ravenous zombie horde (which may or may not include members of ZG in bikinis). What weapon do you grab?
Well, it depends, what kind of zombies are they? Fast and a relentless or the classic slow and dumb? If they’re fast, I’ll go with a high powered, silenced, SMG of some sort – whichever I happen to have the most ammo for. If they’re slow, probably something like a machete or a Rambo knife – It’s clean, quite and you don’t have to worry about ammo. Also, it can’t hurt to take your peashooter plant with for backup.
The zombie apocalypse has happened. You’re all toast. Become a turncoat and assist the superior zombies or stay with the soon to be wiped out human resistance?
Catch-22! Either way I’m dead. I flip a coin, I guess. If it lands on the edge of the coin, I take care of the job myself before I give the zombies the satisfaction
Thanks for taking the time to answer our silly questions. What game are you off to play now that you’re done?
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. Gotta prepare for when AC3 hits.
Modern Warfare 3 baby….. Need to get some practice in before my 8pm Clan Ops tonight. Can’t wait for Aaron’s copy of MW3 to arrive so I can own his ass in it
We welcome all gamers, regardless of age, sex, creed, platform or whether you’re human or zombie. There’s no discrimination around here, so feel free to contact us if you are keen to feature in this column in the future at info@zombiegamer.co.za and we’ll think about – after you’ve sent us a sample of your braaaaaaiiiiinnnnsss.
