TriXie,

I would like to suggest my wife (Absolute Tara) and myself (Almighty Dean0) for the subjects of a joint interview in the Gamer Spotlight. Tara is 27 and I am 37. We live in Eagan, Minnesota, a suburb of St. Paul. We are both Business Analysts at different insurance companies. Tara is also currently working on her MBA. We are both avid Xbox 360 gamers. We have been married nearly a year (April 25). When we first started dating a few years ago, Tara had a dirty PlayStation. One of the first things I did was convert her to Xbox. We both picked up our 360s at midnight on launch day and took the rest of the week off work to get acquainted with our new systems. Tara has her 360 in "her" living room, and I have mine in "my" family room downstairs.

I think our perspective as a gaming couple would make for an interesting Gamer Spotlight.

Almighty Dean0

Gamer Spotlight:

TriXie Interviews Almighty Dean0 and Absolute Tara

This gaming couple work as business analysts in Minnesota. When they're not working they're gaming on Xbox 360™. Absolute Tara recently trekked to San Francisco to help the GamerchiX represent at Microsoft's Women in Gaming event. Say hello to the hilarious Almighty Dean0 and Absolute Tara.

TriXie: What's the story behind your gamertag?

Almighty Dean0: The owner of my favorite hang out calls me Deano, so when I originally signed up for Xbox LIVE®, I tried 'Deano'. Apparently, that was already taken, so Xbox LIVE offered me several alternatives. Various adjectives combined with Deano, such as 'Stinky Deano', 'Enthusiastic Deano', 'Aggressive Deano', and so on. When I came across 'Almighty Deano', I thought that summed me up perfectly. Well, not "me" in reality, but at least the inflated self-image of myself I like to foster. Later, my Xbox LIVE account lapsed, and when I reinstated it, I just modified my previous tag by changing the 'o' in Deano to a zero.

Absolute Tara: I couldn't think of anything creative that wasn't a blatant projection of some crazy alter-ego. So I added an "i" to my first name as a kick-back to popular culture and as a contraction of "I'm Tara."

TriXie: What do you do in Minnesota? Shovel snow? Listen to Prince? Read F. Scott Fitzgerald? Elect wrestlers to public office?

Almighty Dean0: I work as a Senior Business Analyst at a dental insurance company. I like to represent the Xbox community at work with Halo® 2 wallpaper on my computer and my Xbox 360 pen. I deal with software development projects as part my job, so I like to say that qualifies me to deem games as 'poorly designed software' or 'well designed software.' Sure, claims processing software is completely different than first person shooters, but that doesn't stop me from passing judgment and qualifying it as a professional evaluation.

Absolute Tara: I'm a Senior Business Analyst for the Investments IS division in a property and casualty insurance company, and I have just over a year left of my MBA

TriXie: Yikes. Sounds number-intensive. Do you have an arch enemy on Xbox LIVE, and if so, who?

Almighty Dean0: Tara and I mostly play co-op games, so I guess I would have to say my cousin, Sumo Sumai (pronounced like Sammy) would be my arch enemy. We have been playing with/against each other since we were kids. After Tara, he is the person I play most on Xbox LIVE, except when he bought one of those PS3s. I wouldn't talk to him for a month after that, but eventually I forgave him (mostly).

Absolute Tara: Probably my husband … Whether it's a 1 vs. 1 challenge on Gears of War®, comparing orb counts on Crackdown™, or flaunting our garden levels in Viva Piñata™, it's non-stop competition between us. But we love co-op games too.

Almighty Dean0: Okay, I guess Tara is right. We do compete a lot. Sometimes in games, but more so when it comes to tracking our progress within the same game. When she has pulled ahead of me in games like Crackdown™ and Viva Piñata, for some reason I always feel the need to spend an all-nighter, playing until 4:00 A.M. to pull back ahead.

TriXie: What do you think is the best film of all time?

Almighty Dean0: No question, Full Metal Jacket. One of the main reasons I got the HD DVD player for Xbox 360 was because of Full Metal Jacket. I can't begin to count how many times I've watched that movie.

Absolute Tara: The Matrix. There is no spoon.

TriXie: How about best album of all time?

Almighty Dean0: This one is not as clear-cut, but I'd say Metallica's Ride the Lightning. In an age often characterized by glam and hair metal, they achieved success not because of some silly image, but because their music just kicked ass.

Absolute Tara: I'm going to have to say Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction.

TriXie: Ooh, Axl and Slash were a double-whammy of eighties hotness. What has been your greatest Xbox LIVE moment?

Almighty Dean0: When my cousin Sumo Sumai invited me to a video chat, and when I joined him, he was sitting there in his underwear: All hairy and flabby. It looked like he was completely nude. Wait, that wasn't great. That was just disturbing. Now, I try to stick to voice chats only with him.

Absolute Tara: The first and only time I saw Sumo Sumai in his underwear in a video chat. I've never been the same since.

TriXie: If you could trade places with anyone for one day, who would it be?

Almighty Dean0: How about Osama Bin Laden? That way, I could find out where I was, and then when I changed back to myself, I could call the CIA and report the real Osama's whereabouts. CHA-CHING! I think the reward is something like $50,000,000.

Absolute Tara: I would trade places with my Almighty Dean0 on the day he's receiving his reward for tracking Osama bin Laden.

TriXie: Hot celeb you'd like to be stranded on a desert island with?

Almighty Dean0: Well, if it is a desert island, I'm assuming food is in short supply, so I'd go with Nicole Ritchie.

Absolute Tara: Hmm … Maybe that guy with the great abs in 300? What's his name? He looks like he could fetch pineapples.

Almighty Dean0: I don't think one can "fetch pineapples" with one's abs. If you were really interested in pineapple fetching, you would have picked Yao Ming. Now there's a pineapple fetcher. Oh, by the way, I'm changing my answer to Jessica Alba.

TriXie: If you could be any video game character, who would it be?

Almighty Dean0: I've heard that it is good to be King. Plus, no one is ever trying to shoot the King or throw hand grenades at him. He just hangs out doing fun stuff, like racing those little bikes, riding bumper cars, and, best of all, jumping out of port-a-potties to give food to strangers. And they are happy about it!

Absolute Tara: My character from The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion™. She has purple hair and had a mean lighting strike spell.

TriXie: What's the worst food you've ever eaten?

Almighty Dean0: Once, this guy in a robe and a crown jumped out of a port-a-potty and gave me a Whopper. I think it gave me Hepatitis. I should have known better. That is just unsanitary.

Absolute Tara: I generally try to avoid foods that could be categorized as "worst food ever eaten".

TriXie: What do you think is the best thing about the Xbox 360?

Almighty Dean0: There are many things that I feel make Xbox 360 the best console on the market by far. I would say the one feature that has had the most impact on me is the Achievement system. It drives me to play games I ordinarily wouldn't play, strive for goals that I ordinarily wouldn't bother with, and finish games that I would ordinarily not finish. Every time that 'Achievement Unlocked' icon flashes on my screen, it's like a shot of morphine directly into my brain.

Absolute Tara: It has the best library of games of all the available consoles. All those bells and whistles are decidedly cool, but they're nothing without good games. And achievements have added a dimension to gaming that's almost criminal!

TriXie: What is the Xbox 360 Achievement that was hardest to get?

Almighty Dean0: Well, as I stated earlier, I am essentially a lazy person, so I tend to go after what is called "low hanging fruit". I can't recall any achievements that I have worked that hard to get.

Absolute Tara: It took a good 20 tries and double that number of f-bombs to defeat General Raam on Insane difficulty in Gears. The upper-level temples in Zuma have also given me a good run. I still have to beat that game.

TriXie: What would you like to be doing in ten years?

Almighty Dean0: Playing Xbox 720, or maybe Xbox 1440. I'd imagine in 3D, holographic vision. Maybe with a smell-o-vision feature that allows full immersion by letting you actually smell the action. When I play Sneak King 3 and I'm the King, hiding in that port-a-pottie, it will be like I am actually in there!

Absolute Tara: Playing games goes without saying. And past that, hopefully I'll be analyzing the hell out of some cool business and maybe doing some writing on the side. Game Informer, If you ever want another female editor … TriXie knows how to find me!