Gamertag: StonyArc
Superhero: Wolverine
Cartoon character: Dilbert
Film: Apocalypse Now
Album: Siamese Dream—Smashing Pumpkins
TV show: 24
Karaoke song: "Paint it Black"
Best game ever: Half-Life

Gamer Spotlight:

TriXie Interviews StonyArc

He's a gamer and IT architect in Leuven, Belgium. He's also a Web developer, site administrator and clever applications dude at Xbox Users Group. Say hello to StonyArc!

TriXie: What's the story behind your gamertag?

StonyArc: Not really a big story there. The name was suggested by the registration engine of the original Xbox LIVE®. I've been using it everywhere since then. Even on the PC games I play.

TriXie: Where do you live?

StonyArc: I live in a small town near Leuven, Belgium. A university city that is pretty close to Brussels. I share my home with a great girlfriend and two kids.

TriXie: Ah, I love Belgians. They don't think putting mayo on French fries is weird. What do you do for a living?

StonyArc: I work as a Senior IT architect for Siemens. So I got bits and bytes in my blood.

TriXie: What's the worst or weirdest job you've ever had?

StonyArc: I think that would be carpenter when I was 16 during the summer holidays. My fingers still hurt thinking about it.

TriXie: How long have you been on Xbox LIVE?

StonyArc: Since it became available in Belgium. So you could say from day one.

TriXie:What is your involvement with XUG?

StonyArc: I'm one of the two administrators of xboxusersgroup.com (XUG). I'm also the developer of the Web site, forums, the Xbox LIVE embedded parts of the site and the other Xbox LIVE applications we have running. As admins of a large site, your day is never long enough to do all the work that needs to be done. I'm also the admin and developer of gamertagblog.com which allows for Xbox LIVE embedded blogging.

TriXie: What makes XUG unique in the Xbox LIVE community?

StonyArc: XUG is a site that is purely done by gamers for gamers. I know that's not really unique as such but if you look at the number of years (6) XUG has been out there, it does make it a bit special. XUG has always taken the community angle and will of course continue to do so as, in my opinion, that is the true power of Xbox®. XUG has also fully embraced the relations it has with Xbox.com and the Xbox Community Developer Program. In total, we currently have about 60 applications that have some form of Xbox LIVE integration, ranging from gamer and games tracking, gamer cards, signatures and statistics to Web services and Messenger bots. I'm actually most proud of the Messenger bot, the Xbox LIVE search engine and the way we are displaying the live data on XUG.

TriXie: Tell us about the new application you created for the twitter site.

StonyArc: There are a lot of ways you can display the data we're getting from Xbox LIVE. The more classic items like all sorts of leaderboards and the other applications have been running stable on XUG for quite a while, so I've been looking for a number of new challenges. This resulted in the creation of a number of Microsoft Vista Sidebar Gadgets and a twitter.com integration. Twitter.com is a Web site that purely focuses on displaying what you are actually doing. It's an ideal medium to show the availability of a gamer if he/she is playing on Xbox LIVE. So through the XUG interface, a member can opt to have his/her Xbox LIVE status sent automatically to twitter.com. A member just has to visit the "MyLive" section on the XUG forum to activate it.

TriXie: Do you have an archenemy on Xbox LIVE, and if so, who?

StonyArc: I don't really have an archenemy. On a typical gaming night, we get together with a number of XUG gamers who I know personally, and mix it with some random gamers that connect from all over the world.

TriXie: What's your Xbox setup like?

StonyArc: I have two Xbox 360s and three original Xbox consoles running so the house is a bit filled with screens, PCs and consoles. I mostly play on a 32-inch Sony screen in the living room connected to a surround sound system. Just enough to wake up the neighbors.

TriXie:What's the best feature of Xbox LIVE?

StonyArc: So many features to choose from, but I'll have go with the community in all its aspects.

TriXie:What is your favorite Xbox LIVE enabled game?

StonyArc: I really like the "classic" shooter games like the Rainbow Six series, GRAW (Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™) and Battlefield (Battlefield 2: Modern Combat™). If I had to pick one it would be GRAW 2 (Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™ 2) on the 360 and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® 3 on the original Xbox, as we had so much fun on that game.

TriXie: What is your favorite offline Xbox game?

StonyArc: That would be Crackdown™. The game play was impressive, nice graphics and a lot of fun. Of course, the single player of Gears of War® is amazing too.

TriXie: What's the funniest thing you've ever heard on Xbox Live?

StonyArc: "Not now honey, I'm winning."

TriXie: What is your greatest Xbox LIVE moment?

StonyArc: The moment I booted it for the first time.

TriXie: Who is your inner rock star?

StonyArc: With all the adventures Major Nelson had, I should say Gene Simmons, but that's not really my style. I think it's Maurice Engelen from Praga Khan. Not really known in the US but great Belgian music.

TriXie: If they made a movie about your life, who should play you?

StonyArc: My girlfriend shouted "Richard Gere" when I read her this question so I have to obey. At 34, I'm also starting to get gray hair. I wonder if my Xbox life has got something to do with that.

TriXie: What superpower would you like to have?

StonyArc: The control of time. That is a great power to have.

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

StonyArc: I think I would love to trade places for one day with a person like Large Jaguar, Xbox.com Development Manager, or the manager of Xbox LIVE Programming just to get a feel about the inner mechanisms of it all, and to get a chance to express the ideas I have on new features and services for the community. I'm still extremely grateful for the opportunity Microsoft and daStahl gave me and XUG in joining the XCDP. This has allowed me to make some of these ideas very concrete.

TriXie: What celebrity would be the worst roommate?

StonyArc: As many before me have said, I would say Paris Hilton.

TriXie: She's offensive on so many levels. Hot celeb you'd like to be stranded on a desert island with?

StonyArc: Jodie Foster. Definitely.

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

StonyArc: Rico Rodriguez in Just Cause. Seems like a cool place to be.

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

StonyArc: Snails, I was sick for a whole week after that.

TriXie: What's the last book you read?

StonyArc: Equinox from Michael White and a techie book about IPv6 implementations.

TriXie: If you could go on tour with any band, which would it be?

StonyArc: A few years ago I had a backstage pass for Metallica in Brussels, and if I see the fun those guys were having, that would be my choice.

TriXie: What do you predict will be the "next big thing" in gaming?

StonyArc: Immersive gaming, on control, technology and game play level. It's all about experience. Now that technology is adapting so fast the focus will automatically become experience.

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

StonyArc: It has lifted the community to a whole different level and that's quite an achievement.

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

StonyArc: Those special ones in Hexic® HD are quite hard to get. But that's probably me, the FPS man.

TriXie: I'm a total Arcade girl and I suck at Hexic. I can't make a black pearl! What would you like to be doing in ten years?

StonyArc: In ten years, wow, I'll be 44 by then. I'll still be building communities and creating software as a hobby next to a more "normal" IT-related job. You gotta love those bits and bytes.